1 Samuel 16:19

Wherefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse ,.... For David; not choosing to take him without his leave, though Samuel suggests that kings would do so, 1 Samuel 8:11 .

and said, send me David, thy son, which is with the sheep ; he had learnt his name, and what was his employment; and which last he mentions not by way of contempt, it not being reckoned mean and despicable even in the sons of great personages, in those times and countries, to attend flocks and herds: so with the Arabs, as Philo F14 De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 610. testifies, young men and maids of the most illustrious families fed cattle; and with the ancient Romans, the senator F15 "Pascebatque suas", &c.; Ovid. Fast. l. 1. fed his own sheep. Paris, son of Priamus, king of Troy, is said F16 Coluthi Raptus Helenae, v. 71, 101. to feed his father's oxen and sheep; and Saul himself had done the same; but to describe him particularly.