§ 1.1.1  Book I
Had I possessed the leisure, Fundania, I should write in a more serviceable form what now I must set forth as I can, reflecting that I must hasten; for if man is a bubble, as the proverb has it, all the more so is an old man. For my eightieth year admonishes me to gather up my pack before I set forth from life. 2 Wherefore, since you have bought an estate and wish to make it profitable by good cultivation, and ask that I concern myself with the matter, I will make the attempt; and in such wise as to advise you with regard to the proper practice not only while I live but even after my death. 3 And I cannot allow the Sibyl to have uttered prophecies which benefited mankind not only while she lived, but even after she had passed away, and that too people whom she never knew — for so many years later we are wont officially to consult her books when we desire to know what we should do after some portent — and not do something, even while I am alive, to help my friends and kinsfolk. 4 Therefore I shall write for you three handbooks to which you may turn whenever you wish to know, in a given case, how you ought to proceed in farming. And since, as told, the gods help those who call upon them, I will first invoke them — not the Muses, as Homer and Ennius do, but the twelve councillor-gods; and I do not mean those urban gods, whose images stand around the forum, bedecked with gold, six male and a like number female, but those twelve gods who are the special patrons of husbandmen. 5 First, then, I invoke Jupiter and Tellus, who, by means of the sky and the earth, embrace all the fruits of agriculture; and hence, as we are told that they are the universal parents, Jupiter is called "the Father," and Tellus is called "Mother Earth." And second, Sol and Luna, whose courses are watched in all matters of planting and harvesting. Third, Ceres and Liber, because their fruits are most necessary for life; for it is by their favour that food and drink come from the farm. 6 Fourth, Robigus and Flora; for when they are propitious the rust will not harm the grain and the trees, and they will not fail to bloom in their season; wherefore, in honour of Robigus has been established the solemn feast of the Robigalia, and in honour of Flora the games called the Floralia. Likewise I beseech Minerva and Venus, of whom the one protects the oliveyard and the other the garden; and in her honour the rustic Vinalia has been established. And I shall not fail to pray also to Lympha and Bonus Eventus, since without moisture all tilling of the ground is parched and barren, and without success and "good issue" it is not tillage but vexation. 7 Having now duly invoked these divinities, I shall relate the conversations which we had recently about agriculture, from which you may learn what you ought to do; and if matters in which you are interested are not treated, I shall indicate the writers, both Greek and Roman, from whom you may learn them.
Those who have written various separate treatises in Greek, one on one subject, another on another, are more than fifty in number.

§ 1.1.8  The following are those whom you can call to your aid when you wish to consider any point: Hiero of Sicily and Attalus Philometor; of the philosophers, Democritus the naturalist, Xenophon the Socratic, Aristotle and Theophrastus the Peripatetics, Archytas the Pythagorean, and likewise Amphilochus of Athens, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes of Mallos, Antigonus of Cyme, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Pergamum, Aristandrus of Athens, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chaerestus and Chaereas of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon, Diophanes of Nicaea, Epigenes of Rhodes, Euagon of Thasos, the two Euphronii, one of Athens and the other of Amphipolis, Hegesias of Maronea, the two Menanders, one of Priene and the other of Heraclea, Nicesius of Maronea, and Pythion of Rhodes. 9 Among other writers, whose birthplace I have not learned, are: Androtion, Aeschrion, Aristomenes, Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysius, Euphiton, Euphorion, Eubulus, Lysimachus, Mnaseas, Menestratus, Plentiphanes, Persis, Theophilus. All these whom I have named are prose writers; others have treated the same subjects in verse, as Hesiod of Ascra and Menecrates of Ephesus. 10 All these are surpassed in reputation by Mago of Carthage, who gathered into twenty-eight books, written in the Punic tongue, the subjects they had dealt with separately. These Cassius Dionysius of Utica translated into Greek and published in twenty books, dedicated to the praetor Sextilius. In these volumes he added not a little from the Greek writers whom I have named, taking from Mago's writings an amount equivalent to eight books. Diophanes, in Bithynia, further abridged these in convenient form into six books, dedicated to King Deiotarus. 11 I shall attempt to be even briefer and treat the subject in three books, one on agriculture proper, the second on animal husbandry, the third on the husbandry of the steading, omitting in this book all subjects which I do not think have a bearing on agriculture. And so, after first showing what matter should be omitted, I shall treat of the subject, following the natural divisions. My remarks will be derived from three sources: what I have myself observed by practice on my own land, what I have read, and what I have heard from experts.

