IJRRARY

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BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY

VARRO
ON FARMING

PLAN OF THE
BIRD-HOUSE
^ AT

CASINUM

^ Island

B Staging

C Duck-Houses

Z» Ponds

£ Aviaries

F Netting

See Book III, pp. 269-276

VARRO
ON FARMING

M. TERENTI VARRONIS RERUM

RUSTICARUM LIBRI

TRES

TRANSLATED, WITH INTRODUCTION,

COMMENTARY, AND

EXCURSUS

BY

LLOYD STORR-BEST M.A. Lond.

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

1912

UXORI

PREFACE

This translation of Varro's * Rerum Rusticarum '
is based on the ' Editio Minor' of Keil, which is
the best text that we at present possess, and the most
accessible to students. The numerous passages
where I have ventured to adopt or propose a reading
differing from that given by the great scholar are
indicated and fully discussed either in the Com-
mentary or Excursus. In excuse for the many
alterations of his text which I have proposed, I
would point out that Keil himself professes only to
have restored the text of the Archetype, which is
avowedly corrupt, to have made certain indubitable
corrections, and to have cleared the ground for
further emendation.

In rendering the Latin, I have aimed, above all
things, at accuracy, and have tried to say in English
what Varro actually said in Latin, not what I
imagine he ought to have said, or might have said,
had he written in English. Graceful paraphrase
would have been quite out of place in the case of an
author who has no graces of style, is valuable
principally for his matter, and is very difficult to
understand.

To other translations I am not at all indebted.
Those with which I am acquainted — the French of
Nisard, the Italian of Pagani, and the English of
Clarke (1800) — are not good, and were made by men
evidently unaccustomed to Varro's peculiar and
archaic diction.

vi PREFACE

The Commentary proceeds from an independent
examination of the original sources used by Varro,
and of those authors who borrowed from him,
though, as will be seen, I have made free use of
both ancient and modern commentators. When I
have borrowed I have — in all cases, I hope —
acknowledged the debt.

The apparent superfluity of illustrative matter
will be forgiven if it be remembered that the book
is not only submitted to the criticism of the scholar,
but directed to the general reader, and even the
practical farmer. For the sake of those who possess
"small Latin and less Greek," I have translated
passages of general interest from Cato, Columella,
the Geoponica, etc.

In the Introduction and the first two Excursus I
have treated at length of the Tnise en scene of the
imaginary conversations in each of the three books,
and of the date at which they are supposed by
Varro to have taken place — matters which have
been undeservedly neglected, and have important
bearing on the text. In Excursus III certain con-
jectural emendations are proposed and discussed.

A plan is given of Varro's famous aviary, described
by him in the third book. In 1794 the Prince de
Segur published one, together with a voluminous
commentary on Varro, iii, 5, 9, but he introduced
many violent and arbitrary alterations into the
text, and his plan is demonstrably wrong in many
important particulars.

My thanks are due and are gratefully paid to the
Lord Abbot of Monte Cassino for his hospitality
and gracious permission to use the magnificent
library of the Badia; to the Signore Padre Bene-
detto del Greco for his kindness in showing me the

PREFACE vii

remains of Varro's villa and aviary at Cassino, and
for his valuable explanations of many topographical
difficulties; to the University Library of Aberdeen
for allowing me the use of books which I could
with difficulty or not at all procure elsewhere ; and,
finally, to Messrs. G. Bell and Sons for everything
for which a generous and public-spirited publisher
may be thanked.

CONTENTS

BOOK I

Agriculture

CHAP.

I. Introductory ....

II. The Aim and Scope of Agriculture

III. Agriculture an Art .

IV. The Four Departments
V. Branches of the Science of Agri

CULTURE .

VI. The Soil .

VII. The Site

VIII. On Vine-training

IX. Farm Land .

X. Measures of Land

XI. Farm Buildings .

XII. The Site of the Farm House

XIII. The Farm Yard and House

XIV. Fences and Walls
XV. Trees as Boundaries

XVI. On the Neighbourhood of a Farm

XVII. Farm Equipment — Slaves .

XVIII. Size of the Staff

XIX. Of Instruments of Production (Semi

Vocal) .....

XX. Of Oxen and Draught Animals

XXI. Of Dogs and Four-Footed Stock

XXII. Of Instruments of Production (Mute

PAGE
I

6
20
21

23
24
27
30
33
36
38
38
40

44

45
46

49
52

55
57
59
60

X

CONTENTS

CHAP.

XXIII.

Of Crops ......

XXIV.

Of Olives, and Tree Planting

XXV.

Of Vines

XXVI.

Of Vineyards . . . . .

XXVII.

Of Times and Seasons

XXVIII.

Of Divisions of the Year

XXIX.

Of the First Division

XXX.

The Second Period . . . .

XXXI.

The Third Period . . . .

XXXII.

The Fourth Period

XXXIII.

The Fifth Period , . . .

XXXIV.

The Sixth Period . . . .

XXXV.

The Seventh Period

XXXVI.

The Eighth Period

XXXVII.

The Moon and the Sixfold Divi-

sion OF THE Year

XXXVIII.

Of Manuring . . . . .

XXXIX.

Of Modes of Propagation

XL.

Sowing, Planting, and Grafting .

XLI.

Grafts and Cuttings

XLII.

On Sowing Lucerne

XLIII.

Cytisus

XLIV.

Of Crops

XLV.

Of the Growth of Plants

XLVI.

Of the Habits of Plants

XLVII.

Of the Care of Crops

XLVIII.

Of Grain

XLIX.

The Hay Harvest .

L.

Of Reaping

LI.

The Threshing-Floor

LII.

Of Threshing .

LIII.

The Gleaning .

CONTENTS

xi

CHAP.

PAGE

LIV.

Of Wine-Making .... 106

LV.

Olive Products ....

107

LVI.

Of Storing Hay ....

109

LVII.

Granaries .....

109

LVIII.

Of Storing Beans and Grapes

11 1

LIX.

Of Storing Apples ....

112

LX.

Olives for Eating ....

114

LXI.

Of Amurca

"5

LXII.

Keeping and Consuming .

115

LXIII.

On Bringing Corn out of Store

116

LXIV.

Preparation of Amurca .

116

LXV.

Of Wine

117

LXVI.

Of White Olives ....

117

LXVIL

Walnuts, Dates, and Figs

1x8

.XVIII.

Hung Fruit ....

118

LXIX.

On Produce for Market

119

BOOK II

Concerning Cattle

Introduction 121

I.

Cattle-Farming: its Origin, Repute,

and Practice 125

II.

Of Sheep

. 144

III.

Of Goats

. 156

IV.

Of Pigs

. 163

V.

Of Cows and Oxen

. 180

VI.

Of Asses

. 195

VII.

Of Horses and Mares

. 200

VIII.

Of Mules and Hinnies

210

IX.

Of Dogs

. 214

XI 1

CONTENTS

CHAP.

X.

XI.

Of Shepherds

Of Milk and Wool

PAGE

225
231

BOOK III

Of Smaller Stock

I. Introduction and Dedication .

II. On Various Kinds of Villas

III. Of Animals fed within the Villa

IV. Of Birds in General
V. Of Fieldfares

VI. Of Peacocks

VII. Of Pigeons

VIII. Of Turtle-doves

IX. Of Poultry

X. Of Geese

XI. Of Ducks .

XII. Of Warrens

XIII. Of Wild Boars and other Quad

RUPEDS .

XIV. Of Snails .
XV. Of Dormice

XVI. Of Bees and Apiaries
XVII, Of Fish-ponds

Excursus I. On the Time and Place of the
Dialogue in Book II
II. The Text of the Rerum Rustic-
arum .....
III. Critical Notes and Suggestions .

239

245
257
263
264

277
281
287
289
304
309
312

316
318

321
322
345

355

360
364

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio Princeps. Venetiis apud Nicolaum Jensonum.

1472.

Petri Victorii explicationes suarum in Catonem Varro-

nem, Columellam castigationum. 1542.

ScALiGER, M. Terentii Varronis opera quae supersunt,

1573-
J. G. Schneider. Scriptorum Rei Rusticae. 6 vols.

Leipzig-, 1794-1797.

Opere di M. Porcio Catone e di M. Terenzio Varrone

con traduzione e note. Venezia, 1846.

Les Agronomes Latins. Nisard. Paris, 1864.

H. Keil. M. Porci Catonis de Agri Cultura liber.

M. Terenti Varronis Rerum Rusticarum libri tres.

Editio maior. 1884.

H. Keil. M. T. Varronis R. R. libri tres. Editio

minor. 1889.

Reiter. Quaestiones Varronianae Grammaticae.

Regimontii, 1882.
G. Heidrich. Der Stil des Varro. Melk, 1892.

G. Heidrich. Varroniana L Melk, 1891.

G. Heidrich. Varroniana 11. Melk, 1892.

Zahlfeldt. Quaestiones Criticae in Varronis Rerum

Rusticarum libros tres. 1881.

Krumbiegel. De Varroniano scribendi genere quaes-
tiones. Leipzig, 1892.
Durand de la Malle. Agriculture romaine depuis

Caton jusqu'i Columelle. 1838.

Dickson, Adam. Husbandry of the Ancients.

Edinburgh, 1788.

xiv BIBLIOGRAPHY

BoissiER, Gaston. Etude sur Varron. 1861.

BoissiER, Gaston. Cic^ron et ses amis. 1895.

Spexgel, L. Varro, de Lingua Latina. 1826.

Agahd. Antiquitatum R. D. Teubner, Leipzig, 1898.
German. Die sogenannten sententiae Varronis.

Paderborn, 1910.
GoDEFROY. Auctores Latinae Linguae, containing

Verrius Flaccus, Festus, Nonius, Fulgentius,

Isidore of Seville, etc. G^n^ve, 1595.

(This book contains an excellent and generally

accurate index verborum.)
J. H. Onions. Nonius Marcellus. De Compendiora

doctrina. 1895.

Ernesti. Clavis Ciceroniana. 1776.

SOURCES USED BY VARRO

Hesiod. Fjpyujv Kai ijfiepuiv.

Xenophon. Oeconomicus, etc.

Aristotle. De animalibus, de generatione animalium.

Op. omnia. Firmin Didot. 1854.

Theophrastus. De hist, plant., De causis plant.,

Schneider. Leipzig, 1818.

Cato. De Re Rustica in the Scrip. R. R. Schneider.

WRITERS WHO BORROWED FROM VARRO

Vergil.

Columella, Palladius, Vegetius ; Scriptores R. R.

Schneider.
Pliny. Historia Naturalis cum notis variorum. Pin-

tiani, Dalechampii, Scaligeri, Salmasii, Gronovii.

Rotterdam, 1669.

BIBLIOGRAPHY xv

Servixjs and Pseudo-Servius, Philargyrius, Probus.

Comment, in Virgilium. Gottingen, 1826.

Macrobius, cum notis I. Pontani, lo. Meursii, Jac.

Gronovii et To. Car. Zeunii, 1774.

Augustine. De Civ. Dei. Frankfort, 1661.

Isidore, in Auctores L. L. Godefroy.
Geoponica. Cambridge, 1904.

Petrus Crescentius in Schneider's Scrip. R. R.
Julius Obsequens. 1772.

AuLUS Gellius. Cura et sumptibus Philippi de Giunta

Florentini. Florence, 1513.

Plutarch. Opera quae extant omnia.

Frankfort. 2 vols. 1599.
(Has a good index rerum.)
Censorinus DE die Natali. Lugd. Bat. 1743»

Shipley. Sources of corruption in Latin MSS. (In
" American Journal of Archaeology.") 1903-

Prou. Manuel de Pal^ographie Latine. 1892.

Lindsay. Contractions in Minuscule MSS. 1908.

Thompson and Fumagalli. Paleografia G. e L. Milano.

1911.
Kempf. Rom. castrensis sermonis reliq. 1901.

Lindsay. The Latin Language.
Alexander ab Alexandro. Gen. Dierum.

Lugd. Bat., 1673.
Leo F. Der Saturn. Vers. Berlin, 1905.

Lindsay. Syntax of Plautus. 1907«

Historische Grammatik der L. Sprache.

Leipzig, 1903.
Grandgent. Intro, to Vulgar Latin, 1908.

PASSAGES IN WHICH VARRO PROBABLY
FOLLOWED THEOPHRASTUS

VARRO R. R.

THEOPHRASTUS

VARRO R. R.

THEOPHRASTUS

I,

7» 6

H. P. I, 9, 5
H. P. I, 3, 5

I, 40. 3

C. P. I, 6, 3
C. P. I, 6, 9

C. P. I, 13. 9

I, 40, 4

C. P. 3. 5. 3

I,

7» 7

H. P. I, 4, 2

I, 40, 6

C. P. I, 6, 10

H. P. 1,4,4

I, 41, 2

C. P. I, 6, 6

I,

8,6

C. P. 3, 14, 8

I. 41. 4

H. P. 6, 6, 6

I,

9, 2

C. P. 2, 4, I

fC. P. I, 8, I

I,

9. 4

H. P. 8, 6, I

cf.

\ C. P. 2, 13, 4

I,

9,6

C. P. 2, 4, 9

Ih. p. 7, 5. 3

I,

i6, 6

H. P. 4, 16, 6

I, 41, 4 (end)

C. p. I, 8, 2

C. P. 2, 18, 4

I, 41, 6 (end)

C. p. I, 20, 3

I,

23, 2

H. P. 8, 7, 2

1,44. 2

H. P. 8, 7, 6

C. P. 3, 21, 3

I. 44. 3

C. P. I, 20, 4

H. P. 8, 9, I

H. P. 7, ID, I

C. P. 3, 21, 2

I. 45. I

H. P. 8, I, 5

I

23. 3

H. P. 8, 9, I

I. 45. 3

C. P. I, 12, I

I

24, 2

C. P. 5, 11,2

H. P. I, 7, I

I

26, I

H. P. 4, 16, 6
C. P. 2, 18, 4

C. P. I, 12, 7
C. P. 3, 3, I

C. P. 3, 10, 4

I, 46, I

H. P. I, 10, I

I

31» 2

C. P. 3, 14, I, etc.

C. P. 2, 19, 2

I

35. I

H. P. 2, 2, I
H. P. 6, 6, 6

I. 55. I

C. P. I, 19, 4
C. P. I, 20, 3

I

37. 5

H. P. I, 7, I

C. P. 5. 4. 2

1

38, 2

H. P. 2, 7, 4
H. P. 7, 5. I

J. 55. 7

H. P. 4, 16, 5
C. P. 5, 15, 6

I

I

.39. 3
, 40, I

H. P. 2, I, I
H. P. 3, I, 4

For Amurca
cf.

rc. P. 1, 19, 2

\ C. P. 6, 8, 3

C. P. I, 5, 2

(Fr. 20, 3^

I

40, 2

C. P. 3. I, I
H. P. 2, 4, I

I. 59. 3

C. P. I, 12, 9

C. P. 5, 6, I

rH. p. 3, 1,4

2, I, 27

H. P. 3, 3, 5

C. P. I, 5, I

3, 2, 12 cf. H. P. 3, 15, 5

cf.

- C. p. I, 10, s

C. p. 2, I, l'

IC. p. 5, I, I

3. «6, 6

C. P. 6, 5, I

INTRODUCTION

It is most singular that out of the enormous mass
of writings which Varro left behind him — in the
preface to the Hebdomades he tells us that he was
eighty-four years old and had then written four
hundred and ninety books — this treatise on farming
is the only one which remains to us in anything
approaching completeness. Of the De Lingua
Latina, which consisted of twenty-five books, we
have nov/ only six, and these terribly lacerated,
while all his other works — poetry, satire, literary
criticism, grammar, philology, science, history,
education, philosophy, law, theology, geography,
antiquarian research — have perished except for a
few disjected fragments salvaged by Dionysius,
Pliny, Gellius, Macrobius, and the Christian apolo-
gists. There would be little cause for wonder had
his work been poor in quality, but all antiquity is
unanimous as to its incomparable value; in many
branches of science and literature he was during his
life-time and for many hundreds of years after his
death the supreme authority. The great men who

xvii h

xviii INTRODUCTION

instructed him in grammar, archaeology, and theo-
logy, Aelius Stilo and Nigidius Figulus, became
pigmies beside the vast bulk of him alive, and when
he died his reputation grew greater from century to
century and he was regarded " by the common con-
sent of all the learned as the most learned of all
men." In the dark ages his great figure is seen
among the shadows, and at the dawn of the Re-
naissance Petrarch sings of him as the third great
light of Rome, placing him between Cicero and

Vergil:

Varrone il terso gran lume Romano.

It is, indeed, hard to understand why so small a
part of him should have escaped the Venus of Death,
who has spared only one comparatively small treat-
ise, produced when Varro was a very old man ' ' pack-
ing up his luggage in readiness for a journey out
of this life." One great work, perhaps his greatest,
certainly that which the moderns would choose of
all others to possess — the Antiquities Human and
Divine, in forty-one books — survived for nearly
1,400 years, then vanished into a pawnbroker's shop,
never to re-appear. Petrarch, in one of his " letters
to the illustrious dead," which was addressed to
Varro, says that he had once had these books in his
possession, and that he was tortured with eternal
longing and regret for their loss. He had lent thern

INTRODUCTION xix

to his old master, who under stress of poverty had
pawned them, and died before they could be found
and redeemed. They were never heard of again. And
our text narrowly escaped a similar fate, for although
in the sixteenth century there existed several MSS.
and printed editions of the Rerum Rusticarum — so
corrupt as to be frequently unintelligible — they all
descended from a very ancient manuscript then
lying in the library of St. Mark at Florence, which
was lost in the seventeenth century. Fortunately
Angelo Politian (1482) and Petrus Victorius (1541)
had preserved the reading of the archetype, so that
the great German scholar Keil has of late years
been able to give us a respectable text — which,
however, it seems possible to improve greatly by
conjectural emendation.

As the Rerum Rusticarum is thus the sole treatise
of the most industrious, the most learned, and, with
two exceptions, the most famous of all Latin writers,
which has come down to us practically entire, it is
worth while, perhaps, to examine in detail the con-
ditions of its production. In 46 B.C. Varro, who
was then seventy years old, ceased from political
activity and, after making his peace with Caesar,
who treated him with great kindness and gave him
congenial work to do, devoted himself entirely to
literature. He lived for nearly twenty years after

XX INTRODUCTION

this and published during that time one of his great
theoretical works, the De Lingua Latina (probably
in 45 B.C.), which was addressed to Cicero, and many
smaller ones such as the Hebdomades (32 B.C.), the
Disciplinae, De Vita Sua, De Vita Populi Romani,
etc., which were practical inaimand intended topopu-
larize science or to stimulate the patriotism of the
rising generation. The treatise on farming (Rerum
Rusticarum) was of the second kind. It is a practical
handbook written especially for his wife Fundania,
who had just bought a farm, and generally in the
interest of posterity, with the hope, possibly, of
persuading his fellow countrymen back to the
'Mivine country," and to that life "which is not
only the most ancient, but the best of all " (iii, 1,4).
But though the object may have been one with that
of most of the great writers of the early Augustan
age, there seems no evidence to support the frequent
statement that Varro's work was written at the
command of Octavius, nor does it seem at all likely
that the latter in 36 B.C., when the Rerum Rusticarum
was written (Euseb. Chron., Varro, R.R., i, i, i),
should have yet thought much about regenerating
by the arts of peace a country which he had first to
win by arms.

The books on farming were composed when Varro
was eighty years old and were written most likely

INTRODUCTION xxi

in the same place as his former works (Cic. Phil.,
ii, 40), at his villa at Casinum, in the " Museum "
which he mentions in book iii, and close to the
famous aviary which he there describes at length
(iii, 5, 9, etc.)- Remains of the villa are still to be
seen extending along the bank of the Rapido for
more than a quarter of a mile, and the inhabitants
of Cassino point to a piece of gray and crumbling
masonry which faces a little island in the Rapido
as being lo studio di Marco Varrone. Here, too,
he probably died, for according to Valerius Maximus
(viii, 7), "the same couch witnessed at once the
death of M. Varro and the conclusion of his noble
works."

The work then was practical in its aim, but much
care was taken in its literary presentation, for the
time had long gone by when such an amorphous
mass of often unrelated facts as Cato's treatise on
the same subject could hope to be read. Varro,
therefore, adopts the mode of the day made fashion-
able by Cicero in his rhetorical and philosophical
writings, and develops the argument by means of
imaginary conversations between real people, taking
care, as Cicero did, to avoid anachronisms and im-
probabilities. The dialogue of each book is provided
with an appropriate background, a separate intro-
duction, a dedication, and its own little drama. The

xxii INTRODUCTION

time and place are chosen with care, and in most
cases the names of the interlocutors are suggestive
of the subject treated. As a work of art it is not,
one must confess, entirely successful; the language
is at times slovenly and slip-shod, now jolting along
in short and jerky sentences, now trailing through
cumbrous and often ungrammatical periods; the
conversations degenerate into lectures, and we may
look in vain for the graceful ease and urbanity of
Cicero or the beautiful lucidity of Columella. Yet
there is so much dry and sly humour, such sturdy
patriotism, such vigorous sense and here and there
such real poetry — in the ore at least (as for instance
in the description of the life of the bees in book iii)
— the little pictures of urban and rustic life are so
vivid, that one feels that a better written book might
perhaps be better spared. Varro's style has besides
a certain flavour and raciness of its own which one
learns to like, and the study of it, beginning with
amazement, ends in a sort of love even for its rough-
ness and difficulty, so different from the easy fluency
of his great friend and rival.

As a work of science the Rerum Rusticarum is
admittedly of distinguished merit. To its composi-
tion Varro brought great erudition, practical experi-
ence, and much knowledge of the subject gained at
first hand from travel in many countries — and used

INTRODUCTION xxiii

all three with restraint and judgement. But what
is most striking is the perfection of the method
adopted, which it would be difficult even now to
surpass for precision and clearness of arrangement.
The divisions which Varro made of his complex
and unwieldy subject are natural, classifications are
scientific, the plan of treatment is logical and con-
sistent throughout. Whether the modern farmer
may learn anything of profit from Varro's treatise
or not is a question for the agricultural expert, but
there can be no doubt that the methods slowly
elaborated through many hundreds of years by the
most practical of all peoples, and used with com-
plete success until the time when Italian agriculture
was ruined by foreign competition (amongst other
causes), must be worth knowing. These methods
Varro is at great pains to describe, so that we get
from him a brilliantly clear picture of a Roman
farm as it existed in the first century before Christ.
And many are the interesting facts to be noted by
the way — the use of marne as manure in Gaul and
of vegetable charcoal instead of salt, the employment
of silos, the imperfect domestication of geese other
than white, the distribution in the wild state of bulls,
horses, goats, sheep, and hens, the difference be-
tween the type of indigenous cattle found in Italy
then and that which now exists there — all of which,

xxiv INTRODUCTION

with many more, seem to deserve more attention
from naturalists than they have yet received.

Incidentally, too, the enormous wealth and the
incredible luxury of the few at Rome, the turbu-
lence and corruption of elections, the frequency of
assassination, the price of provisions, the market
gardens, the average profits made by farms, the
occasional employment of hired labourers in prefer-
ence to slaves — all these and a host of other curious
facts are vividly described or illustrated in these
books on farming.

The first book, on agriculture proper, begins with
a general introduction to the whole work, and a
statement of the method which is to be used in the
treatment of the subject. The treatise as a whole
is dedicated to his wife Fundania. And here we
may observe the elaborate care given to the mise-
en-scene by Varro. As the first book is concerned
with the cultivation of the land, the scene is laid in
the Temple of Tellus (earth), and the time is the
Sementivae (Festival of Sowing). The name Fun-
dania suggests the fundus, or farm, as do those of
the aeditumus Fundilius, and one of the interlocu-
tors, Fundanius, Varro's father-in-law. Agrius and
Agrasius — connected with fl'^^d'r (the land) — and Stolo
(sucker), are names of other speakers.

The second book treats of cattle, horses, pigs,

INTRODUCTION xxv

sheep, etc. ; it is accordingly dedicated to Turranius
Niger — tiiru being Umbrian for taurus — and the
speakers are Vaccius (t;«cc« = co\v), whose subject
is cattle, Atticus who treats of sheep (the Attic
sheep was a celebrated kind), while Scrofa (sow)
discusses pigs. The place is possibly Epirus, where
the best cattle were bred, and the time the Palilia,
the great shepherd festival and the birthday of
Rome, which was founded by shepherds.

The third book is concerned with what the
Romans called villatica pastio^ the feeding about
the villa of such stock as fieldfares, blackbirds, hens,
peacocks, guinea-fowls, hares, snails, dormice, fish,
and bees ; so it is dedicated to Quintus Pinnius {pinna
= wing-feather), and Merula (blackbird) discourses
on fieldfares and blackbirds, Appius (connected by
Varro with apis) on bees. Other names occurring
in the book are Fircellius Pavo (peacock), Minucius
Pica (jay), and Petronius Passer (sparrow). One
is tempted to believe also that the harsh style, as
well as a rustic vocabulary — with words like tabani
and diminutives such as satulli, etc., was de-
liberately assumed in order to be in keeping with
the subject, and that Varro wished to represent in
a realistic fashion the ordinary speech of the Roman
gentleman-farmer. Unfortunately for this hypo-
thesis we find the same crudeness, confusion, and

xxvi INTRODUCTION

ugliness in everything of his which remains with
perhaps the exception of such earlier works as the
Menippeae. The truth is probably that Varro ad-
mired too greatly the "adorable rust" of antiquity,
and ruined his style by pondering over and making
excerpts from pre-Ennian writers who cared nothing
for form in prose expression, and that while many
current country words and homely proverbs are
preserved in the Rerum Rusticarum, its stiffness
and dryness are transmitted through Varro from a
time when no prose literature in Latin existed. This
harshness of style is frequently noticed by the
ancients. Quintilian mentions it, and Augustine
(De Civ. Dei, vi, 2) writes about Varro, "al-
though he has no sweetness of utterance, he is yet
so full of learning and of wise precepts that in the
whole field of knowledge which we call secular, and
pagans liberal, he is as full of information for the
student of facts as Cicero is of charm for the lover
of style." There is little doubt that the difficulty of
reading Varro's work— St. Augustine (xix, i) is
obliged frequently to paraphrase — goes far to ex-
plain why so little of it remains to us, as people
naturally preferred the writings of those who, using
his facts, presented them more gracefully, and we
need not have recourse to the story, probably in-
vented by Machiavelli or Cardan, that Gregory the

INTRODUCTION xxvii

Great caused Varro's writings to be burnt in order
to conceal Augustine's plagiarisms from them !

It is clear from Cicero's letters (Ad Att., iv, i6,
etc.) that in those of his treatises which are cast
in the form of dialogues he was careful to avoid
anachronisms and the introduction of anything
which might shock the reader by its inherent im-
probability. Those who take part in the dialogue
are real people, not unknown to the public, and
speak each in accordance with his known character.
We find no fictitious personages, and no violation
of history. We may be quite sure that the more
accurate and less imaginative Varro has been
equally careful, and that in the Rerum Rusticarum
we are introduced to a circle of people, all of whom
once lived, and were his acquaintances or friends,
and that they are portrayed in their real characters.
Many of them, indeed, Cicero's letters have made
familiar to us; Atticus, for instance, and Agrius,
Appius, C. Fundanius, Cossinius, Axius — and often
they form an illuminating commentary on Varro's
text. As examples: Axius the senator is humor-
ously represented by Varro as a man whose whole
heart is set on gain: in Cicero he appears as
an avaricious moneylender; in book ii, 2, 11, Varro
writes of Atticus, "who was then (58 B.C.) Pom-
ponius, and now (36 B.C.) is called Q. Caecilius":

xxviii INTRODUCTION

there is extant a letter (Ad Att., iii, 20) of Cicero's
congratulating Atticus on his adoption and inherit-
ance; in book iii, 2, 3, Appius reminds Axius that
a few days before he had stayed at Axius's house in
Reate, and that his visit was connected with a dis-
pute between the Interamnates and Reatini: Cicero
(Ad Att. iv, 15), who tells the whole story at
length, was counsel for the Reatini, and stayed
with Axius i^ixi cum Axt'o), so that on this occasion
Cicero and Axius were guests at the same house.
This letter incidentally fixes the date assigned to
the imaginary conversations of this book, and of
the election of aediles described in it, which must
have taken place in July 54 B.C. Varro and Axius
(iii, 2, i) are represented as taking shelter from
the blazing sun in the Villa Publica during this
election: Cicero (Ad O. F., iii, i) says that he
does not remember ever to have known a hotter
summer than this of 54. A little further on in the
book Varro tells a ' fish-story ' about Ummidius and
Philippus which vividly illustrates the character of
Philippus as described by Cicero, and of Ummidius,
the miser mentioned by Horace. The latter or his
children Varro probably knew personally, for Um-
midius lived at Casinum, where stood Varro's villa,
and it was an Ummidia who built the theatre, still
standing, for the Casinates, as is proved by an in-

INTRODUCTION xxix

scription now preserved in the Badia of Monte
Cassino.

These examples illustrate the meticulous accuracy
shown by Varro in arranging the background for
these dialogues. He probably fixed upon some one
year for the conversation of each book, and then
consulted his notes for the events and people of
that year, choosing of the latter those whose cir-
cumstances and names associated them with agri-
culture— for there were few things which Varro
liked better than a pun. One need not wonder at
his success in finding characters whose names came
so pat to his purpose, for a large proportion of
Roman names are connected with the animals and
plants found on a farm.

The place and occasion of the conversations in
the first book is, as I have said, made clear by
Varro, but there is no internal evidence to fix the
year. From the allusion, however, to Corcyra, and
the fleet being there, if the reference is, as most
commentators suppose, to the great civil war of
49-48, we may conclude that it was after this date.
I am inclined to think, however, that the time re-
ferred to is when Varro served under Pompey in
the war against the pirates. In book ii the time of
the conversation is precisely fixed, for Varro says
that they took place when he was in command of

XXX INTRODUCTION

the fleets between Delos and Sicily during the wars
of the pirates (67-66 B.C.). That the supposed occa-
sion was the Parilia (20th April) I hope I have
established conclusively in the note to ch. viii, § i.
But the place is not certain. In the note to 5, i,
I suggested Sicily and proposed "Palicis," as an
alternative to Keil's emendation "Laribus," for
the ''Palibus," of the archetype {diim asses solvo
Palibiis ^ si postea a me repetant ut testitnmiium per-
hihere possis). I now think that it was somewhere
in Epirus, for Varro (Introduction, § 6) says that
he is giving the substance of conversations which
he had had with people who possessed large cattle
farms in EpirOy and Epirus was celebrated for its
cattle.

The conversations of the third book took place,
as is said above, at the Villa Publica in the Campus
during the election of aediles in 54 B.C.

The sources consulted by Varro are many. In the
introduction to book i he recommends to his wife
as a reference library the works of fifty Greek
authors! The authorities mostly used by him for

' For the impossible " Palibus " of the archetj'pe I would
suggest Pali bis, with repetat instead of repetant, when the
translation would run "Come along, Murrius, and support
me with your presence while I pay my pence to Pales, so that
if she (or he) tries to make me pay them twice over (bis) you
can give evidence."

INTRODUCTION xxxi

book i are Cato, the Sasernae and Theophrastus,
for book ii Xenophon, Aristotle, Mago, and his
own contemporary Tremellius Scrofa ; and for
book iii Aristotle. Varro's own treatise soon
afterwards became the standard authority on the
subject, and is the chief source used by the later
writers on agriculture — Vergil, Columella, Pliny,
Palladius — while much of it is paraphrased or
translated by the compiler of the Geoponica, and
by Petrus Crcscentius as late as the thirteenth
century.

MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO
ON FARMING

BOOK I
AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

1 My dear Fundania/ if I had leisure I would give
a better form to this treatise. As I have not, I
will do what a man may who has to bear in mind
the need of haste. Man is a bubble, they say; in
which case the proverb must be the more true of an
old man. And I am in my eightieth year, which
warns me to pack up my baggage in readiness to
journey out of this world.

2 Well, as you have bought an estate, and want
to farm it to advantage, and as you ask me to give
the matter my attention, I will try what I can do,

' Fundania, Varro's wife. She is mentioned again in the
preface to the second book, § 6. Her father, C. Fundanius,
one of the interlocutors in this book — like Varro, of plebeian
family — was a tribune of the people and curator viarum in
72 B.C. Possibly Cicero's friend, mentioned in his letter to his
brother (Ad Q. Cic, i, 3, 10), is this same Fundanius.

B

2 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

in the hope that my instructions may serve you not
only during my life, but after my death as well.

3 The Sibyl's oracles helped not only her contem-
poraries, but also generations of men to whom she
had never even given a thought; her books, after
so many centuries, are still consulted officially, when
some portent occurs and we need to know the proper
way to deal with it — so it shall not be said that I,
even during my lifetime, could do nothing to help
those near and dear to me.

4 I am, accordingly, about to write three books for
your guidance, to which you can refer whenever, in
any particular case, you need a detailed knowledge
of the practice of farming. And since the gods, they
say, help those who pay them due observance, I
will begin by invoking not the Muses, as Ennius
and Homer did, but the twelve great gods who form
the Senate of Heaven. I do not mean those fine
city gods, six of either sex, whose statues stand in
the Forum,' all dressed in gold, but those twelve
deities who are the special guides of the farmer.

5 First in order, then, I call upon Jupiter and Tellus,
who by means of the sky and land maintain the
various fruits of farming, and this is the reason

' Deos Consentis. Their names are given in two well-known
hexameters of Ennius, "Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Deiana,
Venus, Mars, || Mercurius, Jovi', Neptunus, Volcanus, Apollo."
The court in which their statues stood, in the north-west
corner of the Forum, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, was
discovered in 1834. In a.d. 367 Agorius Praetextatus, prefect
of Rome, restored these sacro-sancta simulacra to their ancient
state, as the inscription, still to be read there, declares.

I] INTRODUCTORY 3

why — as they are said to be the universal parents —
Jupiter is addressed as " Father Jove," and Tellus
as "Mother Earth." Next the Sun and Moon,
whose seasons are observed for the sowing and
garnering of the crops. Thirdly Ceres and Liber,
as the fruits they send are specially necessary for
subsistence: for it is through them that food and
6 drink come from the farm. Fourthly Robigus^ and
Flora, for by their grace blight does not ruin the
various grains and trees, and these flourish in due
season. For which cause the State appointed the
festival of the Robigalia,- in honour of Robigus,
and for Flora the games known as Floralia.' And
likewise I pay my respects to Minerva and Venus,
the one of whom watches over the olive orchards,
the other over gardens. It is in honour of the latter
that the festival of the ** Country Vinalia " ^ was in-
stituted. And finally I pray to Lympha and Good
Speed," since without water all husbandry is dry

' Robigtis, the god, and Rohigo the goddess, of blight or
mildew {robigo). " They were implored not to come near " the
crops. Cf. Aug., C. D., iv, 21.

'^ Robigalia. ' ' A festival called after Robigus. Sacrifice is
made to this god near the corn-fields that mildew may not
attack the crops" (Varro, L. L., vi, 16). Its date was 25th
April, "just before the ear leaves its sheath (Pliny, N. H.,
xviii, 14). Red puppies were sacrificed.

' Floralia. 28th iVpril to 2nd May.

* Rustica vinalia. 19th August. "Then Venus's temple
was dedicated — and on that day gardens are placed under the
protection of this goddess, and market-gardeners make holi-
day" (Varro, L. L., loc. cit.).

= Bonus Eventus. According to Pliny (N. H., xxxiv, 8) there

4 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

and stingy work, and without good luck and good
speed it is a delusion and a snare.

7 And now that I have invoked all these deities,
I will reproduce those conversations in which I and
others lately discussed the practice of farming. You
will find in them the practical information you
need; but lest you should in the future require
guidance upon matters not contained in them, I will
mention those authors, Greek as well as Latin,
from whom you may get it.

8 Of those who have written monographs in Greek
on different branches of the subject there are more
than fifty. These you will be able to summon
whenever you want a consultation on any point:
Hiero of Sicily and Attalus Philometer; amongst
the philosophers, Democritus, the natural philo-
sopher, and'Xenophon, Socrates' disciple; of the
Peripatetics, Aristotle and Theophrastus; Archy-
tas the Pythagorean, and also Amphilochus of
Athens, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of
Lemnos, Aristophanes of Mallus, Antigonus of
Cumae, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Per-
gamus, Aristandrus the Athenian, Bacchius of
Miletus, Bion of Solos, Chaeresteus and Chaereas
of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon,
Diophanes of Nicaea, Epigenesof Rhodes, Euagon
of Thasos, the two Euphronii — the one of Athens,
the other of Amphipolis — Hegesias of Maronea,
the two Menanders — one from Priene, the other

was a statue of this j^od in Rome, in the right hand of which
was a patera, while the left held an ear of corn and a poppy.

I] INTRODUCTORY 5

from Heraclea, Nicesius of Maronea, and Pythion
of Rhodes.
9 Amongst the others, whose place of birth is
unknown to me, are Androtion, Aeschrion, Aris-
tomenes, Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysios,
Euphiton, Euphorion, Eubulus, Lysimachus, Mna-
seas, Menestratus, Plentiphanes, Persis,Theophilus.
All the above-mentioned wrote in prose. Some have
treated the same subject in verse, as for example
Hesiod of Ascra, and Menecrates of Ephesus.

10 More famous than all these writers is Mago the
Carthaginian, who, writing in Punic, embodied
in twenty-eight books matter that was previously
scattered here and there in different monographs.
Of these twenty-eight books, Cassius Dionysius of
Utica made a Greek translation in twenty books
which he dedicated to Sextilius the praetor, and in
these twenty volumes he introduced much matter
taken from the Greek writings of those whom I
have mentioned above, shortening at the same time
Mago's work by eight books. Of these twenty
books a useful abridgement to six books was made
by Diogenes in Bithynia, and presented by him to

11 King Deiotarus. I mean to be briefer still than he,
treating the same subject in three books — the first
on agriculture proper, the second on cattle, and the
third on the fattening of farmyard stock, for I shall
eliminate from this treatise such matters as I think
do not come within the province of farming. And
so I shall begin by showing what ought to be elimin-
ated, and then proceed with the subject, following

6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

its natural divisions. My observations will be
drawn from a threefold source ; from personal ex-
perience on my own farms, from my own reading,
and from what I have heard from experts.

CHAPTER II

THE AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE

I At the Sementivae (Festival of Sowing) ' I was
in the temple of Tellus, on the invitation of the
Aeditumus (guardian of the temple), as our ances-
tors taught us to call him, though now our modern
men-about-town correct us, and would have us say
Aedituus.'^ There I fell in with Caius Fundanius,
my father-in-law, C. Agrius, a Roman equesof the
Socratic school, and P. Agrasius the tax-farmer.
They were looking at a map of Italy traced on the
wall. What are you doing here? I said to them,
surely the "Sementivae" haven't brought you
gentlemen of leisure here as they used to do our
fathers and grandfathers!

^ Sementivae feriac. A village festhal wliich took place
after the seed had been sown. Its date was announced by the
Pontifices. Sacrifice was made to Ceres and Tellus, and
prayers were offered for a good harvest (cf. Ovid, Fasti, i, 658).

^ Aeditumus, the correct form, for which compare //w ///';;; wj,
le^itiimts, etc. The form Aedituns rests on a false deri\ation
from acdcs and tueri.

I] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 7

2 Our presence has, I imagine, the same cause
as yours, said Agrius, an invitation from the Aedi-
tumus, and if I am right — as your nod would in-
dicate— you must wait with us until he returns,
for the aedile who has charge of this temple sent
for him and he hasn't yet come back, but he left a
request that we should wait for him. So, in the
meantime, while he is on the way, suppose we
apply the ancient proverb — "The Roman wins by
sitting still." '

A good idea, said Agrius, and thinking that
the longest part of a journey is, according to the
proverb, the getting to the gate, at once moved
forward to the benches ; and we followed.

3 When we were seated Agrasius said: You men
who have travelled over many lands, have you ever
seen any which was better cultivated than Italy?
My opinion is, said Agrius, that there is none
that has so little of its land uncultivated. In the
first place, as Eratosthenes ' divided the earth into

^ Romanus sedendo vincit. A saying, no doubt of Fabius
Cunctator. Cf. his advice to Paullus (Livy, xxii, 39) : Duhitas
ergo quin sedendo superaturi sivius? His colleague, Minucius,
was of the opposite opinion (cf. Livy, xxii, 14) : Shiltitia est,
sedendo aut votis debellari credere posse. . . . Audendo atque
agendo res Roniana crevit.

* Eratosthenes, the founder of scientific geography, born
about 275 B.C., died 195 B.C., who was made keeper of the
great library at Alexandria in 247 B.C. by Ptolemy III. Of
his genuine writings only a few fragments remain. In one of
them, the "Hermes," in which the celebrated description of
the Five Zones, imitated by Vergil (Georgics, i, 233) occurs,

8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

two halves, the northern and the southern (the most

4 natural division); and since the northern part is
incontestably healthier than the southern, and the
healthier a place is the more productive it is, we
must conclude that Italy, being in the northern
half, was originally more suitable for cultivation
than Asia. For in the first place Italy is in Europe;
secondly, this part of Europe is more temperate
than the inner part, where almost perpetual winters
reign. And no wonder, since there are districts
between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole — the
axis of the heavens — where the sun is invisible for
six months together. They say, too, that in conse-
quence of this, sailing even is impossible in the
Ocean, owing to the sea being frozen.

5 I say, said Fundanius, you don't suppose, do
you, that anything can grow there, or be cul-
tivated if it does? For Pacuvius's saying is true,
"If there be perpetual sunlight or night, all the

there are these Hnes (v. i8;, which Varro may have had in

mind :

aiirrtv fiiv fiiv tTtriii fxeaiipca navTixj OXvfiTrov
Kevrpov «TTt a<}>aiptie Sid S' a^ovog ripijpHaTO.

But the division of the earth into two parts, Asia and Europe,
Africa being considered as a part of Europe, was adopted by
many of the ancients. Lucan, in speaking of Africa (Phar-
salia, Bk. ix), says: Si ventos caelumque sequaris \\ pars-
erit Europae. Cf also '' JPAhxci Cosmographia," p. i, and
Varro himself (L. L., v, cap. 4): Ut oiiinis nahira in caelum
et terrain divisa est, sic caeli regionibus terra in Asiam et
Europam. Asia enim iacct ad meridiem et Austnim, Europa
ad Septemtriones et aquilonem.

I] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 9

fruits of the earth perish through fiery glow " or
cold ! For myself, even in this part of the world
where night and day follow each other at reason-
able intervals, life would be impossible, did I not

6 in summer time break the day by a siesta. How
then could sowing, growing, or mowing be possible
in that part of the world where there is a six-months
night or day?

Contrast with this Italy, where every useful pro-
duct not merely grows, but grows to perfection.
What spelt is comparable with that of Campania,
what wheat with the Apulian, what wine with the
Falernian, what oil with the Venafrian? Is not
Italy so stocked with fruit-trees as to seem one great

7 orchard? Is Phrygia, which Homer calls ajWTrE^oEo-^-ai,
more thickly covered with vines than our country?
Or is Argos more fruitful, which the same poet calls
Tto-hvitu^ovi In what other land does the mgerum'
produce fifteen cullei' of wine, which is the case in
some districts of Italy? Does not M. Cato write in
his book " Of Origins " as follows: " That part of
the Ager Gallicus ' is called Roman which, lying

' 2 actus quadrati= 2^,^00 Roman square feet = 28,000 Eng-
lihh square feet (approximately), i.e., nearly 5 acre.

■ A culleus = 20 amphorae. The avipJwra, as a measure of
capacity = 6 gallons, 7 pints. The yield of 15 aiUei to the
iugerum amounts to about 3,000 gallons (18,000 bottles) to the
acre.

^ Ager Gallicus. r\. strip of coast between the river Axis —
the ancient northern frontier of Italy— and the Rubicon, the
later northern frontier. It was possessed successively by
Umbrians, Gauls, and Senones, until in 285 B.C. it was con-

lo VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

beyond the Picentine country on this side of Ari-
minum, was portioned out to settlers. In that land
occasionally ten cullei of wine are made to the
iiigeriwi.''' And the same remarkable yield is ob-
served in the country about Faventia, for there the
vines are called trecenariae, on the ground that
the iugeriim is reported to yield 300 amphorae. ^
At this point, with a glance at me, he said, At any
rate, your head engineer, Libo Marcius, used to
assert that the vines on his farm at Faenza pro-
duced this quantity.

i Two points above all others the inhabitants of
Italy seem to have considered in farming: Could
they get back a return proportionate to the labour
and expense? And was the situation healthy? If
either question has to be answered in the negative,
and a man still wishes to farm, he is mentally de-
fective, and had better be put in charge of his legal
guardians.^ For no sane man should be willing to

quered by Curius Dentatus. In 283 B.C. the Roman colony of
Sena Gallica was founded, and in 268 the Latin colony of
Ariminum. The Ager Gallicus remained ager puhlicus until
232, when, on the passing of the Lex Flaminia, proposed by
G. Flaminlus in order to relieve over-crowding and distress at
Rome, it was portioned out to Roman colonists.

' See note 2, p. 9.

2 Ad agnatos et gentiles. Gefitiles were members of the same
gens who bore the same nomen and were supposed to be
descended from a common ancestor. Agnati were gentiles
on the male side who could prove their relationship. When a
man died without heirs of his body, his properly devolved on
the agnati — failing these the gentiles divided it.

If a man were mad, tiie agnati, or, failing them, the

i] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE ii

go to the trouble and expense of farming if he sees
that no return is possible, or that, while he may
get a return in crops, they will be destroyed by
disease.
9 But here we have men better qualified than I am
to deal with these matters; for I see coming C. Li-
cinius Stolo and Cn. Tremelius Scrofa. Itwas Stolo's
ancestors who proposed the law limiting the land
held by one person (for a Stolo originated the well-
known law which forbids a Roman citizen to hold
more than 500 tugera), and Stolo himself through
admirable farming made good his right to the Cog-
nomen Stolo, for not a single ** sucker" could be
found on his estate since he went round his trees
digging up such offshoots from the root as sprouted
above the soil — and these were called "stolos."
C. Licinius ' of the ssixnQ.ge7is, when he was Tribune

gentiles, took charge of him and his property. Cf. the laws of
twelve tables (Cic. De Invent., ii, 148): Si furiosus escit, ast ei
custos nee escit, adgnatuni gentiliumque itt eo pecuniaque eius
potestas esto. Persistent senseless extravagance was treated as
madness (cf. Ulpian, Reg., 12, 2).

' Caius Licinius Crassus was a Tribune of the Plebs in
145 B.C., and, according to Cicero (De Amicitia, xxv), he,
when addressing the people from the Rostra in support of a
popular measure, was the first to adopt the custom of speak-
ing with his face turned towards the Forum, not towards the
Comitium — by this implying the sovereignty of the people,
and denying that of the patricians. The Comitium was an
enclosure (unroofed) extending in a north-easterly direction
from the ancient Rostra. To face the Forum the orator would
have to turn right round, looking south. On its northern side
was the Curia Hostilia, the ancient senate house. In the

12 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

of the Plebs, 365 years after the expulsion of the
kings, was the first to lead the people, to hear the
laws announced, from the Comitium to the Forum,
their seven iugera of land.'
10 The other whom I see approaching is a col-
league of yours, one of the twenty commissioners
appointed to apportion the Campanian lands, Cn.
Tremelius Scrofa. Universally accomplished, he
is also considered the greatest Roman authority on
farming. And is he not rightly so considered?
said I ; for his farms, owing to their fine cultiva-
tion, are a pleasanter sight to many than the palatial
buildings of others, since people come in his case
to see farmhouses, not picture-galleries as at Lu-

Comitium the ancient comitia had been held, and in the time
of the kings and during the early republic it was the centre
of government and the stronghold of the patricians. The
Rostra, a raised semicircular stone platform on the confines
of the Comitium and the Forum — so situated that a speaker
could be heard both by patricians and plebeians.

^ In septem iugera foreiisia. According to Pliny (N. H.,
xviii, 3), haec meiisura \i.e., seven iugera\ pJehei post exactos
reges assignata est. Columella also speaks of post reges
exactos Liciniana ilia septcna iugera quae plebi tribunus viritim
diviserat. Romulus had assigned two iugera to each man.

Varro here speaks of the populus as one person, and the
Forum Romanum as its allotment of seven iugera.

The meaning, then, of this difficult passage would seem to
be that C. Licinius Crassus when proposing a democratic
measure (that election to the priestly colleges should be by
the people, not co-optative) addressed himself to the j-H?ople in
the Forum. Those who were then in the Comitium naturally
quitted it for the Forum in order to hear him.

I] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 13

cullus's, but store-houses stocked with fruit. There
is a picture of our friend's orchard, said I, at the
top of the Sacra Via/ where fruit is being sold for
gold.

11 Meanwhile, the two of whom I was speaking
join us. We have not come too late for the
dinner, have we? said Stolo, for I don't see
L. Fundilius, who invited us to it. Don't be
uneasy, said Agrius, for the egg' which marks
the last course in the four-horse chariot-races at the
games of the Circus has not yet been removed; we
have not even seen the egg which usually begins

12 the solemn function of dinner." And so, until we
can see the latter together, and while the Aeditumus
is on his way, tell us what is the chief end of farm-
ing— utility, or pleasure, or both; for they tell me

' Sunima Sacra Via. The end of the first stage of the Sacra
Via, which went from the Sacellum Streniae (where the
Colosseum now stands) to the VeUa. There, where Is now
the Arch of Titus, it was called Summa Sacra Via. From
here the Sacra Via proceeded by the Arch of Fabius, the
temple of Castor, and the Basilica lulia to the Capitol.

^ Ovum illud. An allusion to the egg-shaped objects (usually
seven) on the spina (a low wall which passed down the middle
of the course) of the circus which served to indicate to the
spectators how many heats remained to be run. As each heat
was concluded one of these " eggs " was removed.

^ Cenali povipa. A Roman dinner usually began with eggs,
salad, etc. Compare Horace's phrase ab ovo usque ad mala —
" from hors d'ceuvres to dessert." Martial (Epig,, x, 31, 4) calls
a mullet cenae pompa :

Nee bene cenasti : mullus tibi quattuor emptus
Librarian cenae pompa caputque fuit.

14 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

that you are now the great agricultural ' expert, as
was Stole before you.

We must first decide, said Scrofa, whether farm-
ing is concerned only with the sowing of land,
or with such things also as are brought on to the

13 land, such as sheep and cattle; for I find that those
who have written on agriculture in Phoenician,
Greek and Latin, have travelled too far afield.

It is my opinion, answered Stolo, that we are
not bound to imitate them in every particular,
and that certain writers have done better who have
kept within a narrower boundary and excluded from
it everything irrelevant to the subject. Thus the
feeding of stock in general, which most people
make a branch of farming, seems more the province

14 of the shepherd than of the farmer; and so the
headmen in each case are distinguished by different
names, the one being called the bailiff {viliciis), the
other the flock-master. The vilicus was appointed
to cultivate the ground and was named after the
villa, as he conveys the produce into the farmhouse,
and out of it when it is being sold. Hence the
country-folk even to-day say vea for via (road)^

' Ad te enim nideni esse, /vndis was tlie wooden foil given
to a distinguished gladiator in token of his discharge. Sucli
a gladiator frequently became a lanista (fencing-master). Ad
te is perhaps an archaism for apud te, of which I can find no ex-
ample. The quotation given by Victorius from Cicero, quod ad
fratrem promiserat, has, of course, no bearing on the question.

^ Vea. The use of e for i (in hiatus) in rustic Latin was
common, l^ea is found for via in Umbrian. C^. Lindsay,
"The Latin Language," p. 22.

i] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 15

owing to the conveyance {vectura) over it, and
vella, not villa^ for the place to and from which
produce is conveyed {vehit). Carriers likewise are
said to follow the trade of conveying {velatiira).

15 Certainly, said Fundanius, the feeding of stock
is one thing, tilling the land is another, yet they
are related, just as the right-hand flute, though
different from the left-hand one, is yet in a sense
united to it since the song is the same, of which the
one leads and the other accompanies the tune.

16 Yes, and you may add, said I, that the shep-
herd's life is the leading part, the farmer's takes the
second — on the authority of the learned Dicae-
archus,' who, in the picture he has drawn for us of
primitive Greek life, shows that in former ages
there was a time when men led a pastoral life, with
no knowledge of ploughing, sowing, or pruning,
and that they took up agriculture a degree later in
point of time. Agriculture, therefore, plays second
to the pastoral life, in that it is lower, like a left-
hand flute in relation to the stops of the right-hand
one.

17 Then said Agrius, You and your piping not
only rob the farmer of his flock, but the slave, too,
of his peculium — the ox which his master allows
him to grsLze, and you do away with the laws for
settlers, in which it is written: On land planted
with young trees let not the settler pasture the off-

' Dicaearchus. A Greek philosopher, disciple of Aristotle.
His most important work was that referred to here, the
Life of Hellas.

i6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

spring of the she-goat — creatures which even
astronomy has removed to a place in the sky not
far from the bull.
i8 I am afraid, Agrius, said Fundanius to him,
that what you quote is wide of the mark, for in
the laws it is also written '* certain cattle," and the
reason of this is that certain animals, such as the
she-goats you mention, are hostile to cultivation
and poisonous to plants, for by nibbling at them
they ruin all young plants, and not the least, vines

19 and olive trees. And so on this ground, though from
different motives, it was ordained that a victim of
the goat kind should be led to the altar of one god,
but that at another's no such sacrifice should be
performed. The loathing in each case was the same
— the one god wishing to see the goat dying, the
other not wanting to see him at all. Hence to
Father Liber — discoverer of the vine — he-goats were
sacrificed to the end that they might suffer death
for their misdeeds, but to Minerva they sacrificed
nothing of the goat kind because of the olive tree,
which is said to become barren if bruised by it, for

20 the goat's saliva is poisonous to vegetation. At
Athens, too, we are told that on this account goats
are not allowed to enter the Acropolis, save once a
year for the necessary sacrifice,^ lest the olive tree,
which they say first sprang up there, be touched by
a she-goat.

No animals, said I, come within the pro-
' Ncccssarium sacrijicimti. Probably the yearly sacrifice of
300 goats to Artemis in fultilnient of the vow of Milliadcs.

i] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 17

vince of agriculture save those which can help the
soil to greater fertility by their labour, as for ex-
ample those which yoked together can plough

21 the land. If what you say is true, said Agrasius,
how are you to disconnect cattle from the land,
seeing that dung, which is of the greatest use to
it, is furnished by herds of cattle? Then, replied
Agrius, we must say that a troop of slaves belongs
to agriculture, if we decide to keep one for that
purpose. No, the mistake arises from the fact that
cattle may be on the land and be productive of
revenue on that land; but you must not make this
fact an argument [for connecting them with agricul-
ture] ; for if you do, other things as well which have
nothing to do with land will have to be admitted —
as when a farmer has several weavers on a farm
with buildings set apart for weaving, and so on for
other craftsmen.

22 Well, said Scrofa, let us separate stock-raising
from farming, and all the other things to which
objection may be taken on this ground. Or, said
I, am I to follow the books of the Sasernae,
father and son, in thinking that the proper work-
ing of potteries has more to do with agriculture
than the working of silver and other mines which
are doubtless to be met with on some land? Pot-

23 teries however have nothing to do with farming,
any more than stone or sand quarries, though
we need not on that account neglect to work them
and reap profit from them on land where they can
be conveniently worked. Just as, to take another

c ^

i8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

instance, if a piece of land borders on a highway,
and the spot suits travellers, it is advisable to build
inns, though they, however profitable, do not any
the more belong to agriculture. For all produce
that an owner gets directly or indirectly from his
land, ought not to be credited to agriculture, but
only such things as have grown from the ground
for human consumption after having been sown.

24 Then Stolo took him up, saying: You are jeal-
ous of the illustrious author, and your criticism
of his potteries is mere carping, while you say
nothing about many excellent passages, for fear of
having to praise them, though they are closely con-

25 nected with agriculture. Scrofa smiled, for he
knew the books and thought little of them. Agra-
sius, thinking himself to be the only one who knew
them, asked Scrofa to mention the passages. So
Scrofa began. It describes in these words how
bugs should be destroyed: " Put a wild cucumber
in water, pour the water where you want the result,
no bugs will come near. Or, take ox-gall mixed

26 with vinegar; smear your bed with it," Fundanius
looked towards Scrofa and said: And yet he
speaks the truth, though the statement does occur
in a treatise on agriculture. It is as true, I war-
rant, said Scrofa, as his recipe for a depilatory
— he bids you throw a yellow frog into water,
which you are to boil until two-thirds are gone,
and to anoint your body with what remains. You
had better quote, said I, from that book what
more nearly concerns Fundanius's healtli, for our

I] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 19

friend's feet often ache, and pucker his forehead

27 with frowns. Please do, said Fundanius, for I had
rather hear about my feet than about the proper
way of sowing beetroot,'

I will quote, said Stolo with a smile, the very
words he wrote: ''Thus have I heard Tarquenna
say,' that when a man's feet began to ache, by
remembering you he could be cured. I remember
you, cure my feet. * O Earth, keep thou the pain,
and health with me remain in my feet.'" He bids
one sing this thrice nine times, touch the earth,

28 spit downwards, and sing it fasting. Said I, You
will find many other marvels in the book of the
Sasernae, all of which have nothing to do with

^ Pedibus meis . . . pedes betaceos. A pun quite in Varro's
manner. Cf. iii, 17, 4: Hos pisces nemo in ius vocare audef,
ius having the double meaning of (i) sauce, (2) trial.

^ Vel Tarquennam audivi, etc. Victorius supposes Tar-
quenna to have been the name of an anagnostes, a slave
whose office it was to read aloud. In this case the translation
would run, "or as I have heard T. read . . ."

But "Tarquenna" ("Tarchna" in Etruscan) — the name of
the mythical founder of Tarquinii, the ecclesiastical metropolis
of Etruria — Is a name not likely to have been borne by a slave.
The whole passage from vel (or better velut, the contraction
for both words being the same in Minuscule MSS.) to maneto
seems to be in rough Saturnian verse. It may be that the
Incantation begins with velut Tarquenna, and that it may
have been addressed to the mythical hero Tarquenna. We
should then have to read "Tarquenna," not "Tarquennam "
(which In MSS. would be Tarquennfi). The translation would
then be: "As I heard, O Tarquenna, that when a mortal's
feet began to ache by thinking of you he could be cured, I
think now of you, cure my feet," etc.

20 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

farming, and are for that reason to be rejected.
As though, said he, you couldn't find in other
writers, too, examples of the same kind. Why, in
the book which the great Cato published on agri-
culture, are there not scores, for example : how to
make a placenta^ or a libiwi, or how to salt hams?
You don't give, said Agrius, the remarkable pre-
scription, " If you should wish to drink deep and
eat freely at a dinner-party, you ought beforehand
to have eaten raw cabbage in vinegar, some five
leaves "!

CHAPTER III

AGRICULTURE AN ART

Well, said Agrasius, seeing that we decided
what kind of things were to be kept apart from
agriculture, will you gentlemen tell us whether the
knowledge employed in farming is an art or other-
wise, and what is its starting-point, what its goal?

Said Stolo, after looking at Scrofa, It is for you
to tell us, as you are our superior in age, in rank,
and in knowledge of the subject. He, nothing
loth, began:

In the first place, it is not only an art, but an
art as important as it is necessary; it teaches us
what crops are to be sown and what methods adopted
on each and every soil, and what kind of land yields
continuously the greatest increase.

I] THE FOUR DEPARTMENTS 21

CHAPTER IV

THE FOUR DEPARTMENTS

1 Its elements are those of which, according to
Ennius, the universe is composed: water, earth,
air, and sun. For before sowing one's seed one
must have gained understanding of these things,
being, as they are, the source of all production.
The farmer must start from this point and direct his
course towards two goals — utility and pleasure.
Utility seeks profit, pleasure what isagreeable. What
is useful plays a more important part than what is

2 agreeable. And indeed it is also true that the efforts
which by culture make land more beautiful not only
increase as a rule the return from it — as for example
when vineyards and oliveyards are planted in regular
order — but also render it more saleable and add to
the value of the farm. For every one prefers to buy,
and will give more for, a thing which with the
same advantages is more beautiful, than for a farm

3 which, though profitable, is ugly.^ Now, that land
is the most useful which is the most healthy, be-
cause the return from it is assured; and because,
on the other hand, on a malarious soil however
fertile it be, sickness and death prevent the settler

^ Nemo enim, etc. The translation here reproduces the con-
fusion of thoug-ht in the original ; with fructuostis, fundus or
ager must be supplied.

22 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

from reaping the fruits of his labour. For in
fact, when you have to reckon perpetually with
Orcus (Pluto), it is not the profits from the land
only which are uncertain, but the life of those who
farm it. So in unhealthy conditions agriculture is
mere gambling with the farmer's life and property.

4 Yet this risk can be lessened by knowledge. For
though healthy conditions, depending as they do
upon soil and climate, are not in our power but
in Nature's, yet by care we can do much to mitigate
the graver evils. For in fact, suppose that owing to
soil or water a farm is ma.de unwholesome by a
stench which exhales from it, or if owing to its
aspect the land should be too hot, or a bad wind
should blow, these evils are generally remedied by
the knowledge and efforts of the owner; for the
situation of the farm-buildings, their size, and the
aspect of the colonnades, doors, and windows, are

5 of very great importance. Did not the great physician
Hippocrates at the time of a severe pestilence save
by his knowledge, not a single field, but many
towns? But why need I call Hippocrates to wit-
ness? Did not our friend Varro here, at a time when
the army and fleet were at Corcyra, and every
house was full of sickness and death, let in the
north wind by making new windows, shut off mal-
arious winds, change the house-door, and by other
precautions of the same kind bring back his com-
rades and household safe and sound?

I] BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE 23
CHAPTER V

BRANCHES OF THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE

1 But now that I have stated the principles and
end of agriculture, it remains for us to determine
the number of departments into which its practice
should be divided.

Why, to me they seem countless, said Agrius,
when I read the numerous books of Theophrastus,
which are called (puTuv laropiai (researches on plants)
and the second series entitled <putikuv mtIuv (of the

2 causes of plant-life). The books you mention,
said Stolo, though I do not mean to imply that
they contain nothing that is of practical use or
general interest, are better suited to the would-be

3 philosopher than to the practical farmer. So with-
out troubling Theophrastus we ask you to describe
the departments of agriculture.

There are, said Scrofa, four main branches
of the science of agriculture; they consist in the
knowledge (i) of the farm, the nature of the soil
and its constituents; (2) of the things which are
needed on that farm, and should be there for the
purpose of its cultivation ; (3) of what must be done
in the process of its cultivation, and (4) of the times
of the year which are suitable for the various opera-

4 tions on it. Of these four principal divisions each is
subdivided into at least two others. The first prin-

24 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

cipal division comprises three things which have to
do with (i) the soil itself, and (2) the farm-buildings
and out-houses; the second division, comprising
things of a movable nature which are necessary
for the purposes of cultivation, is likewise twofold,
being concerned with (i) human and (2) other in-
struments of cultivation ; the third is divided into
two parts, one of which treats of the necessary
operations in detail, and the second the choice of
places where these are to be performed. The fourth
main division relates to the seasons (i) as con-
nected with the sun's yearly orbit, and (2) as related
to the monthly course of the moon. I shall first
mention the four principal divisions, and after-
wards the eight subdivisions in greater detail.

CHAPTER VI

THE SOIL

I Firstly then, in relation to the soil of the farm, we
have to consider these four points: its configura-
tion, the kind of land, its extent, and how it may be
properly fenced.

As to configuration, there are two kinds, the one
the gift of nature, the other induced by human
cultivation — for example, in the former case a farm
may be (i) naturally bad or good, and (2) in the
latter, well-planted or otherwise. Of the two I will

I] THE SOIL 25

first discuss the natural configuration of the farm.

2 Now there are three kinds of land which are
simple in character — the flat, the hilly, the mount-
ainous, and, springing from these three, a fourth —
the mixed — as in the case of a farm where two or
three of these kinds co-exist, of which many ex-
amples may be found. To speak of these three
fundamental degrees of elevation, without any doubt
one method of cultivation is better adapted to the
lowest than to the highest land, for the former is
hotter than the latter; and it is the same with hilly
ground, as it has a more temperate climate than
either. And these differences in lands belonging
wholly to one or other of the three kinds is the
more marked the greater their extent.

3 Thus where there are wide plains, the heat is
more intense — as in Apulia where the air is com-
paratively heavy and sultry ; and where there are
mountainous districts, as on Vesuvius, the air being
lighter is consequently more wholesome; and the
farmers below suffer more in summer, those above

4 more in winter. In spring time the same crops that
are sown on high levels are sown earlier on the
plains, and can be garnered there with greater des-
patch. Moreover, both sowing and mowing take
more time on the high than on low grounds. Some
things grow more freely and strongly on mountain
lands, owing to the cold — firs and pines, for in-
stance; on low ground, because the climate is more
temperate, poplars and willows flourish; some
things are more fertile on high ground, as the

26 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

arbutus and oak, others flourish better on low lands,
as, for example, the almond and the large Mariscan
fig. On hills of no great height the crops are more
akin to those of the plain than to those of the moun-
tain, while with high hills it is just the reverse.

5 These three types of land (marked by differences
of level) occasion certain differences of cultivation,
for corn crops, it is thought, do better on the plains,
vineyards on hills, and woods on mountains. As a
general rule those who cultivate champaign lands
do better in winter time, because then there is
grass in the meadows and the pruning of trees can
be done more easily. On the other hand, summer
is more favourable to mountainous districts, for
then there is plenty of green fodder there, which is
parched on the plain, and the air is cool, which

6 suits the cultivation of trees. Champaign land, the
whole of which slopes uniformly in one direction,
is better than that which is absolutely level, because
a plain, when it has no fall for drainage, is apt to
become swampy, and the more uneven the surface
the worse it is, as it gets full of water owing to its
hollows. These three and similar differences in
elevation of land, affect cultivation in different
wavs.

I] THE SITE 27

CHAPTER VH

THE SITE

1 As to the natural configuration, says Stolo, I
fancy that Cato hits the mark when he writes
that the best ground is that which lies at the base

2 of a mountain, and faces South. Here Scrofa
breaks in with

Concerning artificial configuration, I have this
remark to make — productiveness varies directly
with pleasing appearance, as in the case of trees
supporting vines, which give better results if they
are planted in quincunx ^ order, owing to their
symmetrical lines and the reasonable intervals be-
tween each tree. Thus our ancestors, from a given
piece of land, badly sown, produced wine and corn
inferior both in quantity and quality; for plants ar-
ranged in proper order take up less room, and in-
terfere less with one another in respect of sunlight,

3 moonlight, and air. There are several facts which
might lead us to expect this. For instance, nuts
which would go when whole into a peck-measure,

' In quincuncem. Like the Five on a playing-card. " Five
trees so set together, tliat a regular angularity, and through
prospect, was left on every side. Owing this name not only
unto the Quintuple number of Trees, but the figure declaring
that number, which being doubled at the angle makes up the
letter X, that is the Emphatical decussation, or fundamentall
figure " (Sir Thomas Browne).

28 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

owing to their shells being compactly arranged
by nature, when once broken up could scarcely
be packed into a peck-and-a-half measure. More-

4 over, trees which have been planted in orderly
fashion, get the sun and moon uniformly from all
sides; the result being more grapes and olives and
earlier ripening — a double result which necessarily
leads to the two others — more grape-juice and oil,
and more profit.

5 Now follows the second point mentioned : the
nature of the soil on a farm. And it is to this that
we generally allude when we speak of a farm as
good or bad. For the number and nature of the
things that can be sown and grown upon it is of
importance, the same soil not being equally suit-
able for all kinds of produce, but one for vines,
another for corn, and so forth, different soils suiting

6 different things. Thus in Crete, in the neighbour-
hood of Gortynia, there is, we are told, a plane-
tree which does not shed its leaves in winter; one
also in Cyprus, as Theophrastus remarks; and at
Sybaris, now called Thurii, there is an oak within
sight of the town which has the same peculiarity.
The parts about Elephantine, also, show a marked
contrast with Italy, in that neither figs nor vines there
shed their leaves at all. Owing to the same cause
many trees bear twice; for example the vines near
the sea at Smyrna, and the apple-trees in the Con-

7 sentine country. Another example of the same
fact is that while in unreclaimed land trees bear
more abundantly, in that which is cultivated the

I] THE SITE 29

fruit is of better quality. For the same reason some
plants can live only in a watery place, or even in
water itself, and this again with a difference, for
some can grow in lakes only, as reeds in the Reatine
country; others in rivers, as in Epirus alder-trees;
others in the sea, as palms and squills do according

8 to Theophrastus. When I was in command of an
army in Transalpine Gaul — in the interior near the
Rhine — I came to several districts where neither
vine, olive, nor fruit-tree would grow, where they
manured the fields with "marne,"' dug from the
ground, where they could get salt neither by dig-
ging nor from the sea, but used instead of it salt
charcoal made by the burning of certain woods.

9 Said Stolo, Cato arranges the different kinds of
land in order of merit and divides them into nine
classes. In the first he places land on which you
can have vineyards yielding plenty of good wine;
in the second, well-watered garden land; in the
third, that in which willows can be grown; in the
fourth, lands suitable for olive yards; in the fifth
meadow lands, in the sixth corn lands; in the
seventh, woods for timber; in the eighth, small
trees, and in the ninth, land suitable for an oak-
forest yielding acorns.

10 I am aware, said Scrofa, that Cato wrote thus;
but it is not everyone who agrees with him;

' Candida fossicia Greta no doubl is " marne " — a natural
mixture of lime and clay— which is still much used in France
as manure. It is the marga or Candida argilla (Plin)', N. H.,
xvii, 7), called by the Greeks Xfy^-apytXXoc.

30 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

for some — and I am of the number — put good
meadow-lands in the first rank. Our ancestors
called prata, parata (ready) for this reason —
Caesar Vopiscus, the ex-aedile, when pleading a
case before the censors, called the plains of Rosea
the nursery of Italy, seeing that if you left a pole
there overnight it could not be seen next morning
for the grass.

CHAPTER VIII

ON VINE-TRAINING

1 An objection sometimes made to vineyards is
that their cost eats up the profit. It depends,
said I, upon the kind of vine, for there are many.
Some keep to the ground and need no supports, as
in Spain; others are trained up — the so-called
" yoked vines," to which class Italian vines mostly
belong. In connection with the latter class, two
terms are used, viz., pedamenta (props) and iitga
(espaliers) ; the uprights which support the vine
are called pedamenta^ the supports which are placed
cross-wise have the name of iuga (yokes). Hence,

2 too, the term "yoked vines." Of these iuga there
are roughly four kinds — the pole, the reed, cords,
and withes. Poles are used in Falernum, reeds in
Arpinum, cords in the country about Brundisium,
and withes in the district of Mediolanum (Milan).
There are two methods of training vines, the one
proceeding on lines at right angles to the trees, the

I] ON VINE-TRAINING 31

other by slanting lines, the vines being trained
lengthways and sideways. ^ The latter is the usual
way in Italy. If the material needed for this train-
ing grows on one's property, the cost is not formid-
able; if much can be had from a neighbouring

3 estate, it is but trifling. Of the four classes of yokes
above mentioned, the first requires willow planta-
tions, the second reed-beds, the third rushes, or
some similar plant, the fourth dwarf-trees, which
are connected by trailing branches of the vines. The
Milanese use for this trees which they call opuli
(maple trees) ; at Canusium they employ fig trees,
the branches of which are strengthened by reeds.^

4 The prop, too, is of four kinds : one is stout — the

^ Compluviata. In the ancient Italian house the roof of the
atrium sloped inwards and downwards from each of its four
sides towards the centre, where a square aperture was left
through which the rain might fall into the impluvium, a tank
let into the floor to receive It. The sloping sides of the roof,
with the aperture mentioned, were called the compluvium.
When a vine was trained along four strings, which ran from
the iuguin (horizontal pole connecting two trees) to four up-
right stakes (two on each side of the iuginn) which did not
stand as high as the iugum, the arrangement was called a
compluviwn from its resemblance to the compluvium of the
house ; and the vines were said to be compluviatae. Cf. Pliny,
N. H., xvii, 21: Compluviata copiosior vino est, dicta a cavis
aedium compluviis. Dividitzirin quaternas pattes totidem iugis.

