Buyer protection
Donkey milk knowledge archive · Historical source
Varro on donkey milk: types of milk in Roman agricultural writing
In 37 BC, the Roman scholar Varro ranked the types of milk: sheep’s milk was the most nourishing, mare’s milk the most strongly purging – with donkey milk in second place.
- Author
- Marcus Terentius Varro
- Work
- Res rusticae (On Agriculture)
- Passage
- Book 2, ch. 11, § 1; additionally Book 2, ch. 8, § 2
- Time & place
- 37 BC · Roman Republic (Italy)
- Type of source
- Roman agricultural treatise
In the original words
What the original says
Lacte est omnium rerum, quas cibi causa capimus, liquentium maxime alibile, et id ovillum, dein caprinum. Quod autem maxime perpurget, est equinum, tum asininum, dein bubulum, tum caprinum.
Of all the liquids we take as food, milk is the most nourishing, namely sheep’s milk, then goat’s milk. The most strongly purging, however, is mare’s milk, then donkey milk, then cow’s milk, then goat’s milk.
Pullum asininum a partu recentem subiciunt equae, cuius lacte ampliore fiunt, quod id lacte quam asininum ad alimonia dicunt esse melius.
A newborn donkey foal is put to a mare, whose milk makes it stronger; for this milk is said to be better for rearing than donkey milk.
English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.
Background
Who, when, what kind of text
Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a versatile scholar of the late Roman Republic. He wrote his “Res rusticae” in three books in 37 BC in dialogue form; the second book deals with livestock farming, including sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, horses and mules.
Varro writes as a landowner for landowners: he is interested in the selection, breeding, feeding and yield of the animals. He calls milk and wool the “extraordinary yield” of the herds, which he discusses separately at the end of the second book.
His knowledge of milk combines farming experience with the Greek medicine of his time, which classified foods by nutritional value and purging effect.
Content
What the source reports about donkey milk
In the section on milk, Varro sets up two rankings: by nutritional value (sheep’s milk before goat’s milk) and by purging effect (mare’s milk, then donkey milk, then cow’s milk, then goat’s milk). For him, donkey milk thus ranks second among the purging types of milk.
Varro stresses that milk differs depending on feed, animal and time of milking: milk from animals on green pasture was said to be more strongly purging than milk from animals fed with barley, straw and dry fodder; milk from young, strong animals was better than that of old animals.
A second passage comes from the chapter on mule breeding: newborn donkey foals that were later to serve as breeding stallions for mules were put to mares, because their milk was considered better for rearing than donkey milk.
At a glance
Figures & facts from the source
Critical assessment
How reliable is this source?
A practitioner-author
Varro writes from the perspective of agriculture. His classification of the types of milk reflects the experiential knowledge and medical doctrines of his time, not verified results.
Agreement with Greek physicians
The classification of mare’s and donkey milk as more strongly purging is found in similar form in the Hippocratic treatise “Regimen II” (ch. 41). Varro thus stands in a longer tradition.
Factual value
Particularly revealing are his remarks that feed, the age of the animals and the time of milking influence the milk. That feeding changes milk composition is also investigated by studies today.
Today’s assessment
The statement about the purging effect is a historical doctrine. It is not scientifically substantiated today and is not to be understood as a consumption recommendation.
Our assessment
Varro interests us as a practitioner: he describes donkey milk in the everyday life of a Roman country estate and points out that feed and animal shape the milk. His ranking of purging effect remains a testimony to ancient doctrine.
References
Sources to check
- Primary sourceLatin text, Book 2 (The Latin Library)
https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/varro.rr2.html
More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.