§ 1.2.1  On the festival of the Sementivae I had gone to the temple of Tellus at the invitation of the aeditumnus (sacristan), as we have been taught by our fathers to call him, or of the aedituus, as we are being set right on the word by our modern purists. I found there Gaius Fundanius, my father-in-law, Gaius Agrius, a Roman knight of the Socratic school, and Publius Agrasius, the tax-farmer, examining a map of Italy painted on the wall. "What are you doing here?" said I. "Has the festival of the Sementivae brought you here to spend your holiday, as it used to bring our fathers and grandfathers?" 2 "I take it," replied Agrius, "that the same reason brought us which brought you — the invitation of the sacristan. If I am correct, as your nod implies, you will have to await with us his return; he was summoned by the aedile who has supervision of this temple, and has not yet returned; and he left a man to ask us to wait for him. Do you wish us then meanwhile to follow the old proverb, 'the Roman wins by sitting still,' until he returns?" "By all means," replied Agrius; and reflecting that the longest part of the journey is said to be the passing of the gate, he walked to a bench, with us in his train.

§ 1.2.3  When we had taken our seats Agrasius opened the conversation: "You have all travelled through many lands; have you seen any land more fully cultivated than Italy?" "For my part," replied Agrius, "I think there is none which is so wholly under cultivation. Consider first: Eratosthenes, following a most natural division, has divided the earth into two parts, 4 one to the south and the other to the north; and since the northern part is undoubtedly more healthful than the southern, while the part which is more healthful is more fruitful, we must agree that Italy at least was more suited to cultivation than Asia. In the first place, it is in Europe; and in the next place, this part of Europe has a more temperate climate than we find farther inland. For the winter is almost continuous in the interior, and no wonder, since its lands lie between the arctic circle and the pole, where the sun is not visible for six months at a time; wherefore we are told that even navigation in the ocean is not possible in that region because of the frozen sea." 5 "Well," remarked Fundanius, "do you think that anything can germinate in such a land, or mature if it does germinate? That was a true saying of Pacuvius, that if either day or night be uninterrupted, all the fruits of the earth perish, from the fiery vapour or from the cold. For my part, I could not live even here, where the night and the day alternate at moderate intervals, if I did not break the summer day with my regular midday nap; 6 but there, where the day and the night are each six months long, how can anything be planted, or grow, or be harvested? On the other hand, what useful product is there which not only does not grow in Italy, but even grow to perfection? What spelt shall I compare to the Campanian, what wheat to the Apulian, what wine to the Falernian, what oil to the Venafran? Is not Italy so covered with trees that the whole land seems to be an orchard? 7 Is that Phrygia, which Homer calls 'the vine-clad,' more covered with vines than this land, or Argos, which the same poet calls 'the rich in corn,' more covered with wheat? In what land does one iugerum bear ten and fifteen cullei of wine, as do some sections of Italy? Or does not Marcus Cato use this language in his Origines? 'The land lying this side of Ariminum and beyond the district of Picenum, which was allotted to colonists, is called Gallo-Roman. In that district, at several places, ten cullei of wine are produced to the iugerum.' Is not the same true of the district of Faventia? The vines there are called by this writer trecenariae, from the fact that the iugerum yields three hundred amphorae." And he added, turning to me, "At least your friend, Marcius Libo, the engineer officer, used to tell me that the vines on his estate at Faventia bore this quantity. 8 The Italian seems to have had two things particularly in view in his farming: whether the land would yield a fair return for the investment in money and labour, and whether the situation was healthful or not. If either of these elements is lacking, any man who, in spite of that fact, desires to farm has lost his wits, and should be taken in charge by his kinsmen and family. For no sane man should be willing to undergo the expense and outlay of cultivation if he sees that it cannot be recouped; or, supposing that he can raise a crop, if he sees that it will be destroyed by the unwholesomeness of the situation. 9 But, I think, there are some gentlemen present who can speak with more authority on these subjects; for I see Gaius Licinius Stolo and Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa approaching, one of them a man whose ancestors originated the bill to regulate the holding of land (for that law which forbids a Roman citizen to hold more than 500 iugera was proposed by a Stolo),17 and who has proved the appropriateness of the family name by his diligence in farming; he used to dig around his trees so thoroughly that there could not be found on his farm a single one of those suckers which spring up from the roots and are called stolones. Of the same farm was that Gaius Licinius who, when he was tribune of the plebs, 365 years after the expulsion of the kings, was the first to lead people, for the hearing of laws, from the comitium into the "farm" of the forum. 10 The other whom I see coming is your colleague, who was of the Commission of Twenty for parcelling the Campanian lands, Gnaeus Tremelius Scrofa, a man distinguished by all virtues, who is esteemed the Roman most skilled in agriculture." "And justly so," I exclaimed. "For his estates, because of their high cultivation, are a more pleasing sight to many than the country seats of others, furnished in a princely style. When people come to inspect his farmsteads, it is not to see collections of pictures, as at Lucullus's, but collections of fruit. The top of the Via Sacra," I added, "where fruit brings its weight in gold, is a very picture of his orchard."