•^ Hardulatione (Polltian), ardulatione (Jenson), etc., are both
unintelligible. Of the emendations hanmdulatione and arundi-
Mfl//o«t'(Schneider), the former seems the better. Gesner, in sup-
port of Aar/<«(/M/a//f «6?, suggests the translation here adopted,
and quotes Pliny, N. H., xvii, 22 : Saluberrima in itigo harundu
connexafasciculis. Pontcdera suggests in harum iugatione.

32 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

best that is brought into the vineyard — being of
oak or juniper, and is called ridica; the second, a
bough made into a stake — the harder the better, as
it lasts longer. When the earth has rotted the
lower end, which crumbles away, the prop is turned
round and the bottom becomes the top. Failing
these two, a third kind is got from the reed planta-
tion. From it some reeds are taken and bound
together by strips of bark. These are then put into
earthenware tubes, of which the bottom has been
knocked out, so that superfluous moisture may be
able to run through. These bundles of reeds are
called cuspides. The fourth kind is a natural prop
of the same kind, when the vineyard consists of
vines trained from tree to tree. Some people call

5 these traverses rimipi. The vine ought to be the
height of a man, and the props should be placed at
such a distance from one another as to allow a yoke
of oxen to plough between them.

The least expensive vineyard is that which, with-
out supports, provides wine for the wine-jar. There
are two varieties of this — one where the grapes rest
on the earth, as is the case in many places in Asia,
in which foxes often share the vintage with men.
Besides, if the land breeds mice, the yield is less,
unless you fill the vineyards with mouse-traps, as

6 they do in the island of Pandateria. There is
another kind of vine, of which only that shoot which
gives evidence of bearing grapes is raised above
the ground; under it, when the grape is forming,
are placed little forked sticks about two feet high,

I] FARM LAND 33

lest the bunch be unable to learn how to hang on
the twig until the vintage be over, and then have to
be taught by means of a string or the band which
the ancients used to call a cestus.^

As soon as the owner sees the back of the grape-
picker, he takes back home the little forked sticks to
spend the winter there, that he may make use of
their services without further expense another year.
7 In Italy the men of Reate adopt this practice. These
differences in method depend mostly upon differ-
ences of soil, for when the latter is naturally damp,
the vine must be grown high, for wine, when it is
being generated and grown, needs no water — as it
does afterwards in the wine-cup — but sun. And
this is the reason, I think, why the vine-shoot in
the first place climbs up from the vine into trees.

CHAPTER IX

FARM LAND

I It is important, as I said before, to know the
nature of the land and for what it is good, or the
reverse. The term " land " is used in three senses—

1 N'e vindemia facta. Columella, iv, 26 (end), remarks that
if the shoot be tied under the support {iugum), and is other-
wise unsupported, the weight of the growing bunch of grapes
will cause it to break. Varro jests here 7nore suo. The educa-
tion of the bunch will be neglected ; it will not learn to hang
properly until it is dead and hung up in the store-room.

P -

34 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

common, proper, or mixed. It is used as a common
noun when we speak of the land of the terrestrial
globe, the land of Italy or any other country, for in
the term so used are comprised stone, sand, and
other things of that kind. The word is taken in its
" proper " sense when one speaks of land absolutely
without the addition of any other word or qualifica-

2 tion ; and finally it has the mixed sense when we
describe agricultural land as clayey, stony, etc.,
for in this sense there are as many kinds denoted as
by the common noun, and this owing to the fact
that the whole comprises various substances. For
in fact land taken in this sense, as it is of varying
strength and capability, is composed of very many
substances, amongst which I may mention stone,
marble, rubble, sand, coarse sand, clay, red earth,
dust, chalk, ash, burnt earth (land which is heated
intensely by the sun, to such a degree that it burns

3 up the roots of the crops).' From these various
substances, that which goes by the general name
of " land," takes, when mixed with any of them,
the names *' chalky," "gravelly," etc., land, ac-
cording to the type of soil which predominates in
it. And as these types vary, so do the classes into
which we divide land, though these classes admit
of more minute division, as each may be divided

* Cinis, carbunculus. Vitruvius (quoted by Schneider) says
that land scorched by the sun becomes in Campania cinis or
tufa — in Tliuria carbunculus. Carbunculus in Pliny seems to
mean volcanic earth, or a disease in vines caused by excessive
heat (N. H., xvii, 24).

I] FARM LAND 35

into at least three sub-classes, since, for example,
some land is very stony, some moderately so, and
some almost entirely free from stones. And the same
three degrees of comparison apply to soils in which
any of the other substances mentioned (marble,

4 rubble, sand, etc.) exists. Moreover, each of these
three sub-classes may be divided into three others,
as each is dry, moderately dry, or wet. And these
latter differences are of the greatest importance with
regard to the crops to be grown. Thus experts
would rather sow spelt than wheat on comparatively
wet land, wheat rather than spelt on soil that is dry,
and sow either on soil that is midway between the two

5 extremes. Again, all these classes may be divided
more minutely still. Take, for example, sandy soil,
where it is of importance whether the sand be red
or white, for the whitish kind is ill adapted for a
plantation, while reddish sand is, on the contrary,
perfectly suitable. These three differences in land
are important — I mean whether it be poor, rich, or
between the two, for rich land (as regards farming)
is fertile in many things, poor land not so. For ex-
ample, in thin land, such as the Papinian, tall
trees, fruitful vines, stout corn-stalks, are nowhere
to be seen, nor yet the large Mariscan fig; and you
will find most of the trees and meadows parched

6 and infested with moss; while on the other hand,
in rich land like Etruria, you may see fruitful corn-
lands which are sown every year, and tall trees, and
no moss anywhere. Again, in land of medium
quality, as in Tibur, the nearer it comes to being

36 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

rich rather than poor, the better it is for all crops,
better, I mean, than it would be if it erred in the
wrong direction.

Here Stolo remarked, Diophanes of Bithynia is
not far wrong when he writes, with regard to the
kind of land which will repay cultivation or not,
that [favourable] indications may be had either
from the land itself or from the things that spring
from it: from the soil itself, if it be white or black,
such as easily crumbles when dug, and if it neither
resembles ashes in texture, nor is very heavy: from
the spontaneous products of the soil if they are of
good growth and bear plentifully fruit of their kind.
But now for that third topic which follows — please
tell us about the measures of land.

CHAPTER X

MEASURES OF LAND

1 Said he: Different nations have adopted differ-
ent measures for measuring their fields. Thus
in Further Spain the iiigum^ in Campania the ver-
sus^ whilst with us on Roman and Latin ground,
the iugenim is used. The iiigum is what a yoke of
oxen can plough up in one day; the versus means

2 a square loo feet by loo; the higerum equals two
square actus; the square actus is 120 feet long and
the same in breadth. This measure is called in

I] MEASURES OF LAND 37

Latin acnua.^ The smallest division of a iugerum is
called a scripuhmi, that is, a square 10 feet by 10.
Taking this {iugerum) as the unit, land surveyors
sometimes when speaking of a bit of land which is
left over after they have reached the iugerum,'^ call
it an ounce, or two ounces, or whatever it be, for
the iugerum has 288 scripula, which is what our
ancient as weighed before the Punic war." A couple
of lugera, an allotment said to have been made first
by Romulus to each man to descend to his heir,
was called a heritage, heredium. Afterwards these
hundred "heritages" (200 iugerd) were called a
centuria. Kcenturia (133 acres) is a perfect square,
each side of which is 2,400 feet long. Four centuriae,
moreover, joined so that there be two together in
every direction, are, in the case of allotments to
individuals by the State, called a saltus.

^ Latine acnua appellatur. Columella, v, 1,5, mentions the
Gallic equivalent for actus (half a iugerum) as arepennis
(French arpent), and states that this measure was called by
the farmers of Baetica acnua. In the same section he quotes
Varro in relation to the actus minimus (480 sq. ft.). Probably
some words have dropped out of the text, or Baetice should
be read instead of Latine.

'^ In suhsecivum. hi subsecivo seems a probable emenda-
tion. It would mean "in the case of a piece left over." A
copyist might easily take in subsecivo for in subsecivo, stand-
ing for in subsecivoin.

^ Unciavi agri. The as — originally a measure of weight —
was divided into 12 ounces or 288 scripula (scruples). The
iugerum was also divided into 288 scripula. Hence fractions
of the iugerum might be expressed by the sam denomination
as fractions of the as.

38 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XI

FARM BUILDINGS

1 By not paying attention to the size of the farm
many people have failed, some making the farm
buildings smaller, others larger than the size of the
farm required, and either mistake is bad economy,
and bad for the produce of the farm. For the larger
the buildings, the more they cost to build and the
more to maintain, and when they are too small for
the needs of the farm, the produce, as a rule, is

2 spoilt. For instance, it is clear that where there are
vineyards, the wine-store must be made large, but
where the land grows corn, large barns are required.
The farmhouse should be built preferably where it
may have water, either within its own enclosure,
or, failing that, as near as possible; there should be
first a natural spring, and secondly one that never
runs dry. Where there is no running water at all,
cisterns should be made indoors, and in the open
air a pond, the former to be used by people, the
latter by cattle.

CHAPTER XII

THE SITE OF THE FARM HOUSE

1 You must be careful to place the farmhouse at
the base of a well-wooded mountain — the best situa-
tion— where there are wide pastures, and see that it

I] THE SITE OF THE FARM HOUSE 39

face the healthiest winds which blow in the district.
The farmhouse which faces the equinoctial East
has the best aspect, for it has shade in summer, and
in winter gets sunshine. If you should be obliged
to build close to a river, you must be careful not to
build your farmhouse to face it, for in winter it will
become exceedingly cold, and in summer unwhole-

2 some. Note also if there be any swampy ground,
both for the reasons given above, and because certain
minute animals, invisible to the eye, breed there,
and, borne by the air, reach the inside of the body
by way of the mouth and nose, and cause diseases
which are difficult to be rid of.^ Said Fundanius:
What shall I do to escape malaria, if I am left an
estate of such a kind? Why, said Agrius, even
I can answer that question. You must sell it for
as many pence as you can get, or if you can't sell
it you must quit it.

3 Scrofa went on: You must not allow your
farmhouse to face a quarter from which an un-
wholesome wind commonly blows, nor must you
place it in a basin surrounded by hills, but its
situation should rather be lofty than low. Such a
place being wind-swept, if any evil thing should be

' Difficilis morbos. Columella, i, 5, 6, speaks of marshes
breeding infestis aculeis armata animalia, i.e., mosquitoes.
Schneider's comment on this passage is amusing. "Am I to
believe that Varro attributed lingering diseases to these small
gnats? Never did any doctor ancient or modern make such
an assertion." Varro, however, though he may appear to
speak of malarial microbes, does not connect them with
" small gnats " as their carrier.

40 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

carried thither, it is easily blown away. Moreover,
as it gets the sun all day long, it is healthier, for
any small insects which breed or are carried there
are either blown away or quickly perish from
drought.
4 Sudden rainstorms and rivers in flood are dan-
gerous to those who have their dwellings on low-
lying ground or in hollows; there is danger also
from sudden bands of robbers who can more easily
surprise them. For both these reasons high ground
is the safer.

CHAPTER XIII

THE FARM YARD AND HOUSE

1 In the farmhouse, stables and cowsheds must be
made for greater warmth in winter. Produce, such
as wine and oil, must be kept in storehouses on the
ground floor (you must also make a place for the
oil and wine vessels); ' dry produce, such as beans
and hay, must be stored in raised barns. You must
also provide a place for the slaves to occupy when
exhausted by work or cold or heat, where they can
stroll about or refresh themselves in comfort by

2 sleep. The foreman's room should be close to the
door, and he should know who goes in or out at

* Item ut vasa, etc. The text as it stands in Keil is unin-
telligible to me. I have adopted Pontedera's conjecture, liern
ubi vasa vinaria et olearia esse possint.

I] THE FARM YARD AND HOUSE 41

night, and what he is taking with him, especially if
there is no door-keeper. In particular you must see
to it that there be a kitchen adjoining the farmhouse,
for in the dark winter mornings before the sun is
up several things are done there, and food is cooked
and eaten in it. Moreover, for the wagons and such
implements as fear a rainy sky, roofed buildings of
sufficient size should be made in the farmyard; for
these, if merely stored in the enclosure under the
open sky, are only safe from thieves, but cannot
stand against bad weather.

On a large farm it is better to have two yards:
one having in the middle a place where rain-water
may collect; or, in case there is running water, a
place inside the bases of the pillars that surround
the yard, which may be made, if desired, into a half-
tank.* For cattle returning from the plough-land in
summer drink and bathe here, as well as geese, sows,

' Una ut interdius. The condition of the text here seems
desperate. Interdius, despite the ingenious attempts of
Schneider and others to explain it, gives no satisfactory
sense. Aqua saliens must mean "running water," i.e., a
stream. Pliny (Epist., ii, 17, 25) says that his villa has no
aqua saliens, though it has wells, or rather springs. I would
suggest the reading : Una ut interius compluvium haheat aut
lacum, etc. A copyist might easily have omitted the aut,
which 1 have inserted, through the influence of the at imme-
diately preceding it. Cum venit (the reading of editions before
Victorius) would make still better sense.

The pond is called semipiscina, perhaps because it would
have masonrj' (the stylohates) on one or two sides only, the
piscina usually on four.

42 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

and pigs, when they come back from feeding. In the
outer yard there should be a pond for soaking vetch
and other things that are better for consumption after

4 being put into water. The outer yard, if it be fre-
quently strewn with straw and chaff, and trampled by
the feet of cattle, is useful to the farm through what
is taken out of it. Close to the farm buildings there
should be two manure heaps, or one divided into two;
for the one part should be made of fresh manure, while
the other should be taken on to the land only when
old, for manure that has rotted is better than that
which is fresh. A manure heap is better, too, if its
sides and top are protected from the sun by twigs and
leaves, for the sun must not suck out beforehand
the goodness which the earth requires. And ac-
cordingly good farmers, if they can manage to let
water flow into it, do so on that account. For thus
the juice is best kept in. In the manure-heap some
place the slaves' privies.

5 A building should be made under the shelter of
which you can put the whole of the farm's harvest
— which some call a niibilariiun. It should be close
to the threshing floor, where your corn is to be
threshed; of a size proportionate to that of the
farm ; open on one side — the side next the thresh-
ing-floor— so that you can both easily throw the
corn to be threshed into it, and, if the sky begins to
cloud over, you can quickly throw it back again. It
should have windows on that side where the wind
can best blow through it.

6 Said Fundanius: A farm is assuredly more

i] THE FARM YARD AND HOUSE 43

profitable as far as the buildings are concerned if in
building you aim at the thrift of the old-time farmers
rather than the extravagance of the moderns. For
the former built farmhouses to match the farm
produce, the latter to gratify their unrestrained self-
indulgence. And, as we should expect, the farm-
houses of the ancients cost more than their suburban
villas, but nowadays they generally cost less. In
old times a farmhouse was praised if it had a good
farm-kitchen, roomy stables, wine and oil store-
rooms of a size suitable to the farm, with a
paved runnel sloping to a vat; for often when new
wine is laid down, jars, as in Spain, and butts, as
in Italy, are burst by the fermentation of the must.
And they saw to it that in a farm of this kind there
7 should be everything else needed for working. But
now on the other hand the size and decoration of a
man's country-house is his main care, and he tries
to rival those country-houses of Metellus or Lucul-
lus, the building of which had the worst conse-
quences for the State. To-day people are anxious
that their summer suite of dining-rooms shall face
the coolness of the East, and their winter suite the
West, instead of doing as the ancients, whose care
was the aspect of the windows in the wine or oil
store-rooms, since the produce of the grape seeks
comparatively cold air for its casks while the oil
store-room needs hotter air. Again, if there is a
hill, see that your farmhouse be placed near it —
unless there is something to prevent your doing so.

44 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XIV

FENCES AND WALLS

1 Now concerning the fences which are to be made
to protect the farm or part of it : of these protections
there are four kinds — one is the natural fence, the
second is of timber, the third that used for military-
purposes, and the fourth of masonry. Each of these
kinds has several species. The first kind — the
natural fence — is a quick-set hedge, to form which
brushwood or thorn trees are usually planted. This
has roots, and need not fear the lighted torch of a

2 mischievous passer-by. The second is of forest-
timber, not live wood. It is made of stakes set
close together and interwov^en with brushwood; or
of broad stakes through which holes have been
bored, while through the holes in each upright two
or three poles are passed; or it is made of tree
trunlcs set up in a row and sunk into the ground.
The third, the military fence, is a trench-and-ram-
part arrangement, but the trench is suitable only if
it can hold all the rain-water that comes down, or
has a fall so that the water may run off the farm.

3 That rampart is good which is continuous on the
inside with a ditch, or is so high that it is not easy
to get over it. Fences of this kind are usually made
parallel with highways, or following the course of
streams. On the Via Salaria, in the neighbourhood

I] TREES AS BOUNDARIES 45

of Crustumerium, you may see in several places
embankments and ditches together, to prevent the
river from damaging the fields. Embankments
without trenches are made, which some people call
4 walls as in the country about Reate. The fourth,
the fence made by the builder, comes last — the
wall-fence, I mean. There are roughly four kinds:
they are made of stone, as in the country round
Tusculum, of kiln-baked bricks as in the Ager
Gallicus, of sun-dried bricks as in the Sabine
country, or of earth and pebbles set in moulds, as
in Spain and the parts about Tarentum.^

CHAPTER XV

TREES AS BOUNDARIES

I MAY add that the boundaries of an unfenced
farm are safer if marked by trees planted along
them, for otherwise your slaves brawl with their
neighbours and your boundary lines may have to
be determined by a law-suit. Some people plant
pines round the farm — my wife has them in the

^ Ex terra et lapidihus. Pliny, N. H., xxxv, 14, speaks of
parietes formacei, which in forma circumdatis utrinque duabus
tahulis inferciuntur. Two boards were set up parallel to each
other, and the space between them was filled with concrete.
Pliny says that these walls were very durable. This mode of
construction is still used in parts of England where chalk and
flint pebbles occur.

46 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

Sabine country; others plant cypresses as I did
near Vesuvius, others elms, as many do in the
Crustumerian country ; for where it is possible, as
it is in that district, seeing that it is a plain, no
better tree can be planted, for it is extremely profit-
able, as it often supports ' and collects for you many
a basket of grapes, supplies to sheep and cattle
leaves thatthey greatly enjoy, and furnishes boughs
for hedges, hearth, and oven.

Said Scrofa: Well, these are the four matters
which, as I remarked, a farmer should first con-
sider, namely: the configuration of the farm, the
nature of its soil, the extent of the land, and the
maintenance of its boundaries.

CHAPTER XVI

ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF A FARM

I There remains a second department of the sub-
ject, which has to do with what is outside the farm.
Now a farm's immediate surroundings, owing to its

' Et sustinet saepe. So Keil for the MSS. reading. Et sus-
tinet saepem, which would mean " supports a fence," in which
Schneider and the rest see no sense. But the elms might play
the part of the pali statuti crebri mentioned in the previous
chapter (xv). A row of trees "supporting a fence" is com-
mon enough in this country.

I] THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF A FARM 47

close connection with them, are of infinite import-
ance to the farmer.

And here there are four points for consideration :
Is the neighbourhood unsafe? Is there no place to
which we can conveniently take our produce for
sale or from which we can procure what we need?
Thirdly, are roads or rivers to convey the produce
either absent or unsuitable? And fourthly, is there
any thing on the adjoining farms likely to do good
or harm to our own?

2 The first of these questions, whether the district
is safe or unsafe, is important, for there is much
excellent land which it does not pay to cultivate,
because the neighbours are brigands; some land in
Sardinia, for example, near Oelies, and in Spain
about Lusitania. Those estates which have a suit-
able market in the neighbourhood for the sale of
their produce, and can thence obtain what is needed
for the farm, are so far profitable. For many people
in the case of farms short of corn or wine or any-
thing else, have to send elsewhere for them ; whilst
on the other hand there are a good many who have

3 to send away some of their produce. Thus close to
a city it pays to cultivate gardens on a large scale,
fields of violets and roses, for instance, and many
other things which a city welcomes, whereas it does
not pay to grow such things on a distant farm which
has no available market for them. Similarly if towns
or villages exist in the neighbourhood, or even the
well-stocked farms and country-houses of the
wealthy, from which you can buy cheaply what your

48 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

farm requires, while selling to them at the same
time your superfluities — props for example, or poles
or reeds — the farm is more profitable than if these
things should have to be brought from a distance,
and sometimes, too, than if you could produce

4 them on your own land. And so, for example,
farmers prefer to employ the doctors, fullers, car-
penters, etc., in the neighbourhood, to whom they
can give work year by year, rather than have their
own on the farm ; for the death of a single one of
these craftsmen is apt to do away with the farm's
profit.

Rich men, with large estates, look to the home
resources for the supply of this branch of the staff.
For where towns or villages are too far away they
procure smiths and all the other skilled workmen
they need, and keep them on the farm so that
their gang of slaves may not have to quit work
and walk about making holiday on work-days, in-
stead of rendering the land more profitable by their

5 labour. Hence the rule given in Saserna's book,
that no one is to leave the farm save the bailiff, the
house-steward, and one other to be appointed by
the bailiff; if any one does so, he is not to go un-
punished ; if he does get off, the bailiff is to be
severely dealt with. Better had been the rule, that
no one should leave without the bailiff's permission,
and that the bailiff should not go without the
master's leave so far away as to be unable to return
on the same day, and that no oftener than the farm
required.

I] FARM EQUIPMENT— SLAVES 49

6 The transport of produce makes the farm all the
more profitable if there are good wagon-roads or
navigable rivers close by. For by both these many
things are, as we know, brought to and from a
farm.

Again, the products of the farm are influenced
by the way in which your neighbour's land is
planted. If, for instance, he has an oak-grove on
the common boundary, you would be wrong to
plant olive trees on the edge of such a wood, for
these have a natural antipathy to it so great that, not
only do they bear worse, but even, in their efforts
to escape, bend away inwards towards the farm
precisely as does the vine if planted near cabbages.
Like oak-trees, walnut-trees near your farm, if of
large size and standing at little distance from one
another, make its margin totally unproductive.

CHAPTER XVII

FARM EQUIPMENT — SLAVES

I I HAVE treated thus far of the four conditions of
agriculture which are connected with the soil of the
farm, and also of the second four which have to do
with its external circumstances. I shall now go on
to speak of the instruments of agriculture.

These are divided by some into two parts, namely
(i) men who work, and (2) men's tools without
which they cannot work; others divide them into

E

50 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

three classes, namely, (i) the class gifted with
speech, (2) that which has inarticulate voice, and
(3) that which is voiceless. To the first belong
slaves, to the second oxen, and to the third wagons.

2 Now in all agriculture human beings are used —
either slaves, or freemen, or the two together. Free-
men are employed either where the farmer himself,
helped by his family, tills the soil, as is the case
with most peasant proprietors, or where freemen are
hired, as when the more important agricultural
operations, such as the vintage or the hay-cutting,
are conducted by gangs of hired labourers; and by
those whom our countrymen called obaera it(dehtors)^
— who still exist in great numbers in Asia, Egypt,
and Illyricum. About these as a class I have this
to say: It pays better in an unhealthy district to
use hired labourers than slaves, and in a healthy
district, too, for the more important work of the
farm, such as the getting in the vintage or the

3 harvest. Of the qualifications of these labourers,
Cassius" writes as follows: You are to get labourers

' Obaeratjis probably equals nexus ^ concerning whom Varro,
L. L., vii, 5, writes: "The freeman who gave his services as
a slave until he could pay the money he owed is called nextis,
also obacratus (from the word aes).^^ He was not a slave, but
could be imprisoned and kept at work by his creditor, from
whom the farmer might hire him. From the farmer's point
of view he would thus be a vicrccnarius or hired labourer.
Nexum was abolished by the Lex Poetilia, 326 B.C.

'^ Cassius. The Cassius Dionjsius of Utica mentioned in
the first chapter of this book (i, i, i), who translated Mago's
great treatise on agriculture.

I] FARM EQUIPMENT— SLAVES 51

who are able to stand hard work, who are not less
than twenty-two years old, and who will be quick
to learn the work of a farm. You may form an
opinion about this from the way they have performed
other tasks, or by asking those of them who are
new to farm work what they have been accustomed
to do when with their former master. The slaves

4 should not be timid nor yet of too high spirit. Those
set over them ought to know how to read and write
and should have received some slight education ;
they should be of good character and older than the
labourers mentioned above — for the latter obey them
more readily than they do younger men. In addition
to this the one quality necessary in an overseer is
practical skill in farm work: for his duty is not
merely to give orders, but to set an example, that
those under him may imitate him as he works, and
realize that his superiorposition is not without cause,

5 but is the result of superior knowledge. Nor must
an overseer be allowed to enforce his orders by the
whip rather than by words, provided that the same
result can be obtained equally well by the latter. It
is well, too, not to have too many slaves of the
same tribe, for this is a principal cause of quarrels
in the household.

You should quicken the interest of the over-
seers in their work by means of rewards, and should
see that they have something of their own, and
women slaves to live with them and bear them
children, for this makes them steadier and more
attached to the estate. The slaves from Epirus are

52 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

a case in point, for owing to these family ties they
are of better repute and fetch a greater price than

6 others. The goodwill of the overseers you should
win by an occasional mark of esteem, and you
ought to discuss, too, with the best of the labourers,
the farm-work that is to be done, for where this is
the case their sense of inferiority is lessened, and
they feel that they are held in some account by their

7 master. Their enthusiasm for work is increased by
treatment more generous than usual, by better food
and clothing, by occasional exemption from work,
or the permission to graze a beast of their own on
the farm, and by other privileges of the same kind
— so that any who have been given too hard a task,
or too severe a punishment, may thus be consoled,
and their goodwill and kindly feeling towards the
master be restored.

CHAPTER XVIII

SIZE OF THE STAFF

I As regards the farm-hands, Cato considers two
factors: the quantity of land and the kind of crop
grown. Taking olive plantations and vineyards,
he describes what I may call two typical cases. In
the one he gives directions for the management
of an olive plantation of 240 iiigera (160 acres),
stating that on a plantation of this extent you should

I] SIZE OF THE STAFF 53

keep the following thirteen slaves: a bailiff, his
wife, five labourers, three herdsmen, one ass-driver,
one swineherd, and one shepherd. The second
case with which he deals has to do with a vineyard
of 100 lugera (67 acres), for which he considers
necessary these fifteen slaves: one bailiff, his wife,
ten labourers, one herdsman, one ass-driver, and one

2 swineherd. Saserna states in his book that one man
is enough for eight iugera, and that he should dig
them over in forty-five days, thovigh four days' work
should suffice for each iugerum. The thirteen days
left over he allows for cases of illness, bad weather,

3 unskilfulness, and idleness. Neither of these two
authors has left us a very clear explanation of his
standards, for if Cato meant us — as he must have
done — to add or subtract in proportion to the greater
or less extent of the farm, he should have said so,
and he ought to have excluded the bailiff and his
wife from the working-staff of slaves, for certainly,
if the olive plantation which you are cultivating
should be of less than 240 iugera^ you cannot have
less than one bailiff, nor, should your farm be twice
as big or more, are you bound therefore to have

4 two or three. Practically, it is only the number of
labourers or herdsmen that must be increased accord-
ing to the size of the farm ; and this rule, too, holds
good only if the land is of uniform character. If,
however, it is not so, to the extent of being un-
ploughable in parts, being of a broken nature and
having stiff hills, then you need fewer oxen and
fewer herdsmen. I pass over the fact that the stand-

54 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

ard set up by Cato, 240 iugera^ is neither a received

5 unit of measurement nor convenient (a convenient
one would have been the centuria of 200 iugerd),
though, seeing that the 40 iiigera subtracted from the
240 to make the centuria are their sixth part, I do
not see how, on his system, I am to subtract a sixth
from the thirteen slaves as well, nor is it anv more
clear to me how, after deducting the bailiff and his
wife, I am to take away a sixth of the remaining
eleven slaves.

Again, as to the statement that fifteen slaves are
needed in the case of a vineyard consisting of
100 iugera : suppose a man has a centuria — half
vineyard, half olive plantation — it will follow that
he must have two bailiffs with their wives, which is
absurd. So we must find by some other way a

6 general rule to determine the number of slaves
required, and on this head Saserna is better and
clearer than Cato when he states that one labourer
can get through a iugerum in four days' work.
Still, if one labourer was enough on Saserna's farm
in Gaul, it does not at all follow that such is the
case on mountainous land in Liguria.

I conclude then that your best way to settle the
question of the size of your staff of slaves and the
rest of the farm equipment, will be to note with care

7 three points: the size and nature of the neighbour-
ing farms, the number of hands with which each is
cultivated, and the number of labourers you find
may be added to or deducted from your staff, with
better or worse resuhs in the cultivation of your own.

I] INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION 55

For in agriculture nature has allowed us a two-
fold method, that of experiment and imitation. The
first farmers determined most questions by experi-
ment, their descendants, to a large extent, by
8 imitation. We should adopt both courses — some-
times imitating others, sometimes, as a change,
making certain experiments of our own — experi-
ments made not at haphazard, but in accordance
with some rational plan. For example, if we dig
our vineyards over again to a greater or less depth
than others, what is the effect of such a proceed-
ing? Thus did they who first hoed the land two or
three times, thus those who changed the time of
fig-grafting from spring-time to summer.

CHAPTER XIX

OF INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION (SEMI-VOCAL)

I As for the remaining part of the farm's equipment
which I have spoken of as semi-vocal — Saserna
writes that for 200 iugera of ploughland two
yokes of oxen are sufficient, whereas Cato states
that three oxen are required for every 240 iugera
planted with olives ; whence it follows that if Saserna
is right, a yoke of oxen is needed for a hundred
iugera ; if Cato, one ' for each eighty. It is my

' Trinos boves. This conflicts with the statement further
on that if Cato is right a yo^c of oxen is required for eighty
iugera. Gesner considers trinos boves to mean three yokes of
oxen ! Pontedera inserts the numeral I, i.e., unus bos.

56 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

opinion, however, that neither of these numbers
suits every kind of land, and either number suits
some land. For different soils are more or less easy

2 to plough. Some land can be broken up only by
oxen of great strength, and often the plough-beam
breaks and the ploughshare is left in the land. So,
in the case of particular farms, we must while yet
without experience be ruled ' by three considera-
tions: the practice of the former owner, that of our
neighbours, and judicious experiments of our own.

3 As to Cato's addition of three asses to carry
manure and an ass to turn the mill (in the case of
a vineyard of a hundred acres, one yoke of oxen, one
yoke of asses, and one ass to turn the mill), we ought
to include in this category of semi-vocal instru-
ments only those sheep and swine which will aid
production, and the few which are usually kept as
the slaves' private property in order that the latter
may more easily maintain themselves and stick well
to their work. With regard to this kind of stock,
not only do those who have pasture land prefer to
keep sheep rather than swine, but those also who
keep them not on account of the pasturage, but for
the sake of their manure.

Dogs in any case you must have, as the farm is
not safe without them.

' Quo sequetidiim . . . regula, etc. Schneider, with no sup-
port from MSS., reads regulam, etc. Regula (for regiilam)
might easily be corrupted to regula ; and the reading of the
text is at the least extremely harsh.

I] OXEN AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS 57
CHAPTER XX

OF OXEN AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS

1 Of all the quadrupeds, then, we will consider first
the oxen you are buying for the plough, and say
what kind is suitable for the purpose. These should
be unbroken when you buy them, and not less than
three, or more than four years old ; they must be
strong and well-matched, lest in their work the
stronger wear out the weaker; they should have
wide horns, be black for choice, with broad fore-
heads, flat noses, broad chests, and well-furnished
quarters.

2 Those which have grown up in plains should
not be bought for use in a mountainous and stiff
country, and the converse is equally to be avoided.'
When you have bought unbroken heifers, if you

^ Nee non, contra, si incidit, ut sit vitanduvt. So Keil,
whose punctuation seems here to be wrong. Zahlfeldt ("Quaes-
tiones Critlcae" In Varr. R. R., Berlin, 1881) suggests, no
doubt rightly, that the comma should be placed at sit. He
was anticipated, however, by the Italian edition of 1846,
where this punctuation is adopted. Victorius, in his "most
faithful and ancient MS.," found nee non tra, and suggests
nee contra, etc., the translation of which would be "and the
converse need not be avoided"; but Columella (vi, 2, 12) dis-
tinctly states that both changes — from mountains to plains and
plains to mountains — are bad. The order of words in the
phrase contra si incidit ut sit for si incidit ut sit contra is quite
Varronian.

58 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

put their necks into fiiixaey^ which are fastened
to them, and then give them food, in a few days
they will become tame and easy to break in.
This you may then proceed to do, but gradually,
pairing the one new to the work with one who
knows it — for they learn to obey most easily
through imitation. You should begin on level
ground, and without a plough, then with a light
one, and the first land ploughed should be sand or
3 soft soil. Draught oxen should similarly be trained
by making them draw in the first instance empty
wagons — if possible through a village or a town
where the frequent creakings and variety of objects
rapidly accustom them to these things, and pre-
pare them for useful work. Again if you put a
draught ox on the right side, you must not keep
him persistently in that position, for if he is left-
hand and right-hand ox by turns, the change is
a rest to him when he is distressed by being too

' Furcae. According to Plutarch (Coriol., 24, and Quaest.
Rom., 70) the furca was a fork-shaped piece of wood by
which the pole was supported {l,v\ov a\ialr\^ tf rbv pvfibv vinpu-
Sovaiv). It was shaped like the letter A, and was used for the
punishment of slaves. The neck was inserted at the fork and
the arms tied to the instrument. Nero, when in hiding, was
told that the Senate had ordered him to be punished Jiiore
77iaioi-u7n, which meant nudi hominis cervicem inseri furcae
corpus vi'j-^is ad neccm cacdi (Sueton., Nero, 49): "To be
stripped naked, his neck put in the furca, and to be beaten to
death with rods." He then committed suicide!

Vergil (Georg., iii, 166) puts the necks of his oxen into
"loose collars of pliant osier," as a preliminary to breaking
them in.

I] DOGS AND FOUR-FOOTED STOCK 59

4 long on either side. Where the soil is light, as
in Campania — for there they do not plough with
heavy oxen but with cows or asses — you may the
more easily put them to a light plough, to the
mills, or to any carting there may be on the estate
itself. For the latter purpose some people use
young asses, others cows and mules — the choice de-
pending on the pasturage available, for it costs less
to keep an ass than a cow, though the latter is more

5 profitable in itself.

In this matter, the farmer has to consider the
surface nature of his land. Where it is hilly and
stiff, he must get draught animals of greater
strength, and preferably such as may be themselves
profitable while doing the same amount of work.

CHAPTER XXI

OF DOGS AND FOUR-FOOTED STOCK

It is better to keep a few fine and active dogs than
many. These should be trained to watch by night
and to sleep shut up during the day. What is to
be done ' with four-footed stock not broken to harness

^ De indomitis . . .faciundum. This looks like the heading
of a section which has strayed. In the Latin " table of con-
tents " (certainly not by Varro as it stands, for Idus Augustae
are there mentioned, and the month Sextilis was not called

6o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

and with cattle? If meadow-land form part of the
farm and a farmer owns no cattle of his own, he
must dispose of the pasturage, and graze and stable
other people's cattle on his farm.

CHAPTER XXII

OF INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION (MUTE)

1 Concerning the other mute instruments of produc-
tion— baskets, casks, etc., the following rules are
to be laid down : nothing should be bought which
can be grown on the farm and made by the house-
hold. Under this head come mainly things made of
osiers and the wood the country supplies. Such as
baskets, frails, threshing sleighs, stakes,' and rakes,
as well as things madeof hemp, flax, reeds, palm "and
bull-rushes, such as wagon ropes, bands, and mats.

2 Things which cannot be got from the farm will
not diminish your profit much by their cost if in

Augustus before 27 B.C., whilst this book was written 36 B.C.)
after De Canibus comes Si prata sunt in /undo, pecus non est,
quid sitfaciendtim.

^ Valli. I have translated ' ' stakes " — the usual meaning
of the word — though one suspects that Pontedera is right in
making it a diminutive of vannus (a winnowing fan) on the
analogy of catella from catena, homuUus from homo {homon-
lus), villum from vinum, etc. Diminutives were a marked
feature of Vulgar Latin.

* Palms. Columella (v, 5, 15) speaks of palmeae tegetes
used for sheltering the vines. These " mats " were probably
made of vine stalks.

I] INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION 61

buying" you consider usefulness more than beauty,
especially if you are careful to choose a market near
at hand where they can be had both good and
cheap. Of these different implements the choice
and number depend on the size of the farm, for

3 more are needed if it be of wide extent. Thus Cato,
said Stolo, first takes as an example a farm of a
certain size, and then writes about such a one:
that the man who cultivates an olive plantation of
240 iugera should equip it with five complete sets
of apparatus for making oil,' which he enumerates
in detail. Thus: coppers, pitchers, a pot with three
spouts,"^ etc., all of bronze: next, implements of wood
and iron, such as three large wagons, six ploughs
with their ploughshares, four crates for manure, etc.
He mentions, too, the kind and number of iron tools
needed, as eight iron forks, the same number of
hoes, half as many shovels, etc.

4 He also gives another prescription for the equip-
ment of a vineyard, stating that if it consists of 100
iiigera it should have three wine presses with all

' Vasa olearla, etc. From a comparison with Cato (De
R. R., 10 and 12) it seems clear that five "vessels" of each
kind are here meant, for Cato (12, i) mentions five presses,
five suculae, ^vefunes lorei, and so on.

" Nassiterna. Usually derived from nasum and ter, a vessel
with three noses (spouts or handles). Juvenal, v, 47, speaks
of a cup with four "noses," most probably handles. It may
be that the word has no connection either with nasum or ter.
A gloss of Festus has nassiterna est genus vasts aguarii aiisati
et patentis, a wide vessel for carrying water having a handle
(or handles).

62 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

accessories, casks with their lids to hold 800
cullei, twenty tubs to hold grapes, twenty to hold
corn, and other things of the same kind. Fewer of
these are certainly recommended by other writers,
but I think that Cato set down so large a number of
cullei that the farmer might not be compelled to sell
his wine every year. For old wines fetch more than
new, and the same wine more at one time than

5 another. He also writes at great length about the
different kinds of tools, their nature and number,
mentioning knives, shovels, harrows, etc., of which
some kinds include several sorts. For example,
knives: we are told by the same author that forty
pruning knives are needed for the vines, five small
knives for cutting string, etc. , three for pruning trees
and ten for clearing brambles. So much for this
point.

6 Said Scrofa: The owner should have an invent-
ory of all the implements and furniture of the farm
— one cop)'^ at the farm, the other in town; while
the bailiff should keep all the things mentioned in
the inventory each in its proper place at the farm-
house. Those which cannot be kept under lock
and key should be placed in as conspicuous a posi-
tion as possible — more especially those which are
employed only occasionally, such as the baskets,
etc., used at the vintage. For what is seen everv
day runs less risk from the thief.

ON CROPS 63

CHAPTER XXIII

ON CROPS

1 Agrasius went on : Since we now have discussed
the first two sections of our four-fold division, that,
namely (i) which concerns the farm itself, and (2)
the instruments of its cultivation, I am now waiting
for the third section.

Well, answered vScrofa, as I conceive the pro-
duce of the farm to mean useful products sown
and grown on it, two matters remain for considera-
tion— what are the best things to sow, and which
are the best places to sow them in. For one soil is
suitable for grass, another for corn, another for wine
or for oil. The same may be said of crops which
serve as fodder, which includes ocimimi^ mixed
grain (cut when green), vetch, lucerne, clover

2 (snail-clover) and lupins. For it is not everything
that can properly be sown on rich land, nor is
nothing to be sown on poor land, for it is better to
plant crops that do not need much nutriment on the
thinner soil; such are clover and all leguminous
plants with the exception of chick peas — for they,
too, come under the heading of leguminous plants,
being plucked from the ground, not cut. And these
plants are called leguminay because leguntur — they

3 are plucked. In rich land it is better to sow what

' Ocimum, farrago. For Varro's definition of these words,
cf. cap. xxxi, §§ 4 and 5, of this book.

64 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

needs more nourishment, cabbage, for instance, or
wheat, rye, or flax. Some things should be sown
with a view ^ not so much to present profit as to
next year's crop, because when cut down and left
there they improve the soil. Thus lupins, before
they produce many pods — and sometimes bean-
stalks, if the podding stage be not so far advanced
that it is profitable to pull the beans — are usually
ploughed into poor land for manure.

4 We must not either, when we come to plant,
neglect the claims of those things which bring profit
through the pleasure they afford, as, for example,
what are called "orchards " and " flower gardens";
or again of those things which, without contribut-
ing to man's food or appealing to his perception of,
and pleasure in the beautiful are yet inseparable from
the productiveness of the farm. So you must choose

5 a place suitable for beds of willows and reeds and
other plants which require moisture, and, on the
other hand, a place for corn crops, and especially for
beans and other things also which suit a dry dis-
trict. In the same way you must sow some things
where there is shade, as, for instance, wild aspara-
gus," because the cultivated variety (which the wild

1 Prospicientem . In imitation of the common Greei< con-
struction, OTraprsov ian . . . cnroiTKo-jrovvTa.

- Cornida seems to be wild asparagus. Cf. Cato, R. R.,
vi, 3: Ibi corrudam scrito nude asparagi Jiant\ and Plin\-,
N. H., xix, 8: Indicavimus et corrudam. Hunc enim iutcUcgo
sihestrcm asparagum. Pliny also states that cornida becomes
asparagus.

I] ON CROPS 65

sort becomes) loves shade, and in sunny places you
must sow violets and make gardens, for their growth
depends on sunlight. And so for other things. And
in one place you must plant a shrubbery, so as
to have osiers for plaiting such things as wicker
baskets, winnowing fans,' and hurdles; in another
you may plant and grow a wood for timber, [in

6 another] a wood where you may catch birds ; in
another you should grow hemp, flax, rushes, es-
parto grass — for weaving shoes for the oxen and
making string, cords, and ropes. Some places, in-
deed, are suitable for sowing more than one thing
at once. Thus, in newly planted orchards, when
the seeds have been sown at proper intervals and
the saplings planted in rows, in the first years before
the roots can go far, some people sow garden
flowers, others other things ; but when the trees
have grown strong they do not do so, for fear of
damaging the roots.

7 Said Stolo: In this connection what Cato writes
about crops seems good — that heavy and fertile soil,
if it be without trees, should be sown with corn ;
while if the same is cold, it is best to sow on it
turnips, radishes, millet, and panic.

^ Vallus or vallos. Cf. note on xxii, i.

66 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XXIV

OF OLIVES, AND TREE PLANTING

1 He States also that in heav) and hot land, the olive'
for pickling, the "radius major," ^ the Sallentine,
the orchis,' the ' ' posea," the Sergian, the Colminian,
the "waxy," should be planted — and of all these
varieties you should choose that which enjoys the
best local reputation. For an olive plantation no land
is at all suitable that does not face the west wind and

2 get plenty of sun. In comparatively cold and poor
soil the Licinian olive should be sown. If you put
it in heavy or warm land, the hostus * (yield) becomes
worthless, and the tree dies from its luxuriant bear-

3 ing, and is infested by red moss. By hostus is
meant the amount of oil returned at each ' ' making, "
by "making" the amount of olives treated at one
time — which some place at i6o modii, others
bring as low as 120, the number depending on the
size and number of receptacles used in making the

* Oleam conditaneavi, etc. In Italy, then, as now, there
were many varieties of olive. In 17S8 Giovanni Presta pub-
lished a memoir "on the sixty-two samples of different olives
presented to Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies."

"^ Radiiis. The long shuttle-shaped kind.

' Orchis. The oval olive. Posca (Pliny, pausea). The bitter
kind.

Presta thought that many of these names were traceable in
Italian, as for instance />flwj-fr7, \iPi\\a.n Pasola; Licinia, Italian
Risciola, etc.

' Hostus no doubt = Art wj/mj, draught.

I] OF VINES 67

oil. As for Cato's statement that elms and poplars
should be planted round the farm to provide leaves
for the sheep and cattle, and timber for use on the
farm (this, however, is not necessary on all farms,
nor where it is so are leaves the chief object) they
may usefully be placed on the north side, as they
do not then cut off the sunlight.
4 Scrofa added on the same authority that if the
place be damp you should plant there shoots of
poplar trees and make a reed plantation. It is first
dug with a large spade, and then the eyes of the
reed^ are planted at intervals of three feet [and with
them wild asparagus, that the garden variety may
result from it]. Both asparagus and reeds need
pretty much the same kind of treatment. Osiers
should be planted round the reed bed, to provide
material for tying up the vines.

CHAPTER XXV

OF VINES

As to the kind of place in which to plant vines you
must observe the following rules. The best and

^ Aptam esse, etc. I have inserted "and with them wild
asparagus," etc., from Cato, 6, 3. The construction requires
something to be added, and the sense this. Palladius, writing
about reed beds (iii, 23), says : " Amongst these you may also
scatter asparagus seeds . . . for asparagus is grown and burnt
in the same way as reeds.''''

68 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

sunniest situation for wine growing should be kept
for the small Aminean variety, the double Eugenean,
and the small yellow grape. When the land is
heavy or cold the larger Aminean, Murgentine,
Apician, or Lucanian should be planted. The other
kinds, and especially the common ' black grape, suit
any sort of land.

CHAPTER XXVI

OF VINEYARDS

In every vineyard great care is taken that the sup-
ports of the vines be protected towards the north,
and if live cypresses are planted to serve as vine-
props in alternate rows with the vines, they are not
allowed to grow higher than ordinary supports, nor
are the vines planted close to them, for vine and
cypress hate each other."

' Miscellas. Cf. Hesychius : MicrKtAAo^' ivrt\/)g (cat fjiiXag
olpoc.

^ Et si cupressos. It is strange that live cypresses should
be used as supports for vines when there is an antipathy
between the two plants. Perhaps Varro's statement ends
with patiantur {or patiuntiir), and a ^nnntnaiictis, reniLMnber-
ing the passage of Varro (i, i6, 6), where the violent disHke
of the vine for cabbage {olus) is mentioned, added, as a note,
neque propter o\\iS, etc., which became ncque propter eos, etc.

It is strange also that no other ancient writer has mentioned
the use of live cypresses as supports, though Columella (iv,
26, i) speaks of the tapering prop made of laurel, juniper,
or cypress.

I] OF TIMES AND SEASONS 69

Said Agrius to Fundanius: I am afraid the
temple-keeper will be here before our friend gets
to the fourth act. I am waiting for the vintage.
Don't be afraid, said Scrofa, but get ready the
baskets and the urn.'

CHAPTER XXVII

OF TIMES AND SEASONS

1 Now we have two measures of time: the year
created by the sun's annual revolution, and the
month which the revolving moon determines. I
will first speak of the sun. Its annual course is, to
begin with, roughly divided into four parts of about
three months each, or more accurately into eight
of a month and a half: into four, for its divisions
are spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

2 As to the spring sowing, the unploughed land
must first be broken up, so that weeds which have
sprung up in it may be uprooted before any seed
can fall, and at the same time the clods must be made
better able to absorb the rainfall by being baked
by the sun, and, so loosened, made easier to work.
It should be ploughed at least twice, or, better still,

3 three times. In summer the harvest is to be reaped ;
in autumn, during the dry weather, the vintage to
be made; then is the best time for treating your

' Uma. Vessel holding lialf an amphora^ i.e., about three
and a half gallons.

70 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

woods — the trees to be cut close to the ground, but
the roots must be dug as soon as the first rains
have fallen, that no new shoots may spring from
them. In winter the trees are to be pruned only at
times whenas their bark is free from rime and ice
after rain.

CHAPTER XXVIII

OF DIVISIONS OF THE YEAR

1 The first day of spring occurs when the sun is in
Aquarius, of summer in Taurus, of autumn in
Leo, and of winter in Scorpio. Now, as the first
day of the four seasons is the twenty-third after
the successive entry of the sun into each of these
signs, it results that spring has 91 days, summer 94,
autumn 91, and winter 89. These periods reduced
to our modern civil calendar make the first days of
spring date from the 7th of February, of summer
from the 9th of May, of autumn from the nth of

2 August, and of winter from the loth of November.
With the more minute division certain dates must
be taken into account, and these seasons are
divided into eight parts: (i) from the time when
Favonius begins to blow to the vernal equinox,
45 days; (2) from then to the rising of the Vergiliae
(Pleiads), 44; (3) from this to the solstice, 48;

(4) thence to the rising of the Dog Star, 27;

(5) next to the autumnal equinox, 67 ; (6) tlience

I] OF THE FIRST DIVISION 71

to the setting of the Pleiads, 32; (7) from this
date to the winter solstice, 57 ; and (8) thence to the
blowing of Favonius again, 45.

CHAPTER XXIX

OF THE FIRST DIVISION

1 In the first interval — between the time when
Favonius begins to blow and the vernal equinox —
the following things should be done: Seed beds of
every kind should be sown, the small trees which
support the vines pruned, the meadows manured,
the roots of the vines cleared, the outcropping roots
cut off, the meadows weeded, willow beds planted,
corn-lands hoed. Seges (corn-land) means land
which has been ploughed and sown, arinim
(plough-land) that which has been ploughed but
not yet sown; fallow-land,' land which has been
sown before it is ploughed and sown again (in the

2 third year). The term proscindere (to cleave) is
used of the first ploughing, offringere (to break
up) of the second — for big clods are thrown up, as
a rule, by the first ploughing ; when land is ploughed
the second time they call it "breaking it up." At
the third ploughing, when the seed has been cast,

' Novalis ager. The word indicates two kinds of land:
(i) unbroken grass-land (Columella, vi, Praef.); (2) land that
was tilled and allowed to rest alternately. Cf. Varro, L. L.,
V, cap. 4: Contra qui intennittitiir {ager) a novando novalis.

72 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

oxen are said to "furrow" when by means of
small planks attached to the ploughshare they cover
the corn that has been sown on the ridges, and
at the same time cleave trenches to carry off the
rain-water. Some people who do not own such
broad acres — as in the case of Apulian and similar
farms — then usually break up any great clods left
on the ridges by means of hoers. When the plough
makes a gap, a channel, with the share, it is called a
furrow. That which is between two furrows — the
raised earth — is called a ridge {porca), because that
part of the corn-land "casts iovXh''^ {porricit) the
corn. In the same way, too, when giving the
entrails to the gods, they used the term porricere
(to cast forth).

CHAPTER XXX

THE SECOND PERIOD

In the second period — between the vernal equinox
and the rising of the Pleiads — the following is to
be done : the corn-lands to be weeded — that is, the
weeds cleaned from them ; oxen to do the first
ploughing, willows to be cut, the meadows fenced.
Such things as should have been done before and
are not quite finished must be done now, be-
fore they (the plants) begin to put forth buds and
flowers, because if deciduous plants have begun to

I] THE THIRD PERIOD 73

blossom/ before planting, they are from that mo-
ment unfit for planting. The olive must be planted
and pruned here and there.

CHAPTER XXXI '

THE THIRD PERIOD

1 In the third period — between the rising of the
Pleiads and the summer solstice — the following
things should be done: dig or plough round the
young vines, then hoe, that is, break the soil, to
get rid of all clods. People use the word occare (to
hoe), because by hoeing they destroy {occidtmt) the
clods. The vines must be "stopped," but by a man
who knows his work, as this is an operation of
greater importance than pruning. It is to be per-

2 formed on the vine, not on the tree. "Stopping"
means pinching off from the rod all but two, or occa-
sionally three, of the strongest shoots that spring
from it, lest, if all be left on, the vine-rod should
be unable to furnish sufficient sap. Accordingly,
in the vine nursery, when the vine first comes up
from the ground it is usual to cut it entirely back,
in order that on coming up again it may have a
stronger stem, and greater power to produce shoots.

3 For a poor stem is barren from its weakness, and

^ Si quae folia, etc. Cf. Geoponica, iii, 5 : cijXov ovtoq uq
TTttv (pVTOV Trplv iKoiSijaai irpog f3\darT]<nv Scktikov iariv tiQ ^vriiav.
OliSiv yap ^Xaariiaav iina^ SvvljaeTai (jtviaQai.

74 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

incapable of producing the vine-shoot, which is
called when comparatively small fJagellus^ and
when larger and already beginning to bear grapes
a palma. The first word flagellus * is derived by
changing a single letter from flatus (the " blowing
of the wind "), thus flahellum becomes flagellum.
The latter, the palma, since it is a shoot destined
to bear {parere) grapes, seems first to have been
pronounced parilema, from the word parere, to
beget, then by a common change of letter began

4 to be called palma. On the other side it bears a
tendril, which is a vine-twig twisted like a curl.
It is by these tendrils that the vine grips that along
which it crawls, in order to reach a place, from
which word {capere) it is called capreolus.

All fodder must be cut, first ocinum, then farrago,
then vetches, and lastly hay. Ocini/f)? is derived
from the Greek word wxraj, which means " quickly."
The same etymology applies to the garden ocimum
{basil). It is further called ociniim, because it
speedily purges cattle, and is given to them for

5 that purpose. It is cut green from a bean-crop
before it produces pods. On the other hand it may
be that when barley, vetch, and leguminous plants
were sown mixed together, they were called/frn/^o,

' FJagello. One of Vairo's absurd etymologies. The word
is derived of course from flagrum, and means a "switch."
Servius must have had Varro's derivation in mind when
commenting? on Vergil, Georg., ii, 299; he defines flageUa as
"the highest parts of trees so called because they have to
stand many gusts {flatus) of wind."

I] THE FOURTH PERIOD 75

from the fact that they were cut green for fodder
from the field with a knife {ferro)y or farrago be-
cause it was first made from a crop of spelt {far).
With it horses and other beasts of burden are
purged and fattened in spring time. Vetch {vicia)
is derived from vincire (to bind), which also, like
the vine, has tendrils, by means of which, as it
creeps upwards to attach itself to a lupin's stalk
or that of some other plant, it binds the latter.

If you have meadows to be irrigated you should
do it as soon as you have got in the hay. In the
dry season water must be given in the evening to
the grafted fruit. These may have been called fruit
{porno) from the fact that they need drink {potus).

CHAPTER XXXII

THE FOURTH PERIOD

In the fourth period, between the summer solstice
and the rising of the Dog Star, most people get in
the harvest, for they say that corn is fifteen days
in its sheath, flowers in fifteen, and in fifteen be-
comes dry, being then ripe. You must now finish
off your ploughing, which is the more effective the
hotter the ground when it is done. After the open-
ing up of the earth by the first ploughing, it must
be broken up by the second, that the clods may be
destroyed, for at the first only big clods are cloven
out of the earth.

76 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

You must now sow vetch, lentils, chick-peas, the
bitter vetch, and other plants which some call
leguniina^ others, as some Gallic farmers, legarica^
both words being derived from legere (to gather),
because these are not cut, but "gathered" by
plucking.

You must hoe your old vineyards a second time,
the new ones a third, if by that time there are any
clods remaining.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE FIFTH PERIOD

In the fifth period, between the rising of the Dog
Star and the autumnal equinox, the straw must
be cut down and stacked, the second ploughing
done, the trees cleared of superfluous leaves, and
the second crop cut on the meadows which are
irrigated.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE SIXTH PERIOD

I In the sixth period, our authors state, sowing
should be begun at the autumnal equinox, and
may go on for ninety-one days ; but after the winter
solstice you should not sow unless compelled by

I] THE SEVENTH PERIOD 77

necessity — and this makes such a difference that
plants which come up in seven days if sown before
the solstice, hardly come up in forty if sown
later. And they are of opinion that you should not
begin before the equinox, because, if bad weather
sets in, the seeds generally rot. Beans are best
sown at the time of the setting of the Pleiads; while
between the autumnal equinox and the setting of the
Pleiads, your grapes must be picked and the vintage
made. Then one must begin to prune the vines and
propagate, and plant fruit trees. In some districts,
where the hard frosts set in comparatively early, it
is better to do these things in the spring-time.

CHAPTER XXXV

THE SEVENTH PERIOD

I In the seventh period, between the setting of the
Pleiads and the winter solstice, the following things
are to be done, we are told.

Plant lilies and crocus.

To form a rose-plantation take a plant which has
already' struck root, and cut the stem, beginning
at the root, into slips a palm-breadth long, then

' Quae iam egit, etc. Cf. Geoponica, xi, i8. "Others take
them (rose trees) up with the roots, then cut into three-inch
lengths the roots and what has grown from them, and plant
the cuttings at a distance of a cubit from one another."

78 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

cover them with earth and transplant them when
they too have made a Hving root. It is not good to
make violet beds on a farm, because the earth must
be raised for them, and small mounds are thus
necessarily produced which are washed away by
artificial watering and by rain storms, and so im-
poverish the soil.

From the time when Favonius begins to blow
until the rising of Arcturus, you may properly
transplant serpillum (wild thyme), so called from
its creeping {serpere).

New ditches must be dug, the old ones cleared
out, the vines and their supporting trees pruned —
provided that, like most operations of this kind,
they be not done within fifteen days after or before
the winter solstice — though some plants, such as
elms, may properly be planted at that time.

CHAPTER XXXVI

THE EIGHTH PERIOD

In the eighth period, that is, between the winter
solstice and the time when Favonius begins to
blow, the following things must be done.

Any water standing on the cornfields must be
drained off. If, however, it is a time of drought,
and the land crumbles easily, it should be hoed.

Prune the vines and their trees.

I] MOON AND SIXFOLD DIVISION 79

When no work can be done in the fields, every-
thing: that can be done in the farm-house should
then be finished off in the dark winter dawns. It is
good to have the rules which I have given written
out and hung well in view in the farm-house, in
order that all, and especially the bailiff, may know
them.

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE MOON AND THE SIXFOLD DIVISION OF THE YEAR

T Attention must be paid also to the days of the
moon, which may be regarded as divided into
two series; the one in which the moon waxes
from nev/ to full, the other in which it wanes to
new moon until it reaches the day dividing two
months when the moon is said to be ending and
beginning. Hence, at Athens this day is called 'm
Koi vsa (old and new), whilst others term it TpiaKag.
Certain farm operations are better done when the
moon is waxing than when it is waning, while with
certain others the reverse is the case, as the cut-

2 ting of corn and timber. Why, said Agrasius,
I practise those precepts not only when shearing
sheep, but in the matter of my hair even (following
my father in this), for fear of growing bald if I cut
it when the moon is waxing. Said Agrius: In
what sense has the moon four periods, and what

3 influence has such a division on farming? Did

8o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

you never hear in the country, answered Treme-
lius, the expression, " on the eighth day • before the
moon begins to increase," and "the eighth day
before she begins to wane"? And that of those
things which should be done when the moon is
waxing, some are yet better done after than before
the eighth day before full moon? And that whatever
things it was good to do when the moon was waning
were better done when that luminary had the least
light?

I have already spoken of the fourfold division
observed in agriculture.
4 There is, said Stolo, a second division of times
connected in a certain way with the sun and
moon, and this division is into six parts; for almost
all fruits reach their full perfection only with the
fifth phase, and then in the farm-house make the
acquaintance of the jar or bushel, whence in the
sixth phase they are produced for consumption.

These are the six phases: (i) Initial prepara-
tion; (2) sowing; (3) rearing; (4) gathering; (5)
storing; (6) producing for use. For some things
the preparations necessary are: trenching, digging

' Octavo Janam haiani, like octavo Kalendas, etc., witli el-
lipse o{ ante.

Nii^idius, according to Macrobius (Saturnalia, i, 9, 8) identi-
fied lanus with Apollo (the Sun-God) and lana with Diana
(the Moon-God). Tertullian (Ad Xat. ii, 15, p. 128) makes
lana the goddess of the bow or the arch.

Here there is no doubt but that the moon is meant, and
many commentators (Gesner) have considered luna to be a
gloss.

I] OF MANURING 81

over the ground again, and making of furrows, as,
for example, if you want a plantation or an orchard ;
for others, you must plough or dig, as when the
land is destined for corn ; again, for certain things
5 the earth must be turned to a greater or less depth
with the large spade, as some roots — cypress roots,
for example — spread but little, while others, such
as those of the plane-tree, spread more. Theo-
phrastus, indeed, describes a plane-tree at Athens
in the Lyceum which, though it was even then but
a young tree, had put out roots thirty-three cubits
long.

In some cases after breaking up the land with
oxen and plough, you have to plough a second
time also before sowing the seed.

Then there is the preparation, if any has to be
made, in the case of meadows — namely, fencing
them in to keep the cattle out (and this is generally
done when the pear-tree begins to bloom), and
watering them in good time if they are to be
watered.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

OF MANURING

I Now we must consider what parts of the farm
should be manured, how it is to be done, and what
kind of manure should be preferred; for there are

Q

82 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

several kinds. Cassius writes that the best is that
from birds, excepting marsh or water fowl. Of
these he gives the preference to pigeons' dung, as
being the warmest and as setting up fermentation

2 in the soil. According to him it should be scat-
tered on the ground like seed and not heaped up, as
cattle dung is. I consider the best to be that taken
from aviaries where field-fares and blackbirds
are kept, for it is not only good for the soil, but
supplies a fattening food for both cattle and swine.
We find accordingly that the rent paid for aviaries
is less in cases where the owner reserves this man-
ure for the farm than where it is thrown in as part
of the bargain. Cassius writes that next to pigeons'
dung comes that of man, and in the third place

3 that of goats, sheep, and asses; while horse dung
is the worst of all, though it is good for corn-crops.
For meadows it is perhaps the best of all manures,
since it produces an abundant crop of grass, which
is the case with the dung of all beasts of burden fed
on barley. The dung-hill must be made close to
the farm-house, so that the labour of carrying it
away may be as small as possible. They say that
no serpent breeds in the dung-hill if a piece of oak-
wood ' be driven into the middle of it.

^ Rohusia jna/eria = oak wood. Cf. Pliny (N. H., xvii, 9:
Palo e robore depacto fieri iubet. Ita fore ne innascantur his
serpentes.

I] OF MODES OF PROPAGATION 83

CHAPTER XXXIX

OF MODES OF PROPAGATION

1 Now with regard to the second phase — the sowing
— the following questions arise : What season of the
year is naturally adapted for the sowing of a given
seed? For as in a farm the aspect of each part of it
is of importance, so also is the season at which
each kind of plant grows with the least difficulty.
Do we not see that some plants blossom in the
spring, others in the winter, and that the same

2 things do not jflower in autumn as in winter? And
accordingly some things are sown, grafted, or
mown earlier or later than others. We notice also
that though most grafting is better done in the
spring than in autumn, yet figs are grafted near the
summer solstice and cherries in the heart of winter.

3 And so, as there are four' ways in which plants are
propagated — one natural, three artificial, namely,
the transference of things with quick roots from soil
to soil, the taking of shoots from a tree and planting
them in the ground, and the grafting on one tree of
a slip taken from another, we must examine in de-
tail the conditions of time and place required for
each of these operations.

' Ouare cum semina, etc. This section is taken from Theo-
phrastus (H. P., ii, i), where, however, eight modes of pro-
pagation are given.

Vergil (Georg., il, 10-36), using Theophrastus or Varro,
enters into greater detail.

84 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XL

SOWING, PLANTING, AND GRAFTING

1 The primary seed which is the origin of reproduc-
tion is of two kinds. It is either visible or invisible;
invisible where the seeds are in the air (and Anaxa-
goras,^ the natural philosopher, asserts that there
are such), or, as Theophrastus writes, where water
flowing on to the land carries them with it.

The visible seeds, as they concern farmers, de-
mand our close attention. Certain seeds, indeed,
quite capable of reproducing their kind, are so small
as to be seen with difficulty; as, for instance, those
of the cypress — for the nuts which grow on this
tree, small encapsulated balls, as it were, are not

2 the true seed, which is inside them. Nature has
given' the original seeds ; the others were discovered
through experiments made by the farmer. The
first seeds were those which unaided by him grew
before they were planted ; the second, those which
were got from the former, and which did not grow

' Anaxagoras. Theophrastus, citing Anaxagoras, assigns
to him both these statements. Cf. Theophrastus (H. P., iii,
I, 4): 'Ava^ayopae \iiv tov depa navTwv tpaoKwv ixuv aTripfiara Kai
ravra (n)yKa-a<pip6iiiva T(f vcari yivvav to. (jivto..

What Aristotle called ofioionepi'i (cf. Lucretius, i, 834) Anaxa-
goras himself called aTripfiara rCjr xp'J/iarwr.

^ Dedit Natura, etc. Cf. Vergil (Georg., ii, 20):

Hos Natura viodos primum dedit . . .
Sunt alii quos ipse via sibi rcppcrit iisus

I] SOWING, PLANTING, GRAFTING 85

before they were planted. With regard to the
original seeds we must be careful that they have not
lost their virtue through age, that they are not
mixed with others, and that they are not the wrong
ones through resemblance to another sort. The
effect of age on some things is so great as to change
their nature ; for from old cabbage seed, they say,
springs rape, and conversely from rape seed cab-
bages.

3 In propagating by the second ' means one must be
careful to do so neither too early nor too late. The
proper seasons, according to Theophrastus,' are
spring, autumn, and the rising of the Dog Star,
though this does not apply to every soil and every
kind of plant. In dry, poor, clayey soils, since they
have the least moisture, spring should be chosen ;
whereas in the case of good and rich land autumn is
the best time, for in spring there is much wet. Some
people fix about thirty days as the time within
which each sowing should be made.

4 The third kind of germ, which is transmitted
from the tree to the earth by means of shoots, if
planted in the soil, needs care in some instances
that the severance from the parent tree be made at
the proper time — that is before any flowers or buds
appear — and that whatever shoots you transplant be
torn ^ from the stock rather than broken off, for the

^ Secunda semina. Cf. xxxix, 3.
* Theophrastus. Cf. Causa Plant., i, 7.

' Ut ea deplantes potiusquam defringas. The commentators
give little help as to the meaning of deplantare. But I feel

86 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

wider the heel of a shoot is the firmer it is, or else
the more easily does it put forth roots. These shoots
are quickly planted before the sap can dry up. In
the case of olive cuttings see that the shoot be taken
from a young branch, and cut off evenly at both
ends ; such shoots are called by some clavolae (little
clubs), by others taleae, and are cut about a foot
long.
5 With regard to the fourth kind of propagator
which from one tree passes to another: attention
must be paid both to the tree from which it is taken
and that on which it is grafted, as well as to the
time and to the manner in which the grafting is
done; for oak will not take pear, and this is so,
though the apple-tree will. This is a matter care-
fully heeded by many who give ear to the harus-
ptces,^ for these declare that as many lightning

sure that the translation is right. Planta means a sucker, or
shoot, and this was torn from the tree so that some part of
the mother plant came with it. Cf. Plinj-, N. H., xvii, lo:
Avulsique arboribus stolones vixere. Quo in genere et cum
perna sua avelluntur, partcmque aljquam e inatris qtioque corpore
auferunt secum jimbriato corpore.

Vergil speaks of rending them off. Cf. Georg., ii, 23. Hie
plantas tenero abscindens de corpore matrum, and bids one (ii,
300) not to break them off. . . .

aut summas defringe ex arbore plantas,
tantus amor terrae.

Columella uses the word in this sense, I think (ii, 2, 26, and
iii, 10, 7). Theophrastus's word TrapaoTrdg (surculus) means
literally a shoot " torn off."

' Qui haruspices audiunt, etc. Pliny (N. H., xv, 15), who

I] SOWING, PLANTING, GRAFTING 87

flashes are produced at one stroke from that which
has generated the flash as there are kinds of plants
grafted on one tree. If you graft a pear-shoot on a
wild pear-tree, no matter how good the latter the
flavour will not be so good as if you had grafted it
on one that is not wild.
6 On whatever tree you graft, supposing it and the
shoot to be grafted of the same kind — for example
if both be apple-trees — you should (if you hope for
good fruit) so graft that the shoot is of a better kind

alludes to this passage, does not, unfortunately, explain it.
His words are: Neque omnia insita misceri fas est, sicut me
spinas insert quando fulgura expiari non queunt facile : quotque
genera insita fuerunt tot fulgura uno ictu pronuntiantur.
Again (xvii, 17) he states that religio fulgtcrum forbids the
grafting of a mulberry on a branch. He mentions that all
lightnings (ii, 52) did not come "from the stars," but ex
proxima atque turhidiore natura. Some trees were not struck,
the laurel for instance (ii, 55). But why the grafting on
certain trees should make them more likely to be struck no
one explains. Perhaps the haruspices found that some trees
invited the lightning more than others, and regarded the
piercing of holes for grafting as a further invitation. Seneca
(Nat. Quaest., ii, 40), 6\sc\issing fuhnina {fulmen he defines
as concentrated fulgur), says that one sort goes out by the
hole iforaine7i) through which it entered ; another kind does
not, but shatters what it strikes. He speaks also (Nat.
Quaest., i, i) of exhalation from the earth, some dry, some
ignibus concipiendis idonea. May the whole passage, then,
mean that an exhalation of this kind (illud quod fulmen
concepit), on reaching a suitable tree, makes entry at each
of the weak places (where the grafts have been made) and
becomes so many fulmina? The lihrifulgurales of the Etrus-
can Haruspices would doubtless explain.

88 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

than the tree to which it comes. There is a second
way ^ lately discovered of grafting tree upon tree,
when the two are close together.

You bring from the tree which you mean to graft
to the one on which vou intend to graft it a small
branch, and in a bough of the second tree which
has been cut off at the end and split, you insert the
small branch which is now in contact with the place
made ready for it, after the part which is to be in-
side has been whittled on both sides with a knife.
You must manage so that on the outside where it
will see the sky the inserted branch may have its
bark accurately adjusted to the bark of the bough
which receives it, and you must take care that the
top of the inserted branch stands straight up point-
ing to the sky. The next year when it has taken
well hold you cut it off from the other tree — that
from which it was grafted.

CHAPTER XLI

GRAFTS AND CUTTINGS

I With regard to the proper time of grafting we
must note in particular those plants which used

' Est altera species. This method is described with his usual
clearness by Columella (v, xi, 13). By it, he says, "any kind
of shoot may be grafted on any kind of tree." The possibility
of this is denied by modern horticulturists, but, according to
Columella, it was a seven-years business, so that tlio method
may not have been given a fair trial in modern times.

I] GRAFTS AND CUTTINGS 89

formerly to be grafted in spring, but are now
grafted at the summer solstice as well — the fig-tree,
for example, because of the looseness of its fibre and
its consequent need of warmth. Hence in a cold
district the impossibility of having plantations of
fig-trees.

Rain ^ is harmful to the freshly-made graft, for it

2 quickly rots the small and delicate shoot, so the
best time for grafting them (fig-trees) is thought to
be when the Dog Star rises. Again in the case of
such plants as are of less soft a nature, they tie
immediately above the graft some kind of vessel,
from which water may drop slowly and prevent the
shoot withering before it unites with the tree. The
rind of the shoot must be kept intact, and in sharpen-
ing it for insertion care must be taken not to lay
bare the inner pulp. In order that the rains from
without or excessive heat may not hurt it, it is well
to smear the graft with clay and bind it up with a

3 strip of bark. At the same time people cut a vine-
shoot three days before grafting it, that the super-
fluous moisture in it may run off before it is used,
or they make an incision in the tree, which is to
receive the shoot, a little below the point of insertion,
that the superabundant moisture may there escape.
On the other hand in the case of the fig-tree, pome-

' Aqua recenti. Nearly the whole of this chapter is taken
from Theophrastus (Caus. Plant., i, 6). But the latter dis-
tinguishes between grafting and " budding " {tvotpOaXiafioo), and
it is to budding, according to him, that moisture is hostile.
To 5' uoutp Ti^i fiiv tvo(pOa\iani{i TroXefiiov k.t.X.

