CHAPTER 29

To me it seems that the cold may likewise be the cause which prevents the oxen in Scythia from having horns. There is a line of Homer's in the Odyssey which gives a support to my opinion:

Libya too, where horns hud quick on the foreheads of lambkins.

He means to say what is quite true, that in warm countries the horns come early. So too in countries where the cold is severe animals either have no horns, or grow them with difficulty - the cold being the cause in this instance.