§ 1.2.11  While we were speaking they came up, and Stolo inquired: "We haven't arrived too late for dinner? For I do not see Lucius Fundilius, our host." "Do not be alarmed," replied Agrius, "for not only has that egg which shows the last lap of the chariot race at the games in the circus not been taken down, but we have not even seen that other egg which usually heads the procession at dinner. 12 And so, while you and we are waiting to see the latter, and our sacristan is returning, tell us what end agriculture has in view, profit, or pleasure, or both; for we are told that you are now the past-master of agriculture, and that Stolo formerly was." "First," remarked Scrofa, "we should determine whether we are to include under agriculture only things planted, or also other things, such as sheep and cattle, which are brought on to the land. 13 For I observe that those who have written on agriculture, whether in Punic, or Greek, or Latin, have wandered too far from the subject." "For my part," replied Stolo, "I do not think that they are to be imitated in every respect, but that certain of them have acted wisely in confining the subject to narrower limits, and excluding matters which do not bear directly on this topic. Thus the whole subject of grazing, which many writers include under agriculture, seems to me to concern the herdsman rather than the farmer. 14 For that reason the persons who are placed in charge of the two occupations have different names, one being called vilicus, and the other magister pecoris. The vilicus is appointed for the purpose of tilling the ground, and the name is derived from villa, the place into which the crops are hauled (vehuntur), and out of which they are hauled by him when they are sold. For this reason the peasants even now call a road veha, because of the hauling; and they call the place to which and from which they haul vella and not villa. In the same way, those who make a living by hauling are said facere velaturam." 15 "Certainly," said Fundanius, "grazing and agriculture are different things, though akin; just as the right pipe of the tibia is different from the left, but still in a way united, inasmuch as the one is the treble, while the other plays the accompaniment of the same air." 16 "You may even add this," said I, "that the shepherd's life is the treble, and the farmer's plays the accompaniment, if we may trust that most learned man, Dicaearchus. In his sketch of Greek life from the earliest times, he says that in the primitive period, when people led a pastoral life, they were ignorant even of ploughing, of planting trees, and of pruning, and that agriculture was adopted by them only at a later period. Wherefore the art of agriculture 'accompanies' the pastoral because it is subordinate, as the left pipe is to the stops of the right."20 17 "You and your piping," retorted Agrius, "are not only robbing the master of his flock and the slaves of their peculium — the grazing which their master allows them — but you are even abrogating the homestead laws, among which we find one reciting that the shepherd may not graze a young orchard with the offspring of the she-goat, a race which astrology, too, has placed in the heavens, not far from the Bull." 18 "Be careful, Agrius," interrupted Fundanius, "that your citation cannot be wide of the mark; for it is also written in the law, 'a certain kind of flock.' For certain kinds of animals are the foes of plants, and even poisonous, such as the goats of which you spoke; for they destroy all young plants by their browsing, and especially vines and olives. 19 Accordingly there arose a custom, from opposite reasons, that a victim from the goat family might be led to the altar of one god, but might not be sacrificed on the altar of another; since, because of the same hatred, the one was not willing to see a goat, while the other was pleased to see him die. So it was that he-goats were offered to father Bacchus, the discoverer of the vine, so that they might pay with their lives for the injuries they do him; while, on the other hand, no member of the goat family was sacrificed to Minerva on account of the olive, because it is said that any olive plant which they bite becomes sterile; for their spittle is poisonous to its fruit. 