90 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

granate, and others of their kind, which are of a
comparatively dry habit, one grafts at once. In
some cases the shoot to be transferred must be in
bud — as is the case with fig-trees.

4 Of these four methods of propagation, for slow-
growing things it is best to use cuttings, as is done
in the case of fig plantations. For the true seed of
the fig-tree is enclosed in the fig which we eat —
tiny grains which owing to their small size can
hardly produce a paltry sprout. For in general, all ^
things that are fine and dry are slow to grow, whilst
things of looser tissue are also more fruitful — as
female than male; and this rule holds good for
plants also. Thus the fig, pomegranate, and vine,

5 feminine in their softness, grow quickly — the palm,
cypress and olive slowly; since in the matter of
growth ^ moist things are quicker than dry. So it
pays better to plant cuttings from the fig orchard in
nurseries, than to bury in the ground seeds from the
fig: except indeed where one is forced to do the
latter, as for instance if at any time one wants to

■ Omnia enim niinuta. From Theophrastus (Caus. Plant.,
i, 8), 'Va fiiv yap irvKva Koi ^tjpa cvffnv^})ra k.t.X. But 7ru»cvd = not
minuta, but detisa. One is sometimes tempted to believe that
Varro, despite his long stay at Athens, was not a very good
Greek scholar.

■^ /« hoc enim umidiora. One would have expected Varro
to say that these plants were examples of the quicker growth
shown by what was loose of fibre and moist than by what was
close of fibre and dry. Cf. Theophrastus (/. c), ivav^ortpa
yap ra GijXta rwi' a^piviov, vy poripa Kai fiavwnpa ttiv (piiaiv
bvra.

I] ON SOWING LUCERNE 91

send, or send for, seeds across the sea; for in that
case a string is run through the ripe figs — such as
we eat — and when dry they are packed up, and
despatched where they are wanted, so that when
planted in a nursery garden they may propagate
their kind.
6 It is in this way that Chian, Chalchidian, Lydian
and African figs, and all the other kinds from over
the sea have been brought to Italy. For a similar
reason since the seed of the olive-tree is a stone,
and a stem grows from it more slowly than from
other plants, we therefore prefer to plant in nurseries
the taleae (cuttings) which we have described.

CHAPTER XLII

ON SOWING LUCERNE

You must be particularly careful not to sow seed
on a soil that is either too dry or too sodden, but
on well-tempered land. On land of this kind, say
our authors, a peck and a half of lucerne per iu-
geriini is sufficient. In sowing it the seed must
be scattered just as when one sows grass-seed or
corn.

' Sesquimodium. The modius = wery nearly eight quarts =
a peck. It Is frequently mistranslated " bushel," which equals
four pecks.

I

92 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XLIII

CYTISUS

Cytisus^ is sown in well-ploughed land, like
cabbage seed. Thence it is transplanted and set at
intervals of a foot and a half; or else small branches
are taken from the more hardened plant, and are
set out and planted in the same way.

CHAPTER XLIV

OF CROPS

1 Beans are sown four pecks to the iugerum, wheat
five, barley six, and spelt ten, but in some places it
may be a little more or less — more if the soil be
rich, less if poor. So it will be your practice to
adopt the quantity which is customary in your
district, as the influence of the kind of soil in a
district is so great that the same seed yields in some
places ten-fold, in others fifteen-fold, as in several

2 parts of Etruria. In Italy too, in the country about
Sybaris, they say that the usual yield is a hundred
fold, and in Syria near Gadara, and in Africa in

^ Cytisum, the more usual form of which is Cytisus, was,
according to Keightiey (" Flora Virgiliana," p. 381), the name
given to two different plants, (i) the laburnum, and (2) the
arborescent lucerne.

I] OF CROPS 93

Byzacium ' from one peck the return is likewise a
hundred pecks. It is, besides, of much moment
whether you sow in virgin soil, or in such as has
been sown every year (which is called restibilis), or
in that which has occasionally lain fallow.^

3 Agrius remarked to him that in Olynthia the
fields were said to be sown yearly, but in such a
way as to produce richer crops every third year.
Licinius said: Land ought to be left fallow every
other year, or else be sown a little more lightly,
that is, in a manner less exhausting to the soil.

We will now discuss the third phase, said Agrius,

4 that is the rearing and nurture of plants. Stolo
answered. All plants that are born on a farm
grow in the ground, conceive on attaining puberty,
and, becoming pregnant, when they have reached

^ Ad Byzacium. Byzacium was the name of a tract of
country, 250 miles in circumference, on the north coast of
Africa, which was inhabited by Liby-Phoenicians. Its chief
towns were Leptis, Adrumetum, Ruspina, and Thapsus.
Pliny (N. H., v, 4) mentions this extraordinary fertility.
Solinus Polyhistor (cap. xxx) alludes to it : In agro Byzaceno,
qui patet passuum ducentis vel amplius viilibus, glehis ita
praepinguihus ut iacta ibi sernina cum incremento centesimae
frugis renascantur. He quotes Varro a little before this pass-
age, so he may have read him. Usually he annexes Pliny's
facts without acknowledgement !

^ In vetvacto. Vervactum = land which has been ploughed
and allowed to lie fallow. Sometimes it means land ploughed
for the first time. Cf. Servius on Georg., i, 50 {At prius igno-
tum ferro quam scindimus aequor), i.e., antequam faciamus
vervactum. Cf. Gottlob Schneider's excellent note on this
word vefvactum in his index to the agronomes.

94 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

their term bring forth fruits, or the ear, etc. And
the seed returns whence it came. So if you pluck
off a blossom or unripe pear, or anything else of
the kind, nothing grows again in that same place
the same year, for it is impossible for the same
thing to have two pregnancies ^ in one year. For
just as women have fixed times for parturition, so
too do trees and the fruits of the earth.

CHAPTER XLV

OF THE GROWTH OF PLANTS

1 Barley generally comes up first in seven days,
wheat a little later; leguminous plants in about
four or five days, with the exception of the bean,
for it comes up a good deal later; millet, sesame,
and other similar crops appear in about the same
number of days, save when peculiarity of district or
weather produces some defect which prevents this
from happening.

2 Plants of a delicate nature, which are raised in a
nursery, should, if the climate be chilly, be covered
during the winter with leaves or straw. If rains
follow, see that there may be no stagnant water
anywhere; for frost is poison to the delicate roots.

Plants do not grow equally in the same time

^ Quod praegnationes . Cf. Theophrastus (Caus. Plant., i, 14) :
"Nor yet if you remove fruit or flower can the plant bring
forth others, as it has not the time necessary for pregnancy."

I] OF THE GROWTH OF PLANTS 95

3 below and above the ground. For in autumn or
winter the roots grow more below ground than do
the parts above, since they are protected and forced
by the warmth of the earth, whilst above ground
they are kept back '- by the more chilly atmosphere.
And places in the woods, near which no sower has
ever been, show this to be the case; for roots grow
before that which springs from them, yet^ roots
go no further than where the sun's warmth reaches.
The growth of the roots depends on two things:
(i) The fact that nature gives greater extension to
roots of one kind of wood than to those of another,
and (2) that one kind of soil is more permeable
than another.

' Coguntur. Victorius found in the M.SS. fing'untur. Petrus
Crescentius, a writer on agricultural subjects of the thirteenth
century, who copied large portions of Varro inaccurately and
with little understanding, has cinguntur. The passage of
Theophrastus which Varro copied is : oti to. fiev avio KwXverai
SiA Tov irtpiS, aspa i^/vxpov ovra. Keil's coguntur translates
KwXvETai. Cinguntur (are surrounded) goes well with rbv irspiK
aspa.

As Crescentius possibly had access to MSS. of earlier date
than any we possess, and as the change from finguntur to
cinguntur is much less than to coguntur, I incline to the
cinguntur of Crescentius, despite his frequent inaccuracy, and
would translate "and are surroundedby a chillier atmosphere."

* Nisi quo tepor venit solis. Pliny does not believe this.
Cf. N. H., xvi, 31 : Quidam non altius descendere radices quam
solis calor tepefaciat, idque natura loci tenuioris crassiorisve
dixere, quod /ahum arbitror.

96 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XLVI

OF THE HABITS OF PLANTS

With regard to such matters, nature displays in
plants many differences which are remarkable, as
the fact that one should be able to tell the time of
year from certain leaves, by their turning — as do
the olive, the white poplar, and the willow. For
when the leaves of these trees turn/ we say that
the summer solstice is past. Equally remarkable
is what happens in the case of those flowers which
are called heliotropia^ from the fact that in the morn-
ing they face the rising sun, and follow its course
to where it sets, ever turning towards it.

CHAPTER XLVn

OF THE CARE OF CROPS

Plants that have been reared in the nursery from
shoots, and whose sprouts are of a somewhat deli-
cate nature — as the olive and fig — must have their
tops protected each by two small boards which are

' Propter concvi versuram. The "turning" of the leaves is
in relation to the quarter of the heaven they turn to. PHny,
N. H., xviii, 28: Alia paitc caelum respiciunt qiiam qua
spectavere pridie\ and Theophrastus (quoted by Victorius)
says : aTpi(piiv yap doKovai ra inr-ria fiiTU rpoTrac Ofpii'dc (Schneider
has xfifupivaQ !) Kai TOVT<^ yvwpi'Covaiv oti yeyirTjvrai rpoirai.

I] OF GRAIN 97

fixed' in the ground to the right and left of it, and
the weeds must be pulled up. This must be done
while they are green, for if they become dry they
resist fiercely, and, instead of following the hand,
quickly snap off. On the other hand, grass that is
grown with a view to the hay harvest must not be
pulled up while growing, nor even trodden on. So
cattle and every kind of beast of burden, and even
men, should be kept off a meadow. For the foot of
man is perdition to grass, and makes the beginnings
of a foot-path.

CHAPTER XLVIII

OF GRAIN

I Now in the case of crops, that by which the stalk
puts forth the grain is the ear. The latter, when
entire," has in barley and wheat three parts closely
connected — the grain, the husk, and the beard, and
also the sheath, present when the ear first emerges.
The solid body, the innermost part of the ear, is

' Deligata. This, the best supported reading, seems to me
to give no satisfactory sense. I have translated deligatis,
though alligatis ad verticem is what one would expect. Ursinus
considered deligata to be a gloss. Crescentius, however, ac-
cording to Schneider, has integenda sunt binis tabeUis, dextra
aut sinistra ligatis.

' Quae mutilata non est. Oats and spelt have no beard.
Cicero in the De Amicitia (cap. xv) makes Cato say that the
beard protects the grain from the bites of small birds.

H

98 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

called the grain, its little envelope the husk,
and the long slender needle (as it were) that pro-
jects from the husk is called the beard (as if husk
and beard formed the peaked' cap of the grain).

2 The words "beard" and "grain" are familiar to
nearly every one, the word ghima (husk) to but
few, for to my knowledge Ennius is the only
writer who has used it, in his translation of the
books of Euhemerus. The word {gluvia) seems to
be derived from gluhere (to strip), because the grain
is stripped of its envelope. Accordingly they call
by the same name the envelope of the fig which we
eat. The beard {arista) is so called because it is
the first to become dry {arescere), the grain {granum)
is from gerere (to bear), as corn is sown that the
ear may bear not the husk or the beard, but the
grain, just as the vine is planted that it may bear
grapes, not leaves. Again the spica (ear), which
the countryfolk, following an ancient tradition, call
speca^^ seems to have been so called from spes (hope),

3 for they sow in the hope that it will come. An ear

' Apex, the cap worn by the flamcns and Salii. It was
close-fitting, and from its centre a spike of olive wood stood
up. Cf. Servius ad Aeneid, viii, 664: Jlamines in Capite hab-
ebant p ileum in quo erat brevis virga. The gluma, of course, is
the cap proper, the arista the spike. It is strange that the
obvious meaning of this passage should have escaped Schneider
and all the commentators before him.

^ Speca, a rustic development of the original speica. The
short 1 normally became 6 in rustic Latin; as vea for via,
mateola for matiola.

I] OF GRAIN 99

having no beard is called " hornless,"' for the beard
forms, as it were, the horns of the ear. When the
latter are in process of formation, and are not yet
quite visible, they lie hid, covered by a green en-
velope which is called the sheath, like that in which
a sword lies hidden.^ The upper extremity of the ear
now ripe, which is less in size than the grain, is
called frit\ that which lies at the lower extremity
of the ear, at its junction with the highest part of
the straw (likewise less than the grain) is called
urru.^

^ Mutila. Caesar describing elks calls them viutilae comi-
bus, and Columella (vii, 3, 3) speaks of a mutilus aries. In
vii, 6, 4, he distinguishes between a capella vtuHla and one
comuta.

^ Gladium. Neuter, of course. Cf, Varro, 11. ix, 49 : quod
dicitur a viultis duobus modis hie dupondius et hoc dupondiutn,
ut hoc gladium et hie gladius.

' Frit and Urru. About these two words no one appears
to know anything, oppof, or oi'|oa = the tail or rump. The
reading of the MSS. is, however, urrucum and then contieu-
isset, which may well have been urrucum cum contieuisset.
Urructim might be for urrucum { = urruneum)y and urruncu7n
stand for oppoyicov which means a "mountain top," urnincum
being thus the top of the straw. Frit is connected by Pont-
adera with (ppiTreiv, to shiver, to bristle. All (mine included)
profitless guess-work, I am afraid.

lOo VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XLIX

THE HAY HARVEST

1 Stolo finished speaking, and thinking that as no
further questions were asked, nothing more was
needed on the subject of the nutrition of plants, he
said that he would proceed to discuss the getting
in of the ripe crops. And, firstly, said he, re-
garding meadows reserved for hay, when grass has
ceased growing and the heat begins to dry it up, it
should be cut close with the scythe, and then tossed
with forks until thoroughly dry. When it is quite
dry it should be made into bundles and then carted
to the homestead. Then any hay left on the mea-
dows must be raked up, and the heap thus made

2 added to the rest of the hay. That done, you must
go over ^ the fields again, that is, cut with scythes
whatever bits have been passed over by the mowers,
leaving little tufts of grass on the surface. From
this cutting {secari) I fancy that the word sicilire
(to cut a second time) is derived.

* Sicilienda prata. Pliny (N. H., xviii, 28) defines the word
in the same way : hoc est quae faenisices {foeniseces) practeri-
erunt secari, adding, est enim in primis inutile enasci herbas
sementaturas.

I] OF REAPING loi

CHAPTER L

OF REAPING

The term harvest, messis, is properly applied to
such things as we measure {metimur), especially to
corn — and from that word {metiri) it is derived.
The corn harvest is got in three ways; one, as in
Umbria, where they cut the straw close to the
ground and lay the sheaves as they are cut, on the
1 ground. When they have got a good number of
sheaves, they go over them again, and sheaf by
sheaf they cut off the ears from the straw. The ears
are thrown into a basket and sent to the threshing
floor, the straw is left on the field to be taken away
and stacked. In the second method of reaping,
used, for instance, in Picenum, they have a curved ^
piece of wood with a small iron saw at the end.
This grasps a bundle of ears, cuts them off, and
leaves the stalks standing in the field to be subse-
quently cut close to the ground. The third method
— adopted near Rome and in most places — is to cut
the stalk, the top of which is held by the left hand,

^ Incurvum bacillum. Pliny (N, H., xviii, 30) describes a
horse-drawn corn-mower which may be this referred to by
Varro: Valli praegrandes dentibus in margine infestis, duahus
rotis per segetem impelluntur ; iumento in contrarium iuncto:
ita direptae in vallum cadunt spicae. Palladius (June II) de-
scribes at greater length and more clearly a corn-cutter which
was pushed by an ox.

I02 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

mid-way, and I fancy that the word harvest {messis)
is derived from the word middle {medius). That
part of the stalk below the hand which adheres to
the ground is afterwards cut close to the earth,
while that part which is attached to the ear is carried
3 off in baskets to the threshing-floor; there it is
separated in an uncovered place in full view {palam)^
whence perhaps its name palea (straw). Some
people derive its name stramenium from stare (to
stand) from which stameii is also derived ; others
from stratum (strewing), because it is strewn under
cattle. When the crop is ripe it must be reaped;
and in regard to this it is said that one man's work
for a day is roughly enough for about a iiigertmi,^
if the land be easy to work. The cut ears should be
carried in baskets to the threshing-floor.

CHAPTER LI

THE THRESHING-FLOOR

I The threshing-floor should be on raised ground,
that the wind may blow through it; it should be of
a size proportionate to that of the crop; round for
choice, with the centre swelling up a little, so that
in case of rain the water may not stand, but may

' /« iugenim. This seems irrelevant, and the remainder
of the chapter a vain repetition of what was said immediately
before.

I] THE THRESHING-FLOOR 103

flow down out of the threshing-floor by the shortest
possible way, and in a circle a straight line from
the centre to the edge is always the shortest; it
should be of solid earth, well rammed down, especi-
ally if it is clay, lest the heat of summer crack' it,
and grains of corn get lost in the fissures, letting
in water and discovering holes for mice and ants.
To prevent this people frequently drench it with
amurca^' as the latter is poison to weeds, ants, and
2 moles. Some people, in order to keep it solid, streng-
then the threshing-floor with stones or even pave it.
Others, such as the Bagiennae,^ even roof their
threshing-floors to protect them from storms, which
are frequent in their country at harvest time. When

^ Paeininosa. Nonius Marcellus quotes this passage thus :
Paeininostim, malt odoris: a paedore dictum. Varro de Re
Rustica, lib. i : Solida terra pavita, ?7taxime si est argilla, ne
situ paeminosa, in rimis eius grana oblitescafif, where it is to
be noticed that Nonius gives to paeminosa the sense of " foul,"
and has situ (by neglect) instead of aestu (which Victorius
found in his "most faithful and ancient manuscript").

Taking Nonius's reading the translation is "lest it become
foul through neglect," etc.

The Vi' ovd paeminosus is not found elsewhere.

Kail's interpolation, si sit, seems unnecessarj-, ior paeminosa
(Ablative) with area understood is quite in Varro's distressing
manner.

^ Amurca (a/topyr/c) = the watery part of olives, distinct from
the oil.

•^ In Bagiennis. These are probably Pliny's Vagienni{N. H.,
iii, 20), a branch of the Celtic Caturiges settled in the moun-
tainous parts of Liguria, where sudden storms do still arise
in summer time.

I04 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the threshing-floor is without a roof and the climate
is hot, shelters should be built near it to which the
workmen may repair in the broiling noon-tide
heat.

CHAPTER LII

OF THRESHING

I Ears of the finest and best crop should be taken to
the threshing-floor and kept separate from the rest,
so that the farmer may have the best possible seed.
The ears are threshed on the threshing-floor. Some
do this by means of yoked beasts and a threshing
sleigh, which is made of a piece of wood roughened
underneath with stones or iron, on which either the
driver stands, or a large weight is placed. It is then
drawn by the animals harnessed to it, and shakes
the grains of corn from the ears. Or it is made of
planks of wood furnished with teeth and little
wheels, and is then called the ' ' Punic wain. " A man
must sit on it and drive the animals which draw it,
as is the practice in Hither Spain and other places.

2 With others the threshing is done by means of a
herd of beasts which are driven on to the threshing-
floor and are kept going by poles, the grains of
corn are thus rubbed out of the ears by their hoofs.
When the ears have been threshed they should be
tossed up from the ground with winnowing baskets '

' Vallis for vannulis. The vatinus was a kind of basket or
sieve. Servius (ad Georg. , i, i66, where he says Varro read

I] THE GLEANING 105

or winnowing shovels' when there is a gentle breeze
blowing, so that the lighest part of them, called
aciis or palea (chaff), may be blown away outside
the threshing-floor, while the heavy part, the grain,
comes clean of chaff to the basket.

CHAPTER LHI

THE GLEANING

When the harvest is over, you should sell' the
gleaning, or pull the stalks yourself; or else, if the
ears be few and labour dear, they should be eaten
down. For you must look to the main chance lest
in this matter the cost exceed the return.

vallus) defines it as a cribrum areaIe = Si sieve used on the
threshing-floor. It was used in the absence of wind (Colu-
mella, ii, 21).

' Ventilabrum was a winnowing shovel {-Krvov) by which
the corn was thrown up into the air across the wind. Win-
nowing seems to have been done in the same way in Homer's
as in Varro's time. Cf. Iliad, v, 499.

^ Venire. This is an instance of Varronian ambiguity. It
may mean (i) to be sold, (2) to come.

io6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER LIV

OF WINE-MAKING

1 In the vineyards, when the grapes are ripe, you
must proceed to the vintage, making up your mind
first on the kind of grape and the part of the vine-
yard with which you intend to begin. For the quick-
ripening and the common kind, called black, ripen
a good deal earlier than the others and should
therefore be gathered before them, and the sunnier
part of the plantation and vineyard ought to come

2 down before other parts. During the vintage a good
farmer not only gathers his bunches, he also selects
them. He gathers for drinking, he selects for eat-
ing. Accordingly, those gathered are taken off to
the wine-yard^ to go thence into the empty cask;
those selected are put into a separate basket to be
transferred into small jars and then thrust into
casks full of grape refuse; others to go down in a
pitch-coated ampliora into a tank, others to go up to
a shelf in the larder. The stalks and skins of the
grapes that have been trodden must be put under
the press, that whatever "must" remains in them

3 may be squeezed out into the same vat. Some
people, when the juice ceases to flow under the
press, cut round the edge of the mass and press
again, and what is squeezed out in the second
operation is called circumcisicium. It is kept apart,

' Forum viiiarium. Cf. Cato, xviii, 3.

I] OLIVE PRODUCTS 107

for it tastes of iron. The skins of the grapes are
thrown into casks and water is added to them. It
is then called lora^ an abbreviation for lota acina
(watered grape-skins), and in winter is given in-
stead of wine to the workmen.

CHAPTER LV

OLIVE PRODUCTS

1 We now come to the olive plantation. Such olives
as you can reach with the hand from the ground or
from ladders ' are better pulled than shaken from the
tree ; for those which have been struck lose flesh and
give less oil. Those which are picked by hand are
better if gathered with the bare fingers, not with
pincers, for the hardness of the latter not only

2 nips the berry but barks the branches as well, and
leaves them unprotected against the frost. Those
branches that cannot be reached by the hand should
be beaten with a reed rather than a pole, for a heavy
blow demands a doctor. The man who beats must

3 not strike the olive directly, for often an olive so
struck carries a green shoot away with it from the
branch, in which case the fruit of the next year is
lost ; and this is one of the chief reasons why they
say that every other year olive plantations bear no
fruit or a diminished crop.

' Scalis. The Geoponica (ix, 17) recommend Tpiywva dva-
(iaTTjpia — triangular steps.

io8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

4 The olives go home the same two ways as do
grapes; some to be eaten, others to be turned into
a liquid, a lubricant for the outside as well as for
the inside of the owner's body. And so it follows
him to the baths ^ and the gymnasium. The latter

5 kind of olives, from which oil is made, are generally
piled up in heaps (one heap for each day), on
shelves, to remain there until they become mod-
erately soft, when they are taken down heap by
heap in pails," in the order in which they were laid
down, to the oil vessels and presses. The latter are
mill-stones of a hard and rough stone used for

6 crushing olives. If the olives gathered have re-
mained too long in heaps they go soft through the
heat, and the oil goes bad. And so if it should be
impossible to make your oil in good time, you
must air them by frequent stirring.

7 From the olive we get two products (i) the oil,
with which everybody is familar, and (2) amurca,
which (most people are unaware of its usefulness)
we may see running from the oil-presses, not only
blackening the earth, but, when there is much of it,
rendering it barren: whereas this liquid, used in
moderation, is of the greatest importance in farm-

^ Balneas — Y)uhllc baths, balneum being a private bath —
so Varro in the Lingua Latina.

^ Per serias. I have translated the reading of the most
ancient MS. as given by Victorius, viz., per sena, taking sena
for sina (" pails," as si'num laciis, Columella, vii, 8, 2). Scaliger
found always in Nonius senum not sinum, and the change of
1 to (5 in rustic Latin has already been noted.

I] GRANARIES 109

ing, as well as in many other directions. It is com-
monly poured round the roots of trees, especially
olive trees, and wherever there are weeds.

CHAPTER LVI

OF STORING HAY

Said Agrius to Stolo: I have been sitting for
a long time in the farm-house, waiting, key in
hand, for you to bring the produce home. Stolo
answered, Well, here I am, coming to the
threshold ; throw open the doors.

To begin with, hay is better stored beneath a
roof than in stacks, for so it makes sweeter fodder.
This is proved by the fact that if you set both
before cattle they eat the one in preference to the
other.

CHAPTER LVII

GRANARIES

I Wheat should be stored in granaries raised above
the ground, wind-swept from the east and north,
and safe against any damp breeze that may blow
from the immediate neighbourhood. Walls and

no VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

floor must be coated with a marble cement ^ — failingf

2 that with clay mixed with corn chaff and amurca.
As^ the latter keeps away mice and worms, and
renders the grains of corn firmer and stronger,
some people sprinkle the corn itself with it, add-
ing about a quadrantal (seven gallons) to the
thousand pecks. Different people, too, grate or
sprinkle different substances on it, for example,
Chalcidian or Carian chalk, or wormwood and the
like.

3 Some people use as granaries underground caves,
called siros^ as is done in Cappadocia and Thrace,
others wells, as in Hither Spain, and also in the
Carthaginian and Oscan country. On the floor of
these they spread straw, and are careful to prevent
moisture or air from getting in, except when the
corn is brought out for consumption. For where no
air penetrates, there the weevil does not appear.
Corn thus stored keeps for even fifty years, millet
for more than a hundred.

Some people build granaries on the farm raised
high above ground, in Hither Spain and Africa for
instance, so constructed that the wind may cool

' Marmorato. Cement made of powdered white marble {opus
alhariuni) was frequently used as a finishing coat for the inside
walls of houses, etc. It was almost as hard as native marble.
Pictures were often painted on it.

* Quod inurem. Keil's punctuation here seems bad. The
sense is much improved if a full stop is placed after amurca,
and a comma instead of a full stop aStQr Jirmiora — and so I
have translated.

I] STORING BEANS AND GRAPES iii

them not only by blowing through windows at the
sides, but also by blowing from the ground
upwards.

CHAPTER LVIII

OF STORING BEANS AND GRAPES

Beans and other leguminous crops keep good for
a very long time in olive jars when covered with a
coating of ashes.

Cato says that the Aminnean grape — both the
smaller and larger variety — and the Apician are
best stored in jars, and that they likewise keep well
in sapa ^ and *' must," while the best for hanging are
the Diiracinae ^ and the Aminnean (Scantian).

^ Sapa ( = " must," unfermented wine) diminished in volume
by boiling to f , |, or \ of its original bulk. Columella (xii, 19)
describes the process at length, and says that the best sapa is
that which has lost half its bulk. Pliny, however, calls this
defrutum (N. H., xiv, 9).

The word is used unchanged in modern Italian ; the saying
dolce come la sapa being common in Florence.

'^- Duracinas. Schneider thinks this word is connected with
durare (to keep). A pure guess, unsupported by evidence !
The ^lupaKivov of the Geoponica seems from the description to
be the apricot (Geop., x, 13, i).

112 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER LIX

OF STORING APPLES

1 Of apples the kinds for keeping are the small ^ and
the large quince, the Scantian apple, the Scaudian,
the "small rounds" and those which used to be
called "sweet-wines," and now go by the name of
"honey-apples";- all keep well, it is thought, if laid
on straw in a dry and cool place. And for this
reason those who build storehouses for their fruit
take care to put windows facing north, and to give
free access to the wind from that quarter, adding,
however, shutters, lest, if the wind blow persist-
ently, the apples lose their juice and shrivel up.

2 And for the same reason — for greater coolness —
they do over the ceilings, walls, and floor with
marble cement. Some people even have a dining
table and couches made ready here. And, indeed,
when men are extravagant enough to do so in a
picture gallery, where art provides the pageant,
why should they not enjoy a gift of nature's pro-
viding, in the shape of the beauty of fruits beauti-

' Ma/a strnthea, cotonea. Cf. Pliny (N. H., xi, ii), where
these are described. The struthea was a smaller kind of
cotonea, Cotonea {mala) was the Yiv5ii)via of the Greeks, our
quinces {cotogna in modern Italian).

^ McUmcla. According to the Geoponica (x, 76) these were
produced by grafting apple on quince.

I] OF STORING APPLES 113

fully arranged? Though we must assuredly not do
as some have done — bring to the country fruit
bought at Rome/ in order to turn a storeroom into
a banqueting-hall.

Some people think that apples keep well enough
in a storehouse when placed on shelves or a plaster
floor; others prefer to have straw under them or
even flocks of wool. Pomegranates keep well, it is
said, if their branches are stuck into a cask full of
sand; the greater and less quince' on hanging
mats of reeds,"" while, on the other hand, the ripe
Anician pears are best preserved in sapa. Some
consider that "sorb apples" cut in pieces and dried in
the sun like pears keep well, and that this fruit can
be kept without difficulty just as it is wherever it is
put, provided the place be dry. Rape may be cut
up and kept in mustard-seed, walnuts in sand,

' Romae coempta. Victorius quotes in illustration part of
an epigram, the author of which he does not name.

Quaeque iibi posui tamquam vernacula poma
De Sacra nulli dixeris esse via.

(Don't tell anyone that my home-grown fruit was bought in
the Sacra Via.)

'^ Mala cotonea, struthea. Keil has not the comma, which
should be there. Cf. note i, p. 112.

3 In pensilibus iunciis. In despair I have translated iuncis
instead of iunctis. Columella (x, 306) uses iuncus for a basket
made of reeds. As the text stands one can only understand
with pensilibus, surculis, and translate " on hanging branches
joined together." Pliny (N. H., xv, 17) says that quinces should
be shut up so that no breath of air may get to them ; or
should be preserved In honey.

I -^

114 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

pomegranates ' also in sand, if put there when they
have just been plucked and when ripe — even unripe
ones, if you put them, still attached to the branch,
into a pot without bottom, and sink them in the
ground, then pitch round the branches to prevent
the outside air from getting to them, are not only
sound when taken up, but bigger than they would
ever have been if left hanging on the tree.

CHAPTER LX

OLIVES FOR EATING

Of the fruit of the olive, Cato writes that eating
olives — Orcites and P(a)useae — are best kept either
green in brine, or, after being well bruised, in
mastic oil. He adds that if the Orcites, when black
and dry, be well rubbed with salt for five days, and
you then shake off the salt and leave them in the
sun for two days, they remain as a rule in good
condition, and that they may also be put without
disadvantage unsalted into new wine boiled down
to half its bulk.

^ Punica mala, etc. Pliny (N. H., xv, 17) writes: " M. Varro
recommends that they be kept in tubs of sand, or else be
buried unripe in the ground — in jars of which the bottoms
have been knocked out ; but you must keep the air out and
the branch must be smeared with pitch. They then grow to a
greater size than they can on the tree."

I] KEEPING AND CONSUMING 115

CHAPTER LXI

OF AMURCA

Good farmers store amurca in casks just as care-
fully as they do oil or wine. The method of storing
is as follows: As soon as ever it has been squeezed
out by the press, two-thirds of it are boiled away,
and what remains is put when it has cooled into
vessels. There are also other methods of storing,
as, for example, that in which '' must" is added.

CHAPTER LXII

KEEPING AND CONSUMING

As no one stores up produce save with the inten-
tion of bringing it out again, I must also give a
few words to this subject, which constitutes the
sixth phase. People bring out what they have
stored, either for its preservation, or for consump-
tion, or for sale. Now as these objects are unlike,
different times must be chosen for preserving and
consuming different kinds of produce.

n6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER LXIII

ON BRINGING CORN OUT OF STORE

For its preservation: that corn must be brought
out which weevils are beginning to eat. When it
has been got out, pans of water must be placed in
the sun, as the weevils crowd to them and commit
suicide.

Those who keep their corn in those underground
chambers called siros must get it out some consider-
able time after opening, as it is dangerous to enter
them when newly opened — so much so that people
have been suffocated. Spelt that you have stored
in the ear during summer, and wish to prepare for
food, must be taken out in winter time to be pounded
in the mill and roasted.

CHAPTER LXIV

PREPARATION OF AMURCA

Amurca, which is a watery fluid, mixed with im-
purities, after being pressed from the olive and put
into an earthenware jar, is commonly kept in the
following way: in fifteen days' time the lightest
part, the scum, is blown oft' from it, and put into
other vessels, and this is repeated with the same
intervals of fifteen days twelve times for the next
six months — and when this operation is performed
for the last time, they prefer to decant when the

I] OF WHITE OLIVES 117

moon is on the wane. Then they boil it down in
cauldrons over a slow fire, until it is reduced to
two-thirds of its original volume, and then only
may it be brought out to be used.

CHAPTER LXV

OF WINE

The "must" put into the cask to become wine,
should not be brought out while it is fermenting —
nor even when it has actually become wine, if you
want to drink it old — and it does not become old
before a year has been added to its age. When it is
a year old it is brought out for consumption. If it
belongs, however, to the class of grape which quickly
turns acid, you must consume or sell it before the
next vintage. There are some kinds of wine — the
Falernian amongst them — which are the more valu-
able when you bring them out, the more years you
keep them in the cellar.

CHAPTER LXVI

OF WHITE OLIVES

White olives which have been stored, if brought
out too soon when fresh, are nauseous owing to
their bitterness, as also are the black ones unless
they are rendered palatable by being first steeped
in salt.

ii8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER LXVII

WALNUTS, DATES, AND FIGS

As for the walnut, the date, and the Sabine fig, the
quicker you bring them out the better the flavour,
for age makes the fig paler, the date rotten, and the
nut too dry.

CHAPTER LXVni

HUNG FRUIT

Fruits that are hung, such as grapes, apples, and
sorbs, show of themselves when they should be
consumed, as by the change of colour and the
shrivelling of the berries they let you know that
they will come down to be thrown away if you do
not take them away to be eaten. Ripe sorbs which
have been stored when soft must be used pretty
quickly — those which have been hung when sour
may wait longer, as before mellowing they want to
attain in the house the maturity which they cannot
hope to reach on a tree.

I] ON PRODUCE FOR MARKET 119

CHAPTER LXIX

ON PRODUCE FOR MARKET

I Of the spelt which has been mown, that which you
wish to be prepared for food should be brought out
in the winter to be roasted in the bakery. Such of
it as you want sown should be brought out when
the fields are ready to receive it. So, in general,
the various kinds of corn to be sown must be got
out at their proper times. As for the things which
are for market you must note the proper time for
each, for some things — those that will not keep —
you must bring out and sell quickly before they
spoil, others, which will keep, you must sell when
they fetch a good price. For it often happens that
what you keep back for some time not only gives
you interest on your outlay, but even doubles your
profit if you bring it out at the right moment.

' Far {i^iin, spelt, French epeautre) a poor kind of wheat
which, however, grows well on poor soils. It was the prin-
cipal food — eaten in the form of porridge — of the ancient
Romans. The words farina (flour), confarreatio, and diffar-
reatio (patrician forms of marriage and divorce) were derived
from it. It was much used in sacrifices — to Ceres, Tellus, etc.

Like barley, it was roasted first and then pounded in a
wooden mortar (Cf. Pliny, N. H., xviii, 11): twice — the first time
to remove the husk, the second to reduce the grain to flour.

Pliny tells us in the same chapter that only those who
" pounded " ya;' were called bakers; and that there were no
bakers by trade in Rome before the Persian war — 580 years
after the foundation of the city {i.e., 174 B.C.).

I20 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. i

2 As Stolo was saying this, the freedman of the
temple-guardian came up to us weeping, and
begged us to forgive him for having kept us wait-
ing, and asked us to go to his ' funeral the next day.
We all started up and cried out with one voice '•
What? To the funeral? What funeral? What has
happened? With tears in his eyes he told us that
his master had been stabbed with a knife by some-
body, and had fallen to the ground. "I was not
able," he said, "to notice in the crowd who it was. I
only heard clearly a voice saying, 'I have made a

3 mistake.' I took him home and sent slaves to find
a doctor and bring him as soon as possible. And I
think, gentlemen, I may be pardoned for having
done what I did instead of coming to you. And
though I couldn't prevent my old master from
breathing his last soon after, I do still think I did
my duty." We told him he was quite right, and
walking down the temple-steps went our separate
ways, feeling more sorrow for human mischance
than wonder that such a thing had happened in
Rome.

^ Et. I have kept in the translation the ambiguity of the
text. Et cannot, of course, in any way refer to the speaker.

The freedman in his agitation said: "please come to his
funeral," forgetting that he had not mentioned his old master.

BOOK II
CONCERNING CATTLE

INTRODUCTION

1 Good reason had our great ancestors for setting the
Romans of the country above those of the town.
For, just as in the country those who live and work
inside the farmhouse are of slacker fibre than those
who work on the land, so those who led the sed-
entary life of a town were accounted by our an-
cestors a feebler folk than those who tilled the fields.
Accordingly, in dividing their year they arranged
for the transaction of city business every ninth day
only,' giving the remaining seven days of each

2 "week" to the cultivation of the fields. And as
long as they maintained this custom two ends

' JVonis viodo diebus. We should say every eighth day. The
Roman reckoning was inclusive of the first and last day of
any period of time. Thus nudius tertius for the day before
yesterday, etc. This method of counting has persisted amongst
the Latin races to some extent ; cf. the French and Italian for
a fortnight, quinze jours and quindici giorni. Varro alludes to
the nundinae {novem dinae) or market-day, which was the last
day of the eight-day week. On it the country folk ceased work
in the fields, and came to Rome to buy or sell in the market,
and to hear public announcements ; especially with regard to
comitia and the business to be conducted at them.

121 —

122 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

were achieved : by cultivation they made ' and kept
their lands most productive, while they themselves
enjoyed a lustier health, and might dispense with
the town gymnasia of the Greeks. Whereas nowa-
days men are hardly satisfied with one gymnasium
apiece, and do not consider that they possess a
country house unless it is dignified by a lot of
Greek names,* which they give to its several parts,
such a.sprocoeton (antechamber), palaestra (room for
exercise), apodyteriuvi (undressing-room), ^em^/o.?
(colonnade), ornithon (poultry - yard), peristeron
(dove-cote), oporothece (store-house for fruit).

And now that nearly all heads of families have
deserted scythe and plough, and sneaked within
the city walls, preferring to keep their hands astir
in theatre and circus rather than amidst corn-crops
and vineyards, we contract ^ with people to bring us

1 Ut haherent . . . ac ne. Perhaps both better translated
as " final " conjunctions — though Cicero writes (De Finibus,
bk. ii) : Ex quo efficitur non ut voluptas ne sit voluptas sed ut
voluptas non sit summum honum.

^ Retiyieant. I can find no parallel to the use of retinere here.
Auc, Ad Herennium, iii, 3, has ret inete fort ittidinem in the sense
of conseivarCy to keep up. Gesner conjectures ingeniously re-
tinniat. If this be adopted the passage means: "do not think
they have a country-house unless it ' tinkles ' with a lot of
Greek names, etc."

^ Frumentum locamiis. Columella in the preface to his work
on farming paraphrases most of this introduction — and this
passage thus : "And so in this Latium, in this land of the good
god Saturn, where the gods taught agriculture to their off-
spring, we have now, lest we starve, to contract for corn to be

II] INTRODUCTION 123

the corn, whereby we may grow fat, from Africa
and Sardinia, and get in the vintage by ship from

4 the islands of Cos or Chios. And so in that country
where the city's founders were shepherds and
taught agriculture to their descendants, these de-
scendants have reversed the process, and, through
covetousness and in despite of laws, have turned
corn-land into meadow, not knowing the difference
between agriculture and grazing. For a shepherd
is a different thing from a ploughman, and if herds
of cattle can and do graze on the land, a cattle
drover is not therefore the same as a teamster. For
grazing cattle do not help to produce what grows
on the land, they remove it with their teeth ; where-
as the domestic ox makes the corn grow better in
the corn-land, and fodder in the fallow land.

5 Different, I repeat, is the method, the science, of
the farmer from that of the shepherd — the farmer's
province being such things as are made by means
of agriculture to spring from the ground, the shep-
herd's those that spring from the flock. But, as the
two are intimately connected, and seeing that as a
rule it pays the owner better to have the fodder
eaten on his farm than to sell it, and manuring is
excellent for the fruits of the earth — for which pur-
pose cattle are most suitable — therefore the man
who owns an estate should adopt both systems,
agriculture and pasture-farming, and even the
rearing of animals within the precincts of the farm-
brought us from the provinces across the sea, and get our
vintages in from the Cyclades, Baetica, and Gaul."

124 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

house, for from this latter also considerable profits
can be made. I mean from poultry-yards, hare-
6 warrens, and fish-ponds. And seeing that I have
written a book on the first of these, ^ namely, agri-
culture, for the benefit of my wife Fundania who
has bought a farm, I write this short treatise on
the essentials of cattle raising for you, my friend
Turranius Niger,^ since you take so keen a delight
in cattle, if one may judge from the frequency with
which your feet bear you, on cattle-buying bent, to
the market at Campi Macri, with the object of thus
helping to provide for expenses which make many
demands on your purse. This I shall be able to do
without difficulty, having myself kept large flocks
of sheep in Apulia, and of horses in the country
about Reate. What I write will be drawn from
conversations that I had with the owners of large
flocks in Epirus, when I was in command of the

^ E quis quoniam. The whole three books were written for
Fundania (cf. i, i, 4), so that it is curious that this book is
dedicated to Turranius Niger, and the third to Q. Pinnius (iii,
I, 10). It may be that the first book was pubHshed some time
before the others, and that Varro forgot when he dedicated the
latter to the two men mentioned that he had already promised
the three to his wife. Nonius Marcellus quotes forty-two pass-
ages from the first book, none from the second or third.

* Turranius Niger. Nothing is known of him. Cicero
mentions a D. Turranius (Ad Att., i, 6) whom he calls hom-
inem x^r\(sTo\iLaQ7].

The name Turranius (spelt also Turannius) seems connected
with taurus [turu = taurus in Umbrian), and cattle are the
subject of this book.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS ORIGIN 125

Greek fleets between Delos and Sicily at the time
of the war against the pirates/ I will here begin.
Here we left off.^

CHAPTER I

cattle-farming: its origin, repute, and
practice

I On the departure of Menates, Cossinius ^ turned to
me and said: We shall not \&tyou go until you have
finished your exposition of those three matters — you

' Piratico bello, waged by Pompey in 67 B.C. Varro gained
a. corona rostrata {VWwy , N. H., xvi, 4): M. Varrone e piraticis
bellis dante Magno Pompeio.

" Hie intermisimus. These words, found in the archetype in
capital letters, immediately after incipiam hinc, axe no doubt
the words of the copyists who had been in turn copying a manu-
script of this work. They seem mildly facetious. " I will
begin here," said Varro. " Here we left off," said they. Was
it because, one wonders, the MS. was illegible at this place,
for it is obvious that much has been omitted between incipiam
hinc and cum Menates? Did they give up in despair here and
go on copying further on, when the MS. was moderately legi-
ble— though imperfectly so, for we have trouble a few lines
later with cum poetam sesutn, etc. ?

It seems, at any rate, absurd to suppose with Lachmann
that the words are Varro's, who attempts to out- Homer
Homer.

' Cossinius. Cicero in two consecutive letters to Atticus
(Ad Att, i, 20, and ii, i) mentions a L. Cossinius, to whom he
had sent a book written in Greek about his (Cicero's) consul-

126 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

remember — on which you were recently beginning
to speak when we were interrupted. What three
matters? asked Murrius; do you mean what you
told me yesterday about cattle-raising? Precisely,
answered Cossinius: I mean the discourse which
our friend Varro here was beginning, on the origin,
dignity, and art of cattle-raising (we had come to
see Paetus,^ who was not very well), only the
arrival of the doctor prevented our further discus-
sion.

For my part, said I, I consent to treat the his-
torical part only, to say what I know about the first
two parts, namely, the origin of the art and its
dignity. The third, the practical part, Scrofa"must
take in hand. For Scrofa, og Trsp fjLou ttom^ov a/uLelviov
(" who is a much better man than I ") — I say it in
Greek to two half-Greek shepherds — is the man
who taught C. Lucilius Hirrus, your son-in-law,

ship. A few lines further (i, 20) he mentions a L. Paplrius
Paetus who was an Epicurean and a man of much wit and
learning. To him were written twelve of Cicero's letters
(Ad Fam., ix, 15-26).

^ Cum poetam sesum. This passage is manifestly corrupt.
Sesuin may be iox fesum {i.e.,/essum) in the sense of ///(Ursi-
nus) and poetam for pactum. The passage would then read :
Cum Poetum fessum visere venissemus. For visere venissemus
cf. Plautus (Rudens, 94), ntmc hue ad Veneris fanum venio
visere.

^ Scrofa {Trevtellius) constantly quoted by Columella as a
great authority. Columella (i, i, 12) says that " Cato first
taught Agriculture to speak Latin, the two Sasernae con-
tinued her education, Trcmcllius Scrofa made her eloquent,
Varro gave her polish (!), and Virgil made a poet of her."

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS ORIGIN 127

whose flocks in the country of the Bruttii are
accounted so famous.

But, said Scrofa, you shall have what we can
give only on the condition that you, who are Epirots
and therefore are great men at cattle-raising, repay
us by bringing what you know to the common stock.
For no one can know everything.

When I had received the assent of the company
to the first two parts (only) being mine — not but
what I too possess flocks in Italy, but the harp does
not make the harper — I began.

Well, gentlemen, as from the nature of things
men and sheep must always have existed — for
whether we suppose that there was an original
generating principle for animals, which was the
opinion of Thales of Miletus^ and Zeno of Citium,^
or on the other hand that animals had no begin-
ning at all, as Pythagoras of Samos^ and Aris-

^ Thales Milesius. Water to wit: cf. Plutarch (Plac. Phil.,
i, 3) : OT0XaX,f-TO-<- ^' i^ TOVTOV KpoJTOV OTi TrdvTiov Twv ^(^wv j) ■yo»'»)
dpxti iffTiv vypd ovaa.

- Ze?io Citietis (borrowing from Heracleitus) made fire the
ultimate physical principle; cf. Diogenes Laertius, vii, 156:
cok€i 5' avToic T>}v n'tv ipiiaiv eivai irvp nxviKov oS<f iSaSi^ov dg
ykvtffiv. Cf. Cicero, N. D., ii, 41 : Quare cum soli's ig'nis similis
eorum igniuvt sit qui sunt in corporihus animantium, etc., and
Varro (L. L., v, 10): Sive ut Zeno Citieus atiimalium semen
ignis.

^ Pytkagoras Samiiis. Varro alludes perhaps to the incessant
transmigration of souls. Cf. Porphyrius, Vita Pythag., 19:
■KpCorov fiev wc dddvarov ilval (pijm t))v \j/vx>)v ilra fiera^uWovaav elg
uWa ykvr} ^(ftxtv . . . vkov 0' ovSiv (ittXCjq tan.

128 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

totle of Stagyra^ believed, human life must have
come down from the highest antiquity to our time,
stage by stage, as Dicaearchus writes, and the re-
motest stage must have been the state of Nature
when man lived on those things which the virgin

4 earth produced spontaneously. Then from this
mode of life they must have descended to the
second mode, the pastoral, in which, by plucking
from wild and woodland trees and shrubs acorns,
arbutus berries, and mulberries, they made a store
of fruit for subsequent use, and in the same way
and for the same end captured such wild animals as
they could and shut them up and tamed them.
There is reason to believe that amongst these
animals sheep were the first adopted, on account of
their usefulness and gentle nature, for they are by
nature extremely gentle and especially fitted for
association with man's life, for through them milk
and cheese were added to his food, and for his body
they furnished clothing in the shape of skins.

5 Finally, with the third stage, they reached, from
the pastoral mode of life, the agricultural, retaining
in it much of the two former stages, and went on
long in the stage which they had reached before
they could attain' our present civilization. Even

1 Aristotle. Cf. Phys., li, i, 192: tmv ovtwv rci fiiv ta-t <pvon,
tA Si Sl' dWai; airiag, ^vaei fitv -a Tt ^ipa km. to. fiiptj avrwi' Kal
TO. 0vra.". They exist, therefore, by (pmig — the eternal apxi)
KivqatcjQ.

* Dum ad nos perveniret. This impersonal use oi the active
verb — normal with the passive verb — is common with Varro.
Cf. i, 44, I ; i, 21, 3, etc.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS REPUTE 129

now in many places there are several kinds of wild
animals; there are sheep, for instance, in Phrygia,
where many flocks are to be seen, and in Samo-
thrace there are wild she-goats of the kind called in
Latin rotae.^ For many exist in the neighbourhood
of MountFiscellum'and Mount Tetrica.^ Everybody
knows about wild pigs — except the man who thinks
that wild boars are not properly called pigs. At
the present day quite wild bulls are found in Dar-
dania, Maedica and Thrace, wild asses in Phrygia
and Lycaonia, and wild horses in Hither Spain, in
some districts.

6 The origin of the art is as I have stated; its high
repute I proceed to show. Amongst the ancients the
most famous men were all shepherds, as is evident
from both the Latin and Greek languages, and
from the old poets who call some of their heroes
polyarnae, others polymeloi^ and others polybiitae,
and to express their costliness they stated that the
sheep had actually golden fleeces, like the one at
Argos which, Atreus complains, had been stolen

' Rotas. Scaliger conjectures (p. 233) platycerotas from
Pliny (N. H., xi, 37). Platyce rotas might easily be corrupted
by the unintelligent copyist into Latine rotas — two words
which he understood. Schneider's conjecture, strepsicerotas,
does not account for the word Latine.

^ Fiscellum, near Soracte.

^ Tetrica, in Northern Italy, on the borders of the Picentine
country.

K

I30 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

from him by Thyestes,^ or like the ram in Colchis
in the possession of Aeetes, in quest of whose fleece
went the Argonauts of kingly race, so runs the
story; or like the golden mala^' that is, in the
ancient manner of speech, goats and sheep which
were in the garden of the Hesperides in Libya, and
were brought thence from Africa to Greece by
7 Hercules. For the Greeks called these animals
7nela from the sound they utter, while our fellow
countrymen to express the same sound use much
the same word, changing only the initial letter, (for
the sound which sheep make seems to be rather
he^^ than we), and speak of sheep when they bleat
as making the sound he, bealare: and this word
bealare becomes balare by the excision of a letter, as
happens in many cases. Again, if sheep and goats,
etc., had not been highly esteemed amongst the an-
cients, then astrologers in mapping out the heavens
would not have given their names to constellations;
and this they not only did without hesitation, but
many of them even, in their enumeration of the

^ Thyestem subduxe. Pacuvius, quoted by Cicero (N. D.,
iii, 27) :

Agnum inter pecudes atirea clartim coma

Quern cldm (v.I., quondam) Thyestem clepere ausum 6st e
rigia.

* Aurea mala, " the golden apples " of the Hesperides; but
as [ir\\a = either mala or oves, Varro gives it the latter sense
of " sheep."

^ Sed be sonarc videntiir. Cf. Cratinus (Dion., 5) : 6 ^' j)Xt0(oc
oidTTfp TTpo^uTov /3// j3j) Xtywv jSaSil^ti.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS REPUTE 131

twelve signs of the Zodiac, actually begin with
them, with the Ram and the Bull that is, placing
them before Apollo and Hercules. For these latter,
gods though they are, follow them, though these

8 signs are called (by some) Gemini^ (twins). And not
content that a sixth of the twelve signs should bear
the names of cattle, they added Capricorn to make
up the quarter. Of domestic animals they also added
the goat, kids, and dogs.

And are not many tracts of both sea and land dis-
tinguished by these names — the Aegean Sea," for
instance (which owes its name to goats), Mount
Taurus in Syria, Mount Cantherius ^ in the land of
the Sabines, and the Thracian and Cimmerian Bos-

9 porus? * And are there not many places on land with
these names, such as the town in Greece called
" Hippios (horse-rearing) Argos"? Finally is not
the word Italy derived from mtuli (bullocks) as Piso
states? Again, who denies that the Roman people
sprang from shepherds? who but knows that Faus-

' Gemini are the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, so that ii
del cannot be the subject of appellantur but ea signa. This is
a good example of one of Varro's worst habits ; cf. ii, 3, 6 ;
ii, 4, 19; iii, 9, 2. Apollo and Diana were sometimes called
Gemini. Varro, L. L., vii {sub fin.), quoting Manilius:

' ' Latona pariit casta complexu lovis
Delia Deos Geminos.

id est Apollinem et Dianam.''''

- Aegaeum. a'iytwg, from ai^, a goat.

^ Cantherius = a gelding.

^ Bosporus. iSoavopoQ = Ox-ford.

132 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

tulus, who was the foster-father of Romulus and
Remus, and brought them up, was a shepherd?
Will it not be obvious that they were themselves
shepherds, if we consider that they chose, as the
time to found their city, a shepherd-festival (the
Parilia)?' Is not the same thing proved by the fact
that a fine' is even nowadays estimated, when the
ancient custom is followed, in terms of sheep and
oxen; that the most ancient copper coinage^ is
stamped with the figure of an ox; that w^hen the
lo city was founded the position of the walls and gates^
was marked out by a bull and cow, that when the
Roman people is purified by the Suomtaurilia^ a

' Parilihus. 21st April. Varro, L. L., vi, 3, calls the festival
Palilia — Palilia dicta a Pale quod ei feriae. Cicero generally
writes Parilia. For a full and interesting account of this
festival cf. Ovid, Fasti, iv, 721-82.

- Multa. Cf. Pliny, N. H., xviii, 3; Aulus Gellius, xi, i;
Servius (ad Georg., iii, 387), where it appears that one murder
cost a ram in the time of the kings !

^ Aes antiquissiinum. Tiie as of Servius Tullius, cf. Pliny
(xviii, 3): Setvius rex ovium boumque effigie primtis aes sig-
navit.

^ Qua essent muri. Cf. Servius (Aeneid, v, 755): "Which
Cato in his Origins says was the way. For the founders of a
city yoked a bull and cow together — the bull to the right the
cow on the inside— and . . . held the plough-handle inclined
so that all the clods fell on the inside. And thus, by the furrow
traced, they marked the position of the walls; lifting tiie
plough at the places where gates were to be."

Varro, L. L., v, 32: Oppida condcbant in Latio Etrusco ritu
multiy id est iunctis bohus, tauro et vacca interiore aratro circutn-
agebant sulcnni.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 133

boar, a ram, and a bull are driven round the city;
and finally, that we have many Roman names de-
rived from both kinds of cattle, the larger and the
less? From the less, Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius,
and similarly from the larger, Equitius, Taurius,
Asinius. The same point is further illustrated by
the use of the names of cattle as cognomina,
in the case of the families the Anni Caprae,' the
Statili Tauri, the Pomponi Vituli, and many others
who get their names from cattle.

There remains for discussion the theory and
practice of cattle-grazing; and Scrofa, to whom
our generation assigns the palm in every depart-
ment of agriculture, will discuss it, as he is better
qualified than the rest of us.

Here everybody looked at Scrofa, and he began,
Well, gentlemen, it is a science which is concerned
with the acquiring and feeding of cattle to the end
that the greatest possible profit may be made from
it — from those animals to which money {pecunia)
itself owes its name. For cattle are the origin of all
money.

This science has nine parts — three separate sets
of three — the subject matter of one part being the
smaller cattle, of which there are three kinds —
sheep, goats, pigs ; that of the second the large cattle,

^ Anni Caprae. Cf. Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae (about
the middle) : Sii kcu twv ovonariav TroXXa roTf TraXaioig avD\Xtoi Kai
/3ow/3o\(coi Kai vopKioi Pitxav wf (pcuveoTiXXag (Fenestella) eiptijuf.

134 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

which nature has divided also into three classes —
oxen, asses, horses. The third part of the science
has to do with those animals which in stock-raising
are not acquired for the sake of direct profit, but
which are either aids to stock-raising, or result from
it, as mules, dogs, shepherds. Again, each one of
these parts contains in it at least nine sub-sections
of general application ; four of which are needed in
the buying of cattle, other four in their feeding, and
there is one besides which concerns both. This
makes in all eighty-one parts at the least, which
are moreover indispensable and of the greatest
importance.

13 In the first place, to get a good flock or herd, you
must know the best age at which to buy each kind
of animal, and how long to keep it. For example,
in the case of a herd of cows, a yearling and a
cow above ten years old cost less to buy, as a cow
begins to bear at two or three years old, and does
not continue much longer than the tenth year.
For in the first and last years of life every beast is
sterile.

14 The second of the four sections consists in the
knowledge of the "points" of each kind of animal
(its shape, ^ colour, etc.), as these are of great im-
portance where profit is the end in view. For ex-
ample, a man would rather buy a cow with black

^ Forma. Not of course "shape" alone, but all the other
qualities also which constitute the ideal type — the Aristotelian
tlSoQ. Cicero frequently uses the word as a translation of the
Platonic iota.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 135

than one with white horns, a big she-goat in prefer-
ence to a small one, and pigs with long bodies but
small heads.

The third section deals with the question of
breed. In this respect, for instance, the asses from
Arcadia in Greece have become famous, and in Italy
those from Reate — so much so that within my re-
collection an ass has sold for 60,000 sesterces
(;^48o), and a single team of four fetched at Rome
400,000' sesterces (;^3,20o).

15 The fourth section deals with the acquisition of
stock in its legal aspect, with the formalities pre-
scribed by the Civil Law for the buying of each
kind of animal, since before that which belongs to
another can become mine, some intermediate pro-
cess is required — and there are cases where the
agreement to sell at a given price and the payment
of the money do not constitute a change of owner-
ship. When buying you must sometimes have the
animal warranted sound, sometimes the flock or
herd from which it comes, at other times neither
guarantee is required.

16 The second four sections which must be borne in
mind after the buying is done, are concerned with
the grazing, breeding, rearing, and health of the
flock or herd. In regard to the first of these — the
grazing — three matters have to be considered,
namely: (i) the district to be selected for the graz-

' Quadringentis milihus. Cf. iii, 2, 7; and Pliny (N. H.,
viii, 43), who says that perhaps this is the greatest price ever
paid for an animal. ^

136 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

ing of each particular kind of animal; (2) the time;
and (3) the method; as an example: goats are taken
to graze in a mountainous bush-covered country,
rather than on grassy plains; mares not so. Again,
it does not suit all animals to feed in the same dis-
trict both in winter and summer. So people drive
flocks of sheep a considerable distance from Apulia,
to spend the summer in Samnium (they must re-
gister their names with the tax-farmer, lest, by
grazing an unregistered^ flock, they incur the
17 penalties of the censor's law^). And mules are in
summer driven from the plain of Rosea to the high
mountains of Burbur.^

Then you have to consider just the right method
of feeding each kind of cattle, for not only does a
mare or a cow grow fat on hay, while pigs shun it

^ Inscriptuni pecus. On the meadow land of the ager puh-
licus every citizen had the right to graze his cattle after first
registering his name before the manceps or publicamis, and
paying the registration tax. This was called the scriptura,
which owed its name, according to Festus, to the fact that
publicanus scribendo conficit ratio7iem cum pastore.

* Lege censoria. This refers to the censoria locatio, where
the censor put up to auction the collection of certain vectigalia.
The highest bidder — individual or syndicate {societas) — gave
securit)' for the amount bid, and proceeded to collect what he
could. The lex censoria defined the conditions of the hcattOy
and gave the publicanus the legal authority by which he en-
forced payment.

From the first book (cap. 7) it would appear that cases were
tried before the censor, such probably as were connected with
the up-keep of the temples, public buildings, and roads.

^ hi Durbures (or Gurgures). Nothing is known of these

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 137

to seek acorns, but barley " and beans may occa-
sionally have to be given to some animals, lupines
to cows, and lucerne and clover to the latter when
they are suckling their young. You must remem-
ber also that for thirty days before they are used for
breeding, rams and bulls are given more food in
order to maintain their strength, while cows are
given less, because it is said they conceive more
readily when they are thin.

18 The second section has to do with gestation — and
here I define "gestation" as lasting from concep-
tion to birth, for these are respectively the begin-
ning and end of pregnancy. So we must first con-
sider the time when the males of each species
should be admitted to the females. Now for swine
the best time is thought to be from Favonius ^ to the
vernal equinox; for sheep between the setting of
Arcturus and the setting of Aquila.

Again, we must consider how long, before ad-
mission, the males should be kept separate from
the females. This is done in almost all cases for a
couple of months before, by both neatherds and
shepherds.

19 The second division (of this second section) tells

mountains, and no emendation at all plausible has been pro-
posed.

^ Hordeuin et faha . . . obicienduvt. This seems quite im-
possible in any Latin {pace Keil). S\ire\y fabam, and further on
medicam, as suggested by Ursinus, must be read. The con-
struction is then the normal one for Varro. The corruption
from medico, to medica, faba iofaba, is easy.

- A favonio. Cf. i, 29.

138 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

us what to keep in mind when pregnancy has be-
gun, for different animals bring forth at different
times. For instance, a mare is pregnant for twelve
months, a cow for ten, sheep and goats respectively
for five, and pigs for four months.

Speaking of pregnancy, let me tell you some-
thing w^hich happens in Spain; no one will believe
it, but it is none the less true. In Lusitania, near
the ocean, in that stretch of country where is the
town Olisipo,^ certain mares on Mount Tagrus'
conceive at a certain time of the year by means of

' Olisipo, now Lisbon. Pliny (N. H., iv, 22) calls it: mn-
nicipium civium Romanorum, Felicitas Julia cognominatum.

^ Monte Tagro. Columella (vi, 27, 7) : Cum sit notissimum
etiam in Sacro monte Hispaniae qui procurrit in occidentem
iuxta Oceanum, frequenter equas sine coitu ventrem pertulisse,
foetumque educasse, qui tamen inutilis est, quod triennio, prius
quam adolescat, morte ahsuinitvr.

Pomponius Mela (iii, i) mentions three promontories (i)
Cuneus, (2) Sacrum (Cape St. Vincent), and (3) Magnum, and
he places Ulysippo on the last, near the mouth of the
Tagus.

Pliny (N. H., iv, 22) writes: Oppida memorabilia: a Tago
in era, Olysippo equarum efavonio vento conceptu nobile. . . .
And again (viii, 42) : Constat in Lusitania circa Olysiponem
oppidum et Tagum Amnem . . . ; and goes on to relate Varro's
story.

It has been proposed therefore to read (i) on Columella's
authority Monte Sacro (now Sagres), which is obviously wrong,
as the Sacrum Promontorium is several hundred miles from
Lisbon, (2) Amne Tago, and (3) Monte Artahro. Solinus Poly-
histor (cap. xxvi) calls the Promontorium Artabrum Ulysippo-
nense, so that the last conjecture seems the most plausible.
But then how account for the Monte Tagro of the text?

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 139

the wind, just as hens frequently do with us, the
eggs of which we call "wind-eggs."' The foals,
however, born of these mares do not live longer
than three years.

See to it that the young which are born at full
term or after have a clean and soft place to stand
upon, and that they be not trampled under foot.
Those lambs are called cordi which are born after
the regular time, having remained in the internal
membrane, which is called chorion^- whence the
name cordi.

The third section deals with the knowledge neces-
sary in rearing animals, and tells you, in respect of
this, for how many days the young should be
suckled by the mother, and the time when, and
place where, this is to be done. It instructs you, if
the mother has not milk enough, to put them to the
breast of another mother. Those with whom this is
done are called siihritmi^ for rumis^ was, I imagine,
the ancient word for " breast."

' Hjpenemia, vTrrjvfuia (Aristotle, Hist. A., v, i). Pliny
(N. H., X, 60) calls them irrita, and says that they are sterile,
small, of poorer flavour, and more watery than good eggs.

^ Chorion. Keil thinks that several words have here dropped
out from the text; the literal translation of which, as it stands,
is of course : " That from which they get the name of cordi is
called the chorion " — which was probably all the explanation
Varro meant to give.

^ Rumis. Cf. ii, 11, 5, and Pliny (N. H., xv, 18) : lupa infan-
tibus praebens rumen {ita vocabant mammam), and Varro (Ant.
R. D. Agahd., p. 170) : quia rumam dixerunt veteres mammam
(from Aug., De Civ. Dei, iv, 11). The goddess who looked
after the suckling of children was called Rumina, ar^d the fig-

I40 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

Lambs as a rule are not weaned until four
months old, kids until three, pigs until two. Of the
last-named those which are without blemish, and fit
for sacrifice, were once called sacres, a word em-
ployed by Plautus in the phrase, " What price are
porci sacres? " ^ Similarly fat beasts, fattened for
public sacrifices, are called opimi.

The fourth section deals with the health of the
stock. It is of wide extent and must be taken into
serious account, for an unhealthy flock is very vul-
nerable, and owing to its weakness often suffers
great disaster from disease.

Now, of this science (of health) there are two
branches, as in the case of men, one concerned with
such things as need the attendance of a doctor, the
other with those which even a shepherd who takes
pains may treat. It has three divisions, for you
must note (i) what is the cause of each particular
ailment; (2) what are the characteristic symptoms of
those causes, and (3) what is the treatment which
each disease requires.

In general what causes most diseases will be

tree near the Palatine under which the twins were suckled
was coW&^jicus Ruminalis.

^ Porci sacres. The passage referred to by Varro is Plaut.,
Menaechm., ii, 2, 15:

Adolescens quibus hie prStits porci v^neunt
Sacres, sinceri? Nummo. Eum a me dccipe
Itibe te piari de mca pecunia.

Sacri and sacres are parallel, like hiJari and hilarcs, epiiloni
and epuloncs, etc.

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 141

found to be sickness induced by heat or by chills,
or again, by too much work or by the opposite ex-
treme, lack of exercise, or by giving food or drink
immediately after exercise.

The symptoms are: in case of a fever which is
the result of overwork an open mouth, rapid and
moist breath, and a hot body; the treatment when

23 this is the case is as follows: the animal is bathed
all over with water, and thoroughly rubbed with a
mixture of tepid oil and wine, its strength is kept up
by food, and some wrapping is thrown over it to
prevent it from taking cold. If it is thirsty, luke-
warm water is given. If nothing is gained by this
method of treatment, the animal is bled — preferably
from the head.

Again, different diseases have different causes
and different symptoms, and of these, in the case of
every flock or herd, the man to whose care it is
committed should have a written record.

24 There remains now the ninth division mentioned
before, which is concerned with number, and is
common to each of the two parts. For he who buys
stock must fix a number, must determine how many
flocks he intends to feed, and the number in each
flock, lest there be too much or too little grazing
ground for them, and loss be the result. He must
know besides how many breeding ewes to keep in a
flock, how many rams, how many lambs of each
sex, and how many of the poorer^ sort should be
weeded out.

' Quot reiculae. Cf. Nonius {sub verbum, edit. Lindsay,

142 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

As to the rearing of them : if too many lambs are
born, you must follow the practice of some farmers
and part with some of them ; the result of doing so
is generally that the rest thrive better.

15 I am afraid, said Atticus, that you are mistaken,
and thatyour nine divisions are applicable only to the
smaller and greater cattle. For how will they apply
to mules and shepherds, where there is no question
either of " admission " or of " gestation "; fori see
that in speaking of dogs the nine divisions may be

:6 used. I grant, however, that the number nine may
be retained in the case of human beings as well ; for
farmers keep women in the winter-quarters of the
slaves — in the farm buildings, I mean — while some
do so even in their summer quarters; their object
being to make it easier to keep the shepherds with
their flocks, to increase the number of the slaves
by child-bearing, and thus to make their stock farm-
ing a more profitable business.

Said I : This number is not given as an exact one,
any more than when we say that a thousand ships
went to Troy, or speak of the court of the Centum-
viri"^ (hundred men) at Rome. So strike off, if you
like, in the case of mules, the two things, impregna-

p. 247) : Reiculas oves, aut aetate aut tuorbo graves. Varro,
Cato vel de liberis educandis : ct ut in grege opilio oves minus
idoneas reniovere solet, quas reiculas appellant.

^ Centu7iiviri. They formed a court for the trial of certain
civil causes at Rome — for the most part connected with
property and especially with matters of inheritance. It con-
sisted in Varro's time of 105 members chosen from the tribes
(three from each of the thirty-five).

II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 143

27 tion and foaling. Foaling? said Vaccius, as though
one didn't sometimes hear of a mule having foaled '
at Rome! I, to support him, put in the statement
of Mago and Dionysius to the effect that mules and
mares are delivered in the twelfth month after they
have conceived. And so, said I, if the parturition
of a mule be with us in Italy a portent, all countries
do not agree with us in thinking it one. Swallows,
moreover, and storks, which breed in Italy, do not
do so in all countries. You know, of course, that
the Syrian date-palm,' which bears in Judaea, can-

28 not do so in Italy. But, said Scrofa, if you prefer
to make up the number eighty-one without reference
to the parturition of mules and the rearing of their
young, there is a way of filling up the two gaps,
for there are, in addition, two supplementary means
of making profit which are of considerable import-
ance; one of which is shearing — for sheep and goats
are shorn or plucked — the other, of wider extent,
has to do with milk and cheese; to it the Greeks
have given a special name, TupoTroiia, and have written
much concerning it.

^ Pepensse, held as a prodigy by the Romans. Cf. Livy,
xxvi, 23: lapidibus pluisse et Reate viulain peperisse ; and ag'ain,
xxxvii, 3: Terra apud se pluisse TuscuJani nunciahant: et
Reatini mulani in agro suo peperisse. It is curious how often
Varro's Reate is mentioned by Livy as the scene of prodigies !

^ PahnuJas. Pliny (N. H., xiii, ^): Judaea vero inclyta est
vel magis palmis. . . . Sunt quidem et in Europa vul^oque
Italia, sed steriles.

144 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER II

OF SHEEP

1 But, as we have now completed our task, and the
subject of cattle-raising has been sketched in out-
line, it is the turn of you Epirot experts to fill in the
details and show the mettle ' of shepherds from Per-
gamis' and Maledos. Then Atticus, who was then

2 Titus Pomponius, but is now called Ouintus Cae-
cilius Atticus,' as he still keeps the cognomen Atti-
cus, said, I suppose I had better begin, for if I am
not mistaken it was at me you looked when you
spoke just now. My topic shall be the most ancient

' Potts sint. Archaic, of course, ior poss int. Varro, L. L.,
vii, 5, quotes Pacuvius : Nulla res neque j| Cicurare neque viederi
potis est. The word potis is g'enerally considered to be an in-
declinable adjective or an adverb like magis. Varro, how-
ever, has Dii potes. Ennius has potessunt for possunt. Lu-
cretius (v. 1) : Nee potis est cemi quod cassum lumine fertur,
" Nor is it possible," etc. Plautus (Poenulus, i, 2, 17) : Populo,
cui lubet, plus satis dare potis sunt.

"^ Pergamis and Maledos. Nothing seems to be known
about either.

^ Nunc Ouintus Caecilius. In 58 B.C. Atticus was adopted
{testamento) by his uncle Quintus Caecilius. On 4th October
of the same year Cicero writes from Thessalonica to congratu-
late him. The letter is headed: "Cicero S. D., Q. Caecilio
Q. F. Pomponiano Attico."

Atticus's full name after the adoption was thus : Quintus
Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus. So Caius Octavius became
C. Julius Caesar Octavianus.

II] OF SHEEP 145

kind of stock. For, as you remark, sheep were the
first animals caught and tamed by mankind.

The first thing is to buy good ones, and such
they will be as regards age if they are not too old
on the one hand, nor on the other merely young
lambs, for as the latter cannot yet give increase, so
the former can no longer do so, but of the two, the
age which is accompanied by hope is better than

3 that which is soon followed by death. As to type,
a sheep should be big-bodied, with plenty of soft
wool, with the hairs standing high and thick over
the whole body, and especially about the shoulders
and neck. The belly also should be covered with
wool. Accordingly those which are without this
quality were called by our ancestors apicae,^ and
were rejected as inferior. They should be short-
legged. As to tails, it is the practice in Italy to have
them long; in Syria, short.

