Turn the horses east if you want a male foal
Of Africanus: on the generation of horses. If then you want a male to be born, turn the horses toward the east, so that as they mate they look at the sun; for the west produces the females, as the Mauretanian horse-herder related.
For also, as the account of all has it, it is believed that the male horses are yoked to the Sun and that the flame is driven by them, and they say that the females drive the Night. And justly: the Sun is male-making, and the Moon happens to be mother of a like-named nature.
Greek
3.3 Ἀφρικανοῦ· περὶ γενέσεως ἵππων Ἂν μὲν οὖν ἄρρεν τεχθῆναι θέλῃς, πρὸς τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοὺς ἵππους τρέπε, ἵνα μιγνύμενοι βλέπωσι τὸν ἥλιον· αἱ δυσμαὶ γὰρ τίκτουσι τὰ θήλεα, ὡς Μαυρούσιος ὁ ἱπποφορβὸς διηγήσατο. Καὶ γάρ, ὡς ὁ πάντων λόγος, τοὺς ἄρρενας ἵππους τῷ Ἡλίῳ ζεύγνυσθαι καὶ τούτοις ἄγεσθαι τὴν φλόγα πεπίστευται, τὰς δὲ θηλείας τὴν Νύκτα ἄγειν φασί. Καὶ δικαίως μέν· ἀρρενοποιὸς μὲν ὁ Ἥλιος, ὁμωνύμου δὲ φύσεως ἡ Σελήνη τυγχάνει μήτηρ.
About this text
Julius Africanus, Cesti (Embroidered Girdles): a miscellany of history, science, and craft, in the surviving fragments — books 7, 2, and 3 in full, with parts of books 4, 8, 9, and 13, and the colophon of Cestus 18. The older English translates his letters only. The book-2 table of contents and a book-7 appendix are not in this volume.
New English from locked PG 10 / Khazarzar Greek of the Cesti fragmenta through 9.5. Earlier lemma-led scaffold English was discarded. Book-2 pinax and book-7 appendix held. This lock is exhausted.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 10 Cesti fragmenta (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.