20 For this reason, also, they are not driven into the Acropolis at Athens except once a year, for a necessary sacrifice — to avoid the danger of having the olive tree, which is said to have originated there, touched by a she-goat." "Cattle are not properly included in a discussion on agriculture," said I, "except those which enhance the cultivation of the land by their labour, such as those which can plough under the yoke." 21 "If that is so," replied Agrasius, "how can cattle be kept off the land, when manure, which enhances its value very greatly, is supplied by the herds?" "By that method of reasoning," retorted Agrius, "we may assert that slave-trading is a branch of agriculture, if we decide to keep a gang for that purpose. The error lies in the assumption that, because cattle can be kept on the land and be a source of profit there, they are part of agriculture. It does not follow; for by that reasoning we should have to embrace other things quite foreign to agriculture; as, for instance, you might keep on your farm a number of spinners, weavers, and other artisans."
"Very well," said Scrofa, "let us exclude grazing from agriculture, and whatever else anyone wishes." 22 "Am I, then," said I, "to follow the writings of the elder and the younger Saserna, and consider that how to manage clay-pits is more related to agriculture than mining for silver or other mining such as undoubtedly is carried out on some land? 23 But as quarries for stone or sand-pits are not related to agriculture, so too clay-pits. This is not to say that they are not to be worked on land where it is suitable and profitable; as further, for instance, if the farm lies along a road and the site is convenient for travellers, a tavern might be built; however profitable it might be, still it would form no part of agriculture. For it does not follow that whatever profit the owner makes on account of the land, or even on the land, should be credited to the account of agriculture, but only that which, as the result of sowing, is born of the earth for our enjoyment." 24 "You are jealous of that great writer," interrupted Stolo, "and you attack his potteries carpingly, while passing over the excellent observations he makes bearing very closely on agriculture, so as not to praise them." 25 This brought a smile from Scrofa, who knew the books and despised them; and Agrasius, thinking that he alone knew them, asked Stolo to give a quotation. "This is his recipe for killing bugs," he said: "'Soak a wild cucumber in water, and wherever you sprinkle the water the bugs will not come.' And again, 'Grease your bed with ox gall, mixed with vinegar.'" 26 "And still it is good advice," said Fundanius, glancing at Scrofa, "even if he did write it in a book on agriculture." "Just as good, by Hercules," he replied, "as this one for the making of a depilatory: 'Throw a yellow frog into water, boil it down to one-third, and rub the body with it.'" "It would be better for you to quote from that book," said I, "a passage which bears more closely on the trouble from which Fundanius suffers; for his feet are always hurting him and bringing wrinkles to his brow." 27 "Tell me, pray," exclaimed Fundanius; "I would rather hear about my feet than how beet-roots ought to be planted." 24 "I will tell you," said Stolo, with a smile, "in the very words in which he wrote it (at least I have heard Tarquenna say that when a man's feet begin to hurt he may be cured if he will think of you): 'I am thinking of you, cure my feet. The pain go in the ground, and may my feet be sound.'25 He bids you chant this thrice nine times, touch the ground, spit on it, and be fasting while you chant." 28 "You will find many other marvels in the books of the Sasernas," said I, "which are all just as far away from agriculture and therefore to be disregarded." "Just as if," said he, "such things are not found in other writers also. Why, are there not many such items in the book of the renowned Cato, which he published on the subject of agriculture, such as his recipes for placenta, for libum, and for the salting of hams?" 29 "You do not mention that famous one of his composing," said Agrius: "'If you wish to drink deep at a feast and to have a good appetite, eat some half-dozen leaves of raw cabbage with vinegar before dinner.'"