4 It is of great importance to see that your flock be
of a good breed. This can generally be determined
by two indications: the external characteristics and
the offspring. The best type of ram has the fore-
head well covered with wool, horns twisted and
inclined towards the muzzle, gray eyes, ears covered
with wool, broad breast, shoulders and hind-quar-
ters, and the tail broad and long. You must see,

^ Apicae. Pliny (N. H., viii, 48): In ipsa ove satis generosi-
tatis ostenditur brevitate crurum, ventris vestitu: quibus nndus
esset ' ' apicas " vocabant, damnabantque. Syriae cubitales ovium
candae. The word is no doubt Greek, d-TrtKoi (aTroKoi), from
TTOKOQ = fleece, Varro, ii, 2, 6, calls them niinas. ^

L

146 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

too, that he has not a black or parti-coloured tongue,
for those which have beget as a rule either black
or parti-coloured lambs. Again, the oJEfspring will
prove the good quality of the breed if they be
shapely.

5 In buying, we make^ use of the rights implied in
the form adopted. For in it some people make
more, others fewer, reservations. Some people, for
example, after settling the price per head of the
sheep, stipulate that two lambs born after term should
be reckoned as one sheep, and that where sheep
have lost their teeth through age, two should count
for one. For the rest the ancient "formula" is
generally used : after the purchaser has said. Have
I bought them for so much? and the seller has re-
plied. You have,' and the purchaser has pledged
himself to pay the price, the latter then asks for a
warrant, using the words of the time-honoured for-

6 mula: — Do you guarantee that those sheep before
our eyes, about which the bargain is being made, are

1 Quae lex praescripsit. Cicero (De Oratore, i, 58) speaks of
the leges Manilia7iae venaliiun vendendonim , concerning which
Ernesti (Clavis Cicer. article lex) remarks, Quid sunt nisi
formulae a Ilio cojiceptae quihus uti in emendis vendendisque
rebus liceret? They were probably not laws in our sense of the
word, but forms — like our forms of agreement between land-
lord and tenant — which it was prudent alike for buyers and
sellers to use.

^ Et expromisit nummos. Keil places a comma here, Schnei-
der a colon. Either makes the sense obscure, whereas if the
comma be placed after emptor it is clear — et exprotnisit nummos
emptor.

II] OF SHEEP 147

genuinely sound in the sense in which a flock of
sheep is considered genuinely sound, excluding^
those blind of one eye, deaf, or minae — that is,''
with belly devoid of wool — that they do not come
from a tainted flock, that possession is good in law,
and that this sale is legal? When this has been
done, the flock has still not changed owner unless
the money has been paid down ; yet the buyer may
bring and win an action under the head of "bought
and sold"' against the seller if he does not deliver
them, even though he may not have paid the money,
just as the seller may bring a similar action against
the buyer if he does not pay.

^ Extra. Extra quam si, words which introduce an exception
in the text of an agreement. Cf. Cicero (Ad Atticum, vi, i, 14) :
Extra quam si ita yiegotium gestuni est ut eo stari non oporteat
ex fide bona.

* Id est ventre glabra. If these words are not an interpola-
tion made by an unintelligent copyist, apicae and minae have
the same meaning. This does not seem probable, for both the
words are explained by Festus : Apice dicitur ovis qtiae ventrem
glabrum habet; and : Minam ait Aelius vocitatam mammam
alteram lacte deficientetn (for alteram, which is unintelligible,
alturae or ad alturam is plausible).

Meursius, and after him Miiller, suggest that mijius is the
positive of minor, and means tenuis (cf. modern Welsh, main
= " slight." Perhaps the word means here "with unde-
veloped teats," and the following phrase is a gloss.

^ Ex empto vendito, a titulus iuris. Cf. Cicero (De N. D.,
iii, cap. 30) : Reliqua quae ex empto aut vendito. . . . Co?itra
fidem fiunt.

As to the fact, cf. Justin, Instit., iii, 24: Emptio et venditio
contrahitur simul atque de pretio convenerit quamvis nondum
pretium numeratum sit.

148 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

7 The second four divisions — feeding, breeding,
rearing, and the health of the flock, I will discuss
in order.

In the first place you must see that the sheep be
properly fed, indoors and out, the whole year round ;
their stalls must be in a suitable place, free from
draughts, and facing east rather than south. The
ground on which they are to stand should be
levelled, and sloping, so that it may easily be swept
out and cleaned. For wet spoils not only a sheep's
wool, but the hoofs as well, and makes them
scabby.

8 After they have been for some days [on the same
bedding] you must put under them fresh brushwood,
that they may have a softer couch to sleep on, and
be cleaner. For so their appetites are better. You
must also build pens apart from the rest that you
may be able to isolate the pregnant ewes, as well as
those which are ill. These instructions are applic-
able more especially to flocks which are kept at the

9 farmstead. On the other hand, those others which
feed on grazing grounds, and are far from roofed
buildings, take with them hurdles or netting, with
which sheepfolds may be made in the wilderness —
and all other needful things. For generally, sheep
range far, and graze in places wide apart, the winter
pastures often being many miles from those used in

. summer. I know that well enough, I exclaimed,

(r for flocks of mine used to winter in Apulia which

I spent the summer on the mountains about Reate,

though the pastures were far from each other and

II] OF SHEEP 149

connected between these two places by public tracks

10 like a pair' of baskets by their yoke. And even when
they graze in the same district all the year, yet the
seasons make a difference to their times of feeding,
for in summer they go forth to feed as the day is
breaking, since then the dewy grass is sweeter than
the drier herbage of noon. When the sun is well up,"^
the shepherds drive them forth to drink, that by
thus refreshing them they may make them eager

11 again to feed. During the noon-tide heats, they
are brought beneath the shade of rocks and spread-
ing trees that they may cool down until the heat
abates. In the cool evening air they feed them again
until sun-set. When feeding sheep you should drive
them so that they have their backs turned to the sun,
for in a sheep the head^ is the weakest part. A
short while after sunset they are taken to drink,
and then fed again until it grows dark; for after
sunset the sweetness of the grass will be a second
time renewed.* This way of feeding is generally

^ Sirpiculos. Possibly connected with sirpea which Varro
defines (L. L. v, 39): Sirpea quae virgis sirpatur, id est coll i-
gando implicatur in qua stercus aliudve quid ■vehitur. The
iugum (yoke) is the Greek d(n\\a or uvatpopivQ, used to carry
buckets, pails, etc.

^ Prima luce. With this passage compare Virgil's beautiful
paraphrase (Georg., iii, 324-338), and Columella's directions
concerning the feeding of sheep (vii, 3, 23).

^ Caput. Columella, vii, 3, 24: Si quidem plurimum refer t ut
ne pascentium capita sint adversa soli.

* Redintegrahit. Perhaps the translation should run, *' will
again refresh them," though one suspects that redintegrabitur

I50 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

practised from the rising of the Pleiads to the

12 autumnal equinox. In places where the harvest
has just been got, it is a good thing to drive them
on to the corn-fields, for a double reason : they get
fat on the fallen ears, and by trampling the straw
and by dunging they improve the crops for the
following year. The other modes of feeding in
winter and spring-time differ from this in that they
drive the sheep out to pasture only when the hoar-
frost has evaporated, and feed them throughout the
whole day, thinking it enough to take them once
only to drink, at noon.

13 So much for the different ways of feeding. What
I am now about to say relates to breeding. The
rams which you mean to use for this purpose
should be separated from the flock two months^
before, and given a more generous allowance of
food. When they return from grazing to their
stalls, if barley is given them they grow stronger
and more capable of enduring fatigue.

The best time for their service is from the setting
of Arcturus" to the setting of Aquila, for those that

not redintegrahit should be in the text. Cf. Vergil (Georg., iii,

336) :

Soils ad occasum cum frigidus aera Vesper

Temperat et saltus reficit lain roscida Luna.

Varro (iii, 7, 6) uses redlntcgrare in the sense of "refresh":
quod llbero acre, cum exierlnt in agros, redintegrentur.

' Bimestrl tempore. Cf. Geoponica, xvlii, 3, where Varro Is
closely followed throughout the chapter.

'^ Ah Arcluri occasu. Pliny (N. H., viii, 47) gives precise
dates — from 13th May to 23rd July.

ii] OF SHEEP 151

are conceived later than this grow up small and

14 weak. A sheep is pregnant for 150 days. Thus
birth takes place at the end of autumn, when the
air is temperate, and the grass, called forth by
the first showers, is beginning to spring up. As
long as the ram is serving there must be no change
in the water, ^ as a change makes the wool streaky
in colour, and damages the womb. When all the
ewes have conceived, you must again separate the
rams from the flock, for^ by pestering sheep already
pregnant they do them harm. Again you must not
let ewes under two years old be covered, for if they
are, what is born of them is of no use, and the
mothers themselves are harmed. There is none
better for breeding than a three-year-old ewe. Ewes
are sometimes protected from the male by fastening
behind them small baskets made of rushes or some
other material. They are, however, more easily
kept safe if fed apart.

15 As to the rearing of lambs: so soon as the ewes
begin to bear they are driven into stables set apart
for the purpose, and in them the new-born lambs
are put close to the fire until they have gained
strength. The ewes are then kept in these stables

^ Eadeni aqua uti. Aristotle (Hist. An., iii, 12), discussing
the change of colour in animals, says : koX Trtpl Tag oxeiag
S' tarlv vSara TroWaxov roiavra, a Tcivovra kcu oxivaavra fierd tijv
TTOffiv TU TrpojSara, fifkavaq ytvvwai tovq apvag, k.t.X.

^ lam. So Keil for the reading of the MSS. ita. But the
latter seems to make excellent sense : " they do harm to the
ewes which have thus become pregnant, by pestering them,"
the word ita having reference to cum conceperunt.

152 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

two or three days, until the lambs learn to recognize
their mothers and get their fill of food. Next, when
the mothers go out with the flock to graze, the
lambs are kept at home, and when the mothers are
brought back to them towards evening, they are
suckled by them, and then again separated, lest the
mothers should trample' on them in the night. This
procedure is repeated in the morning, before the
mothers go out to graze, that the little lambs may
i6 get a good meal' of milk. When about ten days
have elapsed, stakes are driven into the ground, and
to these the lambs are fastened at some distance
from one another, by strings made of rind or some
other smooth material, lest by running about all
day and colliding with one another the frail little
things knock the skin off a limb. If a lamb will not
come to its mother's udder, you must put it there,
and smear its lips with butter'' or hog's lard, and
give its lips the savour ' of milk. A few days after

^ Conculcentur. Cf. Geoponica (/oc. cit.).

^ Satulli, a diminutive from satur. The fondness for dimin-
utives, a characteristic of rustic Latin, is strong in inodern
Italian. This word satullus —\\.2X\a.n satollo, and Varro's word,
quoted by Nonius, i"a/M//a;'^= Italian satoUare.

' Buturo. Pliny (N. H. xxviii, 9) describes butter-making,
and tells one a good deal about butter. "Amongst barbarous
nations it is highly esteemed as a food." " Hog's lard comes
next to it in merit." " It may be used instead of oil " (xxviii,
10), and is a " capital remedy if you happen to have swallowed
a leech." "It is astringent, fattening, emollient, and purga-
tive." But it is difficult to understand why the lambs' lips are
to be smeared with it !

* Olfacere labra. The text must be corrupt here. Olfacere

II] OF SHEEP 153

you should give them ground vetch or young grass
before they go out to graze, and also when they

17 return. And in this manner they are reared until
they reach four months. Some people meanwhile
do not milk the mothers at these times. They do
still better who do not milk them at all the whole
time, as they then give more wool and bear more
lambs. When the lambs are weaned care must be
taken lest, missing the mother's udder, they pine
away. So in rearing them you must make the loss
more easy for them by good feeding, and must take
care that they do not suffer at all from cold or heat.

18 When, having forgotten milk, the lamb ceases to
miss its mother, then, but not till then, should you
let it join the flock. Lambs must not be castrated
before they are five months old, nor before the ex-
treme heat or cold has abated. The rams preferred
for service are those which come from dams that
usually bear twins. ^

makes no sense. Schneider in his index gives it the meaning
of ■Kpo(joG(l>paiveadai, but this, in the only place I can find it,
Geoponica, xix, 2, means to "bring to smell." One would
have expected madefacere or something of the kind. Colu-
mella (vii, 3, 17) says that the teats of the mother should be
pressed and a few drops of milk squeezed between the parted
lips of the lamb, uberihus ad moveri, ttint etiam eius diductum
OS pressis huinectare pupillis. Madefacere is used by Varro,
ii, 4, 15, and iii, 10, 7. If in the MS. the ma were obliterated,
defacere might easily be altered to olfacere by one of the canes
qui tavi viisere Varronem dilacerarunt! as Schneider calls the
copyists.

^ Geminos. Aristotle (H. A. vi, 19) says that " sheep or

154 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

In general a similar treatment should be followed
with "jacketed" ^ sheep, such as those of Tarentum ^
and Attica, which are protected by skin jackets, so
that their wool may not be soiled, as dirt prevents
it from being properly dyed, washed, and bleached.
19 Greater care is taken that the pens and stables of
these sheep may be clean than in the case of those
with coarse wool, the stable being paved to prevent
urine from collecting anywhere in it. They are
given whatever they like to eat, such as fig-leaves,
straw, grape-skins, bran, in moderate quantities, so
that they may eat neither too much nor too little,
as either extreme prevents them from putting on
flesh. For this purpose the best food is lucerne ^

goats produce twins, if they are well fed, or if the ram or he-
goat is accustomed to get twins or the mother to bear them."

^ In ovibus pellitis. Cf. Pliny (N. H. viii, 47): Ovium
summa genera duo, tectum et colonicum, illtid molUus, hoc in
pascuo delicatius quippe cum tectum ruhis vescatur," where
tectum =pellitum. The delicate sheep with fine wool, such as
those of Megara, Attica, and Tarentum, were protected
against the cold and dirt by jackets made of skin. Diogenes
the Cynic (Cf. Diogenes Laertius in vita Diogenis) when he
was in Megara noticed that the children went about naked,
while the rams were clothed, and remarked that it was evid-
ently better to be a Megarian's ram than his child !

- Tarentum. Festus, in a much mutilated text, appears to
say that a Tarentine sheep was worth about a pound sterling.

^ Medica. Columella (ii, 11, 2) praises it extravagantly:
"One sowing lasts ten years; it gives generally four, some-
times six cuttings in the year, enriches the land, fattens all
kinds of lean cattle, and cures such as are sick. Two-thirds of
an acre of it will feed, and feed well, three horses for a whole

II] OF SHEEP 155

and snail-clover, for it fattens them readily and
produces milk.
20 As to the health of the flock there are many
points to be noted; but these, as I said before, the
flock-master has set down in a book. He also
carries with him what is necessary for the medical
treatment of the flock. The question of number
remains for discussion. Some people make it greater,
others less, for there is no one scale indicated by
nature. In Epirus nearly all of us take care to have
not less than one man for each hundred of the
rough-coated variety, and two for each hundred of
the ''jacketed " sheep.

year." Pliny (N. H., xviii, 16) describes its appearance (i'/wzV/i'
est trifolio, caule foliisque geniculata : quicquid in caule assurgit,
folia contrahuntur). According to him it was brought to
Greece by the Medes — whence its name — in the time of
Darius. Amphilochus wrote a whole book about it and the
Cytisus. But Aristotle (H. A., iii, 21) states that Medica
dries up the milk of animals, especially of ruminants. T»^c
^e rpotpfiQ 7] fikv a^ivvvai to ya\a, oiov »/ Mjj^ik?) iroa, Kcd fiaXiara
toIq iirjpvKuZovai. Palladius (April. Tit., i) repeats Columella,
and adds that a cyathus full (.082 pint) of seed was enough
to sow a plot of land 15 ft. by 10 ft.

156 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER III

OF GOATS

1 Then said Cossinius to him, Long enough hast
thou bleated, O Roman Faustulus,^ now listen
while I tell of goats, I, the Melanthius" of Homer,
born out of season,^ and learn from me how a man
should speak without waste of words.

He who would form a flock of goats must first
consider the question of age, buying such as can
now yield increase, and of these preferring one that
has a longer breeding time before it; for a young

2 one is more profitable than an old. As to their
points: see that they be big and strong, having a
smooth body, and thick hair (except when they are
hairless — for there are two varities) ; under the chin

' O Fatistule. An allusion to the shepherd foster-father of
Romulus and Remus. He was the shepherd of Amulius.

- Melanthio. Melanthius was the goatherd (MeXav^toe axizoKoq
aiyCiv) of Ulysses, who supplied the suitors with the best of the
flock (Od., xvii, 217). For this he was mutilated horribly and
killed by Telemachus (xxii, 474).

^ Cordo. Cordus, which means " born out of season," was a
Roman family name (Quintilian, i, 4, 25). Cicero mentions a
L. Cordus — a negotiator Siculus — (Verr., iv, 20). The phrase
Homerico Melanthio Cordo reminds one of Persius's line (vi,
11), Maeonides Ouintus pavone ex Pythagoreo, where there is
precisely the same kind of pun as here, for " Quintus " is a
Roman praenomen and means "fifth," and Ennius (so the
Scholiast) was fifth from the peacock — the order being, pea-
cock, Euphorbus, Homer, Pythagoras, Ennius.

II] OF GOATS 157

they ought to have two teat-like appendages/ as
those which have them are the most fertile. The
udder should be large, that so they may give milk
both rich and abundant. The he-goat must have
rather soft hair, preferably white, neck and throat
short, and larynx * comparatively long. The flock
proves better if it be not a made-up collection, but
a single flock' of old companions.
3 As for the breed, I say what Atticus said when
treating of sheep, with this difference — the race
of sheep is relatively slow-going, inasmuch as
they are of gentler* temperament, while the goat
kind are quicker of movement. About their nimble-
ness Cato in his book *'Of Origins," writes these
words: '* On Mount Soracte ^ and Mount Fiscel-

' Mammulas. Columella (vii, 6, 2) calls them little warts :
Caper cui sub maxillis binae verniculae collo dependent optimus
hahetur.

^ Gurgulione (yapyapedjv). The Geoponica, xviii, 9, trans-
late this (ipoyxoQ- It is evidently the larynx — prominent in
males. In the same passage it is said that the goats should be
oatTVTpixiQ, i-e., shaggy. The word molUori does not seem
right. Perhaps melioris is the true reading.

^ Grex una. Columella says (vii, 6, 5): Atque ubi caprae
primum comparantur, melius est unum gregem totum quain ex
pluribus particulatim mercari, and gives as reasons ut nee in
pastione separatim laciniae diducantur, el in caprili maiore Con-
cordia quietae consistant.

* Placidiores. Aristotle (H. A. ix, 3) : di yap olig /laWov
i}<rvxu^ov<7i Kal izpoa'ipxovTai irpoQ avQpunrovQ.

' Soracti. For a most interesting account of Mount Soracte
(Sant Oreste) see Dennis, "Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,"
cap. X.

158 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

lus^ there are wild she-goats that will leap more than
sixty feet from a rock." I quote this because just
as domestic sheep are sprung from wild ones, so the
goats which we feed are sprung from the wild kind.
From them the island of Caprasia," near Italy, takes
its name.

4 Since among she-goats such as bear twnns are the
best breed, it is customary to choose for breeding
purposes the males sprung from these. Some
people, too, take care to have she-goats from the
island of Melia,^ as it is thought that there the big-
gest and handsomest kids are born.

5 As to buying, I do not* give the same formula as

^ Fiscello. Varro (ii, i, 5) speaks of the wild goats near
Mount Fiscellus. Here the river Nar (now Nera) had its source
— a river whose waters are still white and still vitiatus odoro
sulfure (Claudian i, 256). Reate (Rieti), Varro's birthplace, is
on this river.

^ Caprasia. Now Cabrera (goat island), a little south of
Minorca.

^ Melia. Probably (Scaliger) the island of Melos, in the
Cretan Sea. I have searched the geographers but can find no-
where any connection between Melos and goats mentioned.
But the mountainous nature of the country is well suited to
them.

' AUter dico atque fit. Atticus had before (ii, 2, 6) mentioned
the "ancient formula" used in buying sheep. In this they
were guaranteed to be healthy and from a healthy flock. In
this chapter, § 3, Cossinius says that he agrees with Atticus
about the breed of go.its ; and here that the formula quoted by
Atticus for buying sheep will not serve for buying goats and
is in point of fact not used.

This sense, which seems clear, has apparently escaped all the

II] OF GOATS 159

Atticus did for sheep, and the usage is different, for
no one of sound mind guarantees goats sound, as
they are never without fever.^ Accordingly the war-
rant required contains only a few stipulations taken
from the general formula, and Manilius^ has left on
record the following: *' Do you guarantee these
she-goats as being to-day able to eat and drink
properly, and that the purchase is legal?" There
is a remarkable fact about goats, related also by
Archelaus : ^ several shepherds more observant than
the rest assert that they do not breathe through
their nostrils like other animals, but through their
ears.
6 With regard to the second four divisions, my
opinion about the feeding of goats is as follows.

commentators. The objection to the translation is, of course,
that aliter atque would in normal Latin mean ' ' otherwise
than," but there is no reason why the passage should not mean
dico atque fit aliter. I say differently and the practice is differ-
ent. This agrees perfectly with what follows.

^ Sine fehri sunt. Geoponica, xviii, g : fvaiKuig du itvpirru,
and go on to say that "if the fever leaves them they die."
Another interesting fact mentioned in the same chapter is
that a he-goat will not run away if you cut off his beard !

^ Manilius. Manius (not Marcus) Manilius, a celebrated
jurisconsult, the author of the Leges Manilianae {venalium
vendendorum). He was Consul 149 B.C.

3 Archelaus. Pliny (N. H., xviii, 3) mentions him among
the kings who have written on agriculture, and — -viii, 50 —
credits him with the statement in the text Auribus eas spirare
non naribus, nee umquamfebri carere Archelaus auctor est.

Aristotle (H. A., i, xi) says: "Alcmaeon does not speak the
truth when he asserts that goats breathe through their ears,"

i6o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

The flock is better housed if the stable faces the
winter sunrise, for goats are chilly ^ animals. It, like
most stables, should be paved with stone or bricks" to
prevent the goat-house from being damp and muddy.
When they have to sleep out of doors, pens also
facing the same quarter of the heavens should be
strewn with brushwood, that they may not get
dirty. In the feeding of this kind of cattle much
the same attention must be given to them as to

7 sheep, though they have their own peculiarities, as
they are happier in woodland glades than in mea-
dows. For they eagerly pluck their food from wild
shrubs, and on cultivated land nip off small
branches. For this reason goats get their name
{caprae) from carpere (to pluck). Hence, too, in the
text of an agreement for letting a farm, an excep-
tive clause is generally found forbidding the tenant
to graze on the farm the offspring of the she-goat.
For the she-goat's teeth are hostile to the growing
crops, and even the astronomers, while admitting
them to the sky, have shut them out from the circle
of the twelve signs — the two kids and the she-goat
being not far from the bull.''

8 With regard to breeding: At the close of

' Alsiosum. Aristotle (H. A., ix, 3): ihl ^'aJ diyfQ Svapi-
yoTipai Twv oi(i)V.

' Testa (Vitruvius, ii, 2>) = Iateres cocli, kiln-baked bricks.

^ Sunt duo haedi . . . atauro. These words Ursinus, Gesner,
and Schneider would expunge from the text, thinking them to
have been taken b\- a commentator from ii, i, 8. But Varro
frequently repeats himself.

II] OF GOATS i6i

autumn (about loth November) the males are
driven from the flock which is on the plain to goat-
houses, as has been mentioned in the case of
rams.^ Those goats which have conceived are de-
livered after the fourth month - in the springtime.

As to rearing: As soon as the kids are three
months old, they are put into the flock and begin to
form a part of it.

What am I to say of their health, when they are
never healthy? I will just mention the one fact
that the guardians of a flock have certain written
directions as to what remedies to use against
some of their diseases and against wounds, which
are of frequent occurrence in their case, as they
fight with one another with their horns and feed
in thorny places.
9 There remains for discussion the question of num-
ber. This is smaller in the case of a flock of goats
than of sheep, as she-goats are full of mischief,^
and prone to scatter, whilst sheep are gregarious
in nature and huddle together into one place.
Hence in the Ager Gallicus^ men keep many in
preference to large flocks, for in those which are
large disease often breaks out suddenly, and brings

^ Ut in arietibus dictum. Cf. ii, 2, 13.

^ Post quartum mensevi. Aristotle, H. A., vi. 9: kvu 5t Trivrf
(irjvaQ Kal irpo^arov Kal cu.%.

Pliny, N. H.,vili, 50: Concipiunt Novembri mense ut Marfio
pariant.

' Lascivae. Cf. Columella, vii, 6, 7.

^ Ager Gallicus. Cf. note, i, 14, 4.

M

i62 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

lo them to destruction. A flock of about fifty is con-
sidered big enough. And these conclusions are
supported, it is thought, by what happened to
Gaberius, a Roman eqiies. He owned i,ooo iiigera ^
(700 acres) on the outskirts of Rome, and hearing
from a certain goat-herd, who had brought to the
city ten she-goats, that each of them brought
him in a denarius a day, he bought a thou-
sand she-goats, expecting to get from his estate a
thousand denarii C£Z'^) ^ day. So far was he out
in his reckoning, that in a short time he lost them
all through disease. However, in the country of
the Sallentini and about Casinum they graze flocks
containing as many as a hundred " she-goats.

As to the proportion of males to females, there
is much the same difference of opinion, some, like
myself, providing one he-goat to ten females, others,
like Menas,"* one to fifteen; others again, such as
Murrius, one to twenty.

^ Mt'l/e iugerum. Varro, ii, i, 26, has milJe naves. In everj-
other place where the word occurs in the singular in this work,
it is a neuter noun. Aulus Gellius (i, 16) gives many examples
of its use as a declinable neuter noun, quoting from Cicero
(Mil. 53), Mille hominum versabatur, and Lucilius (Bk. xv),
Hunc milli possum quivicerit atque duobus\\ Campanus sonipes^
etc., and again from Lucilius (Bk. viii), Tii milJi nummum
potes uno quaerere centum.

^ Ad centenas. Columella (vii, 6, 5) makes this number the
superior limit, though, he says, there Is no objection to your
penning 1,000 sheep together. Sed numerum huius generis
maiorem quam centum capitum sub uno clauso non expedit
habere, cum lanigerae mille pariter commode stabulentur.

' Menas is possibly the frecdman of whom Suetonius

II] OF PIGS 163

CHAPTER IV

OF PIGS

I But who ^ next sails out from an Italian port to
discuss the subject of pigs? Scrofa's peculiar fit-
ness to discuss this question is, however, indicated
by his nick-name Scrofa. Said Tremellius (Scrofa)
to him. You don't seem to know why I am called
Scrofa. So, in order that you and our friends sitting
near you may learn the reason, let me tell you that
the surname connected with pigs does not belong"
to my gens, and that I do not claim descent from
Eumaeus.^ My grandfather was the first to be

speaks (August! Vita, 74) : Valerius Messala tradit, neminem
uviquam libertinorum adhihitum aheo caenae, excepto Mena, sed
asserto in ingenuitatem post proditani Sexti Poinpei cJassem.
The Menas who first brought barbers to Rome, 300 B.C., was
a Sicilian. Cf. Pliny (N. H., vii, 59).

1 Sed quis e portu, etc. Many ingenious emendations have
been proposed of these words, the best being Schneider's :
Sed quis e porculaforihus Italicis. But none is needed. The
last two speakers, Atticus and Cossinius, were called by Varro
(ii, I, 2) semi-graeci and Epirotici peciiariae athletae. Atticus
(Athenian) was a Greek cognomen, and Cossinius had just
described himself as Homericus Melanthius Cordus. Now it
is suggested that a genuine Italian hailing from an Italian
harbour should treat the subject of pigs, not Greeks from
Athens or Epirus.

^ Eumaeus was the swine-herd (^oc vipopjioQ — (n^fScorrjg opxafiog
avdpojv. — Od., xiv, beginning) and faithful servant of Ulysses

; and looked after his 600 brood sows in Ithaca. He received

I and fed Ulysses when he returned home.

i64 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

called Scrofa. He, being quaestor to Licinius
Nerva,* who was praetor in the province of Mace-
donia, had been left in command of the army until
the return of the praetor, whereupon the enemy,
thinking that they had a chance of victory, began
2 to assault the camp. My grandfather, as he urged
the soldiers to take up their arms and sally forth
against the enemy, said that he would scatter them
as a sow scatters " young pigs. And scatter them
he did, for in that battle he routed the enemy so

^ A. Licinius A^eri'a was one of the envoys (169 B.C.) sent
by the Senate to Macedonia to collect information about the
general state of affairs for L. Aemilius Paullus (Consul de-
signate) who was about to take the field against King Per-
seus (Li\y, xliv, 18).

A. Licinius Nerva is mentioned b}- Lix-y (xlv, 44) as one of
the six praetors created 167 B.C., a year after the battle of Pydna
and the deposition of Perseus — so that Varro's storj- does not
relate to the Macedonian war. Macedon, moreover, did not be-
come a Roman province before 148 B.C. In 142 B.C. a pretender
to the name of Alexander (a brother of Philip) headed a revolt
against the Roman power, which was promptly crushed. Prob-
ably Ner\'a was praetor for the second time in 142 B.C., and itwas
in this rising that L. Tremellius gained his cognomen Scrofa.

- Disiecturum. Cf. Plautus (True, ii, 2, 13): lam Hercic
ego hie te, tnulier, quasi sus catulos, pedibus proteram. Macro-
bius (Saturn, i, 6) makes Tremellius win his name of Scrofa
in a very different and much less creditable way. His slaves
had stolen and killed a neighbour's sow. His house was
surrounded and restitution of the scrofa demanded. Tre-
mellius heard that the sow was hidden under his wife's bed,
she being in bed at the time. He gave permission for his house
to be searched, and when the bedroom was reached swore that
he had no other sow in the house save that under the bed-

II] OF PIGS 165

decisively that the praetor Nerva was on that
account saluted as *' Imperator," and my grand-
father gained his nick-name, being thereafter called
" Scrofa." Neither my great-grandfather, nor any
of the Tremellii before him, was ever named Scrofa,
and I am one of seven of my gens who were one
after another praetors. However, I do not shirk
3 saying what I know about pigs, for I have loved
farming from my youth, and the subject, moreover,
will have an interest shared in common by you
gentlemen and myself, as we are all of us great
stock-breeders. For which of us farmers does not
keep pigs, and has not heard our fathers say that
that man is a lazy spendthrift who buys at the
butcher's the flitch ^ hanging up in the larder, in-
stead of growing it on his own farm?

To continue, the man who wants a good herd
must firstly choose pigs of the right age, secondly
of the right type; that is, having large limbs,"^ but

clothes. The searchers withdrew and Tremellius was ever
afterwards called "Scrofa."

^ Succidiam. Cf. Varro (L. L., v, 32): Succidia ab suibus
caedendis ; nam id pecus primum occidere coeperunt domini et
ut servarent sallere. Cato (Aulus Gellius, xiii, 24) makes use of
the expression succidias huinanas facere=" to butcher men,"
and Cicero (De Senec, xvi) makes Cato say: [am hortum
ipsi agricolae succidiam alteram- appellant. The farmers them-
selves call the garden their second flitch.

^ Cutn amplitudine membrorum. Cf Geoponica (xix, 6):
Trtc \>.'(.v 9rjXeiag %o('poue doKifidZovai rag TrapafiijKearspag kuI Tnpioxnv
ixovaag Kai fisydXac, toIq adofiatji, iKrig rije KC^aXfjg Kai twv Trodaiv.

Columella (vii, 9, i) says that the boars should be

i66 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

small feet and heads. They are better of one uni-
form colour rather than parti-coloured. See that
the boars have the same qualities, and in any case

4 that they have big shoulders. Pigs of a good breed
are recognized by their shape, by the size of the
litters, and by the district whence they come. By
their shape, when boar and sow are handsome; by
the litters, when these are big ; and by the district,
when they come from one where the breed is big,

5 not small. They are generally bought with this
stipulation : " Do you guarantee that these sows are
sound, that the possession of them is good in law,
that they are warranted ^ against claims for damages,

"square" rather than long, but the sows as long of body as
possible.

' Noxis que praestari. One would have expected either a
noxis praestari as in Cicero (Ad Div., i, 4) a vi praestare nihil
possum, or tioxis solutas as in the Digests.

If any one of the pigs had done damage when with one
owner, and then had been transferred to another, the action
would lie against the latter. As was the case with a slave : Cf.
Justinian (Inst., iv, tit. 8 — De noxalibus actionibus) : Nam si
servus tuus noxam commiserit: quamdiu in tua potestate sit,
tecum est actio. Si autem inalterius potestatem pervenerit: cunt
illo incipit actio esse. The phrase may also have reference to
bad habits contracted before purchase, which might lead to
the loss or damage of the animals. Cf. Alexander ab Alex-
andro, iii, 14 (about the middle) : Quod si periculosam rem
antea facere servus consuerat . . . tuque vendito a te servo id
imperasti quod sine periculo exsequi nequibat, censuit Paulus
teneri venditorem ob necem damnumve si quam in pemiciem
servus incurrisset. I now incline to the latter view, and would
translate, " warranted free from dangerous habits."

II] OF PIGS 167

and that they do not come from a diseased herd? "
Some people add "and have got through fever and
diarrhoea." '

For the pasturing of this kind of stock a damp
place is suitable, for it delights both in water and
in mud. And " this is the reason, they say, why a
wolf which has got hold of a sow drags it to the
water, as its teeth cannot bear the heat of the flesh.
6 This animal (the pig) feeds especially on acorns —
failing them, on beans, barley, and other grains,
for these not only produce fat, but also give the
flesh a pleasant flavour.

In summer they are driven out to pasture in the
morning before the heat begins to a shady place,
where there must be water. In the afternoon, when
the great heat has abated, they are allowed to graze
again. In the winter-time we do not drive them out

^ Foria. Nonius (Foriolus) : Foriolus, qui foria facile eniittat,
soluti scilicet venfris. He defines foria as stercora liquidiora.
Aristotle (Hist. An., viii, 21) says that pigs suffer from three
diseases: (i) (ipayxog, characterized by inflammatory swelling
of the throat and jaws ; (2) fever (Kpavpa) accompanied by head-
ache and dullness, which may be cured, but usually kills in
three or four days; and (3) diarrhoea, "which appears to be
incurable." Avo S' dXX' iari, Xkytrai ce Kpavpdv dficpio thv to fikv
'irtpov tan Ke^aXiig ttovoq Kai [Sdpog . . . to S' STtpov, 7) KoiKia pel.
Kal TovTo fiiv ^owr dviarov tlvai. Varro obviously alludes to
(2) and (3). Kpavpa in (2) is, to judge from the rest of Aristotle's
description, a scrofulous disease accompanied by fever. Colu-
mella (vii, 10) and the Geoponica (xix, 7) also discuss the
subject.

^ Itaque, etc. The meaning is, of course, swine love to bathe
[as they are hot-bloodedj, so much so that a wolf, etc.

i68 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

to feed until the hoar-frost has evaporated, and the
ice has melted.

7 For breeding, the boars should be separated from
the herd two months before they are admitted to
the sows. The best time for their admission is from
Favonius to the vernal equinox, as thus the sow
brings forth her young in the summer,' for she
goes four months and then litters when there is
plenty of pasturage on the land. The sows should
not be covered before they are a year old ; it is
better to wait until they are twenty months, that
they may be two years old when they become
mothers. It is said that after they have begun " to
breed they can go on well up to the seventh year.

3 At the time of covering they are driven forth into
miry paths ^ and muddy pools that they may wallow

' Aestate pariat. The Geoponica (xix, 6) follow Varro.
dpiaTt] Se uipa . . . dird ^((pvpov TTvoije itx)g EOjOivi/f iffi]fi£piac, Hiare
ykvicBai Kara, to QkpoQ rbv tokstov. Aristotle (H. A., v, 14) says
that the young pigs born in summer are the worst, being
puny and thin, and that the best time for birth is the be-
ginning of winter. This is no doubt true in the case of a hot
climate.

^ Cu7?i coeperunt. Columella (vii, 9, 3) : Femina sus hahetur
ad partus edendos idonea fere usque in annos septetn, quae
quanta foe cundior est celerius senescit.

^ Lutosos limites. Limitcs does not seem to be the right
word. Schneider suggests lamas, bogs, which the scholiast
to Horace (Ep., i, 13, 10) defines as lacujias maiores continentes
aquam pluviam, quoting from Ennius.

Silvorum saltus, latehras, lamasque lutoras.
The word was rare, and would probably have been unintel-

iij OF PIGS 169

in the mire, which is as much rest and refreshment
to them, as bathing is to a human being. When the
sows have all conceived, the boars are again separated
from the herd. A boar of eight ' months begins to
procreate, and remains able to do so adequately up
to three years old; then he goes down-hill," until
finally he reaches the butcher, the appointed go-
between for pork and people.
) The pig is called in Greek 5j, formerly 6i/f, from
the verb Oi/eiv, to sacrifice, for when men first sacri-
ficed animals, they began apparently with the race
of pigs. Traces of this remain in the sacrifice of a
pig at the initiation Mn the Eleusinian mysteries;
the killing of one at the initiation of peace when
a treaty ^ is struck; and in the fact that at the begin-

Hglble to a copyist. Lama in modern Italian means a swamp.
Dante (Inf., xx, 99) : JVon molio ha corso, che irova una lama.

' Octo mensuni. Columella (vii, 9, 3) says six. Possunt
tameit etiayn semestres implere feminam .

^ It retro. He deteriorates, as in Vergil's oft-quoted lines :

Sic omnia fatis
In peius mere et retro sublapsa referri.

Columella (vii, 9, 4) says that boars, when three or four years
old, are castrated and then fattened, bimi aut quadrimi cas-
irantur ut possint pinguescere\ Aristotle (H. A., ix, 50) that
ovariotomy was performed on sows for the same purpose.
iKTSfiveTcn de (cai >'/ KUTrpia ruiv OtfXeiwv vStv oxsTf. . . . TriaivsaOai TaxtbiQ.

^ Initiis Cereris. Sid to tv toIq fjivaTtjpioic riic Ai'j/xijrpog QveaOai
XoipovQ. Scholiast on Aristophanes' Achar., 729 (764).

* Foedus. Cf. Vergil, viii, 641 : Stabant; et caesa iungebant
foedera porca, where Servius {ad loc.) says that Vergil ought
to have written porco (as Varro here) : /also autem ait porca ;
nam ad hoc genus sacrificii porcus adhibebatur. According to

170 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

ning of a wedding among the ancient princes and
exalted personages of Etruria the newly made
husband and wife at their union first sacrifice a
lo pig.^ The ancient Latins, too, as well as the
Greeks, seem to have had the same custom; for the
women of our country (especially nurses) call that
part which in girls distinguishes their sex porcus
(pig), the Greek women ^o'^pc''-'' (pig")? meaning that
the term is a worthy symbol of marriage. The race
of pigs is, they say, a gift of nature designed to
grace the banquet, and so life ^ was given them,
just as salt is, to keep their flesh good.

Athenaeus men first learnt the joys of roast pork through
sacrifice. Lamb, in his essay on roast pork, assigns another
and an equally credible origin.

' Porcum immolant. Athenaeus (Deipn., iii) says that the
ancient Greeks used to sacrifice a pig to Venus, and Aristo-
phanes (Ach., 758) has:

AI. ahX ovy\ \olpoc, t ^A(ppo^i.Tt], Overai.
ME. ow X^^POQ ^AcppociTCf ; fiovcf ya Saiixovwv.

But this is a mere scurrility ; and neither passage helps us to
a knowledge of the Etruscan custom about which I can find
nothing.

^ Xolpov, as frequently in Aristophanes. Cf. Scholiast on
Acharnians, 737 (773) : Toiiro cprjmv tTnl kuI to yvvaiKtlov alSolov
xolpov tKoXovv oi "EX\t]vsc.

^ Anima. Cicero (Nat. D., ii, 64) ascribes this saying to the
Stoic Chrysippus. Sus vero, quid habet praeter escam? Cui
qtiidein, ne pufresceret, animam ipsam pro sale datum dicit esse
Chrysippus. He repeats the saying (De Fin., v, 13). Pliny
(N. H., viii, 51) says that "the pig is the stupidest of animals,
and it was thought, not without humour, that life was given
to it instead of salt."

II] OF PIGS 171

The Gauls make of them flitches of much excel-
lence and great size. Their excellence is shown by
the fact that at the present time there are brought to
Rome every year Comacine^ and Cavaran hams and
shoulders. Touching the size of the Gallic flitches,
Cato writes in these terms: " In Italy (Lombardy),
the Insubres salt three or four thousand flitches;
the sow gets so fat than she cannot unaided keep

1 Comacinae et Cavarae. Comaci (?) and Cavari were, prob-
ably, both tribes of Gallia Narbonensis, as the latter certainly
were (Pliny, N. H., ili, 4). But the text here is very doubtful,
and Schneider, Scaliger, and others have proposed many
emendations with little to support them. Strabo (bk. iv) says
that the best hams come from the Sequani, Wtv al KoWiarai
rapixilai fwv viiwv Kpewv fig Tr)v 'Put/iriv KaTaKofii^ovrai. Schneider
proves conclusively that the pernae were the hind-legs, the
petasones the fore-legs.

This is Cato's (c. 162) recipe for salting hams: "When you
have bought your hams, cut off the hoofs. Take half a peck
of Roman salt ground fine for each. Lay salt over the bottom
of the tub ; then put in a ham, the skin-side looking down-
wards. Cover it over with salt. Then put another ham on
top, taking care that meat does not touch meat. So deal with
them all. When you have got them all snug put salt over
them, so that no meat is visible, and make the surface level.
When they have been in salt five days take them all out, and
the salt with them. Then put them in again in reverse order
so that those which were before on top are now at the bottom.
Cover them over and make them snug in the same way as
before. After twelve days at most, take the hams out, rub off
all the salt and hang them up in a draught for two days. On
the third day wipe them well over with a sponge and rub
them with oil. Hang them for two days in the smoke. Then
take them down, rub them well with a mixture of oil and
vinegar and hang them up in the meat larder."

172 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

her feet nor advance a step. And so if one wants
to move them from place to place, one puts them
into a wagon." Atilius of Spain, a trustworthy-
author of wide experience and much learning, used
to assert that once when a pig had been killed in
Lusitania in further Spain, there were sent as a pre-
sent to the senator L. Volumnius,^ two of its ribs
with the meat attached, which weighed twenty-three
pounds, and that in that pig the depth of flesh from

12 skin to bone was one and a quarter feet. I said to
him : A fact quite as strange was once told me in
Arcadia, and I went, I remember, to look at a
sow which was not only incapable of getting up
owing to its fat, but had actually allowed a shrew-
mouse to eat away some of its flesh and make a
nest there and give birth to young ones. I am in-
formed that the same thing has occurred in Venetia ^
also.

13 With regard to breeding, the fertility of a sow is
generally estimated from the first litter, as she does
not vary much in later ones. As to the rearing

^ L. Voluninio. Cicero (Ad Div., vii, 32) mentions him as
one of his intimate friends, adduhitavi num a Seiiatore essent
Volumnio quocum mihi magnus est usus.

^ In Vineta. In place of this, which is unintelligible, I have
translated Victorius's conjecture, in Venetia. Varro (i, 8, 5)
speaks of vineyards being sometimes so overrun by mice that
they had to be filled with mouse-traps. In vineto therefore
suggested itself — but pigs do not live in vineyards ! Scaliger
remarks about this story that "none need hesitate to believe
it, as there are people alive to-day who will testify that this
has happened in the south of France ! "

II] OF PIGS 173

of the little pigs, which is called porculatio, these
are left with the mother a couple of months; then,
when they can feed for themselves, are separated
from her. Pigs born in the winter become thin ^
owing to the cold, and because the mothers having
but little milk, and in consequence finding their
teats hurt by the young ones' teeth, push them
away.

Every sow should have her own sty, and rear her
own litter only, for she does not refuse to feed
another's little ones; if, therefore, they get mixed, -
14 the sow becomes worse for breeding. Their year is
naturally divided into two parts, as they give birth
twice within the year, a sow being pregnant four
months, and suckling for two. The sty should be

^ Exiles. The Geoponica (xix, 6) say " owing to the inclem-
ency of the weather and the fact that they do not get enough
milk from their mothers, who push them away, as their teats
lacking milk are violently squeezed and pulled by the teeth of
the young ones. As to the teeth, cf. Pliny (N. H., viii, 51):
Diebus x, circa hruniant statim dentatos nasci Nigidius tradit.
In winter they are born with teeth.

^* Conturbati. Cf. Geoponica (xix, 6) : wffrs /u») n'lyvvaQai
CLKKrjKoiq ra irapa Cia(p6pwv TiKTofitva — 'iav yap aXKi]KoiQ avvavafiiyri,
aSvvarov Siayvuivai avrd r«c reKovcrag. If the young of different
mothers are mixed, it is impossible for the mothers to dis-
tinguish their own. Columella (vii, 9, 11): Navi facillime
porci, si evaserint haram, viiscent se, et scrofa cum decubiiit
aeque alieno ac suo praebet ubera. From the last words of this
passage it is obvious that the non inserted by Keil before
aspernatur is necessary. It was omitted by the scribe no doubt
owing to the nos of alienos immediately before it.

Columella recommends the branding of sow and pigs.

174 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

made about three ^ feet high, and a little more than
three feet wide, not any lower than this from the
ground lest a sow when pregnant should attempt to
jump out and so miscarry. The height should be
such that the swineherd can see the whole sty at a
glance, and prevent any little pig from being
crushed by its mother; and may also be able to
clean out the hutch w^ithout difficulty. There should
be a door to the sty, and the threshold - should
be one and a third feet high, to prevent the
little pigs from jumping over it when their mother

15 goes out. It is the swineherd's duty, every time he
cleans out a sty, to throw sand into it or something
of the kind, which will absorb moisture ; and
after a sow has littered, to keep up her strength
with a more generous diet, so that she may be the
better able to provide milk. It' is usual to give
them about two pounds of barley apiece, soaked *
in water, and this allowance some people double,
giving it night and morning, if they have nothing

16 else to feed them with. After pigs have been weaned

^ Trium pedum altam. Columella (\ii, 9, 10) says four.

^ Limen inferius. Columella (vii, 9, 13) prescribes in tantam
altitudinein consurgat quantain possit nutnx evadere, lactens
milem supergredi non possit.

^ In quihus. Keil deletes the in without good reason, I
think. In quibtis, meaning "and in their case," is good Latin
and very common in Varro.

* Aqua madefactas probably means "boiled." Columella
(vii, 9, 13): Quibus partus submittitur cocto sunt hordco
susfijiendae. And Aristotle (H. A., vi, 18, 35) prescribes the
same food — t(Ti)kvi<} Ct ry vi KpiOag i(p9dg.

II] OF PIGS 175

they are called by some people delici,^ and are no
longer spoken of as "sucking-pigs." On the tenth ^
day after birth they are considered " pure," and on
that account were termed by the ancients sacres,
because they are said to be then first fit for sacrifice.
And so in the " Menaechimi "of Plautus, where the
scene is laid in Epidamnus, one of the characters,
thinking a man mad and in need of an expiatory
sacrifice, asks him, "What's the price here of
' sacred ' {sacres) ^ pigs? "

It is usual to give grape-skins and grape-stalks
17 if the farm supplies them. When they have lost the

^ Delict. Derived, no doubt, from delinquo. As relinquo
gives relicuos (Plaut,), which early in the first century became
relicus, so from delinquo we may suppose delicuos, which later
became delicus. This etymology would explain the use of the
word deliculus by Cato (2, 7), delicula armenta, deliculas oves,
cattle and sheep quae delinquuntur — are removed, got rid of
by sale.

* Decimo die. Pliny (N. H., viii, 51) says on the fifth day.
Suis foetus sacrificio die quinto piirus est, pecoris die octavo,
bovis trigesimo. Festus (p. 318) agrees with Varro.

^ Sacres. The lines alluded to by Varro are (Plaut., Men-
aechm., 289, etc.) :

Adolescens quibus hie pretiis porci veneunt

Sacres, sinceri? Cy. Nummo. Me. Eum a me accipe

Jube te piari de inea pecunia

Nam ego quidem insanum esse te certo scio

Qui niihi molestus homini ignoto, quisquis es.

For the parasitic vowel in Menaechimis (for Menaechmis —
Mfvaix^oie), compare mina for Greek fiva, Tecumessa for
'X(.K\ii]a(sa, etc.

176 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

name of " sucking-pigs " they are called nefrendes^
(not-crunchers), from the fact that they are yet
unable to crunch, that is, crush beans. The word
porcus is an ancient Greek ^ word, now obsolete, for
its place has been taken by the word x'^^?^'^-

On the birth of young ones care is taken that the
sows drink twice a day, for the sake of their milk.
A sow ought, they say, to give birth to as many
pigs as she has teats; ' if there are fewer she is not
likely to be profitable, if more, it portends some-
i8 thing. The most ancient recorded example of such
a portent is Aeneas's sow,* which bore at Lavinium

^ Nefrendes. Varro's etymology is possibly right. For the
form of the word compare negotmm, nefastus, etc. Martial
(iii, 47) speaks of a sucking-pig as ' ' not yet having vanquished
beans."

lUic coronam pinguibus g'ravcm turdis
Leporemque laesum Gallici canis dente
Nondumque victa lacteum faha porcum,

where instead of victa, fresa (from frendere) is sometimes
read.

"^ Porcus Graecum 7iomen. irSpKog, cf. Plut., Popl., 11, and
Varro, L. L., v, 19 (middle): Porcus nisi si a Graecis quod
Athenis in lihris sacronun scriptum est porcae, porco (Trojoicy,

TTO/OKy).

^ Ouot mammas haheat. .A.ccording to Pliny (N. H., xi, 41)
the number varies : haec plures habejit, toto ventre dupJici
ordine, ut sues, generosae duodenas, vulgares binas minus.

* Stis Aeneae. Cf. .^eneid, iii, 390-393. Serv'ius (ad loc.) says
with regard to the thirty little pigs that they signified the
thirty years during which .Ascanius should reign. Prodigiale
est hoc, qiio signijicatur triginta aniiis rcgnaftirus esse Ascanius.
Varro, L. L., v, cap. 40: Hinc post triginta annos oppidum

II} OF PIGS 177

thirty white little pigs. And in the result what was
portended did happen, as the men of Lavinium
founded the town of Alba thirty years later. Of this
sow and her young ones traces are even now to be
found, for their likeness in bronze still stands where
all may see, and the mother's body is shown by the
priests (as it was, according to them, preserved in
brine).
19 A sow can feed eight' quite little pigs at first;
when they have grown bigger, a man who knows
his business generally takes away half the number
from her, as she cannot supply" milk enough for
all, nor can the whole litter get enough food to

alterum conditur Alba; id ah sue alba noyninatum. Haec e
navi Aeneae quoin fugisset Lavinium triginta parit porcos; ex
hoc prodigio post Lavinium conditum annis triginta haec urbs
facta, propter colorem suis et loci naturam Alba Longa dictum.
It will be noticed that Varro's story differs from Vergil's. In
the former's the sow had escaped from Aeneas's ship. Servius
{loc. cit.) mentions both stoi-ies. Livy (i, 3) states that the
Tiber was at this time called "Albula."

^ Octonos. Cf. Columella (vii, 9, 13): Qui tamen non debet
octo capitiim mimerum excedere. Non quia ignorem fecundi-
tatem scrofarum maioris esse numeri; sed quia celerrime fatiscit
quae plures edticat.

Pliny (viii, 51): Nu me rus fecund i tat is ad vicenos {!): sed
educare tarn multos nequetmt.

^ Sufferre; in Varro (ii, 8, 5), in Columella, and in Vergil,
the word means always "to bear." For it, therefore, Gesner
proposed to substitute sufficere, which is of common occurrence
in the sense of " to supply " — especially in Vergil (cf. Georg. , ii,
424, 436). Crescentius copying this passage has neque mater
sufficienter potest lac praebere. So that the emendation seems
plausible.

N

178 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

grow up strong and healthy. In the first ten days
immediately following delivery, the mother is not
brought out from the sty except to drink. When
ten days have elapsed, she is allowed to go out and
feed in some spot close to the farmstead, so that
she can return frequently to suckle her little ones.
3o When the latter have grown big, they are allowed
to follow their mother when she goes out to feed,
but when at home they are separated from their
dams, and fed apart, to the end that they may learn
to go without the nursing mother. This they do in
ten days.

The swineherd should train them to do every-
thing in obedience to the sound of the horn.^ After
first shutting them in, he does not open the door
until the horn blows, when they are taught to go
out to a place where barley has been poured out in
a long line — for by this method less is spoilt than if
it were piled in a heap, and more pigs can get to it
and with less trouble. The object we are told of
bringing them together by blowing the horn is to

' Ad bucinam. Polybius (xv, 12, 2) describes the methods
of the Italian swineherds of his day, who led their herds — not
following them as in Greece — and directed their movements
by blowing the horn — ^vKavy (pwi'ovvrec.

Columella (vi, 2^, 3) mentions the use of the horn for as-
sembling cows : Cufn pastorali signo quasi receptui cmiitur.
Nam id quoque semper crepusculo fieri debet, ut ad sonum buc-
cinae pecus, si quod in silvis substiterit, septa repetere con-
suescat. Sic enim recogtiosci grex poterit.

The instrument is described by Ovid (Mel., i, 335). It was
twisted like a shell, spiral and gibbous.

II] OF PIGS 179

prevent them from being lost when scattered apart
in the woods.

Boars are best castrated ^ when they are a year,
in any case not less than six months, old; which
done, they change their name, and are called
"hogs " {maiales) ' instead of boars.

Touching the health of swine, I will mention but
one fact in passing. If the sow cannot supply milk
to the sucking-pigs, you should give them cooked
wheat (for, if raw, it causes diarrhoea) or barley
steeped in water, until they are three months old.

As to number : ten boars are enough, it is thought,
for a hundred sows, though some men employ even
fewer. The total number of pigs in a herd varies.
I myself consider a hundred to be a good average.
Some^ owners prefer bigger herds of 150; others
have twice as many; others even more than this.

^ Castrantur. Columella (vii, 11) describes two methods.

^ Maiales. The ancients derived the word from Maia.
Schneider quotes Isidorus : Maialis porcus pinguis quod Deae
Maiiae sacrificabatur. Maiia (so Cicero spells the word), or
Fauna, or Bona Dea (>/ ywaiKsia GeSg) was " so modest (Macro-
bius, Satur. , i, § 27) that she never saw or was seen by a
man, and on this account no man enters her temple." But to
Maia, considered as the Earth, a pregnant sow was sacrificed.
Cicero (in Pis., 9) calls Piso no consul but a maialis I

^ Aliquot In the MSS. aliquod no doubt for aliquot.

In these books there are three places where aliquot is used
without an accompanying noun : this, where Keil thinks the
word should be altered to aliqui, and two others, iii, 7, 5, and
iii, 7, II, where he actually does alter the text, on the ground
that whereas aliquot is frequently used with a noun in these
books, it does not seem to be used without.

i8o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

A small herd entails less expense than a large
one, as the swineherd needs fewer assistants. So
the stock-farmer arranges the aggregate number in
a herd to suit his convenience, but not so the propor-
tion of boars, as this is dictated by nature.

CHAPTER V

OF COWS AND OXEN

I Such was Scrofa's contribution. At this point the
senator Lucienus,* a gentleman of extreme refine-
ment and great humour with whom we were all
well acquainted, came in and said, " How do you
do, my fellow Epirots,' for Scrofa, and our friend
Varro, TroifMsva Aawv,^ I saw and greeted early this
morning. Some of us said, How do you do? to
him, whilst others scolded him for not keeping his
appointment more punctually. I will see you, he

' O. Lucienus Senator. Varro (L. L., v, i) has Sic declinantes
Graeci nostra nomina dicunt Lucienum AovkUvov et Ouintium
Ko/vT-iov. I can find no allusion to him elsewhere.

- Synepirotae. I.e., ^vi'tj-n-ttpuirai, the semi-Graeci, Atticus
and Cossinius (cf. note on ii, 4, i).

' TToifitva Xawv. "Shepherd of the people," a phrase com-
monly applied by Homer to kings and generals, frequently to
Agamemnon, who led the fleet against Troy. Varro at the
time of this conversation was in command of the fleet between
Delos and Sicily. Cf. Varro's introduction to this book, § 6.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN i8t

answered presently, my merry ^ friends, and will
bring along' my hide and the whips,* but now will
you, Murrius,comeas my legal adviser, while I pay my
pence to the Lares,' so that you can give evidence

'■ Balatrones. The word is rare and is generally taken to
mean a professional jester. It is probably connected with
blaterones which, Gellius (i, 15) says, was a term applied by the
ancients to foolish chatterers. Perhaps there is an allusion to
the balatus of Atticus (cf. iii, i) : Quoniani satis balasti, inquity
o Faustule noster.

■^ Hoc. The old form of Hiic — common in Plautus. Vergil
uses it (Aeneid, viii, 423) : Hoc tunc Ignipotens caelo descendit ah
alto, where Servius remarks, Nam Verrius Flaccus . . . dicens
in adverbiis pro " m," ^^ o" plerumque maiores ponere consuetos :
et sic pro ' ' htic " " hoc " ve feres dicere solebant.

' Flagra. Used in the punishment of runaway slaves, etc.

* Laribus. The reading of the MSS. is Palibus. Ursinus
conjectures Palilibus, Schneider Pali. Neither word makes
very good sense. Keil gives Laribus, and quotes a fragment
(Nonius, 538) of Varro to the effect that "asses" were paid to
the Lares. But this was in the case of brides. And even
granted the general custom, for which there is no evidence,
why is Lucienus to pay asses to them?

I would with diffidence suggest Palicis. The Palici (cf.
Servius, Aen., ix, 584, and Diodorus Siculus, xi, 89) were two
benevolent deities who presided over agriculture (though the
pseudo-Servius says Nauticos deos Varro appellat) and were
worshipped in a temple not far from Mount Aetna and
the river Synaethus. This temple gave asylum to runaway
slaves, who were not given up to their masters until lenient
treatment had been assured by an oath taken by the latter.
The word Palicus was popularly derived from -kolKiv and "ikuv
to come back. Now, owing to the loss of some of this book,
we do not know precisely the scene of the dialogue ; the time
was when Varro, as legatus of Pompey in the war against

i82 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

in case they try to get me to pay them over again?

2 Atticus said to Murrius, Tell your friend, as ^ you
go, what has been said and what remains to be said,
so that he may come primed for his part, while we
in the meantime add to the play the second act, the
subject of which is the larger cattle. In which, said
Vaccius, there is a part for me, as there are cows
{vaccae) in it. I will therefore proceed to tell you what
knowledge I have gained about cows and oxen, so
that if there is any point a man does not know he
may learn it from me, and if he does know may

3 note whether I make any mistakes. Be careful,
Vaccius, said I, what you are about, for in the
matter of stock-raising the ox should hold the place
of honour — particularly in Italy, since that country
is supposed to have derived its name from cattle.
For ancient Greece, asTimaeus- writes, used to call

the pirates, commanded a detachment of ships. The place
then may well have been somewhere in Sicily — possibly at
Catana, not far from which was the temple of the Palici. If
we read Palicis, then, the passage makes fair sense.

Lucienus on going says that he will return bringing the
whip for the beating which he has deserved through being
absent. He goes as a runaway slave to the Palici to claim
their protection after paying a few pence for sacrifice, and
then to return sure of lenient treatment from his masters.
Cf. Vergil, Aeneid, ix, 585 : Pin^^iiis uhi et placabilis am
Palici.

^ Eadem. k\\ adverb common in Plautus (Trin., 577, etc.)
who always uses with it the Future or Future-Perfect. It
means "at the same time."

''■ TimaeuSy 352-256 B.C. .'\ Greek historian whose principal

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 183

bulls itali; and it was owing to the great number
and beauty of these, and to the breeding of bullocks
ivituli) in this country that the name of Italy was
bestowed upon it. Others have written that it was
because of a famous bull called Italus which Her-
cules pursued into Italy.

The ox, I say, is the comrade of man in the

4 labours of the field, and the servant^ of Ceres, and

the ancients were so firmly determined to guard his

life that they punished with death- any one who

work was a history of Sicily from the earliest times down to
264 B.C. Of this only a few scraps remain.

Cf. Gellius, xi, i : Timaeus in historiis . . . et M. Varro
in Antiquitatibus R. H. terram Italiam de Graeco vocabulo ap-
pellatam scripserunt quoniam hoves Graeca vetere lingua haXoi
vocitati sint. Curtius (Gk. Etym., i, p. 257) remarks: "This
etymology is splendidly confirmed by 'Viteliu' (Italy) in the
inscription on Oscan coins." Probably the word is connected
with (/')e7-oc, a year, and its root meaning is "yearling."

' Cereris minister. At Eleusis, the most ancient seat of the
worship of Demeter, certain sacred cattle were kept (their
keepers were called ^ov^vyai — o\ ra^ UpaQ (Sovg h> EXevtnvi dporpi-
oiiaaQ rpi<povrie (Schol. ad Aristidem), and by them the Rharian
plain was solemnly ploughed every year in memory of the first
sowing of wheat by Demeter or Triptolemus.

^ Capite sanxerint. Pliny (viii, 4, 5) and Valerius Maximus
(viii, i) tell how a man who had killed an ox was damnatus a
Populo Romano die dicta . . . actusque in exilium tanquam
colono suo interempto. Columella (praef. § 7 to Bk. vi) says
that " at Athens in Attica he is called the servant of Ceres and
Triptolemus, shares the sky with the brightest constellations,
is the most hard-working comrade of man in the tilling of the
soil, and was so venerated by the ancients that it was as much
a capital offence to have slain an ox as a citizen." In the age

i84 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

slew him. To this fact Attica and Peloponnesus
are witnesses. For it is to the ox that Buzuges ' at
Athens and Homogvros' at Arg^os owe their fame.
I know well, answered Vaccius, the dignity of oxen,
and that many great things are called after them,
as husycos (bull-fig), biipaida (bull-boy, lump of a
boy), hiUimos (bull-hunger), hoopis (cow-eyed, great-

of iron men took to eating the domestic ox (cf. Aratus Phae-

nom., 134) which Cicero translates thus:

Ferrea turn vero proles exorta repente est
Ausaque funestum prima est fabri carter ensem
Et gustare manu vinctum domitumque iuvencuin.
Vergil (Georg., ii, 537) imitates Aratus:

Et ante
Impia quam caesis gens est epulata iuvencis.

Aristotle in the Oeconomica calls the ox "the poor man's
slave " — ^ovq avTi oiKBTov toTq Trkvi]aiv iarii'. At Athens he was
not allowed to be sacrificed on the ground that " he was a
cultivator and shared in the toil of men." ynupyoQ tan koI raiv
IV dvQpwTTOig KafiuTiHv Koivutvot;.

' Buzuges was he who first yoked oxen — Triptolemus or
Epiinenides. Afterwards it was the name of the keeper of the
sacred cattle at Eleusis or Athens.

" Homogyros. Both these statements Varro took from a
previous book of his, De gente populi Romani. His words
— or the substance of them — are preserved for us by Saint
Augustine (De Civ. Dei, xviii, 6) : Qui honor . . . delatu^ est
homini privato et fulminato cuidam Homogyro eo quod primus
ad aratrum boves iunxerit (Keil). There is another passage
(Isidor. Or., xvii, i), which seems to have escaped the com-
mentators: Primuin ad aratrum bovis iujixisse Jerunt quetidam
privatum hominem et fulminatum 7iomine Homogirum. Ouidam
autem Osirim dicunt huius artis esse invetitoretn, quidani Trip-
tolemum.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 185

eyed), and that a kind of large grape is called
5 bumamma (cow's udder). I know, too, that Jupiter
chose to assume the form of a bull when, being in
love with Europa, he carried her from Phoenicia
across the sea ; that it was a bull who saved Nep-
tune's children by Menalippa when they were babies
from being trampled in a cattle-pen under the feet
of a herd ; and, lastly, that from its putrid corpse
spring the sweet bees, mothers of honey — whence
the Greeks call bees bugenes ((3oy7£i'£?j = ox-born). We
have it recorded in writing that an ox spoke plainer
Latin than did Hirrius ^ at Rome in the Senate after
he had been elected praetor.

But do not be uneasy, I will give you as much
satisfaction as the man who wrote the " Bugonia " "
could have done.

' The text here Is hopelessly corrupt. No plausible emenda-
tion has ever been proposed — and no story concerning either
Plautius (?) Hirrius or an ox is known which seems to apply
even remotely to anything in the text. Planius might easily
have been corrupted to plautius. I have translated planius.
The speaking of an ox was a common prodigy. Cf. Livy,
XXXV, 21 : Et, quod inaxime terrebat, Consulis Cn. Do?nitii
hovern locutuni : Roma Cave tibi, etc. Cf. Pliny, viii, 45 : Est
frequens in prodigiis priscorum bovem locutum: quo nuntiato
senatum sub dio haberi solitum.

- BugoniaTu. Keil quotes Hieronymus in Euseb. Chron. :
Eumelus, qui btigoniain et Europam . . . coitiposuit, and thinks
with Scaliger and others that the bugonia was a poem in praise
of bees. There seems to be no evidence to support this, and
l3ovyovia must surely mean ' ' the begetting of oxen " (cf. 9i}\v-
■yovia, Oioyovia, etc.), not the birth (of bees) from oxen.

The words are, of course, connected with § 2: Vide quid

i86 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

6 Firstly, in the matter of horned cattle there are
four terms to denote differences of age — first, calves,
secondly, bullocks; thirdly, young bulls; fourthly,
old bulls. Differences in sex are indicated in the
first case by the names calf, she-calf; in the second,
bullock, and heifer; and in the third and fourth by
the words bull and cow. A barren cow is called
taura^^ one in calf, horda.' Hence in the calendar
one day is termed hordicidia^ because cows in calf
are then sacrificed.

7 He who means to buy ^ a herd of cattle must first

agas, inquam, Vacci, when Varro hopes that Vaccius may be
able to perform what he promises with so light a heart. To
. this Vaccius here answers : " Don't be uneasy," etc.

^ Taura. Schneider thinks that this means hermaphrodite,
comparing Aristotle (De Gen. Anim.), where the word Tpd-
■yaivai (rpdyoc) signifies hermaphrodite goats. But Festus and
Servius (Aen., ii, 140) both translate it sterilis vacca.

^ Horda. Varro in the Lingua Latina spells these words
{horda, hordicidia, etc.) with an initial F not H. Cf. L. L.,
vi, cap. 3 : Fordicidia a fordis hubus. Bos forda quae fert in
ventre. Quod eo die puhlice immolantur boves praegnates in
curiis coviplures, a fordis caede7idis Fordicidia dicta. This use
of f where Latin has h is dialectal (Sabine ?). Cf. fasena,
Jircus, faedus, fordeum for harena, hircus, etc.

^ Hordicidia. A festival in honour of Tellus held at Rome
15th April, when pregnant cows were sacrificed. The ashes of
the exsected calves (burned, on the day when the hordicidia
was celebrated, by the Senior Vestal) were used later at the
Parilia — 21st April — in the lustration of the city and people.

^ Omz gregem, etc. This description, which corresponds
with that given by Columella (vl, i, 3, and vi, 21) is taken from
the work of Mago the Carthaginian. Varro's words seem to
be almost literally translated by the Geoponica, xvii, 2.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 187

see that its members are young and fresh, and fitted
to give increase rather than incapable' of bearing;
that they are well put together, sound of limb, in
shape square and of great size, with blackish horns,
wide foreheads, big black eyes, and hairy ears;
they should have flattened jaws and be somewhat
snub-nosed; they must not be hump-backed' but
have a slightly concave spine ^; the nostrils should
be well opened, the lips blackish, the neck thick
and long with hanging dewlap, body well ribbed
up, shoulders broad, buttocks * of good size with
a long tail reaching to the heels, and ending in
a tuft of slightly curly hair. The legs ' should be

' Expartae. The word occurs nowhere else. Scaliger de-
rives it from ex and partus, and quotes certain ' ' old glosses "
which he had in his possession : expatta — partu vactca. The
reading Victorius found in his MS. is ex parte. That found in
all editions before him is expertae which, pace Scaliger, seenis
perfectly intelligible if taken closely with integrae. The pre-
ference is to be given to cows which have never had calves
{integrae ad, etc.) over those which have already had some ex-
perience (in bearing young). Keil follows Scaliger — wrongly,
I think.

^ Ne gihberae. This is the )u>) Kvprdq of the Geoponica.
KvproQ )( KolXoQ in the Mathematicians = convex )( concave.

^ Spina. Columella {/oc. cit.) \ia.?,dorso recto planoque ^^ sub-
sidente.

■* Bonis clunibus. Columella {loc. cit.) has clunibus rotundis.

' Cruribus potius. The Geoponica (Joe. cit.) make the mean-
ing of this passage quite clear : Tii aKtKr] 6p9d, artpea Traxvrtpa
IxaWov Tj jiaKportpa, jxi) Trapa-pij^ofiiva irpoQ uWrfkn, ttoociq tv Tip l3adi-
Ziiv fxj) vXarvvoHEVovg ayav, /iTj^k x^^"<^ SicaToXfikva^, roi'c ovvxd^ re
Xe'tovQ Kai 'iffovg, jSvpaav ivatpTi Kai fit) ciin^vXiijfiivtjv.

i88 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

straight and short rather than long, the knees
somewhat prominent with a good distance between
them, the feet narrow, and not spreading out as the
animal walks, the cleft in the hoof not wide, and
the two toes smooth and even. The skin must not
be harsh or hard to the touch. The best colour ' is
black, then red, then dun, then white — for oxen of
the last colour are the most delicate, as those of the
9 first mentioned are the hardiest. Of the two middle "
colours the first is more common than the second,
both of them than either black or white.

The males as well ought to be (i) of a good

^ Colore potissimum. Columella (vi, i, i) mentions the diffi-
culty of laying down rules for the buying of cattle owing to
the great number of breeds to be found, each of which has its
own excellence — e.g.^ the Asiatic, Gallic, Epirot, and Italian
kinds. And the Italian kinds differ greatly. The Campanian
ox is small and white, that of Umbria white and of huge size.
There are also red Umbrians which are as good-tempered as
they are big-bodied. The Etrurian and Latian oxen are close-
knit but strong ; those bred on the Apennines are the hardiest
of all, will indeed stand any amount of hardship, but are ugly
to look at.

■ De mediis duobus. Keil expunges the 771 eo prior of the
MSS.

Zahlfeldt (Qu. Crit. in Varr., R.R., 32) conjectures crebrior,
which seems satisfactory. Something of the kind is needed,
else the construction is harsh even for Varro.

In the Geoponica {loc. cit.) the best colours are thought to
be the various shades of red (rae roic ^pwfiaai ^av9i!^ovffaQ) ;
cows with black legs are highly thought of (rd «tkA»; fttXava
fXoi'nac). Pliny (viii, 48) says that both black and white oxen
are bad workers.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 189

breed and their shape must be carefully looked to,
as the progeny reproduce the qualities of the
parents, and (2) the place also where they were
born is a matter of moment. In Italy, for example,
those of the Gallic ^ breed are mostly good workers,

10 while those of Liguria are of small account, and
those of Epirus ' across the sea surpass not only the
cattle of all Greece, but those of Italy as well. Some
people, however, use Italian cattle for sacrifice, and
reserve them for solemn supplications of the gods,
for — so they say — these are more suitable than
others, owing to their great bulk. For religious
functions they certainly are to be preferred, be-
cause of their majestic ' size and striking colour.
There is also another reason for keeping them for
sacrifice, white cattle being rarer in Italy than they
are in Thrace — near the Melanic* gulf — where few
of any other colour are to be found.