§ 1.3.1  "Well, then," said Agrasius, "since we have decided the nature of the subjects which are to be excluded from agriculture, tell us whether the knowledge of those things used in agriculture is an art or not, and trace its course from starting-point to goal." Glancing at Scrofa, Stolo said: "You are our superior in age, in position, and in knowledge, so you ought to speak." And he, nothing loath, began: "In the first place, it is not only an art but an important and noble art. It is, as well, a science, which teaches what crops are to be planted in each kind of soil, and what operations are to be carried on, in order that the land may regularly produce the largest crops.

§ 1.4.1  "Its elements are the same as those which Ennius says are the elements of the universe — water, earth, air, and fire. You should have some knowledge of these before you cast your seed, which is the first step in all production. Equipped with this knowledge, the farmer should aim at two goals, profit and pleasure; the object of the first is material return, and of the second enjoyment. The profitable plays a more important rôle than the pleasurable; 2 and yet for the most part the methods of cultivation which improve the aspect of the land, such as the planting of fruit and olive trees in rows, make it not only more profitable but also more saleable, and add to the value of the estate. For any man would rather pay more for a piece of land which is attractive than for one of the same value which, though profitable, is unsightly. 3 Further, land which is more wholesome is more valuable, because on it the profit is certain; while, on the other hand, on land that is unwholesome, however rich it may be, misfortune does not permit the farmer to reap a profit. For where the reckoning is with death, not only is the profit uncertain, but also the life of the farmers; so that, lacking wholesomeness, agriculture becomes nothing else than a game of chance, in which the life and the property of the owner are at stake. 4 And yet this risk can be lessened by science; for, granting that healthfulness, being a product of climate and soil, is not in our power but in that of nature, still it depends greatly on us, because we can, by care, lessen the evil effects. For if the farm is unwholesome on account of the nature of the land or the water, from the miasma which is exhaled in some spots; or if, on account of the climate, the land is too hot or the wind is not salubrious, these faults can be alleviated by the science and the outlay of the owner. The situation of the buildings, their size, the exposure of the galleries, the doors, and the windows, are matters of the highest importance. 5 Did not that famous physician, Hippocrates, during a great pestilence save not one farm but many cities by his skill? But why do I cite him? Did not our friend Varro here, when the army and fleet were at Corcyra, and all the houses were crowded with the sick and the dead, by cutting new windows to admit the north wind, and shutting out the infected winds, by changing the position of doors, and other precautions of the same kind, bring back his comrades and his servants in good health?

§ 1.5.1  "But as I have stated the origin and the limits of the science, it remains to determine the number of its divisions." "Really," said Agrius, "it seems to me that they are endless, when I read the many books of Theophrastus, those which are entitled 'The History of Plants' and 'The Causes of Vegetation.'" 2 "His books," replied Stolo, "are not so well adapted to those who wish to tend land as to those who wish to attend the schools of the philosophers; which is not to say that they do not contain matter which is both profitable and of general interest. 3 So, then, do you rather explain to us the divisions of the subject." "The chief divisions of agriculture are four in number," resumed Scrofa: "First, a knowledge of the farm, comprising the nature of the soil and its constituents; second, the equipment needed for the operation of the farm in question; third, the operations to be carried out on the place in the way of tilling; and fourth, the proper season for each of these operations. 4 Each of these four general divisions is divided into at least two subdivisions the first comprises questions with regard to the soil as such, and those which pertain to housing and stabling. The second division, comprising the movable equipment which is needed for the cultivation of the farm, is also subdivided into two: the persons who are to do the farming, and the other equipment. The third, which covers operations, is subdivided: the plans to be made for each operation, and where each is to be carried on. The fourth, covering the seasons, is subdivided: those which are determined by the annual revolution of the sun, and those determined by the monthly revolution of the moon. I shall discuss first the four chief divisions, and then the eight subdivisions in more detail.

§ 1.6.1  "First, then, with respect to the soil of the farm, four points must be considered: the conformation of the land, the quality of the soil, its extent, and in what way it is naturally protected. As there are two kinds of conformation, the natural and that which is added by cultivation, in the former case one piece of land being naturally good, another naturally bad, and in the latter case one being well tilled, another badly, I shall discuss first the natural conformation. 2 There are, then, with respect to the topography, three simple types of land — plain, hill, and mountain; though there is a fourth type consisting of a combination of these, as, for instance, on a farm which may contain two or three of those named, as may be seen in many places. Of these three simple types, undoubtedly a different system is applicable to the lowlands than to the mountains, because the former are hotter than the latter; and the same is true of hillsides, because they are more temperate than either the plains or the mountains. 3 These qualities are more apparent in broad stretches, when they are uniform; thus the heat is greater where there are broad plains, and hence in Apulia the climate is hotter and more humid, while in mountain regions, as on Vesuvius, the air is lighter and therefore more wholesome. Those who live in the lowlands suffer more in summer; those who live in the uplands suffer more in winter; the same crops are planted earlier in the spring in the lowlands than in the uplands, and are harvested earlier, while both sowing and reaping come later in the uplands. 4 Certain trees, such as the fir and the pine, flourish best and are sturdiest in the mountains on account of the cold climate, while the poplar and the willow thrive here where the climate is warmer; the arbute and the oak do better in the upland, the almond and the mariscan fig in the lowlands. On the foothills the growth is nearer akin to that of the plains than to that of the mountains; on the higher hills the opposite is true. 5 Owing to these three types of configuration different crops are planted, grain being considered best adapted to the plains, vines to the hills, and forests to the mountains. Usually the winter is better for those who live in the plains, because at that season the pastures are fresh, and pruning can be carried on in more comfort. On the other hand, the summer is better in the mountains, because there is abundant forage at that time, whereas it is dry in the plains, and the cultivation of the trees is more convenient because of the cooler air. 6 A lowland farm that everywhere slopes regularly in one direction is better than one that is perfectly level, because the latter, having no outlet for the water, tends to become marshy. Even more unfavourable is one that is irregular, because pools are liable to form in the depressions. These points and the like have their differing importance for the cultivation of the three types of configuration."