11 When we are buying oxen which have been
broken in, the warrant required is as follows: *' Do
you guarantee that these oxen are sound and that

' Gallici. \.Q., Piceni et Cimimpadani.

- Epirotici. Cf. Pliny (viil, 45) : In nostra orbe Epiroticis laus
maxima. Aristotle (Hist. A., viii, 7) speaks of /3owe ■nvp'p'xxa-c, iv
Ty 'HTTfipy. The excellence, he says, of the breed was due to
the fact that they were kept from the bull for nine years.

* Dignitatem amplitudinis. Varro refers no doubt to the
white Umbrians; cf. Columella, vi, i, 2: Umhria {progenerat)
vastos et albos. White bullocks were sacrificed on the occasion
of a triumph; ci. inter alios , Claudian, speaking of Clitumnus,
Candida quae Latiis praebent armenta triumphis.

* MeXava (coXttov. Now the Gulf of Samos.

I90 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the buyer incurs no liability ^ for damage done by
them?" In buying them unbroken it is: " Do you
guarantee that these oxen are sound in the proper
sense of the word, come from a sound herd, and
that the buyer incurs no liability for damage done
by them?" Butchers who buy an ox for cutting up,
if they adopt the Manilian forms, use rather more
words than these, while those who buy for sacrifice
do not as a rule exact any guarantee as to the health
of the victim."

Cattle are best pastured in clearings where there
are shrubs and leaves ' in abundance. When they

^ Noxisque praestari. Cf. note on ii, 4, 5. The -ce in illosce
is "deictic," "those before our eyes."

* Non Solent stipulari. Because the priests themselves ap-
plied tests "offering the bulls barley, the he-goats pulse (tpf-
fSivQovc). Refusal to eat was interpreted as a sign of ill-health.
The test for a she-goat was cold water" (Plutarch, Orac.
Defect.).

^ I^ros multa. Cf. Columella (vi, 3, 6) : " From this time (ist
July) to I St November — that is, through the summer and
autumn — they may be fed on leaves. The best for the purpose
are those of the elm, the ash, and the poplar ; the worst those
of the holm oak, the oak, and the laurel. These, however, you
are obliged to use after summer as the others then fail. Fig
leaves may also be given."

The number of things used as food for cattle is astonishing.
Columella {Joe. cit.) mentions: peas, beans, vetches, lupines,
ocinum, barley, wheat, straw, grass, hay, acorns, leaves,
grape refuse— which he specially recommends as having the
virtues oi both meat and wine, cytisus. Cato (54) mentions in
addition bean bran and ivy leaves. Much attention was given
to the health and feeding of the working ox. Cato (54) says :
Nihil t'.v/ quoii inagis expediat quain doves bene curare.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 191

spend the winter near the sea, they are driven off
at the time of the great heats to wooded mountains.
For breeding purposes, the following is my usual

12 practice. For one month before the admission of
the bull, the cows must not get their full measure ^
of food and drink, for it is thought that they con-
ceive more readily when thin. On the other hand,
two months before that time I fatten up my bulls
with grass, chaff and hay, and separate them from
the cows. I keep the same number of bulls as does
Atticus, that is, for seventy" breeding cows, two
bulls, one of them a year, the other two years old.
This I practise just about the rising of that constella-
tion which is called by the Greeks >.vpa, by our
countrymen "fides" (the lyre). When the busi-

13 ness is over I drive back the bulls to the flock. One
can tell whether the cow has conceived a male or a
female by noticing during the act of coition on
which side the bull comes down. If it is a male he
goes more to the right, if a female to the left. Why
this is the case, said he to me, you readers of
Aristotle'^ must determine. Impregnation should
not take place before the animals are two years old,

' Se impleant. Cf. Col. vi, 24, 3 : Ne eas steriles reddat nimia
corporis obesitas.

^ LXX. Columella (vi, 243) says one to fifteen. Unum
marem quindecim vaccis sufficere abunde est. Possibly XXL or
XXX should be read, which gives the same proportion as
Columella and Pliny, viii, 45 (as amended by Pintianus) :
Implent et singuli quindenas eodem. anno.

^ Aristotelem. De Gen. An., v, and vi. Cf. Col. vi, 24, 3,
Pliny, viii, 45, and Geoponica, xvii, 6.

192 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

so that they may be three when they calve — if they
are four years old, so much the better. Most cows
go on bearing for ten years, some even longer. The
most suitable time for the beginning of pregnancy
is during a period of forty or a few more days from
the rising of the Dolphin ; ^ for those which have so
conceived calve at the most temperate time of the
14 year, as cows are pregnant ten months. I have
found recorded a strange fact about them: if they
are covered by a bull immediately after he has been
castrated they conceive. ' They should graze in green
and watery places. Care must be taken not to let
them stand too near one another, and that they do

^ Delphini. The Geoponica (xvii, 10, 3) fix the time — in the
early part of June — wpa Zi wpog oxuav rj otto SeXflvog iiriToXijv,
TOvAari TTipi rag cipxaQ rov ^lovviov fir}v6c, 'iwg -qjupixiv fi (40). Colu-
mella (xi, 2, 45) says that the Dolphin rises in the evening on
loth June. He (vi, 24, i) g-ives July as the proper time.
Pliny, in a chapter which borrows largely from Varro (viii, 45),
has Coitus a Delphini Exortu ad [sic] pridie Nonas Januarias
diebus xxxx.

I have no doubt that Pliny wrote Coitus a D. Exortu ad dies
xxxXy and that the rest is the gloss of an ignorant scribe who
wished to explain Delphini exortus and, remembering another
passage of Pliny (xviii, 26) : Pridie Non. Jan. Caesari Delph-
inus matutino exoritur, used it as a note which was afterwards
inserted in the text. Or it may have been a slip made by Pliny
himself — using his commonplace books carelessly, and con-
fusing the evening rising, which Varro obviously means, with
the morning rising of the Dolphin. Keil and others notice the
discrepancy but do not explain how it — probably — arose.

^ Concipere. Cf Aristotle (De Gen. An., i, 4): Ka\ I'l^t] ravpng
Ttr, fifTa -))v iKTofii^v, n''9eMr oxevoag iirKtfpwai, ha r'v pi'iTrio roi'g
TTopovg dveaTTuaOai.

II] OF COWS AND OXEN 193

not gore or run against one another. And, as in
summer gad-flies^ generally annoy them, and a
kind of small gnat breeds under their tails, some
people, to prevent this annoyance, keep them shut
up in pens. Leaves or some substitute should be
strewn on the floor of their stalls that they may rest
more comfortably. In summer time they must be

15 driven twice to the water, in winter once. When
they begin to breed, fresh fodder (for them to taste
as they go out) should be kept close to the stalls,
for their appetite becomes capricious at this time.
Care must also be taken that the place to which they
return be not cold, for cold as well as hunger makes
them grow thin.

16 In the rearing of cattle proceed as follows. The
sucking calves must not sleep with their mothers,

'■ Tabani. Tabanus, the popular name for the Greek olarpoQ,
the proper Latin equivalent being asilus. At least so says Isi-
dore (xii, 8, last paragraph) : Oestrum animal armentis aculeis
pennolestum. Oestrum autein Graecum est, quod Latine
" asilus, ^^ vu/£-o tabanus vacatur. The word is still in use in
Italian, tabdno meaning a "back-biter," and tafdno a gad-

fly. .

Crescentius, paraphrasing this passage (ix, 65, quoted by
Schneider) puts for the bestiolae minutae, Zentalos Muscas.
Zentahs is no doubt the modern Italian Zanzara, an onoma-
topoeic word meaning gnat. If the text, however, be correct,
Varro would seem to refer to the eggs laid by the tabatius
under the tails of the oxen.

The Geoponica (xvii, 7) advise the sprinkling of the pastures
with a decoction of laurel berries as a means to get rid of the
gad-flies, "which run away because they hate it" {^la r^v
avTiirdQaav).

194 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

for otherwise they are trampled on by them. They
should be taken to the mother early in the morning
and again when they come back from the pasture.
When the calves are grown big, keep up the strength
of the dams by giving them green fodder in their
stalls. In the case of these, as generally of all
stables, a flooring of stone or some other material
must be laid down to prevent the hoofs from rotting.
From the autumnal equinox onwards they graze

17 with their dams. Bulls should not be castrated
before they are two ^ years old, as otherwise they do
not easily recover from the operation. Those which
are castrated after that age grow up hard to manage
and useless for purposes of work. Again, as is the
case in all other flocks of domestic animals, every
year a choice should be made of the cows to be kept,
and those which it is not desirable to keep ' must be
got rid of, as they take up the room of those which
are able to yield increase. Should any cow have lost
a calf you must put under her calves whose mothers
give them too little milk. To six-months-old calves
wheaten bran, barley-flour, and young grass is
given, and they are made to drink night and morn-

iSing. Many directions concerning their health I

1 A?i/e bimum. Aristotle (H. A., ix, 50) says : "when they
are a year old," iviavaioi.

Mago states, according to Columella (vi, 26, i — where two
ways of performing the operation are described) xntuli duin
adhuc teneri sunt.

^ Reiculae. Cf. note on ii, i, 24. The Geoponica (xvii, 10)
give as the equivalent of this word " the barren and weakly
cows and those of advanced age."

II] OF ASSES 195

make my herdsman ' copy out from Mago's books,
and I take care that he reads one or more of them
frequently. You must so regulate the number of
bulls and cows as to have two of the former to sixty
of the latter — ^one a year old, the other two. Some
maintain either a greater or less proportion : for
example, at Atticus's there are two bulls where there
are seventy breeding cows. Different people have
herds of different sizes; some, like myself, think a
hundred ' a good average number. Atticus has 120,
as has Lucienus.

CHAPTER VI

OF ASSES

I Thus Vaccius. Whereupon Murrius, who had re-
turned with Lucienus while Vaccius was speaking,

^ Amientarium . . . ut legal euro. A common Greek con-
struction much used in these books, cf. ii, 9, 15, iii, 10, 4, and
iii, 16, 28, which last Is an exact parallel to this passage,
Aquarti mulsam in vasculis prope ut sit curant, Aliquid here
Kell would take as an adverb. The adverbial use of aliquid
and nihil is of course common enough, but here It seems
simpler to connect aliquid with exscripta. Besides, It would be
difficult to quote an example of the so-called adverbial use (It
Is really a cognate accusative) of aliquid resembling this at all
points.

"^ Centenarium. Varro (ii, 4, 22) makes the same statement
about a herd of pigs : Sed ego modicum puto centenariumj.

196 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

remarked: I choose as my topic asses/ for my
native place is Reate, where the best and largest
are found. From the Reatine breed I have bred
foals there and have sold them more than once even
2 to Arcadians themselves. Well, he who wants to
make a really good herd of asses must first take
care to choose both males and females of the right''
age, so that both sexes may be a source of profit for
as long as possible; he must have them strong,
handsome at every point, stout of limb, of good
breed — that is, coming from those places where the
best are found. Thus do those who in the Pelopon-
nesus buy from Arcadia ' rather than elsewhere, and
in Italy from the Reatine land. For it does not follow,
you know, because the best " floating "Mampreys are

' De asinis. Pliny (N. H., viii, 43) says that they were a
source of very great profit : Ouaestus ex its opima praedia ex-
superat, that they were useful for carting, sometimes even for
ploughing, but that they were especially valuable as the sires
of mules.

- Bona aetate. In Plautus frequently bona aetas means
youth, and mala aetas old age. Cf. Aulularia, i, 1,4.

' Arcadia. Isidore (xii, 1) speaks of the asses found there
as alti et magni.

* Murenae flutae. Varro (quoted by Macrobius, Sat., iii,
15, 7) says that " murenae flutae in Sicily can be caught by the
hand, as owing to their fatness \h&\ float on the surface of
the water." They are the /xvpalvai TrXwrat of Athenaeus. This
was the most esteemed kind of lamprey, cf. Col., viii, 17, 8:
Item flautas, quae maxitne probantur, muraenas. They were
"preserved" by Roman epicures in artificial fish-ponds into
which the sea flowed. Pliny (viii, 55) tells how Hortensius,

II] OF ASSES 197

to be found in Sicilian waters, and the " helops " ^
in the neighbourhood of Rhodes, that these fishes,
of the same quality and size, exist in every sea.
; Of asses there are two kinds, the one wild, called
** onagri," such as are found — many flocks of them
— in Phrygia and Lycaonia, the other tame, as are
all those of Italy. The "onager"' is suitable for

the great rival of Cicero, loved a lamprey so much that he
wept when it died !

^ Helops. Pliny (ix, 17) says that this fish was the same as
the acipenser (sturgeon?), " which was the most famous of all
fishes amongst the ancients," and that it was the only one the
scales of which turned towards the head {unus omnium squamis
ad OS versis). Varro (iTri ry ratpy nvpov) calls it multtnummus,

Nee multtnummus piscis ex salo captus
helops ;

but in Pliny's time it was not of much account, rare though
it was — nullo in honore est . . . cum sit rarus inventu (Joe. cif.).
Columella (viii, 16, 9) says that it fed only in the depths of the
Pamphylian Sea (Gulf of Adalia), which is a couple of hundred
miles from Rhodes, though in the same latitude. Non enim
omni mari potest omnis esse, ut helops qui Pamphilio pro/undo
nee alio paseitur.

^ Ojiagrus. The Geoponica (xvi, 21) repeat this statement
of Varro. Columella (vi, 37), however, seems to contradict it
indirectly, for, speaking of the progeny of a he-ass and a mare,
he says : '' Neque tamen ullum est in hoc pecore aut animo aut
forma praestantius quam quod seminavit asinus. Posset huie
aliquatenus comparari quod progenerat onager, nisi et indom-
itum et servitio contumax, silvestris more, strigosum patris
praeferret habitum." He goes on to speak of the onager's
swiftness and strength, and recommends the breeder to put
the male offspring of an onager and a mare to a mare, as in

198 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

breeding purposes, as when wild he may readily be
tamed, and once tamed never becomes wild again.
As the offspring resemble their parents, both sire
and dam must be chosen carefully, both must be
fine animals. In trading, change of ownership is
effected — just as in the case of other domestic
animals — by purchase and delivery; and a guar-
antee that their health is good and that they have
done no damage for which the purchaser may be
4 held responsible is usually required. Their proper
food is spelt and barley bran. The male is put to
the female before the solstice, that the latter may
foal the next year at the same time; for she-asses
reproduce their kind twelve months after conception.
During pregnancy they are relieved from work; for
toil makes the womb produce inferior offspring,'
whereas the male is not kept from work, as he de-
teriorates through lack of it. As regards breeding,
the practice is much the same as with horses. After
birth, the foals are not taken from the mothers for a
year ; the next year they are allowed to be with them

the third generation the wild nature of the onager would be
mitigated {per gradus infracta feritate).

For their swiftness cf. Xenophon, Anab., i, 5. The Greeks
found it difficult to catch them, for they ran much faster than
horses. Some, however, they did catch, using relays of horses.
The flesh was found to resemble that of the stag, but it was
more tender.

^ Natio. Festus {ad vcrhuni) : In pecorihus qtioque bofius
proventus feturae bona natio dicitur. Cicero frequently uses
the word contemptuously, as Mur., 33, tota nalio candidatorum.
Pro Scxt., 44, 7ialio upiimaiium.

II] OF ASSES 199

at night, and are kept loosely tied with a halter, or
something of the kind. With the third year one
begins to break them to the work for which one
means to use them.
5 There now remains for discussion the number —
but of asses herds are not made, with the exception
of those which bear burdens, as they are mostly
drafted off to the mills or to work on the farms
when there is carting to be done, or even to the
plough where the soil is light, as in Campania,
What herds of asses there are generally belong to
traders, such as those who convey, by means of
pack-asses,^ oil, wine, corn, and the like, from the
country about Brundisium or Apulia to the sea
coast.

* Asellis dossuariis. Cf. Velius Long^us, 79, 4 : Sicetdossum
per duo S. The cJiteUae used in loading asses or mules were
perhaps a pair of paniers, though I can find very little evidence
■ for the fact. Festus {adverb.) has eae quibus sarcinae Con-
ligatae niulis porfantur, and says that a part of the Via
Flaminia — descending, then ascending — was called Clitellae.
On Trajan's Column there is a picture of a mare with clitellae
loaded with amphorae, and I can find no resemblance to a
pair of paniers. These asini dossuarii were called in Greek
ovoi Kav9t)\ioi. Cf. Scholiast or Arist., Vesp., 170, who quotes
Xenophon and Polybius. From the passage quoted from
Polybius it is evident that the word KavOi'iXui means the pack-
saddle.

200 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER VII

OF HORSES AND MARES

I Then said Lucienus, I too will take my turn, throw
open the barriers,' and let my horses go, and not
the males only, which I, like Atticus, keep as
stallions, one to every ten mares.

The brave Q. Modius Equiculus- used to think
as much of mares as of horses even for military ser-

^ Carceres. These were stalls or vaults in the circus from
which in the chariot races the horses with their chariots
started. They were closed by bars, or more probably by doors
of open woodwork (canceUi), which were thrown open simul-
taneously when the signal for beginning the race was given.

There is a marble in the British Museum which figures very
clearly these cancelli. Here they are folding doors which open
inwards.

* O. Moditis Equiculus. Nothing is known of him. Is he
a Mrs. Harris? The words which follow in Keil's text, vir
fortissimus etiam patre militari, are absurdly irrelevant, and
need emendation. I have translated Ursinus's conjecture,
etiam in re militari, which makes good sense. It is difficult
to understand, however, if this be the true reading, how the
corruption arose. I would suggest etiam a parte i7iilitari
{etid a parte). The second a a copyist would naturally omit,
and parte might easily have been changed to patre.

Pliny (viii, 42) mentions the use of mares in preference to
horses in war. Scythae per hcUa faeminis uti maltint, quoniani
urinam cursu non impedito reddant, and the best horses which
went to the war against Troy were the mares of Pheretiades,
" swift as birds " (Iliad, ii, 763).

II] OF HORSES AND MARES 201

vice. Those who wish to keep herds of these horses
and mares, as some do in the Peloponnesus and
Apulia, must first consider the question of age,
about which the following directions are given :
We take care that they (the mares) are not less than
2 three or more than ten years old. The age ^ is in-
ferred of horses, and generally of all animals with
undivided hoofs, and even of horned animals, from
the fact that a horse at thirty months first sheds the

^ Aetas cognoscitur. k?, in the first book Varro used Theo-
phrastus as his principal authority, so in this Aristotle. The
latter discusses (H. A., vi, 22) this matter of a horse's teeth
thus : " A horse has forty teeth ; when thirty months old he
sheds the first four (two upper, two lower) ; when a year has
gone by he sheds in the same way other four (two upper, two
lower) ; and again when another year has passed, other four
in the same way; when four years and six months have
elapsed he sheds no more."

The Geoponica (xvi, i) give more details : " At thirty months
the foal begins by shedding its front teeth which we call ' in-
cisors ' — the two middle ones of each jaw. At the beginning
of the fourth year, he loses two on one side (one from each
jaw) and two on the other. Then the canine teeth appear.
At the commencement of the fifth year he loses the rest-
upper and lower — one from each side \sic\. But those which
are now growing are hollow. When he has reached the sixth
year the hollows of the first begin to fill up, and when he is
seven years old he has his full number of teeth, none of which
is hollow. And when this has happened it is no longer easy
to tell the age."

Palladius and Columella do not deserve to be quoted. As
to the facts Schneider vouches for the accuracy of Varro's
statements, and tells us that when he was writing his com-
mentary on the passage, he (Schneider) had a large number
of horses' skulls in front of him !

202 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

middle teeth, the two upper and two lower. As
they enter upon their fourth year of life they shed
others in like manner — the four teeth next those
which they have already lost — and the so-called

3 canine teeth begin to grow. Similarly, at the
beginning of the fifth year, the horse loses in like
manner two, and, whereas those which are growing
again are hollow, in the sixth year they are filled
in, and with the seventh year he generally has all
his teeth to the full number grown again. They
say that you cannot tell the age of those that are
older, only when the teeth have become prominent^
and the eyebrows gray, with hollows under them,
they say — judging from this — that the horse is
sixteen years old.

4 As to type : they should be of moderate size, for
if excessively big or small they do not look well.
The mares should have broad quarters and bellies.
Such horses as are destined for stud purposes you

^ Denies hrocchi. Cf. Columella (vi, 29, 5) : Nee postea quot
annorum sit, manifesto comprehendi potest. Decimo tamen anno
tempora cavari incipiunt, ct superciUa nonjiumquam catiescere,
et dentes prominerc.

Brocchus or broncus is defined by Nonius (Bk. i, ad verb.) as
producto ore dentibtis prominentihus. He cites Lucilius, Bk. Ill :
Broncu" Bovillanus dente adverso eminulo, hie est rinoceros.

The word is found also in a fragment of Plautus, quoted by
Festus: Aut varum aut valgum aut conipemem aut paetum aut
brocchum filium. In both these cases it describes persons,
while Varro here and ii, 9, 3 uses it of the teeth themselves.
Crescentius, not understanding it, translates brocchi by pli-
cati (bent !).

ii] OF HORSES AND MARES 203

should choose big of body, shapely, with no part
5 of the body out of proportion. You can guess
from the foal the kind of horse ' he is going to be —
[a good one] if his head is small, if he has well-
proportioned limbs, black eyes, well opened nos-
trils, ears leaning ^forwards, the mane abundant, in
colour leaning to dark, and slightly curling, with
rather fine hair falling to the right side of the neck,
the chest broad and full, broad shoulders, belly of
moderate size, loins sloping downwards, broad
shoulder-blades, the spine, if possible, double,'
failing this not projecting,* tail abundant and curl-
ing slightly, the legs straight, symmetrical, and
turning rather inwards than outwards, the knees
round and small, and the hoofs hard. He should
have the veins visible all over his body, for a horse
of such a kind can readily be treated ' when he is ill.

' Oualis equus. Compare with this description of the perfect
horse Columella's (vi, 29, 2), Verg'il's (Georg., iii, 75-88),
that of the Geoponica (xvi, 1) — all of which follow Varro
closely.

* Auribus adplicatis. Adplicatus: replicatus : : aduncus : red-
uncus. Columella {he. cit.) has hrevihus auriculis et adrectis,
the Geoponica {loc. cit.) to. wtu ivpoataTaX^tva, Palladius breves
et argutas (flickering — mobile).

^ Spina duplici. Cf Georg., iii, 87: At duplex agitur per
lumhos spina. In a well-conditioned muscular man or horse
the spinal vertebrae are not visible, as the spine lies between
two ridges formed by the dorsal muscles, and is covered by
their muscular attachments.

^ Non exstanti. Cf. ne gibberae of ii, 5, 7.

" Ad medendum. In the treatment of sick animals bleeding
was as much used by the ancients as it was in the Middle Ages

204 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

6 The stock they come from is of great importance,
for the breeds are many. So it comes about that
famous horses are called after their districts, as in
Greece, the Thessalian horses from Thessaly; in
Italy the Apulian from Apulia, and the Rosean
from Rosea. It is a sign that a horse will be a
good one if he strives with his fellows in the herd
for supremacy in running, etc., or if, when the
herd has to ford a river, he is among the first ^ to
advance, and does not keep looking back at the
others. The buying of horses is much the same as
that of asses and oxen, change of ownership being
effected with the same forms as those contained in
the Manilian Actions.

7 The best food for horses is grass when they are
on the meadows, and hay when they are in stables
or stalls. After they have foaled, barley should be
added to the food of the mares, and water given
them twice a day. In breeding horses the male
should first be put to the mare some time between

for sick men. Blood was let from veins. It was therefore an
advantage if they were visible and so readily found.
^ In primis. Cf Georg., iii, 76:

Continuo pecoris gcnerosi puUus in arvis
Ahius ingreditur, et mollia crura rcponit:
Primus et ire viam etfluvios tentare minaces
Audet, et ignoto sese comtnittere.

Columella (vi, 28) says that the colt should be " bright and
full of fun, unafraid, not frightened by unaccustomed sights
and sounds. He should run in advance of the herd and some-
limes romp and race with his companions and beat them, or
jump a ditch, or cross a bridge or river without hesitation."

II] OF HORSES AND MARES 205

the vernal equinox and the solstice, so that birth
may occur at a suitable ' season — for they say it
takes place on the tenth day of the twelfth month.
Foals born after term ^ have generally some defect,

8 and prove useless. When the time of year has
come the horse should be put to the mare twice a
day, morning and evening, by a groom — so the
man who has this duty is called — for when he helps,
the mare having been tied up, the operation is more
quickly performed, and the horse does not, through
too great excitement, emit his seed to no purpose.
The point of sufficient intercourse is indicated by
the mares themselves, as when it is reached they
repulse the male. If a distaste is shown for his
work, the heart of a squill is pounded in water until
it has the consistency of honey, then with this the
natural parts of the mare are touched at the time
of the menstrual flow, while on the other hand the
stallion's nostrils are touched with what comes

9 from the parts of the mare. Though incredible, the
following fact^ deserves to be recorded : A stallion

' Idoneo tempore. I.e., in spring or early summer, when
there is abundant pasture, and the mares can supply their
young with plenty of milk.

* Post tempus. Cf. ii, i, 19: Dicuntur agni cordi qui post
tempus nascuntur.

In the Geoponica (xvi, i) this seems to have been misunder-
stood; Ta 5i jXiTO. rpoiraQ QtpivaQ KiiiaKofitva Svajtvij yivsTai Kai
dxpita. "What are conceived after the summer solstice are
useless." Unless, indeed, post id tempus should be read in
Varro's text.

^ Quod usu venit. The same story is told by Aristotle (H, A,

2o6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

could not be induced to mount his mother; so
the groom covered up the former's head, and then
brought him up and made him do so. As the
stalHon was getting off the groom removed the
covering from his eyes, whereupon the horse rushed

lo upon him and bit him to death. When the mares
have conceived you must see that they are not even
a little over-worked, and do not stay in any cold
place, for cold is particularly hurtful to them when
pregnant. And so in the stables you must not let
the ground get wet, and must keep the doors and
windows shut, and the mares must be separated by
long bars attached to the manger to keep them
apart, and prevent them from fighting with one
another. A mare in foal must neither be over-fed nor

Hallowed to go hungry. Farmers who admit the
male every other year only, say that thus the mares
last longer, and the foals are better, and that just
as fields which produce ^ every year are sooner ex-
hausted, so too are mares which breed every year.
Ten days after birth foals must be driven out
with their mothers to graze, lest the dung rot their

ix, 47) of a camel, and a similar one about a horse, but the
horse, instead of killing the groom, hurled himself over a
precipice.

' Restibiles segetes. The comparison of a mare to a field is
taken from Aristotle (H. A., vi, 22, near the end) : 'iva S' iviavrov
Kai irafiwav avdyKtj SiaXtiTrnv Kai rroie'ti' wcnrep veior (fallow land).

Columella (vi, 27, 13) says that "cart mares may bear every
year, but thoroughbreds every alternate year only so that the
colt may grow strong on its mother's milk and may be able to
bear the strain of racing."

II] OF HORSES AND MARES 207

soft hoofs. At five months they should be given,
when brought back to the stable, barley flour
ground up with bran, or any other product of the
soil they may fancy.

J 2 When they have completed their first year they
should be given barley and bran as long as they
are suckled by their mothers, and should not be
weaned until they have turned two years old.
When they are standing with their mothers you
should occasionally pat and stroke them, so that
they may not be terrified when they are separated
from them, and for the same reason bits ^ should be
hung up in the stable, so that the foals may get
used to their appearance and to the jingling of

13 them when they are moved. As soon as the foals
have learnt to come to hand, you should some-
times put a boy on their backs, for the first two or
three times lying flat on his stomach, afterwards
he may sit. This is to be done when the colt is
three ^ years old, for then is the time when he grows

' Frenos. Vergil has made much use of this chapter. Here
cf. Georg., iii, 182 :

Primus equi labor est anitnos atque arma videre
Bellantum, lituosque pati, tractuque genientem
Ferre rotani et stabulo frenos audire sonantes.
Turn magis atque magis blandis gaudere magistri
Laudibus, et plausae sonitum cervicis antare
A tque haec iam primo depulsus ab ubere matris
Audiat.
' Trimus. Cf Vergil (Georg., iii, 190):

A t tribus exactis ubi quarta accesserit aestas
Carpere mox gyruni incipiat, etc.

2o8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

most and puts on muscle. Some say a colt may be
broken in after eighteen ^ months, but it is better to
defer it until he is three years old, when it is usual
to give him mixed green food (farrago"), as this
purge is especially necessary for horses. It should
be given him for ten days, and he must not be
14 allowed to taste any other food. From the eleventh
to the fourteenth day give him barley, gradually
increasing the amount day by day. To the quantity
given on the fourth ^ (fourteenth?) day you must

' Aimum et sex menses. Columella (vi, 29, 4) distinguishes:
Equus himus ad usum domesticum recte domatur; certaviinihus
auteni triennio expleto. Sic tainen ut post quartu7n demuin
annum lahori committatur. So Pliny (N. H., viii, 42): Diversa
autem Circo ratio quaeritur. Itaque cum himi in alio suhiguntur
imperio non ante quinquennio ibi certamen accipit.

The ancients did not race their horses until they were five
years old, and they seem to have lasted on that account longer
than our race-horses. A riding-horse, Pherenicos (cf. Pindar,
Pythia, iii), which was at least fifteen years old, won the
Pythian prize, and Pliny (loc. cit.) says that racers were sent
from the circus to the stud at twent)- years, a circo post vicesi-
mum annum mittatitur ad sobolem reparandam!

^ Farrago. Cf. Vergil (Georg. , iii, 205) :

Ttirn demum Crassa magman farragine corpus
Crescere iain domitis.

But, Vergil goes on to say, farrago must not be given to them
before breaking, or else

negabunt
Verbera lenta pati et duris parere lupatis.

^ Quarto. Ursinus conjectures quarto decimo, and Cres-
centius in his paraphrase says quartum decimum diem ct decern

diebus ultra.

II] OF HORSES AND MARES 209

adhere for the next ten days. Then begin to give
him moderate exercise, and rub him well with oil
after he has sweated. If it is frosty a fire should be
15 put in the stable. As horses are suitable for various
purposes — some for military service, some for
carrying, some for breeding (as stallions), some
for riding or driving — they cannot all be viewed
in the same light, or kept in the same way. Thus
the soldier chooses, rears, and trains one kind
of horse, the charioteer and circus-rider another,
nor does the man who wants to turn out horses for
carrying,^ that is, riding or driving^ horses, pro-
ceed in the same way as he who wants them for
military service; for just as we need them high-
spirited for camps, so we prefer to have them quiet

^ Vectorios. I have translated Keil's text, though it does
not sound right to me. For (i) vectura means "transport,
carrying oi g'oods" and vecturam facere means "to be a
carrier," and so (2) I cannot think that vectorios is defined by
equos ad ephippium aiit ad raedam {factos). I would propose
to read neque idem qui vectorios facere vult aut ad ephippium,
etc., and would translate: " Nor does he who means to train
horses for carrying (pack-horses) or for the saddle or for
driving," etc. Aut followed by ad might easily have dropped
out of the text.

'^ Ad raedam. The raeda or reda was a four-wheeled travel-
ling carriage big enough to hold a man and his family (if
moderate) and luggage. Cicero, writing to Varro, says : Quod
si hcri tuam redam non habuissem varices haberem, and (Ad
Att., v, 17, beginning) he dictates a letter to Attlcus sitting in
a reda when he was starting on a two-days journey : Hanc
epistolam dictavi sedens in reda cum in castra proficiscerer a
quibus aberam bidui.

P

2IO VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

on the road. To this difference the practice of cas-
tration is principally due, for on the removal of
their stones horses become gentler because they
have no seed. Castrated horses are called geldings
{cantherii), as castrated pigs are termed hogs
i6 (maiales), and castrated cocks capons icapi). As
regards medicine, in the case of horses there are
very many symptoms of disease, and methods of
treatment, and these the groom should have written
down. And so veterinary surgeons are in Greece
called by the special name of iVOTar^oi (horse doctors). '

CHAPTER VIII

OF MULES AXD HIXNIES

I As we were talking thus a freedman came from
Menas' to say that the cakes {liha) were ready and

^ 'i.-mriaTpoi = veterinarii, those who treated veterina animalia.
Veterinus. Festus and Nonius derive from veho, and trans-
late "beasts of burden," omnia quae vehere quid possunt.
Nonius quotes Lucretius, v :

Et genus omne quod est veterino semine partum.

* Menate. Cf. ii, i, i, and for tcrtium actum below cf. ii,

I, 12.

One would like to know what Menas was doing all this
time! Was he cooking the //7w? It seems pretty certain, as
this book was written for shepherds, and the interlocutors are
pecuarii, and as sacrifice was now to be made with liba, that

II] OF MULES AND HINNIES 211

the sacrifice prepared: would the gentlemen please
come and sacrifice for themselves. For my part, I ex-
claimed, I won't let you go until you give me my
due, the third act, in which figure mules, dogs, and
shepherds. There is little to be said about them,
answered Murrius, for both mules and hinnies are
mongrels — grafts — not springing from roots of their
own kind. For from mare and he-ass comes a mule,
2 while from horse and she-ass a hinny.^ Both of
them are good for work, while neither earns any-

the conversations in this book were held on the occasion of the
Parilia, and that the sacrifice here mentioned was to Pales,
the god of shepherds. Cf. Ovid, Fasti, iv, 775 :

Quae precor eveniant: et nos faciamus ad annum
Pastorum dominae grandia liba Pali.

But the Parilia would be celebrated in the provinces as well as
at Rome. So that this does not tell against the supposition that
the place of these conversations was Sicilj-. Cf. note, ii, 5, i.

The liba were, of course, cakes made of flour and milk, or
of pounded cheese, fine flour, and eggs ; cf Cato, Ixxv. The
priest's slave in Horace, Epist., i, lo, lo, ran away because he
was tired of eternal cakes.

Utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso.

' Hinnus. Columella (vi, 37, 5) : Qui ex equo et asina con-
cepti generantur, quamvis a patre nomen traxerint quod hinni
vocantur matri per omnia magis similes sunt. Pliny (viii, 44)
speaks of hinni as being " unmanageable and incurably slow."
Aristotle (An. Gen., ii, 8, end) calls -fivvoq the offspring of a
horse and an ass, wdiich has suffered in the womb, and says
that it is ijiiiovog avaTrripog, " a damaged mule," and like aporcus
cordus {ja fterdxoipa iv Tolg x^'po'c)- The small size of the Pyg-
mies, he continues, is accounted for in the same way (by illness
of the foetus).

212 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

thing by breeding. A foal of an ass is put when
just born under a mare, as the latter's milk makes
him bigger, for they say it is more feeding than
asses' milk. Chaff, hay, and barley are given to
him in addition. Much care' is taken of the foster-
mother, also that she may be able to give a supply
of milk as food to the foal. Thus reared he may be
used for breeding purposes from three- years old,
and being used to live with the mares he feels no
3 repugnance for them. If you use him as a stallion
younger, not only does he flag more quickly, but
the offspring also are poorer. Those who do not
possess an ass which has been suckled by a mare,
and want to keep an ass for stud purposes, pick the
biggest and handsomest they can, and one that
comes from a good nursery — in Arcadia, said the
ancients ; but our experience leads us to prefer the
Reatine country, where some stallions have been
sold for ^240 and even ;^320 apiece. We buy asses

^ Inservhint. Schneider translates cihum largiiis praebent,
and the word must mean something of the kind. The nearest
parallel I can find is Cicero, Ad Div., xvi, 17: valetudini fide-
liter inserviendo.

* A trivio. Columella (vi, 37, 9) says "not less than three,
or more than ten years old." And a few lines earlier: " Thus
reared the ass grows fond of mares. Sometimes, too, though
suckled by his own mother, if he becomes familiar with them
when he is quite young he seeks their company afterwards."

Aristotle (H. A., vi, 23, end) says that it is indispensable for
an ass which is to procreate mules to be reared under a mare.
Ov npoaSexirai S' oi'G' )'/ 'iVtto*; top uvov ov9' 1) vvo£ Toy imror, iuv fii)
Tvxy TiOtjXaKwf; 6 tivof 'iinrov.

II] OF MULES AND HINNIES 213

as we do horses, and require the same guarantee
in buying, and adopt the same formahties in taking
them over as have been described in the case of

4 horses. We feed asses principally on hay and bar-
ley, and increase their allowance before they are
put to the female, so that by food we may flush
them with strength for their work. They are
brought to it at the same time as are horses, and
similarly a groom is there to help the stallion when
he performs the operation. When a mare has
brought forth a he- or she-mule we bring it up and

5 feed it. If mules are born in a marshy and damp
district they have soft hoofs; but if they are driven
to the mountains in summer time — as is done in the
Reatine country — their hoofs become very hard.
In buying a herd of mules you must observe their
age and shape, the former that they may be able to
stand hard work when engaged in carrying loads;
the latter, that one may take pleasure in looking at
them. For when a pair of these is yoked together
they can draw on the road any kind of vehicle.

6 You might have taken my word for these facts, said
he to me, as I come from Reate; but you keep
herds of mares at your place and have yourself sold
herds of mules. What is called a hinnus (hinny)
comes from a horse and a she-ass ; they are smaller
in size than mules, and generally of a colour with
more red' in it, have ears like those of a horse, and

^ Rubicundior. Isidore of Seville (xii, i, end) calls a hinny
hurdo {burro ?) — mulus ex eqtia et asino: burdo ex equo etasina.
Vegetius (vi, 2, 2) speaks of hurici. In Italian buricco is a

214 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

mane and tail like those of an ass. Like horses,
too, they remain in the mother's womb for twelve
months; they are reared and fed in the same way
as horses, and their age is likewise inferred from
their teeth.

CHAPTER IX

OF DOGS

1 Said Atticus: Of quadrupeds dogs now remain to
be discussed — a subject particularly interesting to
us who feed wool-bearing stock. For the dog is the
guardian of those animals which need its com-
panionship for defence. Amongst these sheep come
first, she-goats second. These the wolf is ever try-
ing to catch, and against him we set dogs to defend
them. Of the pig kind, however, some animals can
defend themselves, namely, boars, hogs, and sows —
for these animals closely resemble wild boars which
in the woods have often been known to kill dogs with

2 their tusks. I need hardly mention the larger cattle,
for I know that when a herd of mules have been
feeding, and a wolf has appeared on the scene, the

familiar term for a donke}-, and in French hourrique means an
dne ch^tif. All these names are probably connected with the
red colour mentioned by Varro, for we know from Festus that
burrus in rustic Latin was used for rufus. It is of course the
Latin equivalent of rruppor (Dor. irvppixog).

II] OF DOGS 215

mules of their own accord have surrounded him and
trampled him to death with their hoofs; and that
bulls will stand flank to flank, opposing an unbroken
front ' against wolves, and easily drive them off
with their horns.

About dogs then: there are two kinds, one for
hunting' connected with the wild beasts of the
woods, the other bought for purposes of defence,
and used by the shepherd. I will discuss the latter,

^ Adversos. So Keil for the diversos of the MSS. ; wrongly
I think, for bulls, it is known, form a half circle, not a line,
against the attacks of the larger carnivora. Their hind-
quarters {dunes) might then be close together, while their
heads would be properly described by the word diversa,
"turned in difiFerent directions."

* Unum venaticuviy etc. The text of the MSS. is a singular
jumble! It is as follows : Ununi venaticum et pertinet ad /eras
bestibiis assiluestribus assiluestres alterum, etc. Nor is one
satisfied with Keil's emendation. The cams venaticus differed
greatly from the canis pastoralis, being slimmer, smaller,
weaker, but more speedy (cf. Aristotle, H. A., ix, i). It was
used for hunting wild animals (bestiae siluestres) such as the
hare, stag, etc. The sheep-dog, the Molossus, protected sheep
against beasts of prey {bestiae ferae), and was bred for size,
strength, and courage. I would propose then to read : Unum
venaticum ad bestias siluestres, ad /eras bestias alterum quod
custodiae causa paratur et pertinet ad pastorem. The first et
pertinet probably arose out of the second. The translation
will be : " One for hunting wild animals, the other used against
beasts of prey which is bought to serve as a guard and is con-
nected with the shepherd." Columella (vii, 12) distinguishes
between the venaticus and the villaticus, the latter, the watch-
dog, being the biggest, strongest, and slowest of the three.
He also says venaticus nihil pertinet ad nostram professionem.

2i6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

keeping in my treatment of the art to the nine-fold '
division which was before explained.

3 In the first place you must get dogs of the proper
age, for puppies and old dogs are no protection
either to themselves or to sheep, and sometimes fall
a prey to wild beasts. In shape ^ they should be
handsome ; of great size, with eyes black or yellow-
ish, with nostrils to match;' the lips should be
blackish or red, the upper ones neither too much
turned up nor hanging down too low; the lower
jaw short,* and the two teeth springing from it on
the right and left side projecting a little, while the
upper teeth should be straight rather than pro-

4Jecting;' the incisors should be covered by the
lip; the head and ears large and the latter broad
and hanging ; the neck and throat thick, the parts
between the joints long, the legs straight and turn-

Novem partes. Cf. ii, i, 12: Haruin tma quaeque in se
}reneralis partis habet minimum novenas, quarum in pecore
parando necessariae quattuor, alterae in pascendo totidem, prae-
terea communis una. The nine divisions are (i) age, (2) type,
(3) breed, (4) legal formalities in buying, (5) feeding, (6) breed-
Jng". (7) rearing, (8) health, and (9) number.

^ Facie. Most of what follows is translated almost word
for word by the Geoponica, xix, 2. Cf. also Columella, vii, 12
— a delightful chapter.

' Congruentibus. The Geoponica {he. cit.) have nvKrijpa
vnoxpoiav txovrir. In ii, 7, 5, congntentes meant "symmetrical."

^ Mento suppresso. Most of the dogs represented on ancient
monuments resemble Varro's description in regard to the
short lower jaw, the straight back, and the pendent ears.

' Brocchis. In a former passage (ii, 7, 4) Crescentius trans-
lated this word plicati. Here he translates it bv torti.

II] OF DOGS 217

ing outwards ^ rather than inwards ; the feet big
and broad, spreading- out as they walk; the toes
well separated, claws hard and curved ; soles not
horny or too hard, but rather as it were spongy and
soft; the body tucked in near the top of the thighs,
the spine neither prominent nor curved, and the
tail thick. The bark should be deep, the stretch of
jaw^ great, the colour preferably white,* because
they are thus more easily recognized in the dark,
S and their appearance should be lion-like. Breeders
like the bitches to have, besides, breasts furnished

' Potius varis. Cf. Geoponica (loc. cit.): oKa^^onpa /xaXXov
?/ liXaiad.

^ Disphdantur. Cf. note to ii, 5, 8.

^ Hiatu magno. rove, /xiya to x"ff^" ixovrac (Geoponica, loc.
cit. ).

* Potissimum albo. Columella {loc. cit.) says white for the
sheep-dog, black for the house-dog. The former is to be white
so that in the dark mornings or the twilight of evening he
may readily be distinguished from a beast of prey, and may
not be killed by the shepherd in mistake. The black house-
dog is a terrible fellow, "big, black, thick-set — his head so
large as to seem the largest part of his body — with drooping
ears, black or yellow eyes gleaming with a fierce light," etc.
And again: "The watch-dog is a policeman, and if the thief
comes in broad daylight the dog looks more terrible being
black, while if the burglar come at night the watch-dog is
not visible at all owing to his likeness to a shadow, and so
can get at him more safely. . . . The sheep-dog need not
be so lean and fleet as the stag-hound nor so stout or heavy as
the watch-dog. He must, however, be very strong and to
some extent quick and vigorous, as he is expected to be able
both to fight and run — to drive off the crafty wolf or follow
him and make him drop his prey."

2i8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

with teats of equal size. One must also see that they
come of a good breed, and so they, too, are called
after the districts whence they come, Laconian,^
Epirot, Sallentine." Be careful not to buy dogs
either from hunters or butchers, for butchers' dogs
are too lazy to follow the flock, while hunting dogs,
if they see a hare or a stag, will follow it instead of
the sheep. Hence the best is one bought from
shepherds, that has been trained to follow sheep, or
has had no training at all. For a dog acquires a
habit more readily than other animals, and the
attachment to shepherds resulting from familiar in-
tercourse with them, is stronger than that which he
feels for sheep.
6 Publius Aufidius Pontianus, of Amiternum, had
bought some flocks of sheep in furthest Umbria,^

1 Lacones, etc. Vergil mentions the Laconian and the
Epirot (Molossus), Georg., iil, 404:

Nee tibi cura canuni fuerit postrema, sed una
Veloces Sparine catulos acremque Afolossum
Pasce sero ping-ui, numquam custodihus ill is, etc. ,
where Servius In Laconicis velocitas in Molossis {Molossia —
civitas Epiri) fortitudo laudatur. The Laconian hound was
used for hunting, and Columella says a farmer has no business
to keep one, " for it takes him from his proper work and makes
him lazy in it."

^ The Sale7itini Campi in the north-west part of lapygia.
What Schneider means by calling these dogs Umbrian I
cannot guess! Sextus Pompeius i^stib Salentinos) says that the
lllyrians were called Salcnfini, from Saltirn. The Sallentine
may possibly have been an Illyrian breed.

' In Umbria. The Umbrian dogs were famous for their
keen scent. Umhernare sagax (^SW. Ital., iii. 294).

II] OF DOGS 219

and in the bargain were included the dogs, but not
the shepherds who were to take the sheep down to
the forest clearings near Metapontum and the mart
of Heraclea. The shepherds having performed their
task returned home; but a few days later, the dogs,
missing sorely their human friends, came back of
their own accord to the shepherds in Umbria, having
got themselves food from the surrounding country
— and this though the journey took many' days.
Yet none of the shepherds had followed the advice
given by Saserna, when writing on farming, to the
effect that any one wanting a dog to follow him
about should throw him a cooked frog.

It is of great importance that your dogs should
be of the same" blood, for when akin they are the
greatest protection to one another.
7 In the fourth place comes the question of pur-
chase. Change of ownership is effected by delivery
from the first to the second owner. As to health
and liability for damage the same guarantees are re-
quired as in the case of cattle (oxen), save that in
this case (of dogs) due exceptions ^ are made on the

' Dierum multorum. A distance of about 300 miles.

- Eodem semine. Cf. Geoponica, xix, 2 : Opsirrkov Se roig
Kvvaq Kara avyykvuav. dfivvovm yap aXKr]\oig (pvaiKwg.

^ Exceptum est. On these exceptiones cf. Justinian, Inst.,
where a chapter is devoted to the subject.

Keil makes the hie in this sentence refer to pecoris, and
pecoris he takes in the limited sense of " sheep." But turning
to ii, 2, 6, we find that the "exceptions" in the case of sheep
closely resemble what is mentioned here about dogs, pretio
facto in singulas oves, ut agni cordi duo pro una ove adnumer-

220 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

score of equity. Some people buy their dogs separ-
ately, others in buying arrange for the puppies to
go with the mother, others that two puppies shall
count as one dog, as two lambs do for one sheep;
others arrange that those dogs shall be taken over
which have been accustomed to be together.

8 A dog's food is more like a man's than a sheep's,
for it feeds on bits of meat,^ etc., and bones, not
grass and leaves. You must be very careful to give
them food, for if you do not, hunger will drive

9 them to hunt for it and desert the flock; if indeed
they do not (and some people think they will) go so
far as to give the lie to the ancient proverb," or a
practical illustration of the myth about Actaeon by

lo turning their teeth against their master. And you
must give* them barley-bread, which must be well

entur, etc. So that hie clearly refers to dogs. But then pecoris
cannot mean "sheep"; it must mean cattle hi the sense of
oxen, in the case of which these exceptions were not made.
Cf. ii, 5, lo. Pecus, of course, as a legal term, included oves,
boves, eqtios, capras, and even sues, but generally meant oxen
and cows. AUquando bonus dormitat Homerus!

' EduUis. Fulgentius defines edulium as praegustativa
comestio=^' a snack."

* Proverbium. Cam's caninaiK non est ("Dog doesn't eat
dog"). Cf. Varro, L. L., vii, cap. 3 (§ 87, Spengel): N^am
idem quod Trapoifiiav vocant Graeci, ut est " Auribus lupunt
teneo,^'' " Ca?iis caninatn non est." Man)' proverbs, all more or
less irrelevant, had been suggested by the commentators,
when Keil, by indicating this, made the whole passage clear.

^ JVec non . . . non. The second non is, of course, incorrect.
Varro's careless use of negatives (Keil gives many examples
in his note to i, 2, 23) reminds one strongly of the practice in

II] OF DOGS 221

soaked in milk, for when once accustomed to such
a diet they are slow to desert the flock. They are
not allowed to eat the flesh of a dead' sheep for
fear that their power of self-restraint may be
weakened by its good flavour. They are given also
bone soup,' or the bones themselves after they have
been broken, for this makes their teeth stronger,
and the mouth wider owing to the vigour with which
their jaws are distended as they eagerly enjoy the
marrow. Dogs are fed generally in the day time,
when they go out to the pasture, and in the evening
when they come back to the stalls.

11 For breeding, they begin to put the dog to the
bitch at the opening of spring, for it is then that
they are in what is called "heat." That is, they
show their desire for mating. Bitches which are
covered at this time litter about the summer sol-
stice, for gestation lasts usually three months.
During pregnancy you should give barley rather
than wheaten bread, for it nourishes them better,

12 and they give a greater supply of milk. As to rear-
ing the puppies: if there are many of them you

early Eng-llsh. Double negatives are quite common as late
as Elizabethan times. Cf. Roger Ascham (37): "No sonne,
were he never so old of yeares, might noi marry."

^ Morticuiae. Generally used of a natural death. Cf. iii, 2,
18. The Geoponica (Joe. cit.) more fully: TiDv Si a.iro9vr]aK6vTwv
Bpeuucirwv ovk tuxriv uTTTtuOai 'iva fit) avveOiaQwai Kai ToXg ^waif
iTriTiOetrOai. SvafieToiKXrjToi yiip iK0ait'OV(nv orav uttci^ ojfiocpayi'jaioaiv.

- Ins ex ossibus. In the corresponding passage the Geo-
ponica (xix, i) have 6 ik tiZv oar'nxiv fiviKoi^. But this perhaps
refers to medullarum lower down.

222 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

should choose immediately after birth those you
mean to keep, and get rid of the rest/ The fewer
you leave the better they grow, owing to the abund-
ance of milk they get. Put chaff or something of
the sort for them to lie on, for the more comfortable
their bed the more easily are they brought up."
Puppies begin to see at twenty days.^ For the first
two m.onths after birth they are not separated from
their mother, but learn little by little to do without
her. Sometimes several of them are taken to one
place and are egged on to fight, as it makes them
fiercer, but they are not allowed to tire themselves
13 out, because this breaks their spirit.* They are
trained to allow themselves to be tied up at first
with light leather thongs,"" and they are beaten if

^ Reliquos ahicere. The Geoponica {Joe. cit.) : " Out of seven
keep three or four, of three keep two."

^ Educantur. "For this animal also is verj' intolerant of
cold" (Geoponica, loc. cit.).

^ Diehus xx. The Geoponica have iv ijuspaic k (20). Pliny,
viii, 40 : " The more milk they get the longer are they before
they can see; they are never blind, however, beyond the
twenty-first day and never see before the seventh." Aristotle
(H. A., vi, 20) makes this depend on the time of gestation in
the mothers. "The Laconian bitch is pregnant a sixth part
of the year — about two months — and her pups are blind for
twelve days ; others for a fifth part of the year (about seventy-
two days), and the puppies of these are blind for fourteen
days ; others for a quarter of the year (three whole months),
and theirs are blind for seventeen days."

•* Segniores fiunt. Geoponica {loc. cit.): Kara^apuaQai S' ovk
iwat, xap'»' ^oii f") SftXt^v, "do not let them be over-done lest
they grow cowardly."

' Levibus vine/is. In the Geoponica the words are Seaftols S^

II] OF DOGS 223

they try to gnaw them away — until the habit is
lost. On rainy days beds should be made for them
with leaves or grass, for two reasons — that they

14 may neither get dirty, nor catch a chill. Some
people castrate them, thinking them thus less likely
to leave the flock ; others do not, for they consider
that it takes away their spirit. Some people rub
their ears and between their toes with a mixture of
pounded almonds and water, because it is said,
unless this ointment be used, flies, ticks and fleas

15 cause ulcers there. To prevent them from being
wounded by wild beasts collars are put on them —
the collar called nielium,'^ which is a band made

. . . TO fiiv TTpdjTov ifiavTi, dra Kara fifpog aiSfjpq) — "at first with
a leather strap, then by degrees with an iron chain." In all
the printed editions before Victorius instead of vinclis was
found numellis. Numella is defined in a fragment of Festus
as genus vuiculi quo quadrupedes alligantur; solent autem ea
fieri nervo aut corio crudo bovis. This corresponds admirably
with iixavTi above ; and it is strange that in Varro there is no
deinde {tlra) to balance primuni. One would have expected
something like levibus vmclis{Ssafioig), pn'tnum mmiellis (l/iaj^n)
quas . . . solent; deinde ferrets {aihkpi^). But the MSS. give no
support to such a reading.

^ Meliuni. This kind of collar was in the time of Festus —
and according to him in that of Scipio Afrlcanus — called inillus.
He defines it thus: "A hound's collar made of leather and
studded with iron nails which stick out — as a protection against
an attacking wolf."

The Geoponica (Joe. cit.) say that iron spikes two fingers'
breadth from one another "should project from the collar."
The heads of the nails were, of course, on the under side of
the collar, hence the need of stitching on a piece of soft leather
to prevent the dog's neck from being chafed.

224 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

of stout leather going round the neck and furnished
with nails having heads. Under these heads a
piece of soft leather is sewn, so that the hardness of
the iron may not hurt the dog's neck. If a wolf or
any other animal has been wounded by this collar
it makes all the other dogs safe from him, even
i6 those that do not wear it. The number of dogs is
usually made proportionate to the size of the flock,
and it is thought to be in most cases proper for one
dog to follow each shepherd. As to the number, how-
ever, people differ in their estimate, for if the district
be one where wild beasts abound, more dogs are
needed — which is the case with those who have to
journey with their flocks to winter or summer
quarters by long tracks ' through the forest. But
for a flock staying at the farmstead two are thought
enough for the farm — a dog and a bitch. For so
they stick better to their work, since the same* dog

' CaJles. Cf. Isidore, xv, i6 (towards the end): Callis est
iter pecudum inter montes angustum et tritum, a callo pecudum
vocatum, sive callo pccuduvi perduratum, i.e., a "sheep-walk."

2 Quod cum altero item, etc. The archetj'pe has quod cum
altero idernfit acrior et si alter videm fiter aeger est ne sine cane
grex sit, which Keil emends arhitrio suo. He objects to the
idem, which seems pure Varro (cf. i, 23, 6). The same dog
becomes another dog — much keener — when he has a comrade.
Crescentius also has idem. As to the rest Keil's emendation
diverges widely from the MSS., and the ne sine cane grex sit
seems impossibly harsh.

Is it not possible to keep much closer to the archetype by
reading et si alter uter{or quidon) Jit aeger, est ne sine cane
grex sit? The use of est (which is needed for the apodosis) is
common when followed by an affirmative clause. Cf. Horace's

II] OF SHEPHERDS 225

when he has a companion grows keener than before,
and if one or other falls ill, the flock need not be
without a dosf.

CHAPTER X

OF SHEPHERDS

1 Atticus looked round as though to ask whether
he had omitted any point, and I remarked: This
silence calls another actor on to the stage, for in
this act the only part left is to determine the number
and nature of the shepherds to be kept. Then said
Cossinius : For the larger cattle you need older men,
for the smaller even boys will do, but either men or
boys whose life is spent in forest tracks must be
stronger than those who return home every day to
the farmstead. Thus in forest glades one may see
men in the prime of life, and armed as a rule, while
on the farm even girls as well as boys look after the

2 flock. You must make your shepherds feed their
flocks throughout the day, letting the flocks graze
all together, but at night they must separate and
each shepherd stay with his own. They must all be
under one flock-master who should be older than

Est ut viro vir latius ordinet, etc., and resembles the Greek
(.(jTiv ioare. Cf. Soph. (Phil., 6, 56): ap iaTiv ioart KayyvBev 9eav
.Xa/Seiv. One would have expected, however, est ut non (or ut
ne) . . . sit. And perhaps ut ne . . . sit was written.

Q

226 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the others, and more skilful than them all, for he
who is older and wiser than the rest is more cheer-

3 fully obeyed by them. He must not, however, be
so much older as to be unable through age to stand
hard work. For both the aged and the very young
bear with difficulty the hardships of travel through
forest paths and up steep and rugged mountains,
and these hardships are inevitable for those who
have herds to drive, especially if these consist of
cattle or goats, which like to feed amidst rocks and
woods.

The kind of man chosen should be strong, swift,
nimble, with supple limbs; capable not only of
following his flock but of defending it from wild
beasts and robbers; able to heave loads on to the
backs of beasts of burden, to run swiftly forward

4 and to hurl the javelin. It is not every race that
is fitted for dealing with cattle — for instance the
Bastulian ^ and Turdulian are of little use, while the
Gauls are just the men for it, especially for draught
cattle.

As to purchase, there are six ways of becoming
the legal owner of a slave: (i) by legal inheritance;
(2) receiving with the proper forms by mancipation -

* Bastulus et Ttirduhis. The inhabitants of Granada and
Andalusia. Cf. Pomponius Mela, iii, i.

^ Mancipio. Mancipatior — purchase, per aes et libram was
conducted in the presence of six Roman citizens oi full aj^e.
One of them called libripetis (the weigher) held a pair of
scales ; the buyer placed a hand on the thing being bought
(f.^., slave), and said, " I assert that this slave is mine . . ,
and he is purchased by me with this piece of money and brazen

II] OF SHEPHERDS 227

from a person who had the right to sell ; (3) by
legal surrender ' before the praetor by the proper
person at the proper time; (4) by right of undis-
turbed possession ; (5) by purchase at a public
auction of goods captured in war; (6) by buying
him among the goods or at the sale of the property ^
5 of a proscribed man. When a slave is bought the
peciiliitm goes as a rule with the slave (or a reserva-
tion of it is made), and a guarantee is inserted that
he is healthy, and has committed no thefts or
damage; or that where the transfer is not effected
by mancipation,^ either double the purchase money

scales." He then struck the scales with the piece of money
and gave it to the seller as a symbol of the price (Gains, Inst.,
i, 119).

^ Si in iure cessit. A process resembling" "conveyance by
fine and by common recovery " which was in use in England
a hundred years ago. It was a kind of fictitious suit, the
parties to which were the dominus qui cessit, the person cui
cedebatur, and the magistrate (usually the praetor) qui addixit.
The real owner and the purchaser appeared before the magis-
trate, the latter claimed the thing in question as his own ; the
magistrate asked the owner if he had any defence, the latter
replied that he had not ; whereupon the magistrate adjudged
the thing to the claimant.

For this cf. Gains, Inst., i, 2, De Nexu faciendo.

^ In sectione. When a man was proscribed his property was
confiscated to the State and was sold by auction — not in lots,
but the whole to one person. This sale was called sectio and
the purchaser sector.

^ Si mancipio non datur. A vendor who had a doubtful title
would not sell by mancipation, for the law bound him to war-
ranty in double the amount or value of the thing sold. He
might instead simply deliver the thing, leaving the purchaser

228 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

is to be paid (in case of eviction), or, if such has
been the agreement, only the amount paid.

In the day time the shepherds of each separate
flock should feed by themselves, in the evening all
those who are under one chief shepherd should eat
together at the evening meal. The chief must see
that all the implements needed by the flock and
shepherds accompany them, especially those which
are necessary for the feeding of the men and for the
medical treatment of the sheep. For this purpose
owners keep pack animals, some using mares,
others some other animal instead, which can carry
a load on its back.

As to the breeding of men : there is no difficulty
with the shepherd who remains permanently on the
farm, as he has a female slave as mate in the farm-
buildings, for the Venus of shepherds looks no
further afield than this. Those however who feed
their flocks in forest glades and places in the woods,
and find shelter from storms not in a farmhouse but
in hastily built huts, are with advantage, as many
people think, given women who can follow the
flocks, prepare the shepherds' victuals and keep the
men from roving. But these women must be able-
bodied and not uncomely. In many districts they

to acquire legal ownership by usucapion (undisturbed posses-
sion for a year).

But, in case the title was bad, the purchaser, before the year
was out, might be compelled to cede the thing to the proper
owner, and would have no immediate legal remedy against the
vendor. Hence the necessity when a slave was not sold by
mancipation for the stipulation i^iven here by Varro.

II] OF SHEPHERDS 229

are as good workers as men — a fact which you may
observe everywhere in Illyricum where they can
either shepherd the flock, or carry logs to the fire
and cook the food, or look after the farm imple-

8 ments in the huts. As to the suckling of the
young, I may mention that the mothers in nearly
all cases suckle their own. And here, looking at
me, he said : I hav^e heard you say that when you
went to Liburnia (Croatia) you saw there Liburnian
house-wives carrjnng logs, and at the same time
children, whom they were suckling; thus proving
how feeble and contemptible are our modern newly-
delivered mothers, who lie for days inside mosquito '

9 nets. True it is, I replied, and here is an even more
striking illustration. In Illyricum ^ it often happens
that a pregnant woman when the time of delivery
has come, retires a little distance from the scene of
her work, is there delivered, and comes back with
a child whom you would think she had found, not

' Conopiis. The use of mosquito nets ((cw^wTrfia — Kuivwxp, a gnat)
is very ancient. Herodotus, ii, 94, describes how the Egyptian
fisherman used his net (d/jiipifiXtjcTpov) in the day for fishing, and
at night arranged it round him in the form of a tent — and the
mosquitoes didn't even try to get in ! — dia Si tov Siktvov 6vce
TTHpwvTai apxhv. When Judith was introduced to Holofernes in
his tent, he was " lying on his bed inside the mosquito curtain
which was of purple and gold, with emeralds and other precious
stones inwoven " (Judith, x, 21) : kv rtf KwviDTnitf), 0 tjv ek ■!rop(pvpag
Kai xpvaiov Kai afiapdycov Kat XiOtuv Tro\vTf\ojv KaOv(paaiiBvtov.

^ lUyrico. The same story is told of Ligurian women by the
author of the book -Ktpi Gavfiaaiuiv aKovafidrtiiv, cap. 93. "The
women bear children in the midst of work, and as soon as they
have washed the baby dig and hoe," etc.

230 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

brought into the world. Another striking fact:
girls there, called "virgins," sometimes twenty
years old, are not forbidden by the custom of the
country to mate with any one they like before
marriage, and to wander about unaccompanied,
and have children.

TO Rules and prescriptions relating to the health of
the men and the flock, and such treatment as can
be given without a doctor, the chief shepherd should
have set down in writing. For if he cannot read
and write he is no good for his post, being quite
incapable of correctly making up the accounts
connected with his master's stock.

As to the number of shepherds, some set a higher,
some a lower, standard. I have assigned one shep-
herd to every eighty wool-bearing sheep, Atticus

II one to every hundred. Where the flocks of sheep
are large — some have them up to a thousand sheep —
you may more easily subtract from the total number
of men than in the case of smaller flocks, such as
those belonging to Atticus and myself. For mine
consist of seven hundred head, you, I believe, have
had flocks of eight hundred, agreeing, however, with
me in keeping one ram to every ten sheep.

For a herd of fifty mares two men are wanted,
and, without doubt, each of them should have a mare
that has been broken for riding, in those districts
where the mares are rounded up and driven to their
stables at night, as is often the case in Apulia and
Lucania.

II] OF MILK AND WOOL 231

CHAPTER XI

OF MILK AND WOOL

1 Now, said Cossinius/ that we have finished what
we set ourselves to do, let us go. Yes, said I,
after you have added a word or two, as it was pre-
viously agreed, about the supplementary '" products
from sheep — milk and wool to wit. Of all liquids
taken as food, milk is the most nutritious; first
sheep's milk, then that of goats. Mares' ^ milk is
the most strongly purgative; next in order comes
that of asses, then that of cows, and last that of

2 goats. These different milks, however, present
certain differences, depending on the pasturage, the
nature of the animals, and the birth of the young
one; on the pasturage, for milk is especially nu-
tritious which is got from an animal that has been
fed on barley and straw, or, in general, on dry and
solid food, while that is most purgative which comes
from one that has fed on green fodder, especially if

' It is obviously Cossinius wlio speaks. Twice later in this
chapter Varro interrupts him, § 5 and § 10. In § 11, Suscipit
Cossinius.

- Extraordinario. Cf. ii, i, 28.

' Equinum. It would seem from Aristotle (H. A., iii, 20)
that the thinner the milk the more purgative it is. The thinnest
milk is camel's —then comes mare's milk, then ass's, while
cow's is the " thickest " of all.

232 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the latter consist of plants ^ which, when taken
directly, generally act with us as purgatives; on
the nature of the animal, for milk is better which
comes from those that are in robust health and still
young than if the reverse is the case; on milking
and the birth of the young one, as that milk is the
best which is taken not too long after, nor imme-
diately' after, birth.

3 Of cheeses,^ those which are made from cows'
milk are the most nourishing, but pass through the
body with the greatest difficulty; in the second
place come those made from sheep's milk, while
the least nutritious and most laxative are those
made from goat's milk. We must also distinguish
between soft and new cheese, and that which is old
and dry; soft* cheese being the more nutritious
and less constipating, while the opposite is the case

4 with old and dry cheese. Cheese-making begins

^ Ex herhis. Such as scammony, hellebore, or periwinkle.
Cf. Dioscorides, ii, 75.

- A parlu continuo. Varro refers, of course, to the colostra
of which .Aristotle {Joe. cit.) says, dxptjarov Sk to irpuirov Kal
vcTipov. The mulso of the text is difficult. Keil makes it syn-
onymous with the colostra, quoting Pliny's words about, foie
gras : FartiUbus in viagnam avipUtudinem crescit: exemptum
quoque lacte mulso augetur (Pliny, x, 22), and says that the first
milk after parturition was called viuhtim because of its sweet-
ness. I can find, however, no authority for the statement save
the doubtful one given above.

^ Casei. For an interesting account of cheese-making cf.
Columella, vii, 8.

* MoUes. Pausanias (vi, 7) says that the ancient athletes
used to train on soft cheese, in preference to llesh meat.

I

II] OF MILK AND WOOL 233

with the rising of the Pleiads/ in spring, and goes
on to the rising of the same in summer. Milking
for the purpose of making cheese is done in spring
time, early in the morning, at other times about
noon, though owing to the varying nature of
climate and food the same practice does not obtain
in every place. To about two co/igii {about one-and-
a-half gallon) of milk is added to cause coagulation
a piece of rennet the size of an olive — rennet taken
from a hare or kid being better than that from a
lamb. Some people use instead of rennet the milk
from a fig" branch and vinegar; they also sprinkle
the milk with several other things which are in-
cluded under one term by the Greeks. The term
5 used is sometimes oTrdg,- sometimes ^atcpvov. I would

^ A Vergilias vemas. Cf. Festus : Vergiliae dictae quia
earum ortu ver finitur et aestas incipit, and Isidore, iii, 70 : Has
{Pleiadas) Latini Vergilias dicunt a temporis significatione quod
vere exoriuntur. Nam occasu suo hiemem, ortu aestatem priin-
aeque navigationis tempus osfendunt. Cf. also Pliny, xviii, 25.
The morning rising of the Pleiads was loth May. According
to the Caesarian calendar they set in Spring on 5th April, and
were invisible for thirty-four days (Pliny, xviii, 26).

'^ Fici ramo. Columella (vii, 8, i) : " Milk is generally made
to curdle by means of the rennet from a lamb or a kid, but the
down of the wild thistle will do it, as well as fig-milk which is
emitted from the tree if you wound the green bark. The best
cheese, however, is that which is the least * doctored ' — but
for a pail {sinum) of milk, a piece of rennet weighing not less
than a silver denarius (franc) is needed."

^ 6v6c. Any exudation from a plant was called indifferently
oTToc or SciKpvov. Cf. Theophrastus (C. P., vi, 11, 16): "And
they call these sometimes ottovq, sometimes SaKpva (tears), the

234 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

not deny, I remarked, that this was the reason why
the fig tree was planted by the shepherds near the
chapel of the goddess Rumina, for the sacrifices
offered now are milk instead of wine and sucking-
pigs. For rwniis ' is an ancient word meaning
"breast," and we still speak of sucking lambs as
subrumi, just as we use the term lactantes (suck-
lings) from lac (milk).

6 For sprinkling over cheese rock-salt is better
than sea-salt.

In sheep-shearing I first notice, before setting to
work, whether they suffer from scab or ulcers, so
that, if necessary, they may receive proper treat-
ment before being shorn. The time for sheep-
shearing is between the vernal equinox and the
summer solstice, when the sheep have begun to
sweat. From the word sudor (sweat) fresh-clipped

7 wool is called sucida (juicy). Sheep newly shorn
are smeared the same day with wine and oil, but
some people use a mixture of white wax and bacon
fat, and if the sheep is used to wearing a jacket -
they put on again the skin with which it was for-
merly covered, after smearing the inner side of it
with the same mixture. If in the course of shearing
a sheep has been wounded, one anoints the place
with liquid pitch.' Sheep with coarse wool are

common term being ottoi. But there is perhaps no diflference
in meaning."

' Rumis. Cf. note to ii, i, 20.

^ Cf. the ovcs pclUtas of ii, 2, 20.

^ Pice liquida. Hot pitch was also used for branding the

II] OF MILK AND WOOL 235

shorn here about the time of the barley harvest, in

8 other places before hay cutting. Some shear them
twice within the year — as is the case in Hither
Spain — that is, every six months, putting in double
work with the idea of getting more wool, just as
some people mow their meadows twice. The more
thrifty farmers shear their sheep on little mats, to

9 avoid the loss of any wisps of wool. Fine weather
is chosen for the work, which then goes on roughly
between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. For when the sheep
is sheared when the sun is hot its wool is softer,
heavier, and better coloured, owing to the sweat.
This wool, removed from the sheep and piled
together, is called by some vellera (fleeces), by
others velamina. From this word vellera it may be
inferred that in the matter of wool, plucking was
invented before clipping. Those who even now
" pluck " keep their sheep fasting for three days
before, for when they are without strength the

10 roots of the wool come away more easily. Hair-
cutters ' are said first to have come to Italy in 300

sheep with the owner's name. Cf. Calpurnius (Eel. v, 82) :

. . . Coquito lentumque bitumen aheno
Impressurus ovi tua nomina : nam tibi lites
A uferet ingentes lectus possessor in armo.

(quoted by Schneider).

^ Tonsores. Pliny (vii, 59) states the same fact, using Varro
as his authority. He adds that Scipio Africanus the younger
was the first who had himself shaved every day. After him the
practice became general until the time of Hadrian, who let his

236 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

B.C. from Sicily, as is proved by the public archives
of Ardea/ and to have been introduced by Publius
Titinius Menas. That in older time no barbers
existed is shown by the statues of the ancients, for
most of them have long hair and a big beard.

Cossinius resumed : As the sheep yields up its
wool for clothing, so the she-goat gives its hair
for the use of sailors,' for military engines, and for
mechanics' tools. Moreover some tribes are clad in
goat-skins, as is the case in Gaetulia and Sardinia.
That the practice of wearing them prevailed among
the ancient Greeks is evident, as in their tragedies

beard grow, to hide, it is said, scars on the lower part of his
face. The Greeks were generally bearded until the time of
Alexander the Great. Cf. Alexander ab Alexandro, v, i8. I am
convinced that Varro uses totisores here in the restricted sense
of " barbers " — and that an entry in a " Common-place book "
or his memory, that of a polymath, caused the sudden diver-
gence from the subject.

^ Ardea. Pliny (xxxv, lo) speaks of verj- ancient inscriptions
in a temple at Ardea, and (xxxv, 3) of certain pictures which
were older than the city of Rome.

^ Ad usum na7ificum, etc. Cf. Geoponica, xviii, g: "Their
hair is used for making ropes and bags and the like — and
things for sailors ; for what Is made of this hair is not easily
cut and does not rot." Cf. also Vergil's well-known lines
(Georg'., HI, 312), on which see Servius, who quotes Varro:

Cyniphii tondent hirci saetasque coinantes
Usum in citstroruni et miseris velaviina nautis.

The military engines are, of course, the catapiiJta, haJlista,
etc.

As for the mechanics' tools I am at a loss — unless their tool
bags were of goat-skin.

II] OF MILK AND WOOL 237

old men are from this skin called diphtheriae, and
in comedies those who work on the farm ; ' witness
the young man in the Hypobolimaeus of Caeci-
lius, and the old man in Terence's Heauton-
12 timorumenus. Goats are shorn owing to the
length of their hair over a large part of Phrygia"
and from this country come to us hair-cloths and
other fabrics of the same kind. But it is said that
as such shearing was first practised in Cilicia,
the Cilicians affixed the name (Cilicia) to the
product.

Here the conversation ended, and Cossinius
found nothing to alter in what had been said. And
at that moment Vitulus's^ freedman, coming out
from the park on his way to the city, turned off
to us and said : I was sent to you, and was on my
way to your house to ask you not to shorten the
holiday, but to come at once. And so, Turranius

^ Rustico opere. ' ' On truuve encore les diphtheres en France au
XIXe siecle: tous les pay sans du Maine et des frontieres de la
Bretagne . . . sont vetus de peaux de chevre." — Dureau de la
Malle, Insc. et Belles Lettres, 21 avril 1827.

^ Phrygiae. Dureau de la Malle thinks that these long-
haired Phrygian goats are Angoras: '■^ Videntite des lieux, le
caractere des oreilles tongues et pejidantes (Aristotle, H. A., viii,
28), et la circonstance de la gratide longueur des polls . . .
nous font recontiattre la race des chevres d^ Angora." Probably,
therefore, these fabrics {cilicia) of goats' hair were fine and
soft, not resembling the hair-shirt {cilices) of the mediaeval
ascetic.

^ Vituli. This is the first time that Vitulus has been men-
tioned. The name is given ii, i, lo, as a cognomen of the
Pomponii.

238

VARRO ON FARMING [bk. ii

Niger, my friend, we parted, Scrofa and I through
the grounds to Vitulus's house, whilst the rest
went some to their own homes, others to Menas's
house.

BOOK III

OF SMALLER STOCK

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION AND DEDICATION

1 In the history of mankind, my dear Pinnius, we
find two modes of life, that of the country and that
of the town, and it is obvious^ that these two differ
not only as to place, but as to the time when they
began to be. The country life is much the more
ancient of the two, seeing that there was once a
time when men lived in the country and had no

2 towns at all. For the oldest Greek town known to

' Ouidni. The ante- Victorian MSS. have O. Pinni. The
reading Ouidni oiihQ Archetype restored by Keil from a note of
Politian, seems pointless as it is here used. The word is gener-
ally used to emphasize a previous statement and is usually
followed by a corroborative clause — as often in Catullus. Cf.
Ixxvii, I :

Lesbius est pulcher! quidni? quern Leshia malit, etc. ;
Ixxxvi, i:

Gellius est tenuis : quidni? quoi tarn bona mater, etc. ;

and Varro, in the next chapter, § 15.

Varro, besides, generally uses the friendly mi or noster of
the man to whom he is dedicating a book: cf. ii, Int. 6; ii, 11,
12; iii, 17, 10. Possibly wz /*/««/ was written originally, and
quidni was the ineptitude of a scribe.

239

240 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

history is the Boeotian Thebes, which was built by
King Ogygos ; ^ the oldest town in Roman territory
Rome, which King Romulus built. With regard
to this matter it is possible now, though it was not
when Ennius wrote, to say with truth " 'Tis a
little more or less than seven " hundred years
since far-famed Rome was founded under august
auspices."
3 Well, Thebes, which was founded it is said before
the Ogygian deluge, has yet not existed for more

^ Og'ygos. 'Qyvytjc, King of the Hectenes, who were the oldest
inhabitants of Boeotia. The flood which occurred in his time
preceded that of DeucaHon and Pyrrha (Serv. Vergil, E., vi,
41), and happened, according to Eusebius, 1,040 years before
the foundation of Rome.

The Phoenician Cadmus is generally supposed to have
founded the Boeotian Thebes ; cf. Diodorus Siculus (v, 2), who
is followed by Propertius (i, 7), Lactantius, and Statius, and
others. The story is familiar (Herod., v, 58, 59). It is highly
probable that Thebes was a Phoenician settlement, and the
name Cadmus is connected by most scholars with the Phoe-
nician Kadmon, i.e., "the aged one," or "the Oriental."
Homer frequently uses icaSntloi or Kadneim'iQ as the name of the
ancient inhabitants of Thebes (cf. II. iv, 385), and the Acropolis
there was known in historical times (Xen., Hell., vi, 3, 11) as
>) KaSfieia. Amphion and Zethus built the lower city and walled
it : o'i TrpioToi aijlirig sSog iKTiaav iTrraTruXoio (Odyssey, xi, 262)
though a scholium to this passage makes Amphion the original
founder, and Solinus (13) agrees with him.

Vai'ro is followed by Festus : Offv^ia moenia Accuis in Dio-
medc appellans significat Thehas quod cam urbein Ogygus con-
didisse traditur.

- Scptingcnti. Ennius died about 170 B.C. Varro was writing
this work in 36 B.C.

Ill] INTRODUCTION 241

than two thousand ^ one hundred years. And if you
consider those years with reference to that far-off
time when fields began to be cultivated, and man
lived in huts and hovels nor knew what a wall or a
gate was, you will see that farmers are more ancient
than the dwellers in towns by an astounding number

4 of years; and small wonder, for divine nature made
the country, but man's skill the towns, and all the
arts were discovered in Greece, 'tis said, within the
space of a thousand years, but there was never a
time when there were in the world no fields which
could be cultivated.

And not only is farming more ancient, it is also
better; wherefore our ancestors with good reason
sent their citizens from the town back to the land,
for in peace they were fed by the rustic Romans

5 and in war were defended ^ by them. With good
reason, too, did they call the same land by the
names of ''Mother "and "Ceres," and believed that
they who cultivated her lived a holy and useful life,
and were all that remained of the race of good King
Saturn. And with this agrees the fact that the
sacred rites in honour of Ceres are in a special

' Duo milia et centum. Ogygus must therefore have been at
least 350 years old when the deluge, called after him, hap-
pened !

^ Ducebantur. In the Archetype was alebantur — no doubt an
echo from the first part of the sentence. In Victorius's time
the recepta lectio was tuehantur; and this I have translated in
preference to Keil's conjecture, ducebantur. Victorius produces
an inscription found in Spain, in which tueor is used in the
Passive.

R

242 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

6 sense called initia ^ (rites of initiation). The name
also of Thebes is no less an indication of the greater
antiquity of the country, as it was derived, not from
the founder, but from the nature of the district. For
in the ancient tongue, and in Greece the Aeolians^
of Boeotia call hills tebas^ without the aspirate, and
in the Sabine country which Pelasgians from Greece
visited the term is still used in this sense. Traces
of this are to be found in the Sabine country not far
from Reate on the Via Salaria, where a slope a
mile* in length is called tehae.

^ Initia. The ancient form of the worship of Ceres, the
Italian Goddess of Agriculture, was extremely simple. The
porca praecidanea was sacrificed at the beginning of harvest
and the praemetium — the first ears cut — was dedicated to her
(cf. Festus, ad verba). But after 496 B.C., when at Rome Ceres
was identified with the Greek Demeter, the service in her
honour was performed there, in the Greek language, and the
elaborate ritual of the Eleusinia was adopted together with
the ceremony of initiation. Cf. Cicero (De Leg., ii, 9), who
quotes from the Twelve Tables : Neve quern initianto nisi, ut
assolet Cereri Graeco more.

^ Aeolis. The Greek nominative plural 'AtoXfTc. He uses it
again, iii, 12, 6, and several times in the De Lingua Latina.

^ Tebas. Scaliger is very angry with Varro because of this
derivation. He says that the word means a little boat. The
Egyptian Thebes was, in Egyptian, T-ape="the head," a
meaning which would square well with Varro's coi/is; cf.
the use of "pen" meaning " he^id " or "mountain top" in
Celtic.

^ Miliarius clivus. The translation given is a guess, perhaps
a bad one. Schneider thinks that the expression means a slope
or hill on which is a mill-stone— which seems to me much
worse — in fact an impossible rendering! Good sense would be

Ill] INTRODUCTION 243

7 The first farmers were unable, owing to their
poverty, to distinguish in practice between different
kinds of farming, and, being the children of shep-
herds, both sowed and grazed the same land. The
produce^ then increased and was distributed to
different people by means of money, and so it came
about that some were called farmers, others shep-

8 herds. Now the shepherd's business, stock-raising,
is itself of two kinds, though no one has made the
distinction sufficiently clear — the one concerned with
animals raised within the precincts of the farm, the
other with those which are taken to graze at a dis-
tance in the country. The latter kind is well and
deservedly known under its other name oi pecuaria,
cattle-raising; and in order to practise it, men of
large wealth possess clearings which they have

made by reading non longe a Reatino mUiario or a millario
Reate, i.e., not far from the mile-stone at Reate.

Again, one is not satisfied with Keil's transposition of cum
which in the Archetype comes immediately before agri and
makes quite good sense there.

' Quae postea creverunt. It is difficult to understand how
Varro could introduce money at so early a stage in the evolu-
tion of society, for he so often emphasizes tlie fact that it came
late in time (and " stamped " money not until the time of
Servius). Peculia {Jucundus) is tempting. " They divided the
Increase (cattle and corn) as private lots {peculia)" For this
use of the word cf Isidore (xv, 17): Omne enim patrimoniuvi
apud antiquos peculium dicebatur a pecudibus, in quibus eorum
constabat imiversa siibstantia.

Compare with this passage Lucretius's account of the origin
of property (v, 1 105, etc.) : El pecus alquc agros divisere. . . . ||
Posterius res invenlast auninique repertum.

244 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

either rented or bought. The former kind, the
rearing of animals in the farm buildings, was con-
sidered by some, owing to its humble nature, as a
mere adjunct to agriculture, though in reality it
was a kind of stock-raising, and it has not, so far as
I know, been fully set forth as a distinct branch of

9 farming by any one. So, as I considered farming
conducted for profit as having three chief divisions:
namely (i) the cultivation of the soil; (2) the rear-
ing of cattle ; and (3) the raising of animals within
the farm-buildings, I made up my mind to make
three books. Of these I have written two, the first
addressed to my wife Fundania on agriculture; the
second on cattle-farming, to Turranius Niger; the
remaining third book, which treats of the rearing
of animals within the precincts of the farm, I send
herewith to you, as I feel that to you more than to
any one else I owe this dedication, seeing that we

10 are near neighbours and excellent friends. As
you who possess a country-house made beautiful
by plaster, inlaid-work, and fine mosaic^ floors,
would have felt that there was something^ lacking
unless its walls had been embellished by your own
literary ^ works, so I have done my best by means of

^ Lithostrotis . For these pavements and the history of mosaic
in general cf. Pliny, xxxvi, 25. 1 find it generally stated that
lithostrota were made of bits of stone or marble of natural
colours (Seyffert, Diet, of Antiquities, etc.); but Isidore (xiv, 8)
is against this conclusion : Lithostrota parvulis cnistis ac tessellis
tinctis in varios colores.

* Parum, supply spectandam.

^ Tuis quoque Utteris. Nothing is known of this Pinnius, or

I

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 245

this treatise to embellish it with the produce of the
farm. I now therefore send it to you remembering
the conversations we once had on the subject of
the perfect country house, and I will here make a
beginning by relating them.

CHAPTER II

ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS

It was at an election of aediles and the sun was
hot, when I and Q. Axius the senator, who be-
longed to my tribe, having recorded our votes, were

of any literary work bearing his name. But, if the text be
sound, these words must refer to works written by Pinnius.
Gesner conjectures tui, and considers the meaning of the pass-
age to be "unless your walls were also adorned with literary
works," i.e,^ unless there were a library in the villa. But the
position of the enclitic quoque would still emphasize the word
tui. One suspects the genuineness of tuis.

Perhaps ni nitidis quoque litteris was written by Varro, " un-
less its walls were adorned with beautifully bound literature
also." Nitidus would be no bad epithet for the novi libri of a
Suffenus.

Novi umbilici, lora rubra, memhrana
Directa plumbo et pumice omnia aequata.

The syllable ni in nitidis might have dropped out of the text
owing to the ni immediately before it. The general sense of
the passage is clear: Just as the inside of a villa is improved
by a library, so is the outside by cocks and hens, doves, pea-
cocks, etc., which are the subject of this third book dedicated
to Pinnius.

246 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

waiting to attend on his way home the candidate
whom we supported. Said Axius to me : Suppose
while the votes are being counted ' we make use of
the shelter of the Villa Publica ' (People's Hall)
instead of making one for ourselves with the bench '

^ Dirihentur. Literally, "shall be divided." The diribitores
divided the votes {tabellae) as they were taken out of the chests
(cisiae), and handed them over to the custodes, who checked
them off by dots made on a waxed tablet.

^ Villa Puhlica. Cf. Livy, iv, 22 : Eo anno {^■^i^'B.Q,.) C. Furius
Pacilus et M. Geganius Macerinus Censores Villam publicam
in Campo Martio probaverunt: ibique primuni census populi est
actus. The purposes for which it was used are stated in the
next chapter, § 4. Some remains of it still exist, cf Middleton's
Rome.

At the time of these conversations (54 B.C.), Cicero and "the
friends of Caesar " were about to build marble saepta for the
Comitia Tributa, and a new Villa Publica (Ad Atticum, iv, 16).

^ Tabella dimidiata. The text here is assuredly corrupt, and
the emendations and explanations of Jucundus, Ursinus,
Gesner, Scaliger, and the rest are merae nugae. I have trans-
lated as best I could, taking umbram which is understood here
in the sense given to it by Festus {ad verbuni) : Umbrae vocantur
Neptunalibus casae frondeae pro tabemaculis. The rustics, at
the festival of Anna Perenna (Fasti, iii, 523), made themselves
shelters against the sun with boughs of trees, or by sticking
reeds into the ground and stretching their togas over them.

Sub Jove pars durat, pauci tentoria ponunt
Sunt quibus e raniis frondea facta casa est

Pars ubi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis
Desuper extentas imposuere togas.

Perhaps the tabella (whatever it was) might have been used
together with leafy boughs as a protection against the sun.

Instead oi tabella ^ tabema has been proposed in the sense of
taberjiaculo. And it is quite likely that a candidate used to

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 247

which we share between us, provided by a private
candidate. Well, I answered, I am of opinion that,
true as is the proverb " bad ' advice is worst for the
adviser," it is equally true that good advice must
be considered good both for the adviser and the
advised. And so to the People's Hall we went.
There we found the augur" Appius Claudius sitting
on one of the benches, ready for the consul in case
any circumstance should call for his services. On
his left sat Cornelius Merula (Blackbird), belonging
to a consular house, and Fircellius Pavo (Peacock)

provide some sort of shelter for his personal friends who were
there to support him. But then what is to be made of aedifi-
cemusl a.nd dimidiata? Viderint doctiores !

' Malum consilium, etc. In explanation of the proverb
Gellius (iv, 5) tells a story which, he says, he found in the
Annales Magni : A statue of Horatlus Codes had been
struck by lightning — a prodigy concerning which the Etruscan
haruspices were consulted as usual. But at that time the
Etruscans were bitterly hostile to Rome, and the haruspices
purposely gave bad advice to the Romans. The former were
arrested, confessed the crime, and were executed. Whereupon
this witty verse was composed and sung by boys all over
the city : Malum consilium consultori pessimumst. Gellius also
notes that the verse is a translation of Hesiod's /j hi kuio) /3owX»)
Tt^ (iovKtvaavTt KaKiarr] {tpywv Kai rifjupuiv, i, 264).

^ Augurem. An augur, or augurs, was always present at
the Comitia to take the auspices, etc. For an excellent account
of their duties cf. Alexander ab Alexandro, v, 19. Varro, at
the end of Bk. vi (L.L.) speaks of the augur attending on the
Consul at the Comitia Centuriata : Hoc nunc Jit aliter atque olim,
quod augur consuli adest tum cum exercitus imperatur (y}\\Qn the
people were ordered to assemble for the Comitia) ac praeit quid
eum dicere oporleat.

248 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

of Reate, on his right Minucius Pica (Jay), and
M. Petronius Passer (Sparrow). When we joined
them, Axius smihng said to Appius: Will you let
us come into your aviary where you are sitting
3 amongst the birds? I certainly will, answered
Appius, and you rather than another, for I can still
taste the birds that you set on the table when you
entertained me a few days ago at your villa at
Reate. I was then on my way to Lake Velinus on
business connected with disputes^ between the

^ De controversiis. The quarrel arose through the draining
of Lake Velinus (now Lago di S. Susanna), which appears to
have done harm to the people of Interamna, good to the
Reatini. In fact, according to Servius (Aen., vii, 712), the
extraordinary fertility of the Rosean country (part of the Ager
Reatinus), mentioned by Varro (i, 7, 10), dated from the time,
when M. Curius let out Lake Velinus into the river Nar "by
cutting through the mountain." It is most interesting to find
that it was Cicero himself who conducted the case for the men
of Reate, and that he stayed on that occasion with Axius. Cf.
Ad Atticum (iv, 15): Reatini me ad sua Tempe duxerunt ut
agereni causam contra Interamnaies apud consulem et decern
legatos ; quod lacus Velinus a M. Curio emissus interciso monte,
in Narem defiuit: Ex quo est ilia siccata, et huynida tamen modice
Rosea. Vixi cum Axio. Appius was probably one of the decern
legati. This letter of Cicero's fixes the time of these conversa-
tions, for it was written in 54 B.C., when Appius Claudius
Pulcher and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus were consuls. It is
singular than an Appius Claudius was also an augur. Can it
be that the consul and the augur were the same man, for we
know from Cicero's letters (Ad Diversos, bk. iii, passim) that
the Consul had been an augur at the same time as Cicero, and
had written a book, De iure augurali, which he dedicated
to him?

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 249

people of Interamna and Reate. But, he went on,
isn't this villa, built by our ancestors, in severer
taste and better than your luxurious mansion at

4 Reate? Can you see any citrus wood or gold here,
any vermilion or azure, any coloured ^ or marble
mosaic — all of which your house possesses in lavish
profusion? Besides, this house is the property of a
whole people, yours belongs but to yourself. To
this resort Roman citizens from the Campus Martius
and men of all nations; to yours, mares and asses.
Again this serves for the conduct of State affairs,
for it is here the cohorts meet when brought before
the Consul on the occasion of a levy, here that the
inspection of arms takes place, and the censors con-
voke the people for the census.

5 Of course, said Axius, this public mansion of
yours on the edge of the Campus Martius is merely
useful? Its decorations did not cost more than those
of all the villas of Reate put together, did they?
Why, its walls are plastered with pictures, and statues
as well, while mine shows never a trace of Lysippus "

' Emblema. t/xfiXTj/xa means in Greek any ornament in raised
work — such as jewels, etc., whicii could be removed. In Latin
the word denotes a tessellated pavement of various colours.
The emblema vermiculatum of Lucilius (Cic. Orator, 149), is
supposed to owe its name to the resemblance of the pattern to
the contortions of worms. Nonius, however, has vermiculatum
pro minuto atque mijtiato, small and coloured with red lead.

^ Lysippi. Lysippus was a great sculptor, statuarius nobil-
issimus (Cic, Brut., 86), contemporary with Alexander the
Great, who would allow none other but him to carve his like-
ness ; all his statues were in bronze. Of one — the Apoxyomenus

250 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

or Antiphilus/ though many of the hoer and the
shepherd. And my villa has a large farm attached,
a farm made clean ^ and neat by cultivation, while
yours hasn't a rood of land or a single cow or mare.

6 And finally, what likeness has yours to the country-
house owned by your grandfather and great-grand-
father? It has not seen, as the latter saw, hay in the
hay-loft, the vintage in the wine cellar, the corn in
the granary. For because a building is outside the
city it does not follow that it is a country-house any
more than is the building belonging to people living
outside the Porta Flumentana^ or in the Aemilian*
suburb.

7 As it appears, said Appius with a smile, that I
don't know what a country-house is, please to en-

— there Is a glorious marble copy in the Vatican Museum at
Rome.

' Antiphili. Antiphilus was contemporary with Lysippus
and Apelles, and was famous especially for his genre pictures :
e.g., a boy blowing a fire, women dressing wool, etc. He
painted a humorous picture of a man called Giyllus (ypii\Xoc- =
pig), and ever afterwards caricatures were called ^/;>7//.

For both him and Lysippus cf. Plin}', xxxv, lo, ii.

^ Polito. Nonius : PoUtiones agrorum cultus diligentes ut
polita omnia dicimus excuJta et ad nitorem deducta. Ennius
Satyrarum lib. Hi, lati campi quos gerit Africa terra politos.

■' Porta Flumentana. Close to the Porta Carmentalis, and
nearer than it to the Tiber. Festus : Flumentana Porta Romae
appellata quod Tiheris partem ea fhtxisse affirmatit. Hortensius,
Cicero's rival, had a house close to it (Ad Atticum, vii, 3).

' Aemilianis. The Aemiliana, probably a part of the town
in the Campus Martius near the Saepta. Cf. Suetonius,
Claudius, 18.

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 251

lighten me, lest I err through ignorance, for I am
intending to buy one near Ostia, from M. Seius.
But if buildings are not villas unless they contain
your ;^320 ass that you shoAved me at your place,
then I am afraid I may be buying a Seian ' house
(a white elephant) on the shore instead of a villa.

8 Now my friend here, Lucius Merula, made me
eager to acquire this building by saying, after a
visit of a few days to Seius, that he had never been
entertained in a villa he liked so well, though he
saw there no picture, nor a single bronze or marble
statue, nor yet the apparatus for wine-pressing, nor

9 oil-jars or olive-presses. Why, replied Axius, look-
ing at Merula, what kind of a villa is that which
has neither the decorations of a suburban villa nor
the implements to be found in a farm-house? Well,
said Merula, is not your house,^ situated at a bend
of the river Velinus, though neither painter nor
plasterer ever set eyes on it, to be considered just
as much a villa as the other at Rosea which is
adorned with plaster-work in the best taste, and is

10 owned by you in common with your ass? Axius

' Aedes Seimtas. Unless there be an allusion here — which
no one seems to have noticed — to the celebrated Seian horse
which, like the gold of Tolosa, invariably brought disaster to
the possessor of it, Varro's words seem pointless. The equus
Seianus belonged successively to Cn. Seius, Dolabella, Cassius,
and Antony, all of whom perished miserably. Hinc proverbium
de hominibus calamitosis ortum, dicique solitum ^' Ille homo habet
equutn Seianum " (Gellius, iii, 9).

* Villa ad angulum Velini. This was the villa at which
Cicero stayed in 54 B.C. Cf. § 3 of this chapter, witli note.

252 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

admitted with a nod that a house which was merely
a farm-house was just as much a villa as one which
was both a suburban mansion and a farm-house
as well, but wanted to know what inference his
friend drew from the facts. What inference? said
he, why, if we must approve your farm because
animals are fed there, and if it is properly called
a "villa," because cattle are fed and stabled in it,
the estate of which I speak should with equal reason
be called by that name, as great profits are made

11 in it by feeding animals. For what does it matter
whether you make your profit out of sheep or birds?
Or do you think the return from the oxen on your
farm — which give birth to bees — sweeter than that
from the honey-bees which work in the bee-hives
at Seius's villa? Do you get more ^ from the pork-
butcher for the boar-pigs reared there than Seius
does from the man in the market for the wild boars

12 bred on his estate? But what prevents me, said
Axius, from having bees and wild boars on my
villa at Reate? Unless indeed the honey made
at Seius's is Sicilian,'' that at Reate the bitter

' Pluris. Probably much less, for the flesh of the wild boar
wiis much esteemed, especially CuUum aprxignum and lumbi
aprugni. Cf. Macroblus, ii, 9, where the menu of a cena pon-
tificum is given. It included, amongst many other things,
hedge-hogs, raw oysters {quantum vellent)^ field-fares, aspar-
agus, a fat chicken, oyster patty, boiled moor-fowl, hares,
various roast meats, haggis, Picentian rolls, and lumbi aprugni
and siticiput aprugnum.

- Siculum, The most famous honey came from the bees oi
Mount Hybla in Sicily.

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 253

Corsican ' kind, and unless the acorns he buys make
the boars fat on his estate, while on mine those which
I get for nothing make them thin? But, replied
Appius, Merula does not say that you couldn't
fatten the same animals as Seius, only, as I have

13 seen with my own eyes, you don't. Now there
are two* kinds of feeding; the one is conducted
out in the fields, under which head comes cattle-
raising; the other within the home buildings,
where are reared hens, doves, bees, and the other
animals which are usually fed there. On the latter
we possess special treatises by Mago of Carthage
and Cassius Dionysius, as well as scattered obser-
vations to be found in their longer works; and
these Seius has apparently read to such good
purpose that he makes more profit out of a single
villa by this method of feeding than other people

14 do out of a whole farm devoted to agriculture. It is
true, said Merula, for I have seen there great flocks
of geese, hens, doves, cranes,^ and peacocks, as

' Corsicum. The Corsican honey was bitter because the
bees fed on wormwood (Dioscorides, ii, 102). Isidore (xx, 3)
makes the same statement about the Sardinian : Sardum
amarum est absinthii causa: cuius copia eius reg^ionis apes
nutriuntur.

'^ Cum sint. These anacolutha are common in Varro. Cf.
i, I, 2 ; ii, I, 3; iii, i6, 2, 8.

* Gruum. Both cranes and storks were fattened for table.
At one time storks were preferred, though in Pliny's time no
one would touch one (Pliny, x, 23). Peacocks, of course, at the
time when Varro wrote this book almost always appeared at a
dinner of ceremony. In one of Cicero's letters to Atticus he

254 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

well as hosts of dormice, fishes, wild boars, and
other game. And the freedman who keeps his
books — he once waited on Varro and used to enter-
tain me when his patron was away — told me that
his master used to make out of his villa by means
of them more than 50,000 sesterces (;^40o) a year.
As Axius seemed amazed, I remarked to him:
Doubtless you know my maternal aunt's farm in the
Sabine country, which is twenty-four miles from
15 Rome on the Via Salaria? Naturally, said he, as in
summer when I am going to Reate from Rome I
generally break the day there at noon, or on my
way back in winter pitch my camp there at night.
Well, I added, in this villa the aviary alone turned
out to my knowledge five thousand fieldfares worth
three denarii (2^-. 6d.) apiece, so that in that year
that department of the villa made 60,000 sesterces
(;^48o), which is twice ' as much as your farm of
200 iugera(i3oacres) makes. What! sixty thousand,

speaks of having given Hirtius a dinner sine pavone\ Plutarch
gives a horrid account of the fattening of cranes : aXXoi -^t^aviDv
o\i\iaTa CLTToppc'ripavTic Kat cnroKXiiffaprec tv aKorei Triaii'ovm k.t.X.
(De Esu Carnium, ii, near the beginning).

1 Bis tantuin quain. Is this Latin ? I can, after diligent
search, find no instance of this use either in Varro or else-
where. The nearest parallel I can discover is in Columella
(i, 8, 8), duplicia quatn numerus servorum exigit, but this is
not so violent as bis tantum quam. I imagine that what was
written is bis fantu qiiantil hius. The scribe, suspecting his
predecessor of dittography, would without hesitation write
quam tuus. On the otiier hand it may be a colloquial in-
accuracy.

Ill] ON VARIOUS KINDS OF VILLAS 255

said Axius, sixty, sixty \ you are joking. Sixty, I
16 repeated. Well, but to make this haul,' said he,
you'll want a banquet," or somebody's triumph such
as that of Metellus Scipio in former days, or club^
dinners, which now in endless number inflate the
market price of provisions. Every year, said I, you
may look for such a return, and, I hope, your aviary
will pay * its way ; in these days of luxury it happens

^ Bolum. j8oXoc = (i) a cast of a net (pure Latin iactus),
(2) the thing caught. Cf. Euripid. (Electra, 582) :

7/v tKaTTaffiofxai y' ov ncTepxofiai j36\ov.

Plautus (Rudens, 360) uses the word in the first sense :

Nimis lepide iecisti bolum, peHurum perdidisti.

Terence (Heauton., 673) in the second :

Crucior bolum niihi tdntum ereptum tdm. desubito efaiicibus,

though the older commentators consider this to be a different
word — the Latin form of the Greek /SoJXoc, "a lump."

^ Epulum. Columella (viii, lo, 6) understood this in the
limited sense of a banquet in celebration of a triumph.
M. Terentius ternis saepe denariis singulos emptitatos esse sig--
nificat avorum temporibus, quibus qui triumphabant populo
dabant epulum.

' CoUegiorum. The reference is probably not to the four
great collegia of the priests in particular, but to the collegia
artificum, sodalicia, etc., as well.

* Non decoquet. Decoquere is used by Cicero to denote
ruinous extravagance. Cf. Phil., ii, i8: tenesne memoria te
praetextatum decoxisse, i.e., pafrimotiium tuum. Pliny (xxi, 6)
has : Serere in Italia minime expedit, ad scrupula usque singula
areis decoquentibus — " eating' up f| of the gain," so Grono-
vius interprets. Here I conceive the meaning to be: "Your
aviary will not eat up the profit (or hanc summavi) by the ex-
pense of its up-keep."

256 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

but rarely that you are deceived, for how few are
the years in which you don't see a solemn banquet,
or a triumph, or in which the clubs do not feast.
More than that, he answered, modern luxury creates
what one may call a daily banquet within the gates
17 of Rome. Was' it not, I went on, a frequent state-
ment of L. Abuccius, a most cultured gentleman,
as you know^, whose satires are modelled on those
of Lucilius, that his farm in the Alban country
was always beaten by his villa and the animals
it bred, for the land made less than 10,000 sesterces
(;^8o), the villa more than 20,000 (;^i6o)? It was
he too who stated that if he could have had his
villa in a place of his own choosing near" the sea
he would have made out of it more than 100,000
sesterces (;^8oo). And again, quite recently, when
M. Cato became guardian to young Lucullus,' did

^ Nonne. Here Varro goes on again.

^ Sectmdum mare. So that it might be possible to build
fish-ponds, which were enormously profitable.

^ LucuUi. This was the son of the well-known L. Lucullus
who fought against Mithridates. When L. Lucullus died he left
a little boy, and in his will made Cato (Uticensis), the uncle
of the boy, his guardian. It is in keeping with Cato's char-
acter that one of his first acts was to sell his ward's fish-ponds
as being an unnecessary luxury. Columella, at any rate, says
that the fish-ponds (not fishes) were sold for 400,000 sesterces
(viii, 16, 5). Pliny also says fish-ponds, and makes the price
paid still greater, namely, four million sesterces (ix, 54). The
words in Varro's text, quadraf^nta milibus sestertiis, can only
mean 40,000 sesterces. Cf. iii, 16, 11 : dcna milia sesicrtia.
Macrobius (ii, 11) agrees with Varro (he alludes to this
passage) as to the price, but makes Cato the heir !

Ill] OF VILLA-BRED STOCK 257

he not sell his ward's fishes for 40,000 sesterces
18 (^320)? Said Axius: My dear Merula, take me, I
implore you, as your pupil in the art of feeding
animals within the villa. Certainly, and as soon as
you promise the school-fee, I will begin. Well, I
don't refuse, and you can have it to-day, or later
many times over from the animals I shall feed under
your tuition. Ah yes, said Appius, whenever one
of these animals dies (a natural death), say a goose
or a peacock! Well, said Axius, what does it matter
if you eat birds or fishes that have died, seeing that
you never eat them except when dead? But please
set me now in the way of the scientific practice of
the art, and expound its scope and method.

CHAPTER III

OF ANIMALS FED WITHIN THE VILLA

I Merula began without demur.

In the first place the owner should have a know-
ledge of those things which can be reared and fed
in and about a villa with a view to the master's
profit or pleasure. Of this art there are three sec-
tions, concerned respectively with aviaries, warrens,'

^ Leporaria. Gellius (ii, 20), who quotes this passage, says
that in his own time they were commonly called vivaria — "a
word which has not the support of any ancient writer"; in
Scipio's. roboraria, from the oaken planks with which they
were fenced.

S

258 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

and fish-ponds. The word "aviary," in the sense
in which I now use it, covers all winged things
which are fed within the walls of the villa. "Warren"

2 I want you to understand not in the sense our
grandsires used the word — as a place in which were
only hares ^ — but as any enclosure attached to the
villa which contains shut up in it animals to be fed.
In the same way I mean by fish-pond any pond, be
the water fresh or salt, which has fish confined in it

3 close to the villa. Each class of the things men-
tioned may be subdivided into at least two divi-
sions: those animals which are content with dry
land alone — peacocks for example, together with
doves and fieldfares — belong to the first, while
under the second division come those for which dry
land alone is insufficient, as they need water as well ;
such as geese, teal, and ducks. In the same way
the second division I mentioned above as connected
with hunting, has two separate classes, the one in-
cluding wild boars, roes, and hares, the other,
animals which are also without the villa, such as

4 bees, snails, and dormice. Similarly the third class
of aquatic creatures has two divisions, for men keep
fishes, some in sea- water, and some in fresh.

Now with regard to these six divisions: you must
get three kinds of craftsmen corresponding with the
three classes I mentioned to you just now, namely,
fowlers, hunters, and anglers, or else you must buy
from them animals which may be committed to the

* Soli Icporcs. Cf. iii, 12, 6, where tlie word includes
cuniculi, rabbits.

Ill] OF VILLA-BRED STOCK 259

care of your own slaves, and by them looked after
during pregnancy until the young ones are born.
These when born will be reared and fattened until
they are ready for the market. There are, too, cer-
tain other animals which must be added to the villa's
stock, animals which do not call for the nets of
fowlers, hunters, or fishers — such as dormice, snails,
and hens.

5 Now of these creatures those which are kept
within the precincts of the villa were the first to
which men gave their attention — for in the earliest
times it was not only the augurs who procured
chickens in order to take the auspices, but the heads
of families in the country did so as well. In the
second place came those animals which, being used
for hunting, are enclosed near the villa by a wall,
and close to the villa the bee-hives, for bees origin-
ally were kept under the eaves ' of the farmhouse,
and had the shelter of its roof. Third in order of
time were fresh-water fish-ponds which men began
to make for the fishes that had been caught in the

6 rivers. Each of these classes has two stages, the
earlier, which the thrift of antiquity adopted, the
later, that elaborated by modern luxury. For the
first stage was reflected in the excellent old-time

' Sugrutidas = yiLaa, the projecting part of the roof. PHny
(xxv, 13) speaks of the house-leek, hypogeson, so called quod in
suhgrundiis fere nascitur. Cf. Columella (ix, pref. , § 2) : Apibus
quoque dabatur sedes adhuc nostra memoria vel in ipsis villae
parietibus excisis, vel in protectis porticibus. The -/pwQoi ^vXivoi
(Mathem. Vet) were projecting supports.

26o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

practice of our ancestors which allowed but two
"aviaries," namely, on the surface of the ground a
farmyard in which hens were fed — and their return
was eggs and chickens — and above the ground a
second place in which were pigeons in turrets or on
the roof of the villa. But nowadays aviaries have

7 changed their name, being called " ornithones,"
and those acquired by the modern epicure have
buildings for lodging fieldfares and peacocks more
extensive than were entire villas in former times.

8 Now with regard to the second section — the
warren — your father, Axius, never in his life saw
anything as the result of his hunting more than a
paltry hare. For the big walled-in enclosure made
to hold wild boars and roes in large numbers did
not exist in his time. While you, said he, turning
to me, when you bought your estate at Tusculum
from M. Piso,' found wild boars in plenty in the

9 warren, did you not? Touching the third section:
in ancient times did any one dream of having any
but a fresh-water fish-pond, or other fish in it than
" squali " and "mugiles"? but now every man of
refined ^ taste tells you that he would as soon keep

^ M. Piso. M. Pupius Piso Calpurnianus, who was Consul
in 6i B.C. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero as a friend
of the notorious Clodius (Ad Atticum, i, 14). In the De Finibus
(v, i) he is made to champion the Peripatetic doctrine con-
cernini;^ the summtan hontim.

•^ Minlhon. Keil substitutes this word for tlic rhynton of
the Archetype, and for the meaning- quotes Philodemus of
Gadara, who defines /jivOwv as a supercilious fop " who looks
down upon everybody and depreciates all whom he meets or

Ill] OF VILLA-BRED STOCK 261

a pond full of frogs as of these fishes. Philippus'
once — the story is familiar — called upon his friend
Ummidius* at Casinum, and a fine lupus^ (pike)

hears of even if they be people reputed great," etc. The
word is derived from fiivQa, mint. Cf. the muguets (liHes) of
the time of Louis XIV.

' Philippus. Probably L. Marcius Philippus (Cons. 91 B.C.),
whom Cicero describes (De Orat., iii, i) as homini et vehementi
et diserto et imprimis forti ad resistendum. And again (Brutus,
47) : Sed tamen erant ea in Philippo . . . sum?im libetias in
oratione, midtae facetiae ... in altercando cum aliquo aculeo
et maledicto facetus.

^ Ummidius. Perhaps the Uinmidius of Horace (Sat., i,
i> 95):

Ummidius quidam — non longa estfahula — dives
Ut metiretur num77ios, ita sordidus ut se
Non umquam servo melius vestiret ad usque
Supremum tempus, etc.

There is an inscription kept by the monks of Monte Cassino
which sets forth that the theatre at Casinum (Cassino) was
built at the expense of Ummidia(Quadratilla) — a lady described
by Pliny (Epist. vii, 24) as being very fond of "pantomimi."
This theatre, in moderately good preservation, stands about
300 yards from the poor remains of Varro's villa. The
characters assigned to the two men by Cicero and Horace
accord well with Varro's story. The wealthy miser gave
Philippus a dinner, and the fish was the cheap lupus instead
of the usual mullet, sturgeon, or lamprey, and Philippus
showed his resentment in such a manner as we should expect
from Cicero's description of him.

3 Lupus. This fish was much esteemed by the contempor-
aries of Lucilius. One of them, in a Zolaesque description of
the debauchery of the young nobles of that time, gives an
account of their behaviour in Court. " He is so drunk that
he can hardly keep his eyes open, and, when theyjise for

262 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

taken from your * river was set before him. He
tasted it, then spat it out with the remark, I'll be
10 hanged if I didn't think it was fish. Then our
generation, not content with the extravagant exten-
sion of its warrens, has pushed its fish-ponds up to
the sea and summoned to them swarms of deep-sea
fishes. Was it not from these that Sergius Orata^
(gold-fish) and Licinius Murena (lamprey) got their
names? And who but knows — so famous are they —
of the fish-ponds of Philippus, Hortensius, and the
Luculli? Well, Axius, tell me, where do you want
me to begin?

discussion, he says, ' What the deuce have I to do with these
idiots? How much better it would be for us to go and drink
mulsum mixed with Greek wine, and eat a real fine lupus
caught between the two bridges ' " (Macrobius, ii, 12, end).

Pliny (xxxii, 2) says that the lupus is not so intelligent as
the viugil, "which knows that the bait conceals a hook," but
is more vigorous, for "when it is hooked it dashes wildly
backwards and forwards, making the wound wider, until at
last the hook comes away."

^ E tuoflumine. Cf. iii, 5, 9: Cum habeam sub oppido Casino
fluinen quod per villain Jluat. This was the river Vinius, now
called // Rapido.

- Sergius Orata. Cf. Columella, viii, 16, 5: Velut ante de-
victartiin gentium Numantinus et Isauricus, itn Sergius Orata
et Licinius Muraena captorum pisciuin laetabantur vocabulis.
Sergius Orata first had hanging baths, " first laid down oyster
beds at Baiae," etc. (Macrobius, ii, 11).

Ill] OF BIRDS IN GENERAL 263

CHAPTER IV

OF BIRDS IN GENERAL

1 I, REPLIED Axius, should like you to begin with
the " post-principia," ' as they say in camp — with
modern times, I mean, rather than with remoter
ages, for more profit is made out of peacocks than
out of hens. And what is more, I will not conceal
my wish to hear first about the "ornithon," since
fieldfares have made it a term synonymous with
"gain," for the 60,000 sesterces (^480) of Fir-
cellia* have wonderfully stimulated my desire.

2 Said Merula: There are two kinds of aviary.
One (and it has many admirers) made for pleasure,

' A post-prittcipiis. Cf. Plautus (Persa, iv, 1,4):

Atque edepol ferme ut quisque rem accural suam

Sic ei procedunt postprincipia de7iique

Si malus aut nequamst male res vortunt quas agit.

And Gellius (xvi, i8) : Sed haec, inquit M. Varro, aul omnino
non discimiis autprius desistemus quant intelligemus cur discenda
sint. VoluptcLS autem inquit vel utilitas talium disciplinafum in
postprincipiis exsistit cum perfectae absolutaeque sunt, in prin-
cipiis vero ipsis ineptae et insuaves videntur.

Barn-door fowls were the principia, peacocks the postprin-
cipia. The word, used metaphorically, is fairly common. Cf.
Cicero (Pro Sestio, 55) : postprincipia vitiosae vitae; but of its
use in the literal sense 1 can find no trace. It is not noticed
in Kempf 's Sermonis Castrensis Reliquiae.

^ Fircellina. Cf. iii, 2, 15. Varro's maternal aunt must
therefore have been called Fircellia.

264 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

such as that of our friend Varro here, who has buik
one close toCasinum; the other for profit, to which
kind belong the enclosures which certain people
who supply the market possess in Rome and in the
country — the latter being generally let to tenants in
the Sabine district, as there, owing to the nature of
the soil,^ fieldfares are to be found in large num-
3 bers. Lucullus claimed that the aviary on his Tus-
culan estate made by combining these two kinds,
formed a third kind. It was built so as to have in
the same building — in the "ornithon," that is —
a dining-room, where he could dine delicately and
see fieldfares, some lying cooked in the dish, whilst
others fluttered about the windows of their prison.
But the experiment failed because the sight of birds
fluttering on the inside of windows does not please
the eye as much as the disagreeable smell which
fills one's nostrils offends the nose.

CHAPTER V

OF FIELDFARES

I However, Axius, as I think you prefer it so, I
will first discuss the aviary built for profit, whence,
not where, ^fatted fieldfares are taken. Well, a large

^ Affri naturam. The countr)' about Casinum abounded in
olive plantations, and fieldfares are verj^ fond of olives.

^ Unde non ubi. I have translated Varro's play upon words
literally. He means, of course, that he will describe the kind

Ill] OF FIELDFARES 265

domed building, a peristyle/ as it were, covered
with tiles or net, is constructed, in which several
thousands of fieldfares and blackbirds may be en-
2 closed, though some people add to them other birds
as well, which, when fattened, fetch a good price,
such as ortolans^ and quails. Into this building
water should be brought by means of a pipe, and
it had better then flow slowly along narrow troughs
such as can easily be cleaned out (for if the water
spreads over a large area it is more easily fouled
and it is not so good to drink), and the over-
flow ^ from these should be taken off by a pipe, lest

of aviary from which birds are taken (sumuntur) to the market,
not that of Lucullus, in which they are eaten {sumuntur —
consuviuntur).

^ Ut peristylum. Keil thinks the text sound here, Schneider
proposes aut, and remarks that a testudo^ the essential part of
which was its dome, would need neither tiles nor net.

^ Miliariac. Cf. Varro, L. L. , v, ii : Ficedulae et miliariae
a cibo quod alterae fico alterae milio fiant pingues. The Greek
word Ktyxpoq means "millet," and tceyxp^s seems to be the
"ortolan."

^ Caduca. Keil quotes here Fronto (De Aquis, ii, 94), to
show that aqua caduca was a technical phrase to indicate the
overflow from a tank or the droppings from a pipe, and goes
on to remark : Ex quibus apud Varronem dilucidafit verborum
coniunctio, in qua inlerpretes haeserunf. But I cannot see how
this gets over the difficulty perceived by Ursinus and Schneider.

The water goes in by a pipe, is distributed along several
small runnels or troughs (cana/es) which converge at the
further end of the aviary to another pipe by which it flows out
(exti) — so that there is a continuous flow of fresh and clean
water. This seems to be the obvious meaning. But then
what is to be done with the words quae abundat? How

266 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

3 the birds be harmed by the mud. The aviary should
have a door low and narrow, and preferably of the
kind called "coclia"^ (rotating cage), such as is
usually found in the amphitheatre where bulls
fight. It must have but few windows, through
which the trees and birds outside cannot be seen,
for the sight of these and the longing for them
make the imprisoned birds pine away. The place
should have just enough light to let them see where
to perch and where to find their food and water.
About the doors and windows there should be a
coating of smooth plaster, that no mouse or other

4 animal may anywhere enter. Around the walls of
this building on the inside should be many poles

can water which actually overflows be made to go out per
Jistulam? So Ursinus proposed to expunge these words as
being a gloss explicative of caduca. These removed the trans-
lation would go smoothly : ' ' And the falling water (running
down the gutters) goes out from them by means of a pipe."

Columella's description of the way in which water is sup-
plied to the hen-house is interesting (viii, 3, 8) : Sunt qui aut
aqua replentur aut cibo plumbei canales, quos magis utiles esse
ligneos aut fictiles compeHum est. Hi supeipositis operculis
dauduntur et a lateribus super mediam partem per spatia pal-
7naria nwdicis forantur cam's ita ut avium capita possint ad-
mittere.

' Quod cocliavi appellant, etc. I have given Gesner's inter-
pretation of this passage; Schneider in his index takes coclia
to be equivalent to cataphracta, i.e., a sort of portcullis. I
have translated cavea amphitheatre with Gesner, but suspect
the text. In Horace (A. P., 473) it means the cage itself:

ac velut ursus
Obiecto caveae valuit si frangere clatros.

Ill] OF FIELDFARES 267

for the birds to perch on, and also rods sloping to
the ground from the wall, with other rods fastened
cross-wise like the rungs of a ladder, and resem-
bling the railings in a theatre. Water should flow
down to the ground for them to drink, and for food
cakes should be placed there. These cakes are
mostly made of figs and barley well mixed together
and rolled. Twenty days before fieldfares are wanted
they are given a more liberal diet, that is, more
food is set before them, and the flour now used is
of a finer quality. In this building there should be
recesses furnished with several shelves to supple-
5 ment the perches, and, on the other hand, it is here
(on the shelves) that the bird-keeper^ generally
keeps on the spot those birds which have died in
the aviary, so as to account for them to his master.
When those birds that are fit are to be removed
[for sale] from this aviary, they must be transferred

' Aviarium. The Archetype has contra hie aviarium, etc.
Much has been written about this passage by Gesner, Schneider,
Keil — the latter indicating a supposed lacuna in the text by a
star — so that it is with much distrust iudicoli mei that I pro-
pose what appears a very simple and almost certain emenda-
tion, namely, aviarius instead of aviarium. The bird-keeper
{aviarius) will keep any birds here that have died until his
master sees them, etc. Thus there is a subject to solet, which
is badly wanted, for though with Varro there is often an
ellipsis of dominies, I can find no instance where the word
slave — not previously mentioned — must be supplied. So, too,
there is no need to change the hie of the Archetype into hoc,
there is no lacuna, and the whole sentence Is irreproachable
both in sense and construction.

268 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

to a smaller one, which is united to the larger by a
door, and has more light. This is called the
" Seclusorium." When the owner has thus en-
closed the number he purposes to sell he kills them

6 all. This is done in secret and away from the others
lest these seeing it should mope, and die at a time
inconvenient to the seller.

Fieldfares do not resemble other immigrant birds
in breeding on the ground like storks, or under the
roof like swallows — their masculine name {turdi)
by the way does not imply that there are no females
amongst them, any more than the feminine name
for blackbird {merula) prevents blackbirds from

7 being some of them males. Again, some birds are
migratory, such as swallows and cranes; others, as
doves and hens, are indigenous, and it is to the
former immigrant kind that fieldfares belong, for
they fly across the sea to Italy every year about the
autumnal ' equinox, and about the spring equinox
fly back to the same place [whence they came] ; so
at a different season do turtle-doves and quails in
vast numbers. This fact is made clear in the neigh-

^ Circiter aequinoctium aiitumnale, etc. This passage Is im-
portant as fixing the meaning of the word turdus used by
Varro, Horace, etc., as it accurately describes the migratory
habit of the turdiis pilaris of Linnaeus — the fieldfare — which
visits this country in October, and leaves It in May for its
northern breeding places.

The fenerator Alphius of Horace's delightful second epode
speaks of snaring turdi in the winter;

Aut amite levi rara iejtdit rctia
Turdis edacibus dolos.

m] OF FIELDFARES 269

bouring islands of Pontiae,' Palmaria, and Panda-
teria, for there on their first flight — when they came
that is — they stay a few days to rest, and also on
crossing the sea on their way back from Italy.
; Said Appius to Axius, You have only to put here
five thousand ^ birds, and supposing a public feast or
a triumph take place, you have at once the 60,000
sesterces ^ (;^48o) you want, and may then lend them
out at good interest.' Then turning to me he said.
Now tell us, please, about the second kind of aviary,
the one which, we are told, you built for your
pleasure near Casinum, by it surpassing, men say,
not only the original aviary of our friend the in-
ventor, M. Laenius Strabo,' who was our host at

* Pontiis. Palmaria (Palmarola), Pontia with Sinonia
(Ponza), and Pandateria (Vandotena), are small islands lying
about thirty-five miles off the coasts of Latium and Campania.

* Quinque tnilia, i.e., the quinque milia turdorum mentioned
in chap, ii, § 15.

* Sexaginta milia, the sum mentioned (iii, 2, 15), which took
Axius's breath away.

* In femes. Frequent allusion is made in this book to the
cupidity of Axius. When he hears of the profits made out of
villatica pastio, he is on fire to learn the art (2, 19); Merula,
about to discuss aviaries, says that he will begin with that
which is a source of gain, as he knows Axius will prefer this
(5, i); Appius, after having given the natural history of bees,
says that he knows Axius must be bored to death, qtiod de

fructu nihil dixi (16, 9).

The point of these allusions, I take it, lies in the fact that
Quintus Axius, a Roman senator, and intimate friend of Cicero
(Gellius, vii, 3, 10), was a money-lender (cf. Ad Atticum, i, 12,
and x, 11).

' M. Laeni Strabonis. Ernesti in the Clavis thinks that this

270 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

Brundisium and was the first to keep shut up in a
pillared hall birds which could be fed through a
net thrown over it, but even the great structures on
Lucullus's estate at Tusculum.
9 You must know, I replied, that near the town of
Casinum I have a river flowing through my grounds.
It is clear and deep, with stone kerbs. Its breadth
is fifty-seven feet, so that bridges are necessary to
cross from one part of the villa to the other; its
length is 950 feet, and it goes in a straight line from
an island in the lower reach of the river, where
another stream joins it, to the upper reach where the
10 museum ^ (place for study) is situated. Along the

is the man who is mentioned by Cicero in his letter to Terentia
(Ad Div. xiv, 4) in 58 B.C., who, despising the threats of
Clodius, risked his Hfe and fortune by receiving Cicero into his
house at Brundisium. But in the text is found M. Laenius
Flaccus.

There is a Strabo mentioned In Ad Atticum, xii, 17, who
seems to have been an augur. But cf. Pliny (x, 50): Aviaria
primus instituit inclusis omnium ge7ieru7n avibus M. Laelius
(Laenius ?) Strabo Brundisii equestris ordinis. Ex eo coepimus
carcere animalia coercere quibtis Natura caelum assigiiavci-at.

^ Ubi est Museiun. Schneider points out the remarkable
likeness of this villa of Varro's to Cicero's at Arpinum (cf. De
Legibus, ii, capita i and 3). There the river Fibrenus is divided
into two streams by an island, and this island Cicero describes
as his museum. Nam illo loco libentissime soleo uti sive quid
viecum ipse cogito, sive quid ant scribo aut lego. One wonders
if Varro's " museum" were the island itself, and if one should
read, ab insula a Museo, etc., and regard Ubi est Museum? as
the query of a commentator who did not understand this! In
that case huius would refer to the island, and circum would
have its proper meaning. Local tradition places " lo studio di

Ill] OF FIELDFARES 271

banks of the stream is an uncovered walk ten feet '
broad ; off this walk and in the direction of the open
ground is the place where the aviary stands shut in
on two sides, right and left, by high walls. Between
these walls is the site of the aviary, fashioned in
the likeness of a boy's writing-tablet with its ring'^
at the top. It measures in the rectangular part
forty-eight by seventy-two feet; where it is circular,
at the upper end of the enclosure, twenty-seven
II feet. In addition, figuring, as it were, the lower
margin of the writing tablet, there is a "walk,"
and connected with the aviary a. plumula^ (little

Marco Varrone " not far from the right bank of the Rapido
facing a little island situated at the junction of the two streams.
So I learnt from the village priest (il padre Benedetto del Greco)
who showed me over the site of Varro's villa.

^ Denos surely must be decern. The numeral x would stand
for either,

* Cum capitulo. Cf. Horace's frequently-quoted line (Sat. i,

6,74):

Laevo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto

on which the Scholiast: tabulam, buxum in quo vteditantur
scrihere. The quaad which follows, written by Keil as one
word, should surely be two, qua ad capitulujn, etc.

^ Plumula. In this word some of the older commentators
saw the pteron {irTtpov) of Pliny (xxxvi, 5), or the TrnpajfiaTa
(wings) of Vitruvius (iii, 2); others thought that the word was
corrupt and concealed a number, thus : P Iviii, that is fifty-
eight feet. Neither view appears promising. Perhaps the word
represents some adjective agreeing with ambulatio, such as
proxuma or plurima (of considerable extent); or stands for
pluriniae agreeing with caviae, the translation then being "a
walk adjoining the aviary in the middle of which, at the place

272 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

wing), in the middle of which are bird-cages where
the entrance to the quadrangle is placed. At the
threshold and along the sides right and left colon-
nades are arranged, the front columns being of
stone, and instead of columns between them and
the wall there are dwarf trees, while from the
top of the wall to the architrave the colonnade is
covered by a hempen net which is continued also
from the architrave to the stylobate. These colon-
nades are filled with all kinds of birds which are
fed through the net, and water flows to them in a
12 tiny stream. Adjoining the inner side [i.e. facing the
area] of the stylobate at the upper end of the quad-
rangular space, two separate narrow oblong ponds
stretch from the middle of the quadrangle in the
direction of the colonnades. Between these ponds
is a path, the only means of access to the tholus
beyond, which is a rotunda supported by pillars, as

where the entrance to the quadrangle stands, are many bird-
cages." I am aware tliat such conjectures without some further
support are not valuable ; but the passage seems to need strong
medicine, and the copyist has been very careless throughout
this description. For example, five lines further down he has
artihusculis for the obvious arbusculis, and (lo) ad stylobate for
stylohaten. In limine^ too, I believe to be an explanation, inter-
polated in the text, of the previous clause ; for, it will be re-
membered, the aviary is enclosed by walls only on two sides,
so that the arrangement described in lines 6-9 could not have
been in limine.

This second amlmlatio may have been cither the usual
"alley " of clipped box, etc., or a covered colonnade. Cf. Cicero,
Ad Q. F. , iii : Ita omnia convestit hedera, qua basim villae qua
intercolumnia ambulationis.

Ill] OF FIELDFARES 273

is the case with Catulus's ^ hall if you put pillars
instead of walls. Beyond these pillars is a wood of
great trees planted by hand, which admits light
only at the lower part, and the whole is shut in by

13 high walls. Between the outside pillars of the
domed building, which are of stone, and the slender
inside ones, the same in number, which are of fir, is
a space five feet in width. The outside columns are
joined together by a net made of gut, which serves
as a wall, so that it is possible to look out into the
wood and see what is there, without a bird being
able to get through. The inner pillars are connected
by a fowling-net thrown over them, instead of a
wall. Between the inner and outer pillars there has
been constructed, as it were, a little bird-theatre,
with seats rising tier by tier, since on all the pillars
many brackets have been placed as " seats" for the

14 birds. Within the net are birds of all kinds, mostly
songsters, such as nightingales and blackbirds,
which are served with water by means of a small
gutter, while food is thrown to them under the net.
Under the stylobate of the pillars is stone-work one
foot nine inches high above a platform,^ which is

^ In aede Catuli. The poHicus Catuli built de manubiis Cim-
hricis is well known (cf. Cicero, Pro Dom. Sua, 38) ; but I can
find no reference save here to an aedes Catuli. The word aedes,
of course, quite frequently — especially in Plautus and Livy —
means " hall " as well as " temple."

2 Falere. This word Is not to be met with except In this
chapter. It is connected by the different commentators with
(1) 0aXapof or <pd\epog, white; (2) Falerii, a city built on a high

T

274 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

itself two feet above a pond, and five feet wide, so
that guests can walk round to their cushions and
the small columns/ Lowest of all and surrounded
by the platform is a pond having a margin a foot
wide, and in the middle of the pond is a little
island. Round about the quay docks have also
15 been cut out as houses for the ducks. In the island
is a small column which has inside it a vertical rod
that supports, instead of a table, a wheel with
spokes, and at the circumference of the wheel where
is generally the curved felloe is a board hollowed

rock; {2) falerae or phalerae (Keil), the breast ornaments of
horses or men.

May it not be for Phalerum? The (paXripov, the western
harbour of Athens, was almost circular in form. The navalia
{veioaotKOL), mentioned later, would then continue the metaphor.
I ought, perhaps, to have translated "a circular quay."

^ Columellas. It is difficult to determine what Is meant by
these. Are they the coluvinas tenues of § 13, or small pillars —
not mentioned before — which served as tables for the guests?
Keil, however, considers that all previous commentators have
erred in thinking that there were any guests at all to be fed,
and holds that the ducks were themselves the coiivivae. He
reminds us that Varro had already disapproved (4, 3) of
Lucullus's practice of having a dining-room in the aviary.
But what need had ducks of culcitae? Why the elaborate
arrangement described for providing drink {ad bibetidum) as
well as food if It was for ducks which swam In a pond? And
why have hot water laid on for them? The aviarv was built
for pleasure {animi causa), and to it Varro, no doubt, often
took his guests, and when they were lliere gave them, not
indeed a cena, but perhaps a cold lunch laid out on the rotating
table. The hot and cold water was of course to mix with their
wine and to cleanse their hands after eating.

Ill] OF FIELDFARES 275

out like a tambourine, two-and-a-half feet wide and
four inches deep. It can be turned by a single
serving-man, and on it all the things to eat and
drink can be set at the same time and moved round

16 to each guest. From the side of the quay where the
coverlets ' are usually found the ducks walk into the
pond and swim about in it. The pond is connected
with the two fish-ponds I mentioned by a stream,
and little fishes swim constantly backwards and
forwards, while from the circular board forming the
table, which, as I said, is at the ends of the spokes,
hot and cold water is made to flow to each guest by

17 the turning of different taps. Inside, under the
dome, the morning star" by day, the evening star

^ Ubi Solent esse peripetasmata. This is said in precisely the
same way as the uhi orbile solet esse above, and does not mean
that peripetasmata were actually allowed to hang down. The
falere evidently served as the lectus of the guests, and the sug-
gestum faleris , the side facing the pond, corresponded with the
space under the seat of the lectus "where the peripetasmata
usually hang." These were the same as the better known
vestes stragulae — richly embroidered coverlets which were
spread over the couches and hung down from them to the
floor.

The rotating table was, I imagine, a foot or so above the
level of the falere not interrupting the view of the pond, so
that Varro's guests might sit or recline in comfort while en-
joying the bird concert, watching the ducks and fishes in the
pond, and eating their luncheon.

^ Lucifer interdiu. Lucifer and Hesperus, as of course
Varro knew, were different names for the same star Venus.
Cf. Pliny (ii, 8) : Infra solem ambit ingens sidus, appellatum
Veneris. . . . Praeveniens quippe et ante matutinum exortens,

276 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

by night, move round the lower part of the hemi-
sphere in such a way as to indicate the hour. In the
middle of the same hemisphere, which has a spindle
in the centre, is painted the cycle of the eight
winds, like the horologium ^ at Athens made by the
Cyrrestian, and projecting from the spindle a pointer
so moves to the circle as to touch the sign of what-
ever wind is blowing at the time, so that any one
inside can tell.
1 8 As we were saying this, shouting was heard in
the Campus. We who were old hands at electioneer-
ing were not surprised, knowing how excited voters

Luciferi nomen accipit, ut sol alter diem maturans: contra ah
occasu refulgens nuncupatur Vesper, etc.

I believe, with Schneider, that here are meant certain images
which moved round the lower part of the tholus where the
hours were marked, and that they were actuated by some
such clepsydra as that described by Vitruvius (ix, 9) under the
name of w/soXoyiov vSpavXiKov — a complicated arrangement of
wheels and water. Clepsydrae, which indicated the hour at
night, as well as by day, were common in Rome after 159 B.C.

'■ Horologium. This was an octagonal tower made of marble
which contained a clepsydra that gave the hour of the day or
night. Each of the eight sides of the tower corresponded to
the direction from which one of the eight winds blew, and
had engraved on the frieze a picture of that wind. At the
summit of the sloping roof there was the figure of a Triton
holding in his hand a rod with which he pointed to the picture
of the wind which was blowing at the time. This tower was
built by Andronicus of Cyrrhus about the middle of the first
century B.C., and is still to be seen at Athens. There is a
good engraving of it in SeyfTert's (Sandys and Nettleship)
" Dictionary of Classical Antiquities," p. 648, and a careful
description of it in Vitruvius, i, b.

Ill] OF PEACOCKS 277

get on these occasions, but still we wanted to know
what it meant, whereupon Pantuleius Parra ^ came
to us with the news that while they were checking
the votes at the table some one had been caught
throwing voting tablets into a ballot-box,' and
had been haled before the Consul by the supporters
of the rival candidates. Pavo got up, for it was said
that the man caught was the person who had been
put in charge of his candidate's ballot-box.

CHAPTER VI

OF PEACOCKS

I Axius remarked on this: Now that Fircellius has
gone you may speak freely about peacocks, for had

^ Parra. A bird of evil omen. Cf. Horace (Odes, iii, 27, i) :
Impios parrae recinentis omen
Ducat et praegnans cants . . .

and the Eugubine Tables (beginning).

^ In loculum. For the more common cistam. It is inter-
esting to find that in this year, 54 B.C., a determined effort
was made by Cato to check bribery at elections, and Plutarch
(Life of Cato, about the middle) tells us that he greatly em-
barrassed the candidates, so much so that " they decided to
deposit 500 sestertia (cf. Cicero, Ad Att., iv, 15, which fixes the
date) each, and then to canvass in a fair and legal manner.
If any one were convicted of bribery he was to forfeit his
deposit." A few paragraphs further on he writes: "This
Favonius stood for the office of Aedile and apparently lost It ;
but Cato upon examining the votes, and finding several of

278 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

you said anything disrespectful ^ of them in his
presence he would probably have had a bone^ to
pick with you for the honour of his clan. To him
Merula answered: As to peacocks, why I remember
the time when people first began to keep flocks of
them and sell them at a big price. M. Aufidius
Lurco ' is said to make more than 60,000 sesterces
(;^48o) a year out of these birds.

If profit be your object there should be consider-
ably fewer cocks than hens, if pleasure, it is the
other way about, for the cock is the handsomer of
the two.

They should be fed on the farm in flocks. It is
said that beyond the sea they are reared on islands,
as, for instance, at Samos in the grove of Juno, and
on Planasia, ' an island which belongs to M. Piso.

them inscribed in the same hand-writing, appealed against
the fraud, and the tribunes set aside the election."

It looks very much as though the fraud mentioned by
Plutarch were the same as that alluded to in Varro's text.

^ Secus here = male, a not uncommon use, especially in Sallust.

^ Serram. There seems to be no reason to suspect the text,
as Scaliger and others have done. Quarrelsome altercation
is well expressed by the metaphor of the two-handed saw.
Tertullian (De Corona, 2) has: Et quamdiu per hanc lineam
serram reciprocabimus?

^ M. Aufidius Lurco. Cf. Pliny (x, 20): "The first to kill
a peacock for the table was the orator Hortensius on the
occasion of an inaugural dinner of the Pontifices; to fatten
peacocks, M. Aufidius Lurco about the close of the war against
the Pirates (67 B.C.). From this source he made an income
of 60,000 sesterces."

' Planasia. Now Pianosa, a small island about twenty

Ill] OF PEACOCKS 279

To form a flock birds of good age and shape
are bought, for to this creature nature has given
the palm for shapeHness and beauty over all other
winged things. Pea-hens under two ' years old are
no use for breeding, and they cease to be so when

3 too old. They eat any kind of grain given them,
with a preference for barley. Seius gives them a
modius (peck) of barley each per month, taking
care, however, to increase the allowance (for the
cock birds) at the breeding season before copula-
tion begins. He expects his keeper to produce
three chicks to each pea-hen, and for each chicken
when grown he gets 50 denarii' (^i 12^-.), so that

4 no bird is so profitable as the peacock. He also
buys eggs and puts them under hens, and the
chickens that are hatched he takes from them and
puts in the domed building^ where he keeps his

miles due south of Elba. Cf. Columella (viii, 11, i): Itaque
hoc genus alitum nemorosis et parvulis insulis, quales ohiacent
Italiae facillime continetiir. Nam quoniavi nee suhlimiter potest
nee per longa spatia voHtare, turn etiain quia furis ac noxiorum
animalium rapinae metus non est sine custode lata vagatur
-maioremque pahuli partem sibi acquirit.

' Bimae should almost certainly be tritnae, for, as Schneider
points out, Aristotle, Columella, Pliny, Aelian, and the Geo-
ponica all fix three years as the earliest age at which pea-hens
begin to lay, and this is confirmed by modern experience.

- Quinquagenis denariis. Fifty denarii = 100 sesterces =
about ,;^i \2s.

^ Testudineni. For an interesting and detailed account of
the "peacock-house" cf. Columella, viii, 11, 3. In this he
states that separate pens must be made, one for each cock-
bird and the five hens assigned to him.

28o VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

peacocks. This building should be made of a
size proportionate to the number of peacocks kept
in it, and should have separate sleeping places
having a smooth coating of plaster to prevent any

5 serpent or other animal from getting in. It should
also have a space in front of it, where the chickens
may go out to be fed on sunny days. These birds
require both places to be clean ; and so their keeper
must go round with a shovel and remove the
droppings, which he will keep carefully, as they
are useful for tillage and as litter for the chickens.

6 It is said that these birds first appeared on the table
at a dinner-party given by Q. Hortensius to cele-
brate his election as augur, an extravagance which
was at that time commended only by the luxurious,
not by men of virtue and prudence. His example
was speedily followed by many, and the price paid
for them went up in consequence, so that their eggs
sell now for 5 denarii ^ (3^. ;^d.) apiece, while the
birds themselves fetch without difficulty 50 denarii
(;^i 12s.) a head, and a flock of one hundred easily
makes 40,000 sesterces (;^32o), and Abuccius indeed
used to say that by requiring three chickens to
each hen, 60,000 sesterces (^480) might be made.

' Denariis quinis. Macrobius (ii, 9), writing about the be-
ginning of the fifth century a.d., quotes this passage, adding:
Ecce res non admiranda solum sed etiam pudenda ut ova pav-
onum quinis denariis veneant; quae hodie non dicam vilius sed
ovinino non veneunt.

The sum of bo.ooo sesterces is made up thus : 100 hens pro-
duce 300 chickens, which fetch each 50 denarii or 200 sesterces ;
300 X 200 = 60,000.

Ill] OF PIGEONS 281

CHAPTER VII

OF PIGEONS

1 Meanwhile Appius's servant came from the
Consul, and said that the augurs were wanted.
Appius went out from the Hall, and at that
moment there fluttered into it a flock of pigeons,
giving Merula occasion to say to Axius: Now
if ever you had set up a pigeon-house, you
might have imagined these birds to be yours, wild
though they are. For in a pigeon-house there are
usually the two kinds, one wild pigeons, or rock-
pigeons as some call them, kept in turrets and
gable-ends {coliimen) of the farmstead — it is from
columen they get the name columbae — and seek-
ing the highest places on buildings through their
inborn timidity. Hence the wild kind mostly haunt
turrets, flying up to them from the fields and back

2 again as the fancy takes them. The other kind of
pigeon is less shy, for it feeds contentedly at home
about the doorstep. This is generally white,' while
the other, the wild kind, is of different colours, but
not white. From the union of these two stocks

' Colore albo. Cf. Columella (viii, 8, 9): "The white kind,
which is commonly seen everywhere, is not much approved
of by some people, thoug^h the colour is well enough for
pigeons which are kept in confinement. For those which fly
about freely it is the worst possible, as it is most easily espied
by the hawk."

282 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

comes a third mongrel kind which is bred for profit.
These are put into a place called by some a per-
isteron, by others a peristerotrophion^ in which
often as many as five thousand birds are confined.

3 The peristeron is built in the shape of a large
testudo with a vaulted roof. It has a narrow en-
trance and windows latticed in the Carthaginian ^
fashion, or wider than these are and furnished
with a double trellis, so that the whole place may
be well lit and no snake or other noxious animal
may be able to get in. Inside every part of the
walls and ceilings is coated with the smoothest
possible cement made from marble; outside, too,
the walls in the neighbourhood of the windows are
plastered over to prevent a mouse or a lizard creep-
ing by any way into the pigeon cotes. For nothing

4 is more timid than a pigeon. Many round niches^
are made in a row, one for each pair of pigeons,
and there should be as many rows as possible from
ground to ceilinor. Each niche should be made so
that the pigeon may have an opening just big
enough for it to come in and out, and should have
an inside diameter of three palms (one foot). Under
each row of pigeon-holes a shelf, eight inches

' Punicanis. The Carthaginians gave their name to many
things made of wood, as for example the pJostcUum Poenicum
(Varro, i, 52, i), the lectus Punicayius (Isidore, xx, 11), Puni-
cana coagvienta (Cato, xviii, 2), etc.

^ Columbaria. The writer of the article "Pigeon" in the
" Encyclopaedia Britannica," after criticizing severely modern
dove-cotes, in his description of the properly constructed pigeon-
house unconsciously plagiarizes from Varro.

Ill] OF PIGEONS 283

broad, should be attached to the wall, which the
birds can use as a landing-, and walk on to it when

5 they like. There should be water flowing ^ in for
their drinking and washing, for pigeons are very
clean birds. The pigeon-keeper should, therefore,
sweep the place out several times a month, as the
dirt made there is an excellent manure, so much
so that some authors speak of it as the best of all.
If any pigeon has come to any harm the keeper
must look after it, if one has died he must remove it,
and if any young birds are fit for sale he must bring

6 them out. He must also have a fixed place, which
is shut " off from the others by a net, to which the
hen-birds that are sitting may be transferred, and

^ Quae influat. The reading- of the Archetype is quo influat,
which is supported by the Geoponica (xiv, 6): "A fairly large
bathing place should be dug in the pigeon-house for the birds
to bathe and drink in, so that the keeper may not have to
disturb the birds frequently in order to give them water."
Columella, however (viii, 8, 5), says that "the drinking ves-
sels should be similar to those used for hens, should admit
only the necks of the birds, and should be too narrow to allow
of their bathing, which is bad for the eggs or chickens on
which they are sitting."