§ 1.7.1  "So far as concerns the natural situation," said Stolo, "it seems to me that Cato was quite right when he said that the best farm was one that was situated at the foot of a mountain, facing south."32 2 Scrofa continued: "With regard to the conformation due to cultivation, I maintain that the more regard is had for appearances the greater will be the profits: as, for instance, if those who have orchards plant them in quincunxes, with regular rows and at moderate intervals. Thus our ancestors, on the same amount of land but not so well laid out, made less wine and grain than we do, and of a poorer quality; for plants which are placed exactly where each should be take up less ground and screen each other less from the sun, the moon, and the air. 3 You may prove this by one of several experiments; for instance, a quantity of nuts which you can hold in a modius measure with their shells whole, because the shells naturally keep them compacted, you can scarcely pack into a modius and a half when they are cracked. 4 As to the second point, trees which are planted in a row are warmed by the sun and the moon equally on all sides, with the result that more grapes and olives form, and that they ripen earlier; which double result has the double consequence that they yield more must and oil, and of greater value.

§ 1.7.5  "We come now to the second division of the subject, the type of soil of which the farm is composed. It is in respect of this chiefly that a farm is considered good or bad; for it determines what crops, and of what variety, can be planted and raised on it, as not all crops can be raised with equal success on the same land. As one type is suited to the vine and another to grain, so of others — one is suited to one crop, another to another. 6 Thus near Cortynia, in Crete, there is said to be a plane tree which does not shed its leaves in winter, and another in Cyprus, according to Theophrastus. Likewise at Sybaris, which is now called Thurii, there is said to be an oak tree of like character, in sight of the town; and that near Elephantine neither the fig nor the vine sheds its leaves — which is quite the opposite of what happens with us. For the same reason there are many trees which bear two crops a year, such as the vine on the coast near Smyrna, and the apple in the district of Consentia. 7 The fact that trees produce more fruit in uncultivated spots, and better fruit under cultivation, proves the same thing. For the same reason there are plants which cannot live except in marshy ground, or actually in the water and not in every kind of water. Some grow in ponds, as the reeds near Reate, others in streams, as the alder trees in Epirus, and still others in the sea, as the palms and squills of which Theophrastus writes. 8 When I was in command of the army in the interior of Transalpine Gaul near the Rhine, I visited a number of spots where neither vines nor olives nor fruit trees grew; where they fertilized the land with a white chalk which they dug; where they had no salt, either mineral or marine, but instead of it used salty coals obtained by burning certain kinds of wood." 9 "Cato, you know," interjected Stolo, "in arranging plots according to the degree of existence, formed nine categories: first, land on which vines can bear a large quantity of wine of good quality; second, land suited for a watered garden; third, for an osier bed; fourth, for olives; fifth, for meadows; sixth, for a grain field; seventh, for a wood lot: eighth, for an orchard; ninth, for a mast grove." 10 "I know he wrote that," replied Scrofa, "but all authorities do not agree with him on this point. There are some who assign the first place to good meadows, and I am one of them. Hence our ancestors gave the name prata to meadow-land as being ready (parata). Caesar Vopiscus, once an aedile, in pleading a case before the censors, spoke of the plains of Rosea as the nursing-ground of Italy, such that if a rod were left there overnight, it would be lost the next morning on account of the growth of the grass.

§ 1.8.1  "As an argument against the vineyard, there are those who claim that the cost of upkeep swallows up the profits. In my opinion, it depends on the kind of vineyard, for there are several: for some are low-growing and without props, as in Spain; others tall, which are called 'yoked,' as generally in Italy. For this latter class there are two names, pedamenta and iuga: those on which the vine runs vertically are called pedamenta (stakes), and those on which it runs transversely are called iuga (yokes); and from this comes the name 'yoked vines.' 2 Four kinds of 'yokes' are usually employed, made respectively of poles, of reeds, of cords, and of vines: the first of these, for example, around Falernum, the second around Arpi, the third around Brundisium, the fourth around Mediolanum. There are two forms of this trellising: in straight lines, as in the district of Canusium, or yoked lengthways and sideways in the form of the compluvium, as is the practice generally in Italy. If the material grows on the place the vineyard does not mind the expense; and it is not burdensome if much of it can be obtained in the neighbourhood. 3 The first class I have named requires chiefly a willow thicket, the second a reed thicket, the third a rush bed or some material of the kind. For the fourth you must have an arbustum, where trellises can be made of the vines, as the people of Mediolanum do on the trees which they call opuli (maples), and the Canusians on lattice-work in fig trees. 4 Likewise, there are, as a rule, four types of props. The best for common use in the vineyard is a stout post, called ridica, made of oak or juniper. The second best is a stake made from a branch, and preferably from a tough one, so that it will last longer; when one end has rotted in the ground the stake is reversed, what had been the top becoming the bottom. The third, which is used only as a substitute when the others are lacking, is formed of reeds; bundles of these, tied together with bark, are planted in what they call cuspides, earthenware pipes with open bottoms so that the casual water can run out. The fourth is the natural prop, where the vineyard is formed of vines growing across from tree to tree; such traverses are called by some rumpi. 5 The limit to the height of the vineyard is the height of a man, and the intervals between the props should be sufficient to allow a yoke of oxen to plough between. The most economical type of vineyard is that which furnishes wine to beaker without the aid of trellises. There are two kinds of these: one in which the ground serves as a bed for the grapes, as in many parts of Asia. The foxes often share the harvest with man in such vineyards, and if the land breeds mice the yield is cut short unless you fill the whole vineyard with traps, as they do in the island Pandateria. 6 In the other type only those branches are raised from the ground which give promise of producing fruit. These are propped on forked sticks about two feet long, at the time when the grapes form, so that they may not wait until the harvest is over to learn to hang in a bunch by means of a string or the fastening which our fathers called a cestus. In such a vineyard, as soon as the master sees the back of the vintager he takes his forks back to hibernate under cover so that he may be able to enjoy their assistance without cost the next year. In Italy the people of Reate practise this custom. 7 This variation in culture is caused chiefly by the fact that the nature of the soil makes a great difference; where this is naturally humid the vine must be trained higher, because while the wine is forming and ripening it does not need water, as it does in the cup, but sun. And that is the chief reason, I think, that the vines climb up trees.

§ 1.9.1  "The nature of the soil, I say, makes a great difference, in determining to what it is or is not adapted. The word terra is used in three senses, the general, the specific, and the mixed. It is used in the general sense when we speak of the orbis terrae, or of the terra of Italy or any other country; for in that designation are included rock, and sand, and other such things. The word is used specifically in the second sense when it is employed without the addition of a qualifying word or epithet. 2 It is used in the third or mixed sense, of the element in which seed can be planted and germinate — such as clay soil, rocky soil, etc. In this last sense of the word there are as many varieties of earth as when it is used in the general sense, on account of the different combinations of substances. For there are many substances in the soil, varying in consistency and strength, such as rock, marble, rubble, sand, loam, clay, red ochre, dust, chalk, ash, carbuncle (that is, when the ground becomes so hot from the sun that it chars the roots of plants); 3 and soil, using the word in its specific sense, is called chalky or . . . according as one of these elements predominates — and so of other types of soil. The classes of these vary in such a way that there are, besides other subdivisions, at least three for each type: rocky soil, for instance, may be very rocky, or moderately rocky, or almost free of rocks, and in the case of other varieties of mixed soil the same three grades are distinguished. 4 And further, each of these three grades contains three grades: one may be very wet, one very dry, one intermediate. And these distinctions are not without the greatest importance for the crops; thus the intelligent farmer plants spelt rather than wheat on wet land, and on the other hand barley rather than spelt on dry land, while he plants either on the intermediate. 5 Furthermore, even finer distinctions are made in all these classes, as, for instance, in loamy soil it makes a difference whether the loam be white or red, as the whitish loam is not suited to nurseries, while the reddish is well adapted. Thus there are three chief distinctions in soil, according as it is poor, rich, or medium; the rich being able to produce many kinds of vegetation, and the poor quite the opposite. In thin soil, as, for instance, in Pupinia, you see no sturdy trees, nor vigorous vines, nor stout straw, nor mariscan figs, and most of the trees are covered with moss, as are the parched meadows. 6 On the other hand, in rich soil, like that in Etruria, you can see rich crops, land that can be worked steadily, sturdy trees, and no moss anywhere. In the case of medium soil, however, such as that near Tibur, the nearer it comes to not being thin than to being sterile, the more it is suited to all kinds of growth than if it inclined to the poorer type." 7 "Diophanes of Bithynia makes a good point," remarked Stolo, "when he writes that you can judge whether land is fit for cultivation or not, either from the soil itself or from the vegetation growing on it: from the soil according as it is white or black, light and crumbling easily when it is dug, of a consistency not ashy and not excessively heavy; from the wild vegetation growing on it if it is luxuriant and bearing abundantly its natural products. But proceed to your third topic, that of measurement."