^ Dischisum ah aliis. Cf. Columella (viii, 8, 4): "On the
outside, too, the walls should have a coating of smooth
plaster — especially about the window. This must be so situ-
ated as to admit the sunlight for the greater part of the
winter's day, and it should have appended to It a fairly large
house protected by nets in order to keep out the hawks, to
admit the pigeons that are going out to sun themselves, and
to let the mother birds, sitting on eggs or chickens, out to
the fields, lest saddened by the slavery of continuous confine-
ment they fall sick. When they have flown about the build-

284 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

it must be possible for the mothers to fly out of it
away from the pigeon-cote. For this there are two
reasons: (i) because, in case they are losing appe-
tite and are growing feeble in captivity, a flight into
the country and the free air brings back their
strength; (2) because, they act as a decoy; ' for they
themselves in any case come back to the pigeon-
cote because of their young ones, unless they are
killed by a crow or caught by a hawk. These latter

7 pigeon-keepers generally kill by means of two limed
twigs, which are stuck in the ground and then bent
so as to touch each other. An animal of the kind
on which hawks prey is then tied between them,
and so, smearing themselves with the birdlime they
are beguiled. That pigeons do return to a place is
shown by the fact that people often let them fly
from their laps in the theatre, and they return
home, and unless they did so they would never be

8 let loose. Food is given them in sm.all troughs
placed round the walls, which are filled from out-
side by means of pipes. They are fond of millet,
wheat, barley, peas, kidney-beans, and vetch. Much
the same methods must be adopted — as far as pos-
sible— by those who keep wild pigeons in turrets
and on the roof of the farmhouse.

ings for a little while they come back cheered and refreshed
to their young ones."

' Propter inlicium. The Geoponica (xiv, 3) state that if you
anoint your pigeons with myrrh, or add cummin or old wine
to 'their food, "all the neighbouring pigeons noticing the
sweetness of their breath will come to your dove-cote."

Ill] OF PIGEONS 285

For your pigeon-house you must get birds of the
right age — not young chicks and not old hens — and

9 as many cocks as hens. Nothing is more proHfic
than the pigeon. Thus within the space of forty days
a hen-bird conceives, lays, hatches, and rears its
young. And this is continued all the year round,'
the only interval being from the winter solstice to
the spring equinox. They have two young ones at
a time, and when they have grown up and come to
their strength these go on breeding at the same
time as their mothers. Those who fatten young
pigeons to increase their market value keep them
apart from the others as soon as they are covered
with down. Then they stuff them with chewed'
white bread; in winter twice a day, in summer

10 three times, morning, noon, and evening; in winter
the middle meal being cut off. Those which are
beginning to get their wing feathers have their
legs broken,' and, left in the nest, are given over
to their mother's care, for so she feeds them and

' Toiu7U annum. Cf. Columella (viii, 8, 9) : Nam et ociies
anno pullos educat si est bo7ia matrix.

- Manducato. From a curious passage in Columella (viii,
10, 4) it appears that men were hired to do this chewing, and
that they got a good price for the work. Hanc quidam man-
dunt et ita ohiciunt. Sed istud in maiore numero facere vix
expedit, quia nee parvo conducuntur qui mandant et ah lis
ipsis aliqtiantum propter iucunditatem (he is speaking of a
mixture of figs and flour) consumitur.

3 Inlisis cruribus. Columella (viii, 8, 12) repeats this, add-
ing: "the broken legs cause them pain for not more than
two days or at most three " !

286 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

herself all day long. Birds thus reared fatten more
quickly than others, and the mother birds become
white.'

At Rome if a pair are handsome, of good colour,
without blemish, and of a good breed, they sell
quite commonly for 200 sesterces (;^i 12s.), while
a pair of exceptional merit will fetch 1,000 sesterces
(;^8)." Lately, when a trader wanted to buy them at
that price from L. Axius, a Roman eques, the latter
refused to part with them for less than 400 denarii
II (12 guineas). Said Axius: If I could have bought
a ready-made pigeon-house just as I bought earth-
enware pigeon boxes when I wanted them at my
house, I should by this time have gone to buy it
and have sent it on to my villa. Just as though,
said Pica, there were not at this moment plenty of
pigeon-houses in Rome as well as in the country!
Or do you "^ consider that people who have dove-

^ Candidae. One does not see why abundant food and
assiduous care of their young should make the parent birds
white ! Schneider conjectured gi-andiores instead of the can-
didiores of the ante-Victorian editions.

^ Singulis milibus. Cf. Columella (viii, 8, 9) : "As Marcus
Varro, a great authority, assures us, for he states that even
in those less luxurious times a pair frequently fetched a
thousand sesterces."

^ Tibe. The reading found in all the IMSS. The forms
libe (older tibei), sibc, are common in inscriptions of Varro's
time. Cf. Lex Rubria, 49 B.C., etc. Quinlilian (i, 7, 24) says:
Sibe et quase in multormn libris est ; sed an hoc voluerint
auctores nescio. T. Liviutn ita his usum ex Pediano coinperi
qui et ipse cum sequcbatur ; hacc nos i lift era finimus.

Ill] OF TURTLE-DOVES 287

cotes on the tiles ^ do not possess pigeon houses,
though some of these have a plant worth more than
100,000 sesterces (^800)? Now I should advise you
to buy the whole plant belonging to one of them,
and before building" in the country to learn
thoroughly here in Rome how to pocket the big
gain of fifty per cent.'' every day. Now, Merula,
will you go on to the next subject?

CHAPTER VIII

OF TURTLE-DOVES

Said he: For turtle-doves, as for pigeons, you
must build a place of a size proportionate to the
number of birds you m.ean to rear, and it, too, as
we said when speaking of pigeons, must have an
entrance, windows, pure water, and walls and ceil-
ings protected with plaster; but instead of pigeon-
holes ' along the wall, shelves or poles placed in a

' In tegulu. Cf. Columella (viii, 11, 3): Fiunt artindinea
septa in inodum caveamm qualia columbaria tectis superpon-
untur.

'" Aedificas does not seem to be Latin ; aedifices should be
read,

^ Assem semissem. Victorlus (p. 120) says in regard to this
passage: Antiquoruin librorum lectio. In excusis ^' Ex asse
semissem" antea legebatur. This would mean " the big profit
of 50 per cent, a day."

' Pro columbariis. Because the turtle-dove did not breed in
captivity. Cf. Columella (viii, 9, i): Turturum educatio super-

288 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

row, on which little mats made of hemp are placed.
The lowest row should not be less than three feet
from the ground, between the other rows there
should be nine inches, and between the top row
and the ceiling six inches; the row should be of the
breadth the shelf can be made to project from the
wall, and upon these shelves the birds feed ' day and
night. For food they are given dry wheat, about
half a peck a day for every 120 turtle-doves. Their
quarters are swept out daily lest they suffer harm
from the dung," which is, moreover, kept for tillage.
The best time for fattening them is near the time ol
harvest,^ for the mother-birds are then at their best

vacua est, quoniam id genus in ornithone nee parit nee exeudit.
He goes on to say that they are fattened as soon as caught,
and that the best time to do so is in summer, as it is difficult
to fatten them in winter, and the price obtained for them
is lowered by reason of the abundance of fieldfares at that
season.

^ Pascuntur. Columella (viii, 9, 3) closely follows Varro,
but enters into greater detail : "The places made for turtle-
doves are not boxes or little chambers hollowed out in the
walls as is the case for pigeons. Instead shelves (brackets)
are fastened to the walls in a straight line, and these are
covered with little hempen mats. Nets are thrown over them
to prevent the birds from flying, as they lose flesh if they do.
On these shelves they are diligently fed with millet or wheat,
which must not be other than dry."

^ A stercore. Columella {Joe. eit.) continues: "The mats
must be carefully cleaned lest the dung burn the feet of the
birds."

' Cireiter messem. Columella (loc. eit.) says: "About har-
vest time when the young broods have now grown strong."

The practice of fattening turtle-doves in large numbers was

Ill] OF POULTRY 289

when most chicks are being born, and the latter are
more easily fattened at this time. Thus they are
especially profitable at this season of the year.

CHAPTER IX

OF POULTRY

I MISS, said Axius, two branches of the art of
fattening^ birds, those connected with wood pigeons
and hens, I mean, and I shall be glad if you, Merula,
will now speak about them — then if anything in
the other branches remains proper to be discussed
we can discuss^ it. Well [said Merula] the term

common in the thirteenth century in Italy. Crescentius (late
thirteenth century) writes: "The fowlers of Lombardy, espe-
cially at Cremona, net wild turtle-doves all through the summer
and shut them up in a small well-lighted building. They give
them clean water and as much millet seed as they will eat,
and keep them until winter or well into the autumn. As many
as fifteen hundred of them are kept in one place, and grow
ineffably fat ! "

^ Farturae. The reading of the Archetype was sarsurae
assurae. It seems probable that the second word is a careless
repetition of the first, and that sarsurae is ior faHurae , though
the latter corruption is difficult to account for. In the next
line Keil brackets palumbis — wrongly I think, for (i) the
plural membra implies at least two branches, and (2) after
hens have been discussed, a few words are actually givei. to
wood-pigeons — palumbis {()y 21). Perhaps the original words
were de palumbis et gallinis.

* Ratiocinari. Properly a book-keeper's word, meaning to
"audit an account," to "reckon." Cf. Cicero (Phil., ii, 22):

U

290 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

poultry includes fowls of three kinds — barn-door,
2 wild, and African. Barn-door^ fowls are those
which are commonly kept at farmhouses in the
country. With regard to these, he who means to
set up a poultry-farm — with the object, that is, of
making large profits by the application of skill and
diligence, as the Delians^ in particular have ever
done — must give heed to these five points: (i) buy-
ing: the kind and number to be bought; (2) breed-
ing: the conditions to be observed for mating and
laying; (3) eggs: the sitting and bringing off;
(4) chickens: the method of rearing and the birds

Omnia denique quae postea vidimus. Si rede ratiocinahimur,
uni accepta referemus Antonio. The passage in the text might
perhaps run: " If there is any useful calculation to be made
about the other branches we can then make it " — with a hit at
the commercial spirit of Axius.

' Gallifiae villaticae. Cf. Columella (viii, 2, 2) : Cohorfalis
est avis quae viilgo per omnes fere villas conspicitur. Deinceps
in the next line is unintelligible, and I am inclined to think
that it has strayed from the passage three lines higher : Zmw
de reliquis. Siquid, etc., the sense of which would be improved
by the insertion of deinceps after reliquis.

^ Deliaci. Cf. Columella (viii, 2, 4) : Huius igitur villatici
generis non spertieridus est redittis si adhibeatur educandi
scientia quant plerique Graecoruiti et praecipue celebravere
Deliaci. He goes on to say, however, that the Delians bred
principally fighting-cocks (Tanagrian, Rhodian, Chalcidic,
and Median), and that he prefers the native Italian breed (of
which he gives a detailed description) "as a source of revenue
for the hard-working pater familias. " He strongly disapproves
of cock-fighting, " as often a man's whole patrimony is staked
on a match and is carried off by the victorious boxer (/Jyc/^j)."
Cf. Pliny (x, 50) : Gallinas saginare Deliaci coepere.

Ill] OF POULTRY 291

by which they are to be reared; and (5) the method
of fattening them, which forms an appendix to the
other four heads.

3 The term "hen" is appHed in a special sense to
female barn-door fowls ; the males are called cocks,
the half-males — those which have been castrated —
capons. Cocks are castrated — to make them capons
— by burning them with a hot iron at the lower
extremities ^ of the legs until the skin bursts, and
the sore which rises is smeared over with potter's
clay.

4 He who looks to have a poultry-farm complete at
every point should of course procure all three kinds,
but he must have, above all others, barn-door fowls.
In buying these, those should be chosen ■ which
are prolific; their short feathers should be mostly

* Ad infima crura. This is strange — but Columella (viii, 2,
3) has: Nee famen id patmntur amissis genitalibus, sed ferro
candente ealcaribus inustis, quae cum ignea vi consumpta sunt,
facta ulcera, duni consanescant, jigulari creta linuntur, and
Pliny (x, 21): Desinunt canere castrati: quid duobtis Jit modis,
lumhis adustis candente ferro (so Aristotle, H. A., ix, 50), aut
imis cruribus . . . facilius ita pinguescunt.

^ Eligat. Columella's description (viii, 2, 7, etc.) of the
farm-yard fowl, which closely follows Varro's, is of the native
Italian breed {vernacuJum nostrum) ; consequently this is the
breed described by Varro.

The cock came to Italy probably from Persia (it is mentioned
in the Zend Avesta) via Asia Minor and Greece, to which it
was brought in the sixth or fifth century (neither Homer nor
Hesiod mentions it, but Aristophanes frequently does so).
Athenaeus (xiv, 20) places the original home of the cock in
Persia.

292 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

reddish, wing feathers black, toes of unequal
length, heads big, crest erect, and bodies of large

5 size, for these are the best layers. The cocks should
be chosen for their amorous ^ nature ; you may
know them by their being fleshy and having a red
crest, a short, thick, sharp beak, gray or black eyes,
whitish-red wattles, a striped or gold-tinged neck,
well feathered thighs, short legs, long nails, long
tails and wings with abundant feathers — also by
their frequent stretching up and crowing, by their
stubbornness in fight, and by the courage with
which, so far from fearing animals which harm the

6 hens, they even do battle on the hens' behalf. You
must not, however, in choosing a breed, try to get
Tanagrian, Median,- or Chalcidic cocks, for though

^ Gallos solaces qui. In the Editio Maior Keil brackets this
qui, suggesting, however, that it may be an adverb meaning
" somehow " ! There would seem to be three ways of dealing
with the passage: (i) to expunge qtii, "the cocks which are
good sires are known by," etc. ; (2) to retain qui and insert
sint taking gallos as the common (in Varro) Greek accusative,
and (3) to read with Schneider: g'allos salaces: qui animad-
vertuntur si . . .," supplying before g-allos the eligat oportct of
line 2. This seems to me incomparably the best way of the
three, and so I have translated.

^ Melicos. Popular for medicos (cf. iii, 9, 19) ; also Festus :
Medicae gallinae quod in Media id genus avium corporis am-
plissimi fiat, "/" littera pro "d" substituta, and Columella,
viii, 2, ^: et Medicum quod ah imperito vulgo littera muiata
Melicum appeUatur.

Columella (viii, 2, 13) recommends that these foreign breeds
be crossed with Italian liens: nam ct patcrnam spccicm gerunt,
et salacitatem fecunditatemque vernaculam ret incut" He has

Ill] OF POULTRY 293

doubtless handsome, and excellent for cock fights
when matched with one another, they are poor
sires.

Supposing that you intend to feed two hundred
fowls you must give them an enclosed space, and
have two hen-houses^ built in it close together

no good word for bantams (^pumiles aves) as they are not pro-
lific or profitable, and the cocks are quarrelsome and pleruvique
ceteros infestat et non patitur inire feminas, cum ipse pluribus
sufficere non queat.

' Duae caveae. Columella's lucid account (viii, 3) of the
hen-house may be compared with this. There were three
contiguous cellae of which the middle one was the least, being
7 ft. in every dimension. The other two were 12 ft. by 12 ft.
by 7 ft. wide, and were each divided into two storeys, the
lower chamber being 7 ft. high, the upper 4 ft. The entrance
to the building was in the middle cella; of the two lateral
cellae the entrances right and left adjoined the back wall. In
the centre of this back wall was a fire-place, the smoke from
which drifted into each of the lateral chambers, "for," says
Columella, " smoke is very salutary for hens." Places were
cut out in the walls to serve as nests — or stakes were driven
firmly in, and supported wicker baskets. In front of the nests
were " landings " on which the hens might alight when going
to lay or sit, for if they flew directly on to the nests they were
apt to smash the eggs. The birds were not to sleep on the
floors "as dung does harm to their feet and produces gout";
and their perches were cut square. Water (which must be
clean, for, if foul, it gives them the pip) was served to them in
wooden or earthenware troughs provided with lids; it was
drunk by the birds through holes in the sides which were just
big enough to admit their necks. In the yard plenty of dust
or ashes was laid down along the walls — in the colonnades or
wherever there was a protecting roof — so that the hens might
clean their feathers by rolling in it.

294 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

which face south ; each must be some ten feet in
length, half as much in breadth, and a little less
than ten feet in height. In each there should be a
window three feet wide and a foot more in height.
These windows should be made of osiers with wide
interstices, so as to afford plenty of light, and yet
preventing from getting through them any of those
animals which harm fowls.
7 Between the two houses there should be a door
for the gallinarius, their keeper, that is, to enter.
In each hen-house there must be numerous perches
reaching across it — enough to hold all the hens in
fact — and opposite to each perch separate nests
should be made for the hens. In front must be, as
I said,^ an enclosed court where they may stay in the
day-time and take dust-baths. There must be, be-
sides, a large- room for the keeper to live in, while
all round in the walls are the hens' nests,' either

' Sicut dixi. This refers, no doubt, to the locus saeptus of
§6.

- Cella grandis. It would appear from the text that hens'
nests were disposed round this cella grandis in which the
keeper lived. Varro does not state where this was situated,
though it was probably between the two hen-houses and cor-
responds to Columella's cella minima (loc. cit.). But in the
latter there were no nests — only a fireplace ; and if the keeper's
cell was between the two hen-houses it is strange that it was
not referred to above when the door, which would lead into
it, was mentioned. Schneider rightly suspects the text.

' Plena cubilia. The meaning of //t'«a— for which the edi-
tions before Victorius substituted posita — is dark to me. Keil's
explanation is singular: "The nests had to be full, lest the
sitting hens should suffer from any movement." But how

Ill] OF POULTRY 295

cut ' in the walls themselves or firmly attached to
them, for movement is harmful when a hen is sit-

8 ting. When they are going to lay you must strew
chaff in their nests, and, when they have laid, this
must be taken away and fresh put in its place, for
otherwise fleas and other vermin breed in it, and
prevent the hen from keeping still — the result being
that the eggs are hatched spasmodically or else go
bad. They say that when you want a hen to sit,
she should not be given more than twenty-five
eggs," though being a prolific animal she may have

9 laid more, and that the best time for sitting is
between the spring and autumn equinoxes. Accord-
could this apply to the first case mentioned, where the nests
were cut out in the walls, or to the second, where they were
attached to the walls very firmly in order to prevent them
from moving?

I can only suggest, if plena is to be kept, that it should be
taken closely with gallinarum (nests full of hens).

' Aut exculpta aut adjicta. Columella (viii, 3, 4) describes
both methods: "The walls should be built thick enough to
admit of nests being cut in them . . . for this method is both
healthier and more sightly than that adopted by some people
who drive stakes well into the walls and then place wicker
baskets upon them."

^ XXV ova. The Geoponica give twenty-one as the maxi-
mum number. Columella (viii, 5, 8) makes it depend on the
month: " In January fifteen — never more than this; in March
not less than nineteen ; in April twenty-one, and twenty-one for
every month up to October ist. After that the number does not
matter, as the chickens hatched in cold weather nearly always
die." All ancient authorities agree that the number must be
odd, and that incubation should begin when the moon is
waxing !

296 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

ingly the eggs laid before or after this time, as well
as the first^ eggs laid during this time, should not
be used for sitting, and such as are used should be
given to quite old hens which must not have sharp
beaks or claws,^ rather than to pullets,' for the time
of the young ones should be taken up in con-
ceiving, not sitting. They lay best when one or two
10 years old. If you mean to put pea-hens' eggs under
a hen, then hens' eggs may be added only after
she has been sitting on the former nine days, and
is beginning the tenth, so that she may bring the
chickens off at the same time, for chickens take
twice ten days to hatch, peacocks thrice nine.* The

^ Prima. The Geoponica (xiv, 7) translate this npinTo-oKa —
" the first eggs laid by a hen." Td Se Ttpo tovtov tov Kaipov f; fitrd
ravTa TLKTojitva Kal to. TrpcuroTOKci Trdvra ov^ vTroOirkov.

- Ungues. Columella (viii, 2, 8) says that it is a sign of
breeding in hens if they have five toes, but they must not have
cross spurs like cocks, as In that case contumax ad concubitutn
. . . raroque fecunda, etiain cum incuhat calcis aculeis ova per-
fring-it.

^ Pullitris, Scaliger defends the word puUitra, not found
elsewhere, on the analogy of porcetra — a young sow that has
farrowed but once. The Geoponica {loc. cit.) tra.ns\site pul/ttris
CLKjiaCovacuQ Ka'i tikthv £vvafiivai£.

* Ter noveni. Schneider substitutes ter deni, inferring the
necessity from Varro's own words ; but Varro was not the man
to sacrifice a neat antithesis and a fine number associated
with Pythagorean philosophy and magic spells (cf. the ter
novwjis cantare of i, 2, 27) to mere pedantic accuracy. Even
the later born Columella respects the number, not changing
but qualifying it (cf. viii, 5, 10): Dicbus ter septenis opus est
gallinaceo generic at pavonino et atisenno patiUo amplius ter
novenisX Pliny, however, says that the time depends upon the

Ill] OF POULTRY 297

sitting hens should be confined so that they may
go on sitting night and day, with an interval in the
early morning and evening for food and drink to

II be given them. The keeper ought to go round
every few days and turn the eggs, so that all parts
of them may be kept equally warm. They say you
can tell if an egg is good and full or not by putting
it into water, for an empty one floats and a full one
sinks, but that shaking them in order to find this
out is a mistake, as it destroys the germinal veins.^
The same people tell you that the egg which, when
held up to the light, appears transparent, is good

13 for nothing. Those who want to keep eggs for
future use rub them well with fine salt or brine for
three or four hours. This is then washed off, and
the eggs are covered over with bran or chaff. Care
is taken that the number of eggs in a sitting is un-
even. Four days after a hen begins to sit it becomes
possible for the keeper to learn if the eggs being
hatched contain an embryo. If he holds one to the

weather (x, 54), ' ' for eggs are hatched more quickly in warm
weather. Thus in summer eighteen days only are needed, in
winter twenty-five."

' Vitales venas. Pliny, who gives all three tests {loc. cit.),
uses this expression (of. x, 54) : Concuti vero experimento
vetant, quoniam non gignant confusis vitalihus vents. These
venae vitales formed what Pliny, following Aristotle (vi, 3,
H. A.), cixWs parva velut sanguinea gutta^ quod esse cor avium
exisiimant, primum in omni corpore id gigni opinantes: in ova
eerie gutta salit palpitatque (x, 53).

The Geoponica (xiv, 7) call these venae vitales ru K(otik6u,
also ivdiCiQ ri /cai vipainov.

298 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

lightandfindsitis uniformly clear, it should be thrown
away, it is thought, and another put in its place.
13 The chickens^ that are hatched should be taken
from the several nests and put under a hen hav-
ing few chickens, and the few remaining eggs she
may have should be taken from her and put under
other hens that have not yet hatched their eggs.
They must have less than thirty chickens, for no
batch should exceed this number.

For the first fifteen days after hatching you must
give the chicks in the morning a mixture of barley-
meal " and cress seed, to which has been added

^ Exctisos pullos . . . et minus hahent triginta puUos. The
difficulties of this passage lie in the words ab eaque and in the
last clause, which is sheer nonsense as it stands. Fortunately,
however, there is an almost exact translation in the Geoponica
(xiv, 7) • '■^ ^* iKKoXaTTTofieva veorria ivOkwg VTroawaarsov i^ tKaarijc
opviOoQ Kai VTTofSXtjTkov Ty oKiyapKovay. to. Se Trap' avry nt) Ko\a<p9ivTa
i)a KaTafitpijTtov alg rag tri QaXTtovcaq 'iva fier' tKiivoJV Qa\v6p.tva
Zojoyovrirai. ry Si oKiyapKOvay \' ^lovov firj TrXtov VTZofi\t)Tkov. Now
Schneider considers ab ea to mean ab ufiaquaque inatre, implied
in the words ex singulis nidis, and quotes the passag'e above
from the Geoponica to support his view. But obviously ■n-ap'
aiiTy must refer to ry oXiyapKovay, not to iKd(TrT]g opviOog, and the
sense of the passage must be that which I have given to
Varro's words, though it is possible, of course, that the Greek
is a mistranslation.

To meet the second difficulty 1 would propose to place a
full-stop after excuderu7it, and then read Et (or 67) minus
habeant triginta pullos (" And liens must have less than thirty
chickens "), which would then be represented by the last sent-
ence of the passage quoted from the Geoponica.

^ Polentam. Pliny (xvlii, 7) describes the various ways of
making this.

Ill] OF POULTRY 299

some wine ^ and water rubbed up with it a consider-
able time before the food is to be used, lest when
you do use it it swell up inside their bodies. They
must be given no water. Under this mixture should
be a layer of fine dust to prevent their beaks from
14 being injured by the hard earth. Where the feathers
begin to grow on the rump and from the head and
neck you must frequently pick out the lice, which
often make them ill. Near the hen-houses a stag's
horn " should be burnt, so that no serpent may come
near, for chickens commonly die from the smell of
these animals. The chickens must be brougfht out
into the sunlight and to the dung-hill where they
may tumble "* about, for so they grow * better, and

' Vino. Keil justifies the insertion of this word by the fact
that in the parallel passages in Columella (viii, 5, 17) and the
Geoponica (xiv, 9) wine is mentioned. In this he follows
Pontedera {curae secundae). The latter writes tactam instead
of factam, comparing the aqua tacta of 10, 5, and expunges
intritam as a gloss explicative of tactam.

- Cornuvi cervinutn. Columella (viii, 5, i8) says that gal-
hanuni or a woman's hair may also be used for the same
purpose. As to serpents he says: " You must be careful that
chickens are not breathed upon by serpents, the smell of which
is so poisonous that it kills them every one."

' Volutare. The reading of the Archetype was volitare,
which seems inapplicable to chickens. Volutare is defended
by Scaliger on the analogy of iii, 17, 7, cum mare turbaret,
but turbare is idiomatic, not uncommon in this sense and sup-
ported by authorities from Plautus to Cicero ; whereas Varro
(§ 7 of this chapter) has already written in pulvere volutari —
so that here, too, volutari should be read.

^ Alibil lores. In ii, 11, 3, we have alibiles used actively in
the sense of " nourishing." Several of these words ending in

300 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

15 not only the chickens, but the whole poultry-yard
should be taken out both in summer and at all times
when the weather is mild and it is sunny; but a net
must be stretched overhead to prevent them from
flying out of the enclosure or a hawk or any other
bird of prey from flying in from outside. Excessive
heat or cold must be avoided/ as either is bad for
them. As soon as they have their wing-feathers they
should be trained to follow one or two hens, so that
the other hens may be free to breed instead of spend-

16 ing their time in rearing young ones. Sitting should
begin just after the time of new moon, for as a rule
the majority of sittings which are begun before this
time do not turn out well. They take about twenty
days to hatch. As I have said too much, perhaps,
about these barn-door fowls, I will make up for it
by the brevity with which I discuss the remaining
topics.

Wild" hens are of rare occurrence in the city and

-bilis have two meanings; e.^., peiieirahilis in Ovid (Met.,
xii, 166) means " penetrable " {Quod iuvenis corpus millo pene-
trahile telo); in Vergil "penetrating." Cf. Georg., i, 93:
penetrahile frigus, etc. So in English the word "healthy"
has two senses.

' Evitantem. -ir^maKTiov . . . iv\aj3ovfiivoi> to (caf'/m. Cf. i,
•23? 3 • Quaedam etiain serenda non tarn propter praesentem
fructum quam hi atmum prospicientem.

- GalHnae rusticae. Schneider and Keil think that this is
the Italian partridge. Durand de la Malle (Acad, des Inscrip-
tions et Belles Lettres, 1838) considers them to have been fowls
which had reverted to the primitive type. La poule, redevcnuc
sauvage, ne pcrpdtuait pas son cspcce daiis la captivity en Italie

Ill] OF POULTRY 301

are hardly ever seen at Rome save tame and in a
cage. They resemble in shape not^ these barn-door
fowls of ours, but the African birds (guinea-fowls).

17 When perfect in appearance and shape they often
take a place at public displays with parrots, white
blackbirds, and other strange creatures of that kind.
They lay eggs and bring off chickens in the woods,
rarely in a farmyard. It is said that the island of
Gallinaria gets its name from these hens {gallinae)
— an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea situated close to
Italy, and opposite the Ligurian mountains, Inti-
milium and Album Ingaunum.' Others hold that
the name comes from our barn-door fowls which
were brought there originally by sailors and became

18 wild and multiplied. The African fowls (guinea
fowls) are big, speckled, hump-backed, and are called

comme le fait la poule sauvage des forets de VInde. Elle vivait
dans les hois comme cette derniere. De plus, la couleur du coq
et de la poule sauvages que Varron compare a celle de la pintade,
est aussi celle de la poule et du coq sauvages de VInde. Or on
sail que les animaux et les oiseaux domestiques, ahandonnes a
la vie sauvage, reprennent, au bout de quelques genirations, la
couleur de Vespece primitive.

Naturalists are agreed, I believe, that at least a large
number, if not all, of the European species spring from the
Indian jungle-fowl.

1 Non similes. Columella (viii, 2, 2) contradicts this rustica
quae non dissimilis villaticae per aucupem decipittcr. Keil would
reconcile the two statements by supposing that Varro is speak-
ing only of those seen in Rome at shows.

- Alhtim Ingaujium. Pomponius Mela (c. 27) has Albi-
gaunum. The town is now called Albenga; Intimilium,
Vintimiglia; and Gallinaria, Isola d'Albenga.

302 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

" meleagrides " ' by the Greeks. These birds were
the last to be introduced from kitchen to dining-
room ^ by the luxurious taste of man. Owing to their
scarcity they are extremely costly.
19 Of the three kinds barn-door fowls are most
commonly fattened for market. They are confined
in a place that is moderately warm, of small dimen-
sions and admitting but little light, as movement
and light sets them free^ from fat. For fattening,

^ Meleagridas . Cf. Pliny (x, 26): Simili modo pugnant
Meleagrides in Boeotia. Africae hoc est gallinarum genus
gibherum, variis sparsum pJuniis ; quae novissimae sunt peri-
grinarum avium in ynensas receptae propter ingratum virus.
Verum Meleagri tumulus nobiles eas fecit. Aristotle (H. A.,
vi, 2, 2) mentions the Meleagris once only, and says that their
eggs are spotted : rwi' It Kareanyfikva olov ra twv fi(Kiaypidii)v Kai
(paaiaviZv.

Columella (viii, 2, 2) distinguishes between the Meleagris
and the African hen: Africana est quam plerique Numidicam
dicunt meleagridi similis, nisi quod rutilam galeam {paleam ?)
et cristam capite gerit, quae utraque sunt in Meleagride caerulea.
Durand de la Malle remarks on this : Columelle n'avait pas
observe ces oiseaux d^ asses pres pour s''apercevoir que la premiere
itait la femelle et la seconde le male d'une seule et mime espece,
and refers to Buflfon (Hist, des Oiseaux, iii, p. 234). The
guinea fowl, so well known to the Greeks and Romans, seems
to have disappeared from Europe in the Middle Ages and to
have been re-discovered only when Europeans sailed to India
by the West Coast of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope
(D. de la Malle).

■^ Ce7iantium. Kail's excellent emendation for ihc genanium
of the MSS.

' Vindicta was the praetor's rod (properly festuca) laid on
the head of a slave who was being made a free man. Colu-

Ill] OF POULTRY 303

hens are mostly chosen, and not necessarily those
which are improperly called " Melic " — for the
ancients, just as they used to say Thelis for Thetis,
so they said Melic instead of " Medic." This name
was given to those hens which had been imported
on account of their great size from Media, and to
their progeny; afterwards to all big hens owing to
20 their likeness to them. Their wing- ^ and tail-feathers
are pulled out and they are crammed with cakes made
of barley, sometimes ' of barley mixed with darnel
flour or with linseed steeped in fresh water. They
are fed twice a day, care being taken that the first
meal is digested before the second is given. This is

mella (viii, 14, 11) gives the converse of Varro's statement:
" Darkness and warmth help greatly the development of fat"
— ad creandas adipes viultum conferunt.

^ Ex its. Keil brackets these words without reason. The
form of speech is peculiarly Varronian — "from them, from
their wings and tails that is " — and can be supported by a
dozen instances from these books: cf. iii, 7, 6; iii, 13, i; i, 12,
3; iii, 6, 4, etc.

^ Partim = aliqui, as in Cicero (Divln., ii, 9): Caesar a nohil-
issimis civibus, paHim etiani a se omnihus rebus ornatis, truci-
datus. In the Geoponica (xiv, 7) the three kinds of food are
distinguished : " They fatten best if they are kept in a warm
and dark house, and their wing feathers are pulled out and
barley mixed with water is given them as food. Others use a
mixture of barley and darnel flour, others of barley and lin-
seed." Columella (viii, 7, 3) recommends cakes {offae) made of
barley flour that has been moistened and well kneaded, or, if
you want the birds to be tender as well as fat, wheaten bread
steeped in a good wine diluted with three times its bulk of
water.

304 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

indicated by certain signs.' After food has been
given, and their heads have been thoroughly cleansed
to ensure the absence of lice, the birds are shut up
again. This treatment is continued for twenty-five
days, at the end of which they are fully fattened.
21 Some people feed them on wheaten bread steeped
in water mixed with a sound and fragrant wine, and
manage to have them fat and tender in twenty days.
If they lose appetite through excessive feeding, the
daily ration must be decreased by the same differ-
ence as it increased during the first ten days, that
is to say, it must be diminished by the same daily
amount in such a way that the amounts given on
the twentieth and the first day are equal. In the same
way wood-pigeons are fed and fattened.

CHAPTER X

OF GEESE

I Now, said Axius, pass on to the kind which is
not satisfied with the farm-house and dry land '
only, but needs ponds as well. This kind you
Graecophiles call amphibious {afxcpl^iov) while to the

^ Sig7iis. Columella (viii, 7, 3): " Nor must you give them
a second meal until you are sure by feeling the crop tliat
nothing of the first remains."

^ Terra. Cf. iii, 3, 2)'. In altera specie sunt quae non sunt
contentae terra solum sed etiam aquam requirunt, ut sunt
ansercs, querquedulae, anates.

Ill] OF GEESE 305

place where geese are fed you give the Greek name
chenoboscion ' (%>ivo/3ocr«£rov). Of these geese Scipio
Metellus ■ and M. Seius have some large flocks.^

Said Merula: Seius in making his flocks of geese
was careful to attend to the following five points,
which I mentioned when I spoke of hens': (i) the
choice of a stock, (2) breeding, (3) the eggs, (4) the

2 chickens, (5) fattening for market. In the first place
he ordered the slave to see when choosing the stock,
that they were big and white, as in most cases the
goslings resemble their parents. For there is a
second kind with variegated plumage — they are
called wild geese— which do not willingly associate

3 with the first, and do not become so tame. For
geese the best time for mating begins with the
winter solstice, for laying and sitting it extends

^ Chenoboscion. Described In detail by Columella (viii, 14).
It was a courtyard enclosed by a nine feet wall and had porticoes
all round it. Under these were the pens, built of cement or
brick, each three feet in every dimension and having- a stout
door. If there was no river or pond near, a tank was made for
them to dive in.

^ Scipio Metellus. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio,
father-in-law of Pompey, and his colleague in the Consulship
for part of the year 52 B.C. He committed suicide at the close
of the civil war.

^ Greges magnos. Pliny (x, 22) mentions Metellus and Seius
together in connection with foie gras, and says that it was
doubtful which of the two first discovered its goodness. Nee
sine causa in quaestione est quis primus tantum bonunt in-
venerit, Scipio Metellus, vir Consularis, an M. Seius eadem
aetate eques Romanus.

* Gallinis. Cf. HI, 9, 2.

X -^

3o6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

from ist February or ist March to the summer
solstice. Coupling generally takes place in the
water, for which purpose they are driven i into a
river or a pond. A goose does not lay more than
three times in the year. They must each have a pen
made in which to lay their eggs, two and a half feet
square, which must be strewn with straw. You must
put some mark on their eggs, as they do not hatch
those of other geese. As a rule nine or eleven are
put under the hen-bird to be hatched, if less, five,
if more, fifteen. Hatching takes thirty days; when
the weather" is comparatively mild, twenty-five.

^ hiiguntur. Scaliger's emendation for the inunguentur of
the Archetype. Schneider supports the reading mergunhirir om
" the nature of things," and from Aristotle (H. A., vi, 2): olxuvig
oxivdivTiQ KaraKoXvfijSijJin.

Columella (viii, 14, 4) : Ineunt auteni non . . . insistentes
humi: nam fere in fliimine aut piscinis idfaciunt.

^ Tempestatibus. This word seems to have strayed from its
place. I would read : Incubat dies triginta, tempestatibus tepi-
dioribus xxz\'''' for it is much to be doubted if tempestatibus
can, unqualified, mean "in bad weather," or even "in stormy
weather," and, supposing the word to have that meaning
here, then it is unsuited to tepidioribus. The Geoponica (xiv,
22) say: " Hatching takes generally twenty-nine days, in cold
weather thirty." Columella (viii, 14, 7) has: triginta diebus
opus est cum sunt frigora, nam tepidis xxv satis est," cf. Pliny
(x, 59) : Incubant tantum tricenis diebus, si veto tcpidiores
sint XXV, which supports the proposed change.

In the chapter quoted above Pliny gives many interesting
facts about geese, e.g., " the first thing contracted for by the
censors is the food of the sacred geese. Geese walk all the
way from Brittany to Rome. White ones provide a second
source of income in the shape of down, tlie best of which

Ill] OF GEESE 307

4 When a goose has brought off her chicks, they are
left with the mother for the first five days. After-
wards every day when it is fine they are taken to the
meadows and also to ponds or marshes, and pens
are made for them above or under the ground, where
not more than twenty chickens at a time are put;
care being taken that the floors of these chambers
are not damp, that they are provided with a soft bed
of straw or something else, and that weasels cannot
get at the chickens or any other animals harm them.

5 Geese are fed in damp places, and for their food a
crop is sown ^ on which the farmer may make some
profit [apart from these birds] while [especially] for
them is sown the herb called seris (endive), for
even when dried up, if it is moistened with water it
grows green again. The leaves are plucked off and
given to the geese, as there is danger, if you drive
them to where it is growing, that they will ruin it by
trampling it under foot, or themselves die of a sur-
feit— for they are gluttons by nature. And so you
must restrain them, for often when feeding if they
have got hold of a root they want to pull out of

comes from Germany where the geese are smallish and are
called ganzae. This down is worth five denarii {^s. 3^?.) a
pound. And so luxurious have we become that not even men
can do without it under their necks," etc.

' Serunt. Varro is here even more elliptical than himself;
but the meaning of the passage is fixed by Columella (viii, 14,
2): "A marshy but at the same time grassy piece of land
should be assigned them, and various crops should be sown
such as vetch, trefoil, and fenugreek, but especially a variety
of endive called by the Greeks aipiq. ^

3o8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the ground, they break their necks/ For this part
of them is very weak, as the head is soft. If you
have not this kind of grass, give them barley or
some other grain. When there is green fodder you
should give it in the manner prescribed for seris.

6 If they are sitting let them have barley steeped in
water. The goslings just hatched are served for two
days with barley meal or barley, for the next three
with cress chopped up line and mixed with water
and then put into some kind of vessel. And when
they have been shut up in their pens or under-ground
chambers — twenty together, as I said — they are given
barley meal or green fodder or some tender grass

7 chopped up. For fattening, goslings are chosen
about six months' old. They are shut up in the
fattening house, where their food is barley meal
and fine flour " steeped in water, of which they have

' Abrumpunt coUuni. This statement is repeated by Colu-
mella (viii, 14, 8) and by Pliny (x, 59) and the conclusion is not
unnatural, for a goose when struggling with a tough root
certainly looks as though It would break its neck!

- Sesquimensein. As the reading of the Archetype was cir-
citer sex qui mense qui sunt nata, and as no one would think
of fattening goslings of \\ months old, Keil's emendation,
circlter sex metises qui sunt nati, seems fairly certain, despite
the fact that Columella (viii, 14, 10) gives four months as the
best age at which to begin fattening.

^ Pollinem. Ca.to (i^y, g) has po//itiet>i polentae. Pollen was
the fine dust produced as the grain was ground. Cf. Colu-
mella (viii, 14, 11): "These birds are easy to fatten, for
they need nothing but barley meal and fine flour three times
a day provided always that they have plenty to drink and
are not allowed to stray," and the Geoponica (xiv, 22):

Ill] OF DUCKS 309

as much as they can eat, three times a day. Immedi-
ately after a meal they are allowed to drink copiously.
Thus treated, they become fat in about two months.
After every meal the place should be cleansed, for
they like a clean place, though they themselves
never leave a place clean where they have been.

CHAPTER XI

OF DUCKS

I Those who intend to keep flocks of ducks and to
set up a nessotrophion (duck-nursery)^ should in

"They eat three times a day and at midnig'ht, and are great
drinkers. "

' Nessotrophion {vi](y(yoTpo(pi~iov). This is described in detail
and with delightful clearness by Columella (viii, 15): a level
piece of ground was chosen and enclosed by a wall fifteen feet
high. The roof was of lattice work or nets with wide meshes.
The wall was coated with smooth plaster to prevent pole-cat
or ferret from getting in, and in the middle of the duck-house
a pond was dug two feet deep, the margin of which was
made of cement (signino, ' ' a plaster composed of powdered
tiles mixed with mortar) and descended in a gentle slope to
the water. The pond had a stone bottom covering two-thirds
of its area, to prevent weeds rising to the surface ; the centre
was uncovered and planted with the Egyptian bean and other
green water plants. For twenty feet all round the pond the
banks were clothed with grass, and beyond this piece of
ground was the wall in which were the nesting-places, each a
foot square. These were covered by bushes of box or myrtle,
planted between them, which bushes did not overtop the

3IO VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

the first place choose a marshy place, if that be
possible, as ducks prefer such a one to any other.
Failing that, the best place is where there is a
natural pool or pond, or an artificial tank, to which

2 they can go down by steps. The enclosure where
they live should have a wall as much as fifteen feet
high, like that you saw at Seius's country-house,
and it should have but one entrance. All round the
wall on the inside is a wide ledge, on which close
to the wall should be covered nesting-places, and in
front of them the outer landing of the ducks — a level
floor of cement made of broken pottery. In it there
is a gutter running the whole length, where food is
set for them, and into which water runs. For so

3 they take their food. All the walls should be smoothly
plastered to prevent pole-cats or other animals enter-
ing to harm the birds, and the whole enclosure is
covered over by a net with wide meshes, to prevent
a hawk from flying in, or a duck from flying out.
The food given them is wheat, barley, or grape-refuse
— sometimes also river cray-fish ^ and certain other

wall. A gutter was let into the ground and down it ran the
birds' food mixed with water.

^ Cammari. The precise meaning of this word is not
known, but it seems to have ineant a sort of crab. That it
was red when cooked and was a cheap and little esteemed
food appears from Martial (ii, 43, 11):

Immodici tibi flava tegunt chrysendeta mulli
Concolor in nostra^ cammare lana rubes.

Columella (viii, 15, 6), a propos of the feeding of ducks, says :
Ubi copia est, etiam glans ac vinacea praebenlur. Aquatilis

Ill] OF DUCKS 311

aquatic animals of the same kind. Abundance of
water must flow into the ponds in the enclosure so
4 that it may be always fresh. There are also other
species not unlike ducks, such as teal and moor-hens
and partridges/ which, as Archelaus writes, conceive
on hearing the voice of the male bird. These, though
they are not fattened as are ducks and geese because
of their fertility or good flavour, do yet become fat
if fed in the same way. This is what I have to say
about what in my opinion belongs to the first act of
farm-yard feeding.

autent tihi si sitfacultas, datur cammarus ef rivalis alecula, vel
si qua sunt increnienti parvi Jluviorum animalia. Plutarch
(Quaest. Nat., towards the end) says that river crabs are
good for sows suffering from headache! at hi 'itq tm toi^
TTOTafiioig KopicivoiQ (pkpovrai, ^oriOovvTai yap iaOiovaai Trpbg Ke<pa\aX-
yiav.

The Geoponica (xiv, 23) mention as food for ducks : * ' Wheat,
millet, barley, grape refuse, and occasionally locusts or prawns
or any other similar animals, found in lakes or rivers, which
they are accustomed to eat."

' Perdices. In Martial's delightful description of a Roman
farm (iii, 58) occur nearly all the birds mentioned by Varro :

Vagatur omnis iurba sordidae chortis

A rgutus anser gemmeique pavones
Nomenque debet quae rubentibus pinnis (the flamingo)

Et picta perdix Numidicaeque ^«//"a^a^
Et impiorum phasiana Colchoruyn

Rhodias superbi feminas premunt galli
Sonantque turres plausibus columbarum
Gemit hinc palumbus, inde cereus turtur, etc.

The perdix in the text is probably the red-legged partridge —
the picta perdix of Martial.

312 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XII

OF WARRENS

1 Meanwhile Appius returned, and after mutual in-
quiries as to what had been done and said, he spoke
on as follows : We now come to the second ^ act,
to what is generally an appendage of the farm-house,
and is still called by its ancient name of hare-warren
{leporariu7n), from a part only of the uses to which
the thing is put. For, in fact, not only hares are
enclosed in it, in a wood, as was in former times the
case with the mere paddock an acre or two in size
— but there are many acres, and stags or roes, as well
as hares. It is said that Ouintus Fulvius Lippinus^
has forty iugera (twenty-six acres) enclosed in the
country about Tarquinii, in which are confined not
only the animals I have mentioned, but wild sheep
as well ! The same man has a park even bigger
than this near Statona, and such parks are to be

2 found in other districts. In Transalpine Gaul, more-

' ActiLs secundi. Cf. iii, 3, i : Eitis disciplinae genera sunt
tria, ornithones, leporaria, piscinae,

- Q. F. Lippinus. Cf. Pliny (vili, 52) : ' ' The first of the
Romans to make preserves for tliese and other creatures of
the woods was Fuhius Lippinus, who had a park for them
near Tarquinii. He was soon imitated by L. Lucullus and
Q. Hortensius." And ag-ain (ix, 56) : " Fuhius Lippinus made
an enclosure for snails near Tarquinii a little before the civil
war between Pompey and Caesar."

Ill] OF WARRENS 313

over, T. Pompeius ^ has a great preserve for game,
which contains within its bounds a space of about
4,000 paces square (about 9,000 acres). In the same
enclosure it is usual to have places set apart for
snails and beehives, and also casks to hold dormice.
However, the keeping, breeding, and feeding of all
these animals, bees excepted, present no difficulty,

3 for everyone must know that, in the case of a hare-
warren, the boundary walls should have a coating
of plaster and should be high — the first to prevent
weasel, marten, or other animal from getting in,
the second to make it impossible for a wolf to jump
over — and that there should be places of concealment
where hares may lie hid during the day in the brush-
wood and grass, and trees with spreading branches

4 to foil the efforts of the eagle. Everyone knows,
too, that if you put in but a few hares of both sexes,
the warren will swarm with them in a short time,
so prolific is this quadruped. Why, if you put in
no more than four, the place will shortly be full of
them. For indeed, often when a litter has not long
been born, they are found to have others^ inside

' T. Pompeius. Valerius Maximus (vii, 8, 4) mentions a
Pompeius Beginus, vir transalpinae regionis. Was he a large
farmer, one wonders, who gave his name to the fig, pear,
grape, and cabbage called Pompeian? Cf. Pliny, xv, 15, 18;
xix, 8.

^ In ventre. Varron rappelle la fecondite du lievre qui, si cet
animal est mis a Vabri de ses ennemis dans un pare, est vraiment
itonnante. II connaissait ce fait curieux de V organisation de cet
animal dont la femelle reqoit le male et conqoit meme quand elle
est dejd pleine: Aussi a-t-elle, dit Buffon (vol. vii, 105), en

314 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

them. Thus Archelaus writes, that any one wishing
to know the age of a hare should look at the orifices '
provided by Nature, as some have certainly more
5 than others. There is also the recent fashion, now
general, of fattening them — by taking them from
the warren, shutting them up in cages, and fatten-
ing" them in confinement.

Now of these creatures there are roughly three ^
varieties: the first, our Italian hare, which has short
front legs and long hind ones, the upper part of the
body dark, the stomach white, and the ears long.
This hare is said to conceive even when pregnant.

quelque sorte deux matrices distinctes, separees, et qui peuvent
agir independamment Fune de F autre; en sorte que les femelles
dans cette espece peuvent concevoir et accoucher en differents
temps par chacune de ces matrices (Durand de la Malle, loc.

ctt-, 515)-

' Foramina naturae. This is explained by Pliny (viii, 55) :
Archelaus auctor est quot sint corporis cavemae ad excrem^nta
leporiy totidem esse annos aetatis. Varius certe numerus reper-
itur. Idem utramque vim singulis inesse, ac sine mare aeque
gignere.

^ Saginarent. Macrobius (iii, 9, end), who quotes Varro,
gives this and the fattening of snails as instances to prove
that his own age was much less luxurious than Varro's, for
in Macrobius's time (a.d. 400) both these practices were un-
known.

Instead of the reading of the Archetype saginarent pi eraqtie,
Macrobius found sagitiarentur, and instead of hos, hoc. Keil
suggests plerique, which I have translated.

^ Tria genera. Xenophon (Cynegeticus, c. 5) distinguishes
two varieties: (i) the big kind the colour of a half ripe olive,
having a good deal of white on the forehead, (2) the smaller
kind reddish yellow, with very little white about it.

Ill] OF WARRENS 315

In Transalpine Gaul and Macedonia they are very

6 large, in Spain and Italy of but moderate size. There
is a second variety which is found in Gaul near the
Alps' which differs from the former only in being
white all over. These do not often reach Rome. A
third variety is found in Spain, which resembles in
some measure our Italian hare, but it stands low.
This is called a cuniculus- (coney, rabbit). L. Aelius
thought that the hare {lepus) derived its name from
its swiftness, as it was light-footed {levipes). I, how-
ever, believe that it comes from the ancient Greek
word, for the Aeolians^ used to call a hare rkito^i^.
Rabbits (cunictdi) are so called because they make
burrows {cuniculi) underground in the fields, to hide

7 themselves in. One should have, if it is possible,

^ Ad Alpis. Cf. Pliny (viil, 55). " There are several varieties
of hares. On the Alps they are white and are thought to feed
on the snow in the winter months — they certainly turn reddish
yellow as the snow melts."

- Cuniculus. Pliny (Joe. cif.) speaks of their enormous
fecundity. They over-ran Majorca and Minorca to such an
extent that the inhabitants asked Augustus for military aid
against them. It is interesting to find from the same chapter
that rabbits were hunted with the help of tame ferrets {viverrae)
just as now.

^ Aeolis. Cf. iii, i, 6: Et in Graecia Aeolis Boeoti (note).
For Xknopiv compare Gellius's (i, i8) quotation from Varro's
Rerum Divinarum : A^on enim Icporem dicimus ut ait Aelius
quod est levipes sed quod est vocahulum anticum graecum. And
Varro (L. L., v, 20, beginning): Lepus quod Siculis (Siculi?)
quidam Graeci dicunt Xtnopiv, a Roma quod orti Siculi hinc
illuc tulere et hie reliquerunt id nomen. Volpes ut Aelius dicehat
quod volat pedibus.

3i6 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

all these kinds in a warren. You, at any rate, Varro,
have I think two, for you were so many years in
Spain ' that I believe the rabbits there followed you
here.

CHAPTER XIII

OF WILD BOARS AND OTHER QUADRUPEDS

I As for wild boars, you know, Axius, that they can
be kept in the warren, and that without much trouble
both those that have been caught and the tame ones
which have been born there are commonly fattened
for market; for you yourself have seen on the estate
near Tusculum, which Varro here bought from
M. Papius Piso,- wild boars and roes meeting to
feed at a fixed hour when a horn ^ was blown, while
from an eminence (from the palaestra?*) acorns were
poured out for the wild-boars, and vetches or some-

' In Hispania. This cannot allude to Varro's short and
inglorious campaign against Caesar in Spain, for that hap-
pened in 49 B.C., and, as has been shown, these conversations
are represented as having taken place in 54 B.C.

^ Piso. Cf. note on iii, 3, 8.

^ Ad hucinam. Cf. ii, 4, 20: Subulcus debet consuefacere
ovinia ut faciant ad hucinam. Primo cum incluserunt, cunt
hucinatum est, aperiunt ut exire possint in eum locum ubi
hordeum fusum in longitudine. . . . Ideo ad hucinam convenire
dicuntur, ut silvestri loco dispcrsi ne dispcrcant.

^ E palaestra. The meaning of this is obscure, and many
unhappy emendations have been proposed. Perhaps in pal-
aestra was originally written, for Varro may have seen some

Ill] WILD BOARvS 317

2 thing else for the roes. Yes, said Axius, and when
I was at O. Hortensius's near Laurentum I saw the
same thing done more in the Thracian ' fashion, for
there was a wood there of more than fifty iiigera
(thirty-three acres) according to Hortensius, sur-
rounded by a wall, and this enclosure he did not
call a hare warren, but a theriotrophion (place for
feeding animals). There, on an eminence on which
a dining-table and couches were set we dined, and

3 our host summoned Orpheus ^ to appear. He came,

fanciful resemblance between a wrestling school and the place
where the boars jostled one another as they made for their
food. A palaestrita would make excellent sense "by their
trainer," and might be supported by Martial (iii, 82) : Partitur
apri glandulas palaestrita. A palaestrita is mentioned also
in Martial's account of a Roman farmhouse (iii, 58). The
"trainer" would be the suhulcus of ii, 4, 20, who had to
"train them to do everything in obedience to the sound of
the horn."

^ 6p(}KiKu}g. Keil's certain emendation for the viagis tragicos
of the Archetype. The attendant took the part of the Thracian
Orpheus whose music had power to tame wild animals. Cf.
Horace (A. P., 391):

Silvestres homines sacer interpresqtie Deoruvi
Caedibus et victu foedo deterruit Orpheus:
Dicttts ob hoc lenire tigres rabidosque leones.

^ Orpheus . . . cum stola. In Rome the stola was of course
the dress of respectable Roman matrons. The Greek word
aroXri, however, applies to almost any garment, even to the
lion's skin worn by Hercules (cf. Eurip. H. F. 465) iv aroXy,
6r]p6g — but generally means a robe. The glorious statue of
the Apollo (Orpheus's father) Citharoedus in the Vatican shows
him wearing the long Ionian sto/a, and with a cithara in his
hand.

3i8 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

clad in a stola^ and on the order to sing to his
cithara blew a blast on the horn, whereat a host of
stags, wild boars, and other quadrupeds poured
round us, making as fine a show, I thought, as when
the Aediles give us a hunt without African ' beasts
in the Circus Maximus.

CHAPTER XIV

OF SNAILS

1 Said Axius, Your part, my friend Merula, has been
made lighter by Appius. The second act, which
concerned hunting, has been quickly gone through,
and as for what remains — snails and dormice — I am
not anxious to hear about them, as the subject can
present no great difficulty. More than you think,
Axius m.y dear fellow, said Appius, for you have to
find a suitable place for your snail-beds, and it must
be open to the sky and entirely surrounded by water,
lest when you put snails in it to breed, you find not
only the children gone, but the mothers as well.
You must, I repeat, keep them confined by means
of water, or else you will have to get a '* slave-
catcher." -

2 The best spot is one visited by dew and not baked

' Africanis bestiis, i.e., panthers. Cf. Pliny, viii, 17.

^ Fugitivarius . A mild but thoroughly characteristic joke
of Varro's. The fugitivarius was the man hired to track and
bring back a runaway {fugitives) slave.

Ill] OF SNAILS 319

by the sun. If there is none such provided by nature
— which is usually the case in a sunny place — and
you do not chance to have a shady spot in which
to make your snail-bed, at the foot of mountain
rocks, for instance, the base of which is bathed by
a lake or streams, you will have to make a dewy
place artificially. This is done by getting a hose-pipe
with small teats attached to it which squirt water on
to some stone near by, so that the water is splashed
in all directions.
3 Snails need little food and no one to give it to
them ; they discover it, as they crawl about, on the
floor of the enclosure, and even find it unless they
are stopped by a stream, by climbing the upright
walls. 1 And, indeed, while they are on the huckster's
stall they manage to keep alive for a long time by
chewing ' the cud, with the help of a few bay leaves
thrown amongst them and a sprinkling of bran.

^ Parietes stantes invenit. Keil paraphrases sed etiam stantes
parietes cihi inveniendl causa ascendunt, which is no doubt the
meaning. But how get this from the Latin? Per parietes is
plausible.

^ Ruminantes. The Archetype has ex gruminantes ad pro-
palain. Gesner reads ex se ruminantes ad propolam. Keil dis-
liking ex se writes simply ruminantes, not noticing, however,
that this reading has the support of one MS. If the text be
right, ad must here have the sense oiapud. Propola = irpoirdjXtje.
It is curious that in all the cases quoted by Nonius of the use
of ruminor by Varro, the metaphorical sense " to ponder over,"
"to remember," is alone found, e.g., Ruminari dictum in
memoriam revocare. Varro, Tanaquil : Non modo absens de te
quidquam segnius cogitab it sed etiam ruminabitur humanitatem.

320 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

And so the cook as a rule does not know whether
they are alive or dead when he is cooking them.

4 There are several varieties of snails: the small
white ones brought from near Reate, the big ones
from Illyricum, and those of middle size which come
from Africa. Not but what they differ in these places
both in distribution and size; for instance, very big
snails come from Africa, called Solitannae^ which
are so big that eighty quadrantes ' (three gallons)
can be put into their shells. And similarly in other
countries snails though of the same kind differ in

5 size from one another. When breeding they lay an
incalculable number of young which are very small
and have a soft shell that hardens as time goes on.
When large islands are made in the enclosures, they
(the snails) bring you a big haul of pence. They
are, I may add, fattened usually in the following
way. A jar for them to feed in having holes in it is
lined with a mixture of sapa and spelt. It must
have these holes that air may get in. The snail is
certainly' very tenacious of life.

' LXXX quadrantes. Cf. Pliny, ix, 56 : SoJitannae quibtis
nobilitas. Quin et saginant earum commentus est sapa et Jarre
aliisque generibus ut cochleae quoque altiles ganeam iniplerent:
cuius artis gloria in earn magnitudinem perductae siiit ut octoginta
quadrantis caperent singidarum calices. Auctor est M. Varro.

- Enim seems hardly the particle required here. One would
have expected tainen, as Varro's words imply a doubt as to
whether the snails would die even if there were no holes. In
Livy, xxiii, 45 (end) enim has almost this sense : Romam vos
expugnaturos si quis dticeret, fortes lingua iactabatis; enim nunc
minor res est, etc.

Ill] OF DORMICE 321

CHAPTER XV

OF DORMICE

1 The place where dormice are kept is of a different
kind, as it is an enclosure bounded not by water,
but by a wall the whole of which is faced on the
inside with smooth stone or plaster, to prevent the
dormouse from crawling out. In it should be small
acorn-bearing^ trees. When these are not bearing,
acorns and chestnuts should be thrown inside the

2 wall for the dormice to eat their fill. Fairly wide holes
are to be made for them in which they can bring forth
their young. There should not be much water, as
they take but little of it, and like a dry place. They
are fattened in jars, which many people keep inside
the villa. These jars made by the potter differ
greatly in their construction from others, as grooves
(paths) are made in their sides, and a hollow in
which to place food. Into this jar are put acorns,
walnuts, or chestnuts. A lid is put on the jars, and
in the darkness the dormice grow fat.^

1 Quae ferayit glandem. Pliny (xvi, 6) mentions beech nuts
{fagi g^latis) in this connection: Fagi glans muribus gratissinia
est . . . glires quoque saginat, expedit et turdis, so that the
word is probably not used here by Varro in the special sense
as given by Pliny {loc. cit.) : glandetn, quae proprie intellegitur,
ferunt robur, quercus, esculus, cerrus, ilex suber.

^ Sagmantur. Cf. Pliny (viii, 57) : Semiferum et ipsum
animal, cui vivaria iti doliis idem qui apris (Fulvius Lippinus)
instituit. Qua in re notattim non congregari nisi pjjpulares

Y

322 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

CHAPTER XVI

OF BEES AND APIARIES

1 And so, said Appius, in the matter of farmyard
feeding we come to the third act, which is about
fishponds. Third act be hanged! said Axius, do
you suppose, because you were so very economical
when a young man as not to drink wine and honey
at home, that we are going to neglect honey? Axius

2 speaks the truth, said he, turning to us, for I was
left with scanty means, and two brothers and two
sisters ' to keep. One of the latter " I married with-
out a portion to Lucullus, and it was only when he

eiusdeni silvae: et si inisceantur alienigenae^ amne vel nionte
discreti, interire diinicando. Genitoris suos fessos senecta aJunt
insigni pietate. . . . InMoesia silva Italiae — non nisi in parte —
reperiu7iiur hi glires. Albertus Magnus (quoted by Schneider)
gives an excellent description of the dormouse, and states that
in his time {circa 1250) they were fattened in large numbers by
the rustics of Bohemia and Carinthia.

* Duabus sororibus. Schneider points out that Appius had
three sisters. Probably one of these was married in the life-
time of her father. The sister married to Lucullus was said
by Cicero to have been treated with as little respect as was
the Bona Dea by her brother P. Clodius whom Cicero (Pro
Dom. 34) calls on that account Jove : Si'd vide ne tu te debeas
fovcm dicere qtiod tu iure eandem sororem et uxorem appellare
possis.

^ Quarum. In view of the anacoluthon Scaliger conjectured
earum, Gessner duarum. Neither is necessary, for, as it has
been shown, Varro frequently has such anacolutha.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 323

first gave up an inheritance ^ in my favour that
I myself began to drink ?nulsiim at my house,
though it was given almost every day on the occasion
3 of a banquet' to all. Besides it has been more my^
business than yours to know the habits of these
winged creatures, to whom Nature has given the
greatest talent and skill. And so as a proof that I
have a better knowledge of them than you, let me
tell you about their amazing and untaught ability.
Merula must then relate to us, as before, the usual
practice ^ adopted by melitturgoe (as those who keep
apiaries are called).

' Hereditate me cessa for concessa. Keil seems to think
that Appius was Lucullus's heir, ciim hereditatem Luculli accep-
isset. Is not the meaning rather that Lucullus waived a prior
claim to an inheritance ? Cf. Cicero (Pro Flacc. , 36) : Communem
hereditatem quae aequaliter ad utnimque venisset, concessit
adulescenti. Me is for mihi. Cf. Festus, '' me" pro "■ mihi"
dicebant antiqui, who quotes from Lucilius, quae me impendet.
Vae te is found in Plautus. Lindsay, however (Lat. Lang,
p. 422), thinks these are old uses of the accusative. Quintilian
(i, 5) seems to say that mehe was an ancient form of mihi, but
the reading is doubtful. The evidence for the use of me for mihi
is certainly slender.

■^ In convivio . . . daretur. The reading of the Archetype
was darem. If this be kept the meaning is that Appius did
not drink mulsum himself, though he gave it all the same to
all his guests when there was a dinner party, and that there
was one nearly every day at his house. And this reading seems
to present fewer difficulties than Keil's emendation.

* Meum, an allusion to the name "Appius" connected by
Varro with apis.

* Historicos, laropiKuiq. In ii, i, 2, historicon has precisely
the meaning of the English word "historical," foj Varro

324 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

4 In the first place bees are born, some from bees,
some from the rotten carcase of an ox/ Thus,
Archelaus ' in an epigram calls them Bohg (pOi/xmg
7rs7r>^vv/xsvx tskvsc, "the roaming children of a dead
cow," and he also writes: 'ittttc^v /xv. a(pmBg ysvsa, uoo-x^^
5f /xe?^i(jaai, " Wasps Spring from horses and from
calves come bees."

Bees are not solitary creatures like eagles, but
gregarious as are men. And though jack-daws also
resemble men in this, jQt it is not the same thing,
for bees combine to work and build, which is not
the case with jack-daws; bees have method and

then proceeds to give a sketch of the history of his subject.
Here historicos ="in descriptive detail" or something of the
kind.

^ Ex buhulo corpore. The Geoponica (xv, 2) make Demo-
critus and Varro their authorities for the following method by
which bees may be produced from a bull. " Build a house fif-
teen feet in every dimension, having one door and four windows
— one in each side. Into this house put a bull of thirty months,
fleshy and verj' fat, which Is beaten to death with clubs by a
gang of young men who must bruise the flesh and break the
bones without drawing blood. They must then turn the bull
on to its back, cover it with thyme, and leave the house. The
door and windows are then to be blocked up with thick mud
so that no air can get in. In the third week after this, light
and fresh air are to be admitted by throwing open the door
and all the windows. Then when the dead matter begins to
be alive the windows and door must be blocked as before. On
the eleventh day after open again and you will find the house
filled with bees hanging together in bunches, and of the bull
nothing left but the horns, bones and hair." Cf. Vergil, Georg.,
iv, 550-8.

- Archelaus. Cf. note on ii, 3, 5.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 325

science, and from them we learn to work, to build,

5 and to store up food, for those three things are their
concern: namely, food, house, and work; nor is
the wax the same thing as the food, the honey, or
the house. Each cell in the honey-comb has, as you
know, six angles, as many angles as the bee has
feet, and geometers prove that when regular hexa-
gons are used to fill a circular figure the largest
possible amount of its space is thus utilized. They
feed outside in the fields, and toil inside the hive,
fashioning the sweet substance that gods and men
alike love — for the honey-comb reaches the altar,
and honey is served both at the beginning of a

6 dinner-party and for the second ^ course. They have
states like ours, with king and government and
organized society. They are attracted by nothing
unclean, and so none of them ever alights on a
space that is dirty or evil-smelling, or even scented
with fragrant oils, and so if any goes near them
" oiled " ' they sting him instead of licking him as
flies do. Thus they are never seen, like flies, on
flesh ' or blood or fat, and so settle only on things

' In secundam mensam. Cf. Pliny, xix, 8 (towards the end) :
Candidum papaver cuius semen tostum in secunda mensa cum
inelle apud antiquos dabatur. There was honey, too, in the
promulsis.

'"■ Unctus. Cf. Aristotle, ix, 40. The use of unguents was very
common in the case of wealthy Romans. They bathed before
dinner, and were then anointed with sweet-smelling oils, so that
unctus sometimes is equivalent to our "in evening dress."

' Cf. Aristotle, ix, 40, of which chapter Varro makes large
use, as do Columella (bk. ix) and Pliny (bk. xi).

326 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

7 that have a sweet savour. It is a most harmless '
creature, spoiling no man's work by pulling it to
pieces, brave enough to resist any who should try
to harm its own, yet conscious of its own weakness.
With justice are they called the "birds of the Muses,"
for if ever they are scattered," they are quickly^
brought together again by the clashing of cymbals
or the clapping of hands, and as men have given to
these deities Helicon and Olympus, so to the bees
Nature has given the wild and flower-clad mountains.

8 They follow their beloved king wherever he goes;
if he is weary they support him; if he cannot fly,
eager to save him, they bear him up on their
shoulders. Never idle themselves, they hate idlers.
And so they attack the drones, and drive them out
from the hive, since the latter give no help in the
work and eat up the honey, and a whole crowd of
drones crying out in terror is often pursued by a
few ' bees. Outside the entrance of the hive they
block up all apertures through which the wind gets
to the combs with a substance called by the Greeks

' Minime vialefica. Cf. Geoponica, xv, 3 : "It does not spoil
the work of others and most stoutly resists those who try to
spoil its own ; yet conscious of its weakness it makes the en-
trances to its home narrow and winding."

■^ DispHcatae. Gessner conjectures dispalatae. Dissipatac is
plausible.

* Ntimero occurs several times in Plautus with the meaning
of cito. Cf. Festus, ad verbuni.

* Paucae. Pliny (xi, 11) would seem to have found here
paucos, as he says: Cum mella coeperunt jnaturescere ahigunt
eos, multaeque singulos aggressae trucidant.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 327

(jerithace.^ They all live as in an army, sleeping
and working in regular and equal turns, and they
send out what we may call colonies, and the leaders
[of these colonies] get certain things done to the sound
of their voice, imitating as it were the trumpet used
for an army. And this happens when they have
signals for peace or war which they make to one

10 another. But, Merula, I am afraid our friend Axius
here is dying with impatience as he listens to these
details of natural history, since I have said nothing
about the profit, and so in the race I hand on the
torch " to you.

So Merula began: About the profit, I have that

' Erithace. Pliny (xi, 7) devotes a chapter to the explanation
of this and other special terms : Prima fundamenta commosin
vacant periti, secunda pissoceron, tertia propolln inter coria
cerasque magni ad medicamina usus. Conimosis est crusta prima
saporis amari. Pissoceros super earn venit, picatus modo sed
dilutior. . . . Propolis crassioris iavi niateriae, odditis floribus —
nondum tamen cera, sed favonim stabilimentum qua omnes fri-
goris aut iniuriae aditus ohstruuntur odore et ipsa etiamnuni
gravi. . . . Praeter kaec convehitur erithace quatn aiiqui Sanda-
rachajn, alii cerinthum vacant. Hie erit apum dum operantur
cibus qui ipse invenitur in favonim inanitatibus sepositus, et ipse
amari saporis. Most of this is from Aristotle, ix, 40, but the
erithace of Pliny is not that of Varro, which corresponds to the
H'lrvQ of Aristotle. Varro (§ 23) describes erithace as that quo
favos extremos inter se conglutinant.

- Lampada. A metaphor taken from the torch race {XafinaSr}-
Spofiia) at Athens, used by Plato and Lucretius. Cf. the familiar
line of the latter :

Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.

For tibe cf. note on iii, 7, 11.

328 VARRO ON FARMING [bk."

to say which will perhaps please you, Axius. It is
supported not only by Seius, who lets his bee-hives at
a yearly rent of 5,000 pounds' weight of honey, but
also by our friend Varro here, whom I have heard
tell the following story. There were two brothers
named Veianius, who served under him in Spain/
They came from near Falerii, and were then well-
to-do, though their father had left them only a small
farmstead and a bit of land — certainly not more than
an acre. They set up bee-hives all round the build-
ing, kept a garden, and sowed all the rest (of their
land) with thyme and cytisus and apiastrum — a
plant called by some meliphyllon (honey-leaf),
by others melissophyllon (bee-leaf), and by some
again melittaena.' Well, these brothers used never
to make less out of the honey — taking a very reason-
able estimate — than 10,000 sesterces^ (.i^So) a year,

^ 1)1 Hispania. It would seem from this passage and from
iii, 12, 7, that Varro had held some command in Spain before
54 B.C., the date of these conversations, and consequently before
his inglorious campaign in the great civil war.

- Melittae7iani. An emendation of Keil's for the reading of
the Archetype mellinem, in spite of the support which the
latter gets from Philargyrius (ad Georg., iv, 63): Mclisphylla
herba est quam ut ait Varro, alii apiastrum alii melineni appel-
lant. Columella (ix, 9, 8) has melissophylli vel apiastri.

^ Sestertia. Ursinus suggests sestertium, and certainly this
must be the meaning here and iii, 6, 6, and iii, 17, 3. I can
find no parallel in any other author of sesfeiiia used thus, and
suspect the text in each case, as the corruption is easily ex-
plicable. In ii, I, 14, we find asinus venierit scstertiis milibus
sexatfititay \.&.,ior sesterces — 60,000. Seslcrtium, the neuter noun,
means, of course, 1,000 sesterces, but could have no place here.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 329

but, as they said, they were always willing to wait,
so as to interview the buyer at a favourable moment,
and were in no hurry to sell if the time were bad.
Well then, said Axius, tell me where and how to
make a bee-house, that I may reap large profits.
Merula answered, You must set up your bee-hives
in this way — others call them melittotrophia
(places for feeding bees), while the same things are
called by some people mellaria. — In the first place
they should be if possible close to the farm-building,
in a place where there are no echoes,^ for this noise,
it is, thought, puts them to flight.^ The air should
be temperate, not blazing hot in summer, nor un-
sunned in winter ; the hives should preferably face
the place where the sun rises in winter, and should
have in their neighbourhood plenty of food and pure

' Imagines. Cf. Columella, ix, 5, 6 : Nee minus vitentur
cavae rupis atit vallis argutiae quas Graeci nx'^vc, vacant, and
Pliny, xi, 19: Iniviica est et echo resuJtanti sono qui pavidas
alternos pulsat sono. For imago in this sense cf. Horace, Odes,
i, 12, 4:

Quern deuvi cuius recinit iocosa
Nomen itnago.

* Fugae procerum. This is, of course, unintelligible. Scaliger
gives as " a certain emendation " protelum, and quotes Varro
(De liberis educandis) : Remotissimum ad discendutn formido,
niviius terror et onuiis perturbatio animi: contra delectatio pro-
telum ad discendum. Here protelum means "incitement."
Ursinus and one MS. (Caesenas) have instead oi procerum,
praeterea, while Triller suggests Porro caelum. None of these
is satisfactory, but of the three emendations Scaliger's seems
the best— if the passage which he quotes from Varro is genuine.
Up to now 1 have been unable to trace it.

330 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

13 water. If nature has not provided the proper food,
the owner must sow such plants as are generally
sought by bees, which are : roses, wild thyme,
apiastrum (balm gentle), poppies, beans, lentils,
peas, octmum, galingale,^ lucerne, and especially
cytisus, which is very good for them when they are
unwell. Moreover it begins to flower with the
vernal equinox, and goes on flowering until the

14 second, the autumnal equinox. While, however,
cytisus is excellent for their health, for honey-
making thyme is the best. And this is the reason
why the Sicilian honey bears the palm, for good
thyme is found there in abundance. And so some
people pound it in a mortar, add luke-warm water,
and sprinkle over all the seed plots which have been
sown for the bees.

15 As for the situation: one near the farm-house is
best chosen for this purpose: some men have even
stationed the apiary for greater safety in the
portico - itself of the house. Hives are made round '

^ Cyperuvi. Pliny (xxi, 18) describes the plant and the uses
made of it in medicine.

^ In viUae porticu. Cf. iii, 3, 5.

^ Rutundas, supply alvos. Columella (ix, 6) follows Varro
closely : " If the district produces cork trees in abundance there
is no doubt that the most useful hives are made out of thin
cork, as such hives are neither bitterly cold in winter nor
stifling in summer; fennel stalks also, as they resemble cork
in nature, will do equally well ; if neither material is at hand
wicker work may be used, failing this, the wood of a tree
hollowed out or cut into planks. The worst hives are those of
earthenware, as they become furnaces in summer and ice-

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 331

by some people and of osiers where these are to be
found ; by others of wood or bark, or of a hollow tree
or earthenware, while others make them rectangular
of fennel stalks, and about three feet long and one
foot broad, making them, however, of smaller
dimensions in cases where there are too few bees to
fill them, lest, being in a big empty space, the bees
lose heart. All these constructions are called, from
the nourishment {alinionmm) which honey sup-
plies, alvi (bellies), and when' people constrict their
waists, it is, I imagine, in imitation of the shape of
16 the bees. Those hives which are made of withes are
smeared inside and out with cow-dung, lest the bees
be frightened away by their roughness. Hives are
arranged on brackets projecting from the wall, in
such a way that they do not shake, and do not
touch one another when placed in a row; then,
with a space between, a second and third row^ is
made below the first, and they say it is better to
have fewer rows rather than to add a fourth. In the
middle of the hive small holes are made, right and

houses in winter. Two kinds remain ; one fashioned with
dung, the other built of brick. The first was properly con-
demned by Celsus owing to the danger of fire, the second
had his approval though he did not hide the disadvantage of
its not being portable. "

^ Ouas, etc. It is Improbable that the hives were " wasp-
waisted," so that quas must refer to alvos in the primary sense
of "belly." Aristophanes (Plutus, 561) speaks of men being
ofTtKwdei^, and Festus says that such were called cinguli: Cin-
gulos appellahant homines qui in his locis ubi cingi solet satis
sunt tenues.

332 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

17 left, for the bees to go in by, and at the end "' a lid is
put on the hives so that the bee-keepers can get the
honey out. The best hives are made of bark, the
worst of earthenware, for the latter are most power-
fully affected by cold in winter and heat in summer.
The bee-keeper must inspect them in spring and
autumn about three times a month, using moderate
fumigations, and should cleanse the hive from dirt

18 and expel any vermin. He should also see that
there are not several kings in the same hive, as
these do harm by reason of the quarrels they make.
Some " people assert, as there are three species
of kings amongst bees — the black, the red, and the
striped, or according to Menecrates^ two, the black

^ Exfrema, i.e., at the back. Cf. Pliny, xxi, 14, Utilissimum
opei'culum a tergo esse ambtdatorium, sqq.

^ Et quidam dicunt, etc. This sentence, monstrum^ horren-
dum, informe, ingeyis though it is, was probably thus written by
Varro. The interminable parenthesis tria genera — Jiigrum, and
the general confusion and clumsiness of the whole period is
characteristic of him at his worst. In this passage, moreover,
he is translating Aristotle, and does not seem to have under-
stood him, as he failed occasionally to understand Theophrastus
in Book I. Aristotle (ix, 40) writes as follows : tiai Ik yivr\ tQv
fieXiTTiijv TrXeim . . . ovo fiiv I'lyifiovrnv, 6 fiiv ^fXrtwv irvppog, 6 Se
fTepog ixtXag Kai noiKiXwrepog . . . t) Sk apiart] fiiKpa aTpoyyvXt] Kai
■JToiKiXr], dXXt] fiaKpd bfio'ia ry avOprjvy. erepog 6 (pwp KaXovfuerot; fiiXag
TrXarvydoTtop K.r.X. It will be noticed that Aristotle gives two
varieties; one reddish, the other black and striped, and that
Varro takes the words "black and striped" as referring to
two separate species.

' Mefiecrates. Cf. i, i, 9: Kasdem res etiain quidam versibus,
ut Hesiodus Ascraeus, Menecrates Ephestus, and Pliny, xi, 7.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 333

and the striped (which is also the better one) — that
if there is another king with him he quarrels with
him and spoils the hive, as he either drives the other
away or is himself driven away, taking with him a
large number of bees. And so if there are two kings
in the same hive it is better for the bee-keeper to
'9 kill the black one. Of bees which are not kings the
best are the small, round, striped kind. The thief,
called ^ by others the drone," is black and broad-
bellied. The bee which resembles the wasp ' does
not join in the work, and has a habit of stinging,
and the bees separate it from their company. Bees
differ in being wild and tame — and here I mean by
** wild " bees those that feed in woodland places, by
" tame " ones those that do so on cultivated land.
The wild' ones are smaller in size and covered with
hairs, but are the better workers.

• Vocahitur. Keil suggests vacatur, which I have translated.

^ Fucus. Aristotle distinguishes between the " drone " and
the "thief" {loc. cit.): erepo^ 6 <pd)p KuXovfuvoe, fxsXag ical irXarv-
ydariop. in d' 6 KtfipT)v. oiirog fikyiarog iravnov aKevrpoQ Si Kai v(o9p6g.
"The second kind, the so-called 'thief is black and broad-
bellied. And again there is the drone; this is the biggest of
all, but slingless and stupid." Did Varro mistranslate iti 6 6
KT)<pr]v ovroc, "and again this drone," etc., and so identify it
with the "thief"?

' Vespa. 1 have adopted Schneider's emendation, vespae,
which accords well with Aristotle's aAA/; fiaKpa o/j-oia ry dvOi'ivij,
and Pliny's (xi, i8) deteriores longae et quibus similitudo ves-
parunt.

^ Silvestres. Cf. Aristotle {loc. cit. ) : lial yap at airo tQv vXovoficjv
Saa^Wipai Kai iXaTTOvc Kai fpynriKuiTfpai Kai ^^«XtTrwrfpni. Further on
in the same chapter he says : " the little ones are better workers

334 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

In buying bees, the buyer must see whether they
20 are in good or bad health. Indications of good
health are : thick swarms, sleekness, and the smooth-
ness ' and uniformity of the work accomplished. It
is significant of ill-health if they look hairy and
covered with bristles, dusty ' as it were ; unless, in-
deed, the time of hard work is upon them, for then
toil makes them rough and in poor condition.
M If you have to move the hives elsewhere, you
must do so with care, noting the times to be pre-
ferred, and providing suitable places to move them
to. For example, spring-time is better than winter,
for if moved in winter they do not easily get used
to their surroundings, and so generally fly away.

than the big ; the edges of their wings are frayed and they look
black and burnt, while the sleek and bright-looking bees are
like idle women."

'■ Leve. Aristotle {Joe. cit.) says that roughly fashioned cells
are the work either of a "bad bee " or an inexperienced young-
ster.

^ Ut pulverulentae. Cf. Vergil, Georg., iv, 95:
Ut hinae reguin fades ita corpora plebis
Namque aliae turpes horrent; ceu pulvere ah alto
Cum venit et sicco terrain spuit ore viator
Aridus; elucent aliae, ct fulgore coruscant
Ardentes auro et paribus I ita corpora guttis.
Haec potior soboles.
It is often difficult to determine whether Vergil is paraphrasing
Varro or merely using the same sources. As to the passage
quoted, Columella (ix, 4, 2) states that Vergil followed the
authority of Aristotle. Columella himself used principally for
his treatise on bees the writings of Hyginus, Celsus, and
Vergil, and very often quotes from the last named.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 335

If you move them from a good situation to one
where there is no suitable food, they desert. Again
if you would transfer them from one hive to another
in the same place, certain precautions must be

22 taken : the hive to which you mean to transfer them
should be rubbed with apiastrum, as this attracts
them strongly, and you must place inside, not far
from the entrance, some combs with honey in them,
lest when they notice that there is nothing to eat ^

He says that when they are upset by the food they
find in early spring, which consists of almond ^ and
cornel flowers, they suffer from diarrhoea, and should
be cured by giving them urine to drink.

23 What is called propolis is a substance used by
bees for making (particularly in summer) a sort of
gable in front of the hive, over the hole where they
enter. Doctors ^ also used propolis^ under the same

^ Inopiam. Much must have here dropped out of the text.
Aristotle, Columella, Pliny, Palladius and the Geoponica give
not the slightest clue anywhere to the missing words. Keil
thinks that the missing subject o{ dicit is Menecrates.

^ Exjloribus nucis Graecae. Most of the ancient authorities
speak of this disease — fatal to bees — as caused by the tithy-
malus (sea lettuce) and the seed of the elm {samera ubni), and
add that in those parts of Italy where these abound bees do
not flourish (cf. Columella, ix, 13, 2). Columella {loc. cit.)
mentions many remedies, as pounded pomegranate seed, rose-
mary, etc. , and amongst them that given by Varro, quidam
bubulam vel hominis urinam, sicut Hyginus affirmat, alvis
apponunt.

' Medici. Pliny (xxii, 24, beginning) describes the uses of
propolis in medicine. " It draws out stings and foreign bodies,

336 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

name, for making plasters; and for this reason it
fetches more than honey in the Sacra Via. The so-
called erithace ^— a different thing from honey or
propolis— h^QS use for sticking together the edges of
the combs, and so it has the power of attracting
. them. Accordingly people smear the bough or
other object on which they want a swarm to settle,

24 with a mixture of it and apiastruni. Honeycomb is
what bees make of wax; this has many compart-
ments in it, each one of which has six sides, as many
sides as nature has given feet to each bee. It is
said, too, that they do not extract from every flower
alike the materials which they bring to the making
of the four substances, propolis, erithace, honey-
comb and honey. Some plants serve for but a
single ^ one of them ; thus from the pomegranate
and asparagus bees extract food only, from the olive
tree wax, from the fig tree honey, which is, however,

25 not good ; other plants serve for two, as from beans,
apiastrum, gourds, and cabbages are extracted wax

breaks up tumours, reduces hard swellings, assuages the pain
of muscular rheumatism, and heals otherwise incurable ulcers."
By the use of the word protectum Varro hints at a derivation
of the word TrpoTroXtc, viz., Trpo and ttoKic, " in front of the city."

' Erithacen. Cf. iii, 16, 8. Both Pliny and Columella state
that it is the bees' food.

^ Simplex. One is inclined to believe, with Keil and against
Schneider, that the text is sound though the construction is
harsh and elliptical. Simplex must be taken closely with quae
adferunt. Of the things which they bring (i) there is a simple
substance as . . . (2) duplex minist^Hum praeheri, "a two-
fold supply is given by others, as for example ..." etc.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 337

and food; two likewise are obtained from the apple
tree and wild pear tree, namely food and honey,
and a different two — wax and honey — from the
poppy. Some plants also supply the material for
three; the almond tree, for example, 2in^ lapsaniim^
(cole-wort?), which furnish food, honey, wax. And
so it is with what they extract from other flowers,
for they choose some things to make one product,
26 others to make several, and also adopt yet another
distinction — or rather it adopts ' them — which is
shown in the case of honey, when from one plant
— say the blossom of sisera^ — they make liquid
honey, from another, such as rosemary, honey that
is thick. And the same may be said of other things,
thus the honey made from the fig is insipid, that
from the cytisus good, that from thyme ^ the best
of all.

^ Lapsanum. Columella (ix, 4, 5) calls this lapsana: lam
vero notae vilioi-u innuinerabiles nascuntur herbae cultis atque
pascuis regionibus quae favorum ceras exuberant; ut vulgares
lapsanae. Pliny (xx, 9) gives a description of it and places it
inter silvestres brassicas.

'^ Aut eas sequatur. This quip of Varro's, as Keil points out,
means merely that the bees cannot themselves determine the
kind of honey which they will make from a given plant.

* Sisera, generally written siser, was, to judge from Pliny's
(xiv, 5) description, the parsnip. Pontedera adopts the reading
he found in Crescentius, ciceris (chick-pea), reasoning air'
sIkotoiv.

* E thymo optimum. Columella (ix, 4, 6) after giving a long
list of plants which are visited by bees, mentions the following
in order of merit: (i) thyme, which produces honey of the
finest flavour ; (2) almost as good : savorj', wild thyme, and

Z "^

338 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

27 Now as food is both liquid and solid, and the
liquid food of bees is pure water, it should be pro-
vided for them to drink. This should be near their
hives and should flow past in a stream, or form a
pool the depth of which, however, must not exceed
two or three finger-breadths, and in this stream or
pool bits ^ of pot or small stones should be placed
standing a little above the surface, so that the bees
can alight on them and drink. In this matter you
must be most careful to see that the water is pure,
as this is of the utmost importance for the making

28 of good honey. As all weathers do not permit them
to go far afield in search of food, food should be
made ready for an emergency, for fear lest, being
weather-bound, they may have to live on honey
alone, or, when they have finished ^ it all, quit the

marjoram; (3) not so good, but still excellent: rosemary and
cunila (a kind of wild marjoram); (4) producing honey of
fairly good flavour : the blossom of the tamarisk and jujube
tree ; while the worst honey is produced from (5) esparto grass,
arbutus, cabbages, and other plants which receive manure.
Aristotle (v, 22 middle) says that bees get honey from all plants
which have flowers enclosed in a cup : <^ipn 0' airb Travnov y)
fieXirra oaa iv kc'iXvki dvQtl.

^ Testae. There is, I think, little doubt but that Vergil had
this passage before him when he wrote (Georg., iv, 25):
In medium, seu stabit iners sea profluet humor
Tranversas salices et grandia conice saxa:
Pontibus ut crebris possint consisfere, et alas
Pandere ad aestivum solem; si forte viorantes
Sparserit aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit Eurus.
* Exinanitas. This is Keil's interpretation, to which objec-
tion mav be made that the antithesis is then false and that

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 339

hive. Accordingly, about ten pounds of ripe figs
are boiled down in six congit (about four and a half
gallons) of water, and when cooked ^ are made into
cakes and placed near the hives. Other people have
vessels filled with water sweetened with honey placed
near at hand, on to which they put clean ^ wool, so
that the bees may suck the hydromel through it,
avoiding thus at one stroke the double danger of
either drinking too much at a time or of falling into
the water. Vessels are placed, one near each hive,
and are kept filled. Other people pound raisins and
figs together, pour sapa on the mixture, and then
make it into cakes which are put in some^ place

the passage would seem to require the emendation of Ursinus
which Keil rejects, viz., ac (instead of aut) relinquere. Ex-
inanitas, I imagine, means " deserted by its inhabitants," not
"emptied of honey." It might, however, mean "if they have
been emptied of honey."

' Codas. The expression, ^o^/aj'/wo^j, "cooked into cakes,"
seems harsh enough to justify Ursinus's emendation, coactas.

' Lanam puram. Cf. Columella, ix, 14, 15: "The better
practice is, I believe, in winter, when the bees are starving, to
place In small troughs close to the entrances of the hives dried
figs which have been pounded and then steeped in water, or
defnitum, or raisin wine, and to steep in these liquids a piece
of clean wool on which the bees may stand and suck up the
fluid as though through a pipe. Cf. Pliny, xxl, 14 : Si cibus
deesse censeatur apibus, uvas passas ficosque siccus tusas ad fores
earuin posuisse conveniet. Item lanas tractas (carded) madenles
passo aut defruto aqua 7nulsa.

^ Ibi quo foras. I have followed Victorius's interpretation —
which is adopted by Keil — but with some misgiving, for, as
Schneider points out, bees do not quit the hive in search of
food during the winter. Instead oi foras perhaps th£ ad /ores

340 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

outside the hive where the bees, though it be winter,
29 can still go for food. When bees are about to swarm,
which is generally when a good number of young
ones have been born to them without mishap, and
the hive means to send forth its children to form as
it were a colony, just as the Sabines in old times
often had to do owing to the large numbers of their
children — you can tell when this is going to happen
by means of two signs which usually precede it.
(i) Some days before, especially in the evening,
bunches of bees hanging together like grapes are to
7,0 be seen before the entrance of the hive. (2) When
they are just on the point of flying away or have
actually begun to do so they make a loud humming
like the sound made by soldiers when moving camp.
Those which first leave the hive fly about in sight,
looking back repeatedly at the others who have not
yet swarmed until they too come. When the bee-
keeper sees what has happened, he terrifies them
31 by throwing dust ' upon them, and by clashing brass

{or foras) of the passage quoted above from Pliny might be
read : " Whither — to the entrances, that is — they can at least
go for food even though it be winter." Varro then would be
in complete agreement with Columella and Plinv. The precise
definition of quo by a parenthetic ad fores is quite in Varro's
manner.

' laciundo pulvere. In Vergil (Georg., iv, 67-S7) it is in order
to part the armies of two rival kings that dust is thrown, when :

Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta
Pulveris exigui iaclu coinprcssa quiescunt.

Vergil's compressa corresponds to Varro's perlerrilac, but how
the poet turns all to favour and to prettiness !

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 341

around them, while the place, which should not be
far away, to which it is wished to bring them is
smeared ' with erithace^ apiastrmn, and other things
of which they are fond. When they have settled, a
hive is brought there, smeared inside with the en-
ticing substances I have mentioned. This is placed
close to the swarm, which is then forced by a gentle
fumigation to enter it. When once the bees have
entered the new colony they remain there with such
goodwill that, even if you place next to them the old
hive from which they came, they still prefer the new
home.
32 Having stated what I considered to be of import-
ance in the matter of bee-feeding, I will now pro-
ceed to discuss its object— the produce.

The time for taking ' the honey-combs is indicated

^ Oblinunt. For this some such object as ramum seems to
be required, but it is quite possible that Varro disdained to be
more explicit.

- Eximendorum favorum. As I have translated this passage,
i had better perhaps say here what I have translated. This is
the reading of the Archetype as given by Victorius : Signuvi
eximendorum favorum sumunt ex ipsis viris a/vos haheat nem
cos^erminarit coniecturd capiunt si intus faciunt bomhum et, cum
intra eunt acforas trepidant et siopercula alvorum cum remoreissi
favorum foramina obducta vidcntur membranis^ cum sint repleti
melle. Scaliger's remark on this is : Non est locus inquinatior
isto, et sane eum emendandi omnem prorsus spem abieci. And
so say Victorius and Keil. In order to get something to trans-
late I have supposed this to have been written : Si gnum eximen-
dorum favoruin sumunt ex ipsis {fures a/vos habeatne an contra
exterminarit coniecturam capiunt si intus faciunt bombum et,
cum intro eunt et foras, trepidant) et opercula alvorum cum

342 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

by the state of the honeycombs themselves, for you may
know that it has come, if, on removing the lids of
the hives, the cells are seen to be covered with a
thin skin, being then full of honey; (one guesses
whether the hive still contains drones or has
already expelled them by the loud buzzing the bees
make inside the hive, and by their rushing in wild
33 excitement in and out of it). When the honey is re-
moved, some say that nine-tenths should be taken
and a tenth ' left, for if you take away the whole the
bees will desert the hive. Some people leave more

remoris (Keil) si favoruvi foramina ohducta videntur vienibranis
— cum sunt repleti melle, and I have translated the parenthesis
last. As to fures for viris : Varro has already mentioned y«r as
a name given to drones (iii, i6, 19), and the killing of them
seems to be indicated by what follows. Alvos (here, of course,
nominative) is frequently used by Pliny and Columella for the
bees in the hive. For neyn I have written 7ie an. The altera-
tion of congermijiarit to contra exterminarit is violent, but Colu-
mella (ix, 15, 3) uses exterminare in this relation : Hos quidam
praecipiunt in totum exterminari oportere. In the phrase ^^jz
favoruvi . . . cum remoreissi Keil obviously deletes the wrong
si, and in the last clause sunt instead of sint seems to be
necessary. To the reading proposed much support is given by
Columella (ix, 15, 4) : Ergo cum rixam fucorum etapium saepius
committi videris adapetias alvos inspicies ut, sive se7nipJeni
favi sijit differantur : sive iam liquore completi, et superpositis
ceris tamquam opcrcuUs ohliti dcmetanttir, and Palladius (June
vii) : Item cum fucos a sedibus suis, qui sunt apes maiores, grandi
intentione deturbant matura mella testantur.

^ Decumam. Columella (ix, 15, 8) says; "In summertime
a fifth, and on the approach of winter, a third of the honey
should be left; but on this point ancient authorities dis-
agree.

Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 343

than the amount stated. As in the case of ploughed
lands those who have yearly ' crops from them get
more corn after intervals of comparative rest, so with
hives, if you do not take the honey every year, or
take less of it, your bees are busier and pay better.

34 The honey should first be taken, it is thought, at
the rising of the Pleiads, next when summer is over,
before Arcturus has fully risen, and for the third time
after the setting of the Pleiads; and at this time,
even if the hive be fertile, not more than a third of
the honey should be taken, and the rest should be
left for their winter supply, while if the hive be not
fertile none at all should be removed. When a large
amount is to be taken, it should not be removed all
at once or in sight of the bees, lest they lose heart.
If any part of the honey-combs which have been got
has no honey in it, or if what it has is dirty, that

35 part must be cut off with a knife. Care should be
taken to prevent the weaker bees from being bullied
by the stronger, for so the yield is decreased. Ac-
cordingly the weaker are generally separated from
the rest and given another king.

Those who will continually fight together should
be sprinkled with water sweetened with honey, when
they not only leave off fighting, but crowd together
and lick one another. The effect is more marked if
wine and honey is used, the smell of which makes

^ Restibiles. Cf. i, 44, 2 and 3, a passage which fully ex-
plains this, and makes unnecessary the insertion of non before
restibiles as proposed by Ursinus and others. Compare also
ii, 7, II.

344 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

them come to it with great eagerness and drink
until they are stupefied.

36 If too few come out of the hive, and some con-
stantly remain behind, recourse must be bad to
fumigations, and near by some sweet-smelling
herbs ' should be placed, in particular apiastrum

37 and thyme. The utmost care must be taken to pre-
vent their dying from extreme heat or cold. If ever
they have been surprised while feeding by a sudden
shower or fall of temperature, which even they had
not foreseen — for it rarely happens that they are
deceived — and the big drops have struck them to
the earth where they lie as dead, you must put"
them together into some vessel, and place them out
of the way in a sheltered and moderately warm spot,
and the next day when the weather is at its best,
bits of fig-wood should be burned to ashes, and
these, when they are a little hotter than lukewarm,

^ Herbarum. A use of the genitive rare in Latin, quite com-
mon in Greek, as in such phrases as o\vov viviiv, rijc yiig Hfiveiv,
etc. Cf. Varro, iii, 17, 7.

^ ColUgendtim. It is remarkable that both Columella (ix,
13, 4) and Pliny (xi, 20) speak of this practice as adopted for
the resuscitation in the spring of bees that have died on the
approach of winter. Pliny says : " Some people think that the
dead bees revive if they are kept in the house during the
winter, and then, when the spring comes are warmed in the
sun and kept hot for a whole day in fig-wood ashes." Columella
{loc. cit.) makes substantially the same statement about bees
which have died from disease, taking Hyginus as his authority,
"who himself followed ancient authors and dared not assert
the truth of the story." In any case. Columella savs, the best
thing is to prevent them from dying.

Ill] OF FISH-PONDS 345

should be sprinkled over the bees, which must
then be gently shaken, vessel and all — so that you
do not touch them with the hand — and placed in
38 the suji. Thus thoroughly warmed they are re-
stored and come to life again, just as it happens in
the case of drowned flies. This treatment is to be
carried out close to the hives, so that when won
back to life, each bee may return to his own work
and home.

CHAPTER XVH

OF FISH-PONDS

Meanwhile Pavo ' came back to us and said:
Suppose we weigh anchor; the votes ^ have been
given, and the tribes are casting^ lots, and the crier
is beginning to shout out' the name of the aedile
chosen by each tribe. Appius at once jumped up;
meaning to greet his candidate on the spot, and

' Pavo. See iii, 5, 18.

- Latis tabulis, i.e., suffragiis. Cf. Cicero, Pro Plaiicio, 20:
Vocafae tribus latum suffragium, descriptae, renuntiatae.

^ Sortitio tribuum, to decide, in the case of competitors who
had received an equal number of votes, which should be
chosen. Cf. Pro Plancio, 22 : Neque enim umquavi maiores
nostri sortitionem constituissent aedilitiam, nisi viderent accidere
posse ut competitores pares suffragiis essent. This speech throws
much light on the coviilia aedilitia.

* Recini. The verburn solenne is recitari. Keil thinks there
is here a reference to the " sing-song " utterance of the crier.

346 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

then go on to his country house.' Whereupon
Merula remarked: Some other time, Axius, I will
give you the third act' concerning farm-yard feed-
ing. They (Merula and Appius) rose, and Axius
and I stood looking back at them as they went, for
we knew our candidate would come that' way.
Said Axius to me: I am not sorry that Merula
has left us at this point, for I know pretty well
2 what remains to be said. Thus: there are two sorts
of fish-ponds, those of fresh water and those of salt.

^ Hortos. Varro has the same phrase, discedere in hortos, at
the end of Book II : Itaque discedinius ego et Scrofa in hortos ad
Vituluni. Horti has different meaning's: (i) gardens in our
sense — Varro (i, i6, 3) speaks of market gardens: suh urbe
hortos; (2) pleasure grounds, whether public or private; (3)
the estate of a country gentleman — the villa with its grounds.
Entertainments were frequently given in hortis, cf. Cicero
(Phil., ii, 6): Hodie non descendit Antonius. Cur? Natalitia
dat in hortis. And again, De Ofificiis, iii, 14: Ad cenam
hominem in hoitos invitavit in proximum diem. For dinners in
hortis stone triclinia were commonly used. In several of the
peristylia of the houses at Pompeii these stone couches are to
be seen disposed round a central table. They are very com-
fortable. I imagine then that Appius intended to congratulate
his candidate (he seems to have been sure that he would be
elected !) and then go and dine with him, just as, presumably,
Varro and Scrofa went to Vitulus's country place to spend what
remained of the holiday. Perhaps Applus's candidate lived on
the slope of the Pincian Hill {collis hortoruni) which was less
than a mile away from the Villa Publica.

* Tertium actuni, i.e., de piscinis. Cf. iii, 3, i.

' Et candidalum. I have translated Ursinus's emendation
ea, for the et of the Archetype seems pointless, seeing that
Appius's candidate was not coming.

Ill] OF FISH-PONDS 347

Those of the one kind, in which water is supplied
to ouf home-fed fishes by the river Nymphs/ are
kept by men of the people, and are profitable
enough; while the other sea-water ponds which
belong to the nobles, and get both water and
fishes from Neptune, appeal more to the eye than
to the pocket, and empty rather than fill the
owner's purse. For they cost a great deal to build,
a great deal to stock, and a great deal to feed.
Hirrus' used to make 12,000^ sesterces {£g^) a
year out of the buildings round about his fish-
ponds— and spent every penny of it on food for the
fishes. And no wonder, for I remember he lent
on a single occasion to C. Caesar 2,000^ lampreys
by weight, and that his villa fetched four million
sesterces (;^32,ooo) when sold, owing to the great

^ Lymphae. Keil in both editions writes this word with a
small initial letter. It seems much better to write it with a
capital, for the sake of the antithesis between the Lymphae
and Neptune. Varro has already (i, i, 6) mentioned Lympha
as a goddess : Nee non etiam precor Lymphain ac Bonum Even-
turn.

" Hirrus. Cf. ii, i, 2.

^ Duodena milia. Cf. note, iii, 16, 11.

* Duo milia. Pliny (ix, 55) has six thousand : Murenarum
vivarium privatim excogitavit C. Hirrus ante alios qui cenis
triumphalibus Caesaris Dictatoris sex milia numero murenarum
mutuo appemiit (Varro's muttia inpondus dedit). Nam permutare
quidem. pretio noluit aliave merce. Hirrus would accept no
payment in money, but stipulated for the return of the same
weight of lampreys. Macrobius (ii, 11) repeats Pliny's state
ment and adds the detail that Hirrus's villa was not very big
{quamvis non amplam aul latam).

348 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

quantity of fish in its waters. So with good reason
is the inland pond, owned by common people, called
" sweet" and the other " bitter," for which of us is
not contented with a single fish-pond of the former
kind, and on the other hand, what man that has
begun with a single salt-water pond, but goes on to
4 have a regular suite of them? For just as Pausias '
and the other painters of his school have large paint-
boxes divided into compartments in which to keep
their wax-pigments of difi"erent colours, so our
wealthy men possess fish-ponds having similar
compartments for keeping separate different kinds
of fish, these fish being sacred and more inviolable
than those Lydian ones that you used to tell us

^ Pausias. Pliny (xxxv, ii, beginning-) gives an interesting
account of him. He was a native of Sicyon, which he made
for a long time "the home of painting," and was a con-
temporary of Apelles, and taught by the same master, Pam-
phylus. He was the first to become famous as a painter of
encaustic pictures (Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere). The
most interesting fact about him, however, is that, according to
Plinv, he discovered fore-shortening : Earn enim picturam
primus invenit quam postea ijiiitati sunt multi, aequavit nemo.
Ante omnia, cum long-itudineni bovis ostendere vellet, adversum
eum pinxit nan transversum unde et abunde intelligitur ampli-
tudo . . . magna prorsus arte in aequo exstantia ostendens et in
confracto omnia solida. Did he show the naive delight, one
wonders, in his invention, which Uccello, who re-discovered
the art some eighteen centuries later, displays in his pictures?
Varro was doubtless familiar with his original works, for In
the aedileship of Aemilius Scaurus, who was consul in the
year of Varro's birth, Sicyon being unable to pay its debts,
they were forfeited and taken to Rome.

Ill] OF FISH-PONDS 349

about, Varro, which, when you were sacrificing near
the sea came up at the sound of a flute to the edge
of the shore and quite close to the altar, no one
daring to catch them — it was about the same time
that you saw the Lydian islands dancing ^ round
and round — well, these fishes of ours are equally
sacred, so sacred that no cook dares to call them
5 over" the coals. Our common friend Quintus Hor-
tensius had fish-ponds near Bauli ^ which had cost

' XopevovaaQ. Pliny devotes a chapter (ii, 95) to "islands which
always float," and mentions many such in Italy near Reate,
Statona, etc., as well as those in Lydia called, from the abund-
ance of reeds {KoKanoi) which grew on them, calaminae. With
regard to the latter he says : In Lydia quae vocantur Calaminae
non ventis solum sed etiam contis quolibet impuhae multorum
civium Mithridatico bello salus. So that Varro probably saw
these islands when he was one of Pompey's Jegati in 67 or 66 B.C.
Scaliger quotes the following passage from Martianus Capella
(which I have not consulted) : In Lydia Nympharum insulas
dicunt quas etiam recentior asserentium Varro se vidisse testahir
quae in medium stagnum a continenti procedentes cantu tihiarum
primo in circulum motae, dehinc ad liiora revertuntur.

^ In ius. Cicero somewhere in the Verrines makes the
same sort of pun, speaking of the ius Verrinum, i.e.,
Verres's administration of justice, or "Boar's gravy." The
passage in the text means literally "to summon to ius, trial
or sauce."

' Baulos. The modern Bacoll, about two miles from Baiae
(Baja). Ruins, now partly under water, of the very fish-ponds
mentioned here by Varro are still to be seen at Bacoli. Cf. Pliny
(ix, 55) : Apud Baulos in parte Baiana piscinam habuit Hor-
tensius Orator in qua murenam adeo dilexit ut exanimatam ftesse
credatur. Cicero called Hortensius/w<:/«ar/MJ (Macrobius, ii,
II, and Cicero, Ad Atticum, i, 19).

350 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

him a great sum to build, and I know, for I often
used to stay with him at his country-house, that he
used always to send to Puteoli to buy the fish for

6 dinner. And it was not enough that his fish-ponds
didn't feed him, but he must needs, if you please,
with his own ' hands feed them, being more anxious
lest his mullets should feel the pangs of starvation
than I do lest my asses ' at Rosea should go hungry.
He spent, too, a good deal more on the former than
I do on the latter in the matter of both food and
drink. For all I need for the feeding of my costly
asses is one little slave, a trifle of barley, and water
found on the estate, while Hortensius in the first
place kept an army of fishermen to feed the fish,
who used constantly to bring him masses of tiny
fishes which were destined to serve as food for the big

7 ones. He would buy, besides, salt-fish, and throw

' Ipse, "with his own hands." Macrobius (ii, 9) tells this
story about Hortensius: "He used to water his plane trees
with wine, and in a certain case in which he and Cicero had
both to speak, he asked Cicero as a favour to change with him,
as he was obliged to go home to water with his own hands a
plane tree which he had planted on his Tusculum estate " —
abi're in viUam necessario se velle ut vinum platano quam in
Tusculano posuerat ipse suffu7ideret. Macrobius says also that
Hortensius prosecuted his colleague for assault and battery,
because the latter, meeting him on a narrow footpath, had
jostled him and disordered the folds of his toga — which he
used to arrange before a looking-glass !

^ Asinos. Cf. iii, 2, 9. In the muUi above, Schneider sees a
pun, from the similarity of sound in muJli and mtiJi. It is very
likely that he is right, for the pun would give point to the
antithesis between mullet (mules) and asses.

in] OF FISH-PONDS 351

it into his ponds, when the sea was stormy, and '
when, owing to the weather, the market that supphes
the fish-ponds (the sea, that is) refused its food, and
the live food, the fish eaten by the common people
for supper, could not be got to shore with a net.
You would sooner, said I, have got Hortensius's
consent to your taking his carriage-mules from the
stable and keeping them for your own, than a

8 bearded mullet from his fish-pond. And, Axius
went on, he was as much troubled about a sick fish
as about a slave who was not very well, and so took
less pains to prevent a slave who was ill from drink-
ing cold water than to see that his fish had it fresh.
For neglect in this matter he used to blame Marcus
Lucullus,^ and thought little of his fish-ponds, as,
he said, Lucullus had no proper tidal basins, and
as the water was stagnant his fish lived in an un-

9 healthy place, whereas Lucius Lucullus, who near

* Ac. The sense of the passage would be greatly improved
if nee were read instead of ae, for then mare {piscinarum mare),
doubtless interpolated, could be explained as a scribe's note on
macellum. Hortensius used to buy salt fish, when, owing to a
storm, the market which usually supplied his fish-ponds (i.e.,
the sea) did «o/ supply food, etc. Columella (viii, 17, 12) recom-
mends all kinds of salt fish, rotten sardines, etc., and the
sweepings of the fishmongers' stalls {quae ceiariorum officinis
everrantur).

^ Marctis Lucullus. A brother of Lucius Lucullus. The two
are often mentioned together by Cicero, cf. De Provin. Con-
sular., 9, and De Officiis, ii, 14 {ut duo LuculJi), etc. Cf.
Velleius Paterculus (ii, 49, i): sipHus gratulatus ero O. Catulo,
duobus Lucullis, Metelloque et Hortensio,

352 VARRO ON FARMING [bk.

Naples had pierced a mountain ' and let in the sea
into his fish-ponds, whereby the latter themselves
became tidal, had as fine a fishing-ground as
Neptune — for it seems as though he had brought
his beloved fish on account of the boiling heat into
a cooler climate, as is the custom of the Apulian "
cattle breeders, who lead their flocks along the
cattle-tracks to the Sabine mountains. And in the
case of his country-house at Baiae he was when
building it consumed with such eagerness that he
gave his architect permission to spend money
as though it were his (the architect's) own, pro-
vided that he managed to make a passage from
his fish-ponds to the sea, and threw out a mole by
which twice a day from the first quarter of the moon
to the next new moon the tide could come in and go
back to the sea — and thus cool his fish-ponds,
lo Our conversation had reached this point when
there was a noise on the right, and our candidate,
now aedile-designate came into the Villa Publica
clad in the toga ^ praetexia. We went up to him

^ Montem. Cf. Pliny, ix, 54. Lucullus exciso etiam monte
iuxta Neapolim inaiore impendio quavi viUam aedijicaverat,
euripum et maria admisit. Qua de causa Magnus Pompeius
Xerxen togatum eum appellahat. This Neapolitan villa is men-
tioned by Cicero (Academicorum, ii, 3) in connection with
Hortensius's villa, ad Baulos, on the occasion of a visit paid by
Cicero, Catulus, and Lucullus to Hortensius. It stood on the
hill of Posilipo, where Vedius Pollio, Vergil, and many others
had villas.

^ Ut Apuli solent. Cf. ii, i, 16, and ii, 2, 9.

^ Cum lata. Their candidate had just been elected Curule

Ill] OF FISH-PONDS 353

and after congratulations escorted him to the
Capitol. And so he to his house/ we to ours.
And thus ended the conversation about "home
feeding," of which, my friend Pinnius, I have
given you the gist.

Aedile and so had the right to wear the dress peculiar to
senators and certain magistrates — the toga praetexta — which
had a broad band of purple (latus clavus). The word to be
understood after lata is "gxo^i^kAy purpura. For the right of a
Curule Aedile to wear the toga praetexta cf. Cic. in Verrem,
V, 14 — the locus class icus for the duties and privileges of a
Curule Aedile.

^ Endo suam domum. This is a deliberate archaism and is
thought to be an imitation of Ennius's endo suam do (quoted
by Ausonius), where the do is an apocopated form of domum
resembling Homer's SS).

A A

EXCURSUS I

ON THE TIME AND PLACE OF THE DIALOGUE IN
BOOK II

With regard to the place and occasion of the dialogue
in Book II there is great difficulty; for whereas in the
two other books Varro mentions these explicitly, here
neither is indicated, and the conversation begins so
abruptly that nearly all the commentators have been
driven to infer a large lacuna in the text. Gesner, how-
ever, followed by Gaston Boissier, maintains that nothing
is missing, and that Varro, like Homer in the Odyssey,
plunged at once into the heart of his subject in order to
quicken the curiosity of the reader. This opinion is, I
think, quite untenable, for save in this respect the plan
of all three books is the same — introduction, dedication,
place, and occasion, while the obvious corruption of the
text at the point where the dialogue begins, and the
fact that here fresh copyists took up the work of tran-
scription, make it not improbable that much has been lost,
especially as the place where the gap is thought to be is
precisely where in the two other books Varro describes
the circumstances in which the conversations arose —
namely, at the end of the introduction. Most editors,
assuming this loss, refuse to waste time on the attempt
to solve an insoluble riddle, and Pontedera [Curae Post-
humae) even charges Varro with self-contradiction, for

355

356 VARRO ON FARMING

he says : "from Varro's statement that the dialogue took
place when he was in command of the fleets between
Delos and Sicily we must infer that the place was not in
Italy, while from xi, 12, libertus in urhem veniens ex
hortis, it is clear that it was in Rome. " The problem may
be insoluble, but deserves, I think, more consideration
than it has received.

In the first place, then, it is clear from viii, i, and
xi, 12, that the interlocutors were met together to cele-
brate a holiday. Now as Varro was careful, in the first
book, to choose a time and place especially appropriate
to the topic to be discussed — the Sementivae and the
temple of Tellus — (in the third there was no divinity or
temple which was connected with his subject) it is a
priori probable that he took the same course in the
second. As the topic was here cattle, and the speakers
were pastores — pecuarii — no other festival could be so
appropriate as the Palilia, the great shepherd-festi-
val and the birthday of Rome, which was founded by
shepherds. And there is direct evidence in the text
for this supposition. Lucienus, v, i, after greeting the
company, leaves them for a few minutes to "pay his
pence to Pales" (I read Pali bis for the Palibus of the
archetype, Schneider's Palilibus, or Keil's Larihiis) and
the libertus of Menas (viii, i) says; "the liba are
ready, and will the gentlemen come and sacrifice for
themselves." But liba were especially characteristic
of the bloodless sacrifices to Pales, cf. Ovid, Fasti, iv,
774:

At nos taciamus ad annum
Pastorum dominae grandia liba Pali.

It may be regarded, I think, as practically certain that

EXCURSUS I 357

these imaginary conversations are supposed to have been
held at the festival of the Palilia, 67 B.C.

To fix with the same certainty the place where they
took place is, I fear, not possible, but 2Lpriina facie case
may perhaps be made out for Buthrotum or Cassiope.

Varro at the end of the introduction says that he will
reproduce conversations which he had had with owners
of large cattle-ranches in Epirus, at the time of the war
against the Pirates when, as a legatus of Pompey, he
was in command of fleets between Delos and Sicily ; so
that the scene of the dialogue must have been outside
Italy. Pontedera's second inference that it must have
been Rome is absurd, for urbs unqualified does not
necessarily mean Rome, and the Palilia being the birth-
day of the capital, was doubtless celebrated not only in
Italy but in all the Roman provinces. As Varro states
that the dialogue is between Epirot cattle-breeders, and
as three of the speakers are demonstrably Epirots —
Atticus, whose income came principally from cattle-
farms in Epirus (cf. Corn. Nep., Atticus), Cossinius, and
Lucienus, who addresses the other two as l.vvr\-Ktipu>Tai
(v, i) — and as the coast there would be in Varro's beat
(the Sicilian and Ionian Seas as far as Acarnania, cf.
Appian B. Mith. 39), and as Epirus was celebrated for
its cattle and so was not unlikely to be chosen by Varro
for these imaginary conversations, some city in or near
Epirus seems indicated.

It appears from the beginning of the dialogue that the
discussion was continued from a short while before,
when it had been interrupted by the arrival of the doctor.
Now in i, 4, 5, Varro says that when the fleet and army
were at Corcyra, and all the houses were filled with sick
or dead people, he managed by taking certain ptecau-

358 VARRO ON FARMING

tions to bring- back his comrades and household safe and
sound. Corcyra was just oflF Epirus and opposite
Buthrotum, where Atticus had a house (Cicero, Ad Att.,
iv, 8). We know, too, from Cicero (Ad Att., i, 5-8) that
between 68 and 66 Atticus was travelling in Greece ; and
that Corcyra was malarious, for in 51 Atticus (Ad Att.,
vi, 2) caught a bad quartan fever there from which he
recovered with difficulty (Ad Att., vii, 5, 9, etc.). If Varro
was at Cassiope {partus Corcyraeorunt, cf. Cic. Ad Div. ,
xvi, 9) no doubt his friend Atticus, if then at Buthrotum,
would run over to see him. The epidemic which was
raging would explain the visit of the doctor.

Again, the talk must have taken place in some build-
ing-in the city (vii, i), for in v, i, Lucienus is spoken of
as introiens (coming inside), and not in a private house,
for the libertus of Vitulus was on his way to Varro's quar-
ters when seeing him and the others he came to them.
It seems likely that the building was a temple (just as in
Book I), possibly an aedes Palis. I would suggest the
following as a plausible reconstruction of the plot.

Some time in April 67 B.C. the fleet with which Varro
was hunting pirate galleys put into Cassiope, the princi-
pal harbour of Corcyra. On the 20th, or a little before,
Atticus and Cossinius came over to see him, and began
a conversation on cattle-raising, which was interrupted
by the arrival of the doctor, who carried off Varro
(Troi/xeva XaQv) to see a sick man, or to consult about the
health of the soldiers and seamen. On the following day
Varro, Atticus, Cossinius, Murrius, Vaccius, Scrofa,
Pomponius Vitulus — probably a kinsman of Atticus —
and Menas met by appointment to make arrangements
for spending the Palilia. Vitulus, who had a house and
grounds outside the city (xi, 12), asked \^arro and

EXCURSUS I 359

Scrofa to spend the holiday with him, and on their
accepting went away to give the necessary orders.
Menas, who had a house not far away, invited others of
the party to come to him, and he too left. After some
general conversation (as in Books I and III) Varro pre-
pared to go to Vitulus's, but the rest refused to let him
depart (II, i, ii) until he had given the discourse on
cattle-raising which he had previously begun. And so
the dialogue begins and goes on for four chapters, when
Lucienus arrives, is scolded by the others for coming
late, and goes off to pay his pence to Pales, taking
Murrius with him as a witness, for fear they should try
to make him pay his contribution twice over. He is
absent for a few minutes, then returns to discourse later
on horses. A few chapters further Menas's freedman
comes to tell them that the sacrificial cakes are ready,
and to ask his friends to go and sacrifice. The Palilia,
by the way, was a private as well as a public festival
(cf. Scholiast to Persius, i, 72).

Later still (xi, 12), Vitulus, growing impatient — and
no wonder! — sends his freedman to beg Varro and
Scrofa to come at once and not to cut short the holiday
as they were doing. "And so, my friend Turranius
Niger, we parted, Scrofa and I through Vitulus's
grounds to his house, while the rest of the party went
some to Menas's, some to their own homes."

EXCURSUS II

THE TEXT OF THE RERUM RUSTICARUM

There is not much to be said concerning- the text of
these books, which rests in the last resort upon the
authority of one manuscript only, which has long ago
disappeared. In 1794 Schneider pointed out that all ex-
isting manuscripts were derived directly or indirectly
from it, and this fact has been abundantly proved in
modern times by the great German scholar Keil. This
manuscript — the Marcian — which Pietro Vittorio calls
" liber antiquissimus et fidelissimus," was in his time in
the library of St. Mark at Florence, and was much used
by him in the preparation of his edition of Cato and
Varro, published in 1541. Its most important readings
— where they diverge from the printed editions and
other manuscripts to which he had access — are given,
and are occasionally discussed in the " Explicationes
suarum in Catonem, Varronem, Columellam castiga-
tionum," which appeared in 1542. Before Vittorio,
Angelo Politian had in 1482 collated this manuscript
with the Jenson edition (editio princeps 1472, made
under the auspices of Georgius Merula) and had entered
in his copy of the latter all readings of the Marcian
MS., which differed from the printed edition.
Of remaining manuscripts the most important are the
360

EXCURSUS II 361

Codex Parisinus (early thirteenth century), a faithful
transcript of a good copy of the Marcian, not mentioned
by Vittorio, and the Codex which is called by Keil
" Mediceus " (fourteenth century), and is frequently re-
ferred to by Vittorio as " Semivetus," or " Gallicanus."
By the help of Politian's collation, Vittorio's edition of
1541, his *' Explicationes " of 1542, and the two manu-
scripts mentioned, the Archetype has been disentangled
from the numerous emendations of Renaissance scholars
which, owing to ignorance of Varro's peculiar style, and
the fact that they were not made in accordance with any
fixed principle of textual emendation are in many in-
stances as worthless as they are ingenious. Unfortun-
ately, however, the Archetype thus restored to us is full
of corruptions, and neither Politian nor Vittorio has
given any clue to its probable date — though Vittorio
calls it very ancient — or mentions the script in which it
was written. It seems probable, however, that the Arche-
type was an early Carolingian Minuscule, for (i) Vittorio
says that it was older than his other manuscripts longo
intervallo', (2) the abbreviations, as we may gather from
his " Explicationes," are few and simple, which is the
case with early minusculae, but not with late ; (3) the
mistakes made are precisely those usually made by the
scribes of the ninth and tenth centuries, when copying
from earlier minuscule MSS., written in one or other of
the so-called national scripts. As an example, " a " and
" u " are persistently confused in the Archetype — twenty-
one cases occur in the three books. Now Alcuin in a letter
to Charlemagne refers to the corruptions which arose
from the difficulty of distinguishing between them —
" possunt quaedam ex his exemplis vitio scriptoris
esse corrupta et ' u ' pro ' a ' vel etiam * a ' pro ' u '

362 VARRO ON FARMING

posita." (Lindsay, Latin Textual Emendation, 84.) In
some Meroving-ian and Lombard scripts these letters are
almost indisting^uishable. Ag^ain the first words of thefirst
book are given by Politian as "P. otius," for "siotium" —
and " si " in some pre-Carolingian minusculae looks exactly
like P. There are of course also the mistakes common
to scribes of all ages — dittography, haplography, wrong-
division of letters to form words as well as those arising
from the misreading of certain abbreviations, which
varied in different scripts: cf. the confusion between the
forms of the relative," qui," " quae," " quod" " quam ";
" aliqui " and " aliquod " ("aliquot"), etc.

On the other hand, had the Archetype been written in
Merovingian, Lombardic, or Visigothic script, Vittorio
would surely have mentioned the fact.

For these and other reasons it seems probable that
the Archetype was a ninth- or tenth-century minuscule,
copied from a pre-Carolingian minuscule.

For the emendation of the faulty text of the Rerum
Rusticarum use has been made of: (i) internal evidence
from the books themselves; (2) Varro's other writings;
(3) quotations made from the Rerum Rusticarum by the
ancient grammarians, especially by Monius Marcellus,
who quotes frequently from the first book ; (4) the sources
which Varro used, especially Cato, Theophrastus, and
Aristotle ; (5) the Geoponica, in which Varro is often
literally translated ; (6) the authors who without quoting
his actual words, paraphrase or expand passages, or cite
facts to be found in the Rerum Rusticarum — Columella,
Pliny, Palladius, Servius, Macrobius, St. Augustine,
Isidore of Seville, etc. For the right spelling of proper
names much assistance is given by Cicero, Caesar, and
Horace, and by inscriptions.

EXCURSUS II 363

There is besides help to be gained from a method
which, I think, has not been applied before to Varro. It
consists in digesting- and tabulating obvious corruptions
in the text which can at once be corrected, and using
the results for further emendation. As a case in point :
there are in these books several examples of such a
phrase as "duodena milia sestertia," III, 17, 3, which
does not seem to be any Latin for 12,000 sesterces.
Several scholars suggested " sestertium," but both
Schneider and Keil retained "sestertia" in the text,
probably because the emendation lacked paleographical
confirmation. But " sestertium " would in an early
minuscule MS. most probably be written " sestertiu ";
in early Lombard and Franco-Lombard script the let-
ters "a" and "u" are barely distinguishable, and on
turning to our table of usual corruptions we find that the
confusion between the two letters is of constant occur-
rence in the text, while in many cases the line above a
vowel, which stands for " m " or " n " is frequently neg-
lected. It is then hardly possible to doubt that the scribe
found "sestertiu," in his text, neglected the stroke above
the " u," and for the latter wrote " a."

This method, as will be seen, I have used freely in the
emendations which have been attempted in the com-
mentary and in Excursus III.

EXCURSUS III

CRITICAL NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS

Quae Coniecturae meae turn mihi placebunt cum a doctioribus
viris probari audiam. — ViCTORlus.

I, 13, I. " Fructus, ut est vinum et oleum, loco piano
in cellis, item ut vasa vinaria et olearia potius faciendum :
aridus, ut est faba et faenum in tabulatis." Keil (p. 45)
simply expunges " ut," and g-ives a wholly unsatisfactory
explanation of the untranslatable "potius." Pontedera
(Curae Secundae) suggests " ubi " instead of "ut," and
" possint esse" for "potius." But it is difficult to see
how "potius" could have arisen from "possint esse."
Instead of the latter I would propose " ponas." In early
minuscule MSS. it is often difficult to discriminate be-
tween " ti " and "n" (cf. II, i, 15, where " statim " is
found in the Archetype for the obvious " sanum " — in
II, 2, 16 "n" becomes in the Archetype " ti "), and in
early Lombard script the word itself — "potius" — looks
extremely like " ponus " or "ponas." As I have shown
in Excursus II "a" and "u" are very frequently con-
fused in these books, e.g., " -um " for " -am " {passim),
"putulas" for " patulas " (II, 2, 11), etc. Again "ut"
or " uti " is frequently found for original "ubi" (cf. I,
6, 2, III, 6, 15).

Varro appears to mention three places (i), "Celiac,"
where liquid produce, such as wine and oil, was stored

364

EXCURSUS III 365

in "dolia"; (2) a place — the " torcular " or " forus
vinarius et olearius " — for the plant needed for the mak-
ing of wine and oil ; and (3) barns for dry produce.
Columella, in a chapter (I, 6, 9) which is little else than
an elegant paraphrase of Varro, mentions these three
places together: "Pars autem fructuaria dividitur in
cellam oleariam, torculariam, cellam vinariam," etc.
The passage would read, as amended: " Fructus, ut
est vinum et oleum, loco piano in cellis (item uhi vasa
vinaria et olearia ponas faciendum) : aridus ut est faba
et faenum in tabulatis."

I> 13» 3' "Cohortes in fundo magno duae aptiores:
una ut interdius compluvium habeat lacum ubi aqua
saliat, qui intra stylobatas cum velit sit semipiscina."

Keil (p. 47) makes "compluvium" an adjective — of
which no other example is to be found — and interprets
thus: " Compluvium autem lacum dicit in quern interdiu
canalibus aqua . . . ducitur." But it is obvious that no-
thing like this is contained in or implied by the text, for
"compluvium" must either be the familiar noun or
"compluvium lacum" mean a tank or pond in which
rain collects. In either case "interdius" seems to be
inadmissible and the word " saliat " inappropriate.

In Chapter XI Varro had said that the villa should
possess a spring within its precincts, or that water
should flow into it all the year round ; but that if there
were no "live" water a " lacus sub dio " should be
made for the cattle; and Palladius (I, 31) states that
there should be two " piscinae," which could be filled
" aut fonte aut imbre." It seems possible that Varro
alludes in the text to the two alternatives: meaning
that when there was no "aqua viva," i.e., spring or
stream, a "compluvium " was to be employed from which

366 VARRO ON FARMING

the rain water would fall into an " impluvium," which
might be used as a pond — the " lacus sub die" of
Chapter XI — while, if running water were at hand (for
"aquasaliens" opposed to "putei" or "fontes,"cf. Pliny,
Ep., ii, 17, 25), it was to be directed into a pond in the
yard, probably into the portico where it would form a
semi-piscina, having the stylohates on two sides (a piscina
had usually masonry on all four sides). I suggest there-
fore: " Cohortes in fundo magno duae aptiores: una ut
interius (having inside it) compluvium habeat, aut lacum
ubi aqua saliat quae (Schneider) intra stylobatas cum
venit (Merula, approved by Keil) sit semipiscina." One
may regard the omission of " aut" as a case of haplo-
graphy, of which we have many examples in these books.
" Qui " improperly written for " quae " occurs very many
times (cf. II, i, 27, etc.).

I, 15, I. " Praeterea sine saeptis fines praedii sationis
notis arborum tutiores fiunt." Schneider, followed by
Keil, cuts the knot by deleting " notis " and writing " sa-
tione " for "sationis." If the text may not stand — and
I do not feel sure that it may not — " farm boundaries if
unfenced are made safer by the indications given by the
sowing of trees," though the double genitive is terribly
harsh, perhaps might be read: " Praeterea sine saeptis
fines praedii, satione si noti (or notati), tutiores fiunt."
For the form of the expression "si noti " cf. I, 13, i: "Si
fessi opere "; II, 4, 20, " si in acervo positum "; III, 5, 2,
"si enim late ibi diffusa aqua . . . bibitur inutilius."

I, 10, 2. "Is modus acnua latine appellatur." The
use of the word " latine " here and in II, 1,5, "in Samo-
thrace Caprarumquas latine rotas appellant," is perhaps
due to the ignorance of the scribe. Pontedera (Cur.
Sec.) points out that Varro's usual formula in such cases

EXCURSUS HI 367

is " nostri appellant," " a nostris appellatur." With re-
gard to the first passage Columella (v, i, 5) has: " Sed
hunc actum provinciae Baeticae rustici acnuam vocant,"
and compares the Baetic " acnua " with the Gallic " are-
pennis " (Fr. arpent). Columella's uncle, on whose au-
thority the statement is made, was a native of Gades,
and had probably first-hand knowledge of the fact.
Varro also, who once stayed for a long time in Spain
(cf. Ill, 12, 6), was likely to know the local term. Per-
haps " Baetice " was originally written and " latine "
put instead of it by a scribe who did not understand the
former word. In II, i, 19 "b" and "1" are confused,
" Obsippo " for "Olisippo." In the second passage,
"in Samothrace caprarum quas latine rotas appellant,"
I would adopt Turnebus's emendation approved by Sca-
liger — " platycerotas " (TrXarffctpwrac), cf. Pliny, xi, 37.
A few lines before the copyist had written "la" for
" pla " (" laciditatem " instead of " placiditatem "). Per-
haps he read here " latyce rotas," and not knowing
what to do with " latyce " wrote instead a word he did
know — "latine."

II, I, I. " Insta an quid ille, quae coeperat hie dis-
serere quae esset origo, quae dignitas, quae ars cum f
poetam sesum visere venissemus ne medici adventus
nos inredisset." The copyist of the earlier part of this
book seems to have been extremely unintelligent, not
in the least understanding what he was copying ; any
vowel is written by him for any other, letters and whole
syllables are omitted or interpolated, and letters are often
absurdly grouped — for instance, nine lines further on, for
the obvious " pecuariae athletae remuneremini nos," the
Archetype has " pecuariathietae remune remininos." So
perhaps some boldness in emendation is permissible.

368 VARRO ON FARMING

Most of the passage above was easily and soon cor-
rected. Obviously " insta" = " ista," "an quid " ^
"inquit," "ne" = "ni" (or "nisi — n*''"), and " inre-
disset " = perhaps " impedisset "; but for " poetam se-
sum " no convincing emendation has been proposed.
Ursinus gave " Paetum " (Aldus " Petam "), " fessum "
taking "fessum " to mean " ill." But no example is to
be found of the word having this meaning absolute.
Scaliger proposed "adportam vis (for " vix ") e re," etc.,
which needs no comment. In Excursus I I have given
reasons for supposing that the scene of these conversa-
tions was at some port in or near Epirus. I would
therefore propose — with extreme diffidence — to read as
follows: " Ista, inquit ille, quae coeperat hie disserere
. . . cum eum, portum ingressum, visere venissemus
ni medici adventus," etc. One would then take " ni . . .
impedisset " closely with "coeperat disserere," trans-
lating: " Precisely, answered Cossinius, I mean the dis-
course which Varro here was beginning . . . when
we had come to call on him after he had entered the
harbour (Cassiope or Corey ra), only the arrival of the
doctor prevented our further conversation." The omis-
sion of "eum" might be explained as a case of haplo-
graphy. "Portum" would be written "portu," while
the "in" of "ingressum" might have been taken (as
often) for "m"; but how " sesum " could have arisen
from " gressum " I do not pretend to explain — unless
one may assume that "g" was simply omitted. In II,
2, 12, " inigere est utile " (Ursinus) is given by all editors
for the meaningless reading of the Archetype " interest
utile." The general sense seems here to compel the
correction, and "i" and "t" are frequently confused ;
but how is the "g" to be justified? If one might

EXCURSUS III 369

assume that " ingressum " was abbreviated, the diffi-
culty would be less, for "gr" in the abbreviated " in-
greditur " — as given by Prou in his dictionary of Latin
abbreviations — is very like an "S"; but I can find no
indication anywhere as to the date of the MSS. in which
this abbreviation is used.

II, I, 21. " Et quae quemque morbum curatio curandi
sequi debeat." Keil deletes "curandi." Jucundus's
conjecture, "ratio curandi," seems preferable.

II, 4, 17, " Fructuariam idoneam non esse." " Fruc-
tuariam " is probably a gloss explicative of " idoneam."

11,4, 17. "In eorum petu ("pecu" in Victorius's semi-
vet. MS.) scrofae bis die ut bibant curant." Victorius
suggested " foetu " ; Keil prefers "partu," which suits
" eorum " better. In this book "p" and "f" are
several times confused {e.g., II, i, 17, "fastor" for
" pastor," etc.). So perhaps here " in earum fetu " was
originally written. Cf. Cicero, De Fin., iii, 19: " labo-
rum bestiarum in fetu et in educatione."

II, 5, I. " Tu vero, Murri, veni mi advocatus dum
asses solvof Palibus, si postea a me repetant ut testi-
monium perhibere possis." For "Palibus" Keil gives
" Laribus," referring to a passage of Varro's cited by
Nonius, to prove that asses were paid to the Lares. But
this fact is stated by Varro only in relation to newly
married brides. Aldus conjectures "Palilibus." It is
nearly certain that these conversations took place at the
Palilia, and probably that the place was an " aedes
Palis" (cf. Excursus I). Instead of " Palibus" I would
suggest "Pali bis" — "dum asses solvo Pali, bis si
postea a me repetant," etc.

II, 5, 4. " Praeterea scio hunc esse . . . et huncf
Plautium iocutum esse latine quam Hirrium pr9.etorem

BB

370 VARRO ON FARMING

renuntiatum Romam in Senatum scriptum habemus."
This passage seems hopelessly corrupt, no emendation
in the least plausible has ever been proposed, and no
story is related by Cicero, Livy, Pliny, Valerius Maxi-
mus, Julius Obsequens, etc., about Plautius, Hirrius,
or a speaking ox, which seems to apply even remotely
to anything in this passage. But Pliny, I think, gives
a clue. In viii, 45 (last sentence), he says: "Est fre-
quens in prodigiis priscorum bovem locutum : quo nun-
tiato Senatum sub dio haberi solitum." For this state-
ment of Pliny I have been able to find no authority ; the
commentators are unanimously silent with the exception
of Dalecampius, who does but refer one to Alexander
ab Alexandro (v, 7, suh fin.) — a contemporary of Lau-
rentius Valla. Alexander repeats Pliny. And here again
all the commentators are silent. It seems to me prob-
able that this very passage of Varro is the authority
used by Pliny — who never quotes Varro's exact words —
and that Varro's actual words were : " Et hunc Plautum
locutum esse latine, quo miro praetori (i.e., 'urbano,'
cf. Suetonius, Claud., 22) nuntiato Romam, Senatum
sub dio habemus " — " And that this ' Plautus ' has been
known to speak good Latin — on the announcement of
which portent to the praetor at Rome we hold the Senate
in the open air.^' The joke seems exactly in Varro's
manner. Plautus was famous amongst the ancients for
the excellence of his Latin, cf. Quintilian, x, i : "Licet
Varro dicat Musas Plautius sermone locuturas fuisse
si latine loqui vellent," and on the other hand " plautus "
(flat-footed, cf. Festus, ad verbum) was an epithet ap-
plied to the Umbrians, and the " vasti Umbriae boves "
(Col., vi, I, 2) were famous among cattle. It is to these
that Varro alludes, II, 5, 10.

EXCURSUS III 371

For"Plautium"for "Plautum"cf. 11,8,2, "hinnius"
for " hinnus." As for the rest I imag-ine that the scribe
for *'quo miro " read " quam iru," and remembering
Hirrus already mentioned wrote "Hirrum" or *' Hir-
rium " (of "h" interpolated there are numerous ex-
amples in this book, " hostia " for " ostia," etc.), " nun-
tiato " he read as " nuntiatu (nuntiatum) " — and " sub-
dio "as " scribtu (scriptum)." The " in " {" Romam in
Senatum ") is perhaps a case of dittography, "in" and
*'m" being' frequently indistinguishable in Pre-Caro-
lingian minusculae.

II, 7, I. "E quis feminas Q. Modius Equiculus
etiam patri militari iuxta ac mares habere solebat." The
words "etiam patre militari" seem quite irrelevant.
Ursinus conjectured "etiam in re militari" — which
makes excellent sense. Keil first adopted this correc-
tion, but rejected it afterwards, probably because of the
difficulty of accounting for the corruption. "Etiam a
parte" ("etia a parte" — the second "a" disappearing
through haplography) is plausible. Pliny in a chapter
(viii, 42 end) which owes much to Varro, mentions the
fact that the Scythians preferred to use mares rather
than horses for military purposes, " Scythae per bella
feminis (i.e. equabus) uti malunt, quoniam urinam cursu
non impedito reddant." Varro frequently uses "pars"
in the sense of "section," "department," and "a"
meaning "in respect of," cf. I, 7, 5, "a qua parte vel
maxime bonus aut non bonus appellatur," and II, 2, 2,
" quae ita ab aetate," " in respect of ag-e."

II, 7, 15. " Neque idem qui vectorios facere vult ad
ephippium aut ad raedam quod ad rem militarem." I
would insert "aut" after "vult," cf. the note to the
passage in the Commentary. .^

372 VARRO ON FARMING

II, 9, i6. " Ita enim sunt adsiduiores quod cum altero
idem fit acrior, et si alter videm fiter aeger est ne sine
cane grex sit." In the first place it is difficult to under-
stand Keil's objection to "idem" (for which he substi-
tutes "item," saying- "'idem' . . . non habet quo
referatur)," for the turn of thought is quite Varronian.
The same dog becomes another, much fiercer — when he
has a mate. As for the rest many unhappy emendations
have been made, while no one seems to have noticed
the anacoluthon — harsh even for Varro — "quod ... fit
acrior — et si . . . est, ne sine cane grex sit." "Est," I
think, ought to be in the apodosis, where it is much
needed — and the sentence might be written " et si
alteruter fit aeger, est ut ne sine cane grex sit," "for
so they stick better to work, for the same dog when he
has a mate becomes fiercer, and if either of them falls ill,
the flock need not be without a dog." "Est" would
then be used as in Horace's "Est ut viro vir latius
ordinet || arbusta," or as in II, i, 28, "est qui ex-
pleas . . . lacunam." With " ut " inserted the Latin
is, of course, normal, the " ne " negativing only the
words "sine cane." In these books " ut " is omitted
two or three times, cf. II, 11, i, III, 2, 16, etc., and
Krumbiegel's index verborum at the end of Keil's
"Editio Maior."

For "videm" I have written "uter," but it may be
simply an echo from the words "altero idem" preced-
ing. The "er" in "fiter" is, perhaps, due to the scribes
writing the " er " of " aeger " prematurely and neglect-
ing to correct it.

III, I, ID. "In tuis quoque litteris." For " tuis " I
suggest "nitidis" (haplography). The passage is dis-
cussed in the Commentary.

EXCURSUS III 373

III, 5, 5. "Contra hie aviarium, quae mortuae ibi
sunt aves ut domino numerum reddat, solet ibidem ser-
vare." Keil changes *'hic" to "hoc" and indicates a
lacuna after "aviarium." It seems much simpler to
write "aviarius." There is then a much needed subject
for " solet," there is no need to alter the " hie " of the
archetype, the sense is perfectly plain, and there is no
need to assume a gap in the text. " Um " is sometimes
mis-written for "us," cf. Ill, 16, 5, where " neque idem
quod cera cibum " is found in the Archetype for the
obvious "neque . . . cibus," and a little later in the
same section " favum " for "favus."

Ill, 5, 10. " quaad capitulum rutundum est " (so Keil).
" Qua ad capitulum " should surely be written — for the
sake of the sense and of the antithesis (" qua est quad-
rata") — and this is the reading of the Archetype.

Ill, 14, 3. " Et hunc (cibum) dum serpit non solum
in area reperit sed etiam, si rivus non prohibet, parietes
stantes invenit." Keil interprets thus: "Cochleae non
solum cibum in areapositum reperiunt, sed etiam stantes
parietes cibi inveniendi causa ascendunt." This is no
doubt what Varro means, but it is not contained in the
text. Jucundus conjectured "in parietes," Ursinus "in
pariete stante." Better, I believe, is "per parietes" for
the omission of "per" may be explained as a case of
haplography, and "invenit" has then its usual sense
and governs " cibum." Schneider objected to " stantes "
on the ground that all "parietes stant," but the word is
used emphatically as Horace's " vides ut alta stet nive
Candida II Soracte," and in antithesis to "area." The
snail not only crawls about the "area," but even climbs
the perpendicular walls.

Ill, 16, 32. " Eximendorum favorum signum^umunt

374 VARRO ON FARMING |

ex ipsis t viris alvos habeat nem cogerminarit coniectura
capiunt si intus faciunt bombum et cum intro eunt ac
foras et si opercula aluum cum remoreissi favorum fora-
mina obductavidentur membranis cum sint repleti melle."
Scalig'er's remark on this is " Non est locus inquinatior
isto, et sane eum emendandi omnem prorsus spem
abieci " — and Victorius and Keil say much the same
thing". Schneider rewrites the whole passage arbitrarily.
I would suggest " Signum eximendorum favorum
sumunt ex ipsis (fures alvos habeatne an contra exter-
minarit coniecturam capiunt si intus faciunt bombum et
cum intro eunt et foras, trepidant) et opercula alvorum
cum remoris (Keil) si favorum obducta videntur mem-
branis— cum sunt repleti melle."

The cumbrous parenthesis is characteristic of Varro
in these books. As to "fures" for "uiris," Varro (III,
16, 19) mentioned "fur" as a name given to drones,
and the expulsion of them seems indicated by what
follows. The copyist probably took the " f " for " s " (a
common mistake, cf. "sit" for "fit," etc.) and found he
had already written "s" in "ipsis." "Alvos" (nominative
here) is frequently used by Columella and Pliny to
signify the bees in the hive. For "nem" I have given
" ne an." The corruption would be easy, as the MS. of
which the Archetype was a copy had almost certainly the
open a. The change of "cogerminarit" to "contra
exterminarit " is violent — but "c" and "t" are fre-
quently (seventeen times) confused in these books (cf.
" torium " for "corium," II, 5, 8, etc.), and the scribe
may have read the " t's " as "c's" ("contra," I find, was
sometimes written con), and his eye may have jumped
the letters between c5n and " cerminarit " (cf. " a(d)ver-
tendum" for " animadvertendum," I, 12, 2). The result

EXCURSUS III 375

would be *' concerminarit," made more like a Latin word
by the change of the second " c " to " g"."

Columella (IX, 15, 3) uses " exterminare " in this rela-
tion : " Hos quidem praecipiunt in totum exterminari
oportere." In the phrase "et si favorum . . . cum re-
moreissi " Keil deletes, I think, the wrong" "si," for it
is Varro's constant habit to place his conjunction as
near the end of the phrase as possible.

In the last clause "sunt" for " sint " seems neces-
sary. In these books they are perpetually confused.

To the reading proposed support is given by Columella
(IX, 15, 4): " Ergo cum rixam fucorum et apium saepius
committi videris, adapertas alvos inspicies ut sive semi-
pleni favi sint, differantur; sive iam liquore completi et
superpositis ceris, tamquam operculis, obliti, deme-
tantur" — and by Palladius (June, cap. 7), "Item cum
fucos a sedibus suis, qui sunt apes maiores, grandi in-
tentione deturbant matura mella testantur."

Ill, 17, 2. " Ubi lymphae . . . ministrant." Keil
writes " lymphae " with a small initial letter in both edi-
tions. It should be written with a capital. The " Lym-
phae " are contrasted with " Neptunus " farther down,
and " Lympha" is personified by Varro, I, i, 6 (" Lym-
pham et Bonum Eventum ").

Ill, 17, 3. " Hirrus . . . duodena milia sestertia
capiebat." This ungrammatical "sestertia" is found
also III, 16, 1 1, and III, 6, 6. I feel sure that in all three
cases " sestertium " (" sestertiu ") should be written, for
as I have already pointed out, nothing is commoner in
these books than the confusion of "a" and "u"
(twenty-one times).

CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

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