§ 1.10.1  Scrofa resumed: "Each country has its own method of measuring land. Thus in farther Spain the unit of measure is the iugum, in Campania the versus, with us here in the district of Rome and in Latium the iugerum. The iugum is the amount of land which a yoke of oxen can plough in a day; the versus is an area 100 feet square; 2 the iugerum an area containing two square actus. The square actus, which is an area 120 feet in each direction, is called in Latin acnua. The smallest section of the iugerum, an area ten feet square, is called a scripulum; and hence surveyors sometimes speak of the odd fractions of land above the iugerum as an uncia or a sextans, or the like; for the iugerum contains 288 scripula, which was the weight of the old pound before the Punic War. Two iugera form a haeredium, from the fact that this amount was said to have been first allotted to each citizen by Romulus, as the amount that could be transmitted by will. Later on 100 haeredia were called a centuria; this is a square area, each side being 2400 feet long. Further, four such centuriae, united in such a way that there are two on each side, are called a saltus in the distribution of public lands.

§ 1.11.1  "Many errors result from the failure to observe the measurement of the farm, some building a steading smaller and some larger than the dimensions demand — each of which is prejudicial to the estate and its revenue. For buildings which are too large cost us too much for construction and require too great a sum for upkeep; and if they are smaller than the farm requires the products are usually ruined. 2 There is no doubt, for instance, that a larger wine cellar should be built on an estate where there is a vineyard, and larger granaries if it is a grain farm.
"The steading should be so built that it will have water, if possible, within the enclosure, or at least very near by. The best arrangement is to have a spring on the place, or, failing this, a perennial stream. If no running water is available, cisterns should be built under cover and a reservoir in the open, the one for the use of people and the other for cattle.

§ 1.12.1  "Especial care should be taken, in locating the steading, to place it at the foot of a wooded hill, where there are broad pastures, and so as to be exposed to the most healthful winds that blow in the region. A steading facing the east has the best situation, as it has the shade in summer and the sun in winter. If you are forced to build on the bank of a river, be careful not to let the steading face the river, as it will be extremely cold in winter, and unwholesome in summer. 2 Precautions must also be taken in the neighbourhood of swamps, both for the reasons given, and because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases." "What can I do," asked Fundanius, "to prevent disease if I should inherit a farm of that kind?" "Even I can answer that question," replied Agrius; "sell it for the highest cash price; or if you can't sell it, abandon it." 3 Scrofa, however, replied: "See that the steading does not face in the direction from which the infected wind usually comes, and do not build in a hollow, but rather on elevated ground, as a well-ventilated place is more easily cleared if anything obnoxious is brought in. Furthermore, being exposed to the sun during the whole day, it is more wholesome, as any animalculae which are bred near by and brought in are either blown away or quickly die from the lack of humidity. 4 Sudden rains and swollen streams are dangerous to those who have their buildings in low-lying depressions, as are also the sudden raids of robber bands, who can more easily take advantage of those who are off their guard. Against both these dangers the more elevated situations are safer.

§ 1.13.1  "In laying out the steading, you should arrange the stables so that the cow-stalls will be at the place which will be warmest in winter. Such liquid products as wine and oil should be set away in store-rooms on level ground, and jars for oil and wine should be provided; while dry products, such as beans and hay, should be stored in a floored space. A place should be provided for the hands to stay in when they are tired from work or from cold or heat, where they can recover in comfort. 2 The overseer's room should be next to the entrance, where he can know who comes in or goes out at night and what he takes; and especially if there is no porter. Especially should care be taken that the kitchen be conveniently placed, because there in winter there is a great deal going on before daylight, in the preparation and eating of food. Sheds of sufficient size should also be provided in the barnyard for the carts and all other implements which are injured by rain; for if these are kept in an enclosure inside the walls, but in the open, they will not have to fear thieves, yet they will be exposed to injurious weather. 3 On a large farm it is better to have two farm-yards: one, containing an outdoor reservoir — a pond with running water, which, surrounded by columns, if you like, will form a sort of fish-pond; for here the cattle will drink, and here they will bathe themselves when brought in from ploughing in the summer, not to mention the geese and hogs and pigs when they come from pasture; and in the outer yard there should be a pond for the soaking of lupines and other products which are rendered more fit for use by being immersed in water. 4 As the outer yard is often covered with chaff and straw trampled by the cattle, it becomes the handmaid of the farm because of what is cleaned off it. Hard by the steading there should be two manure pits, or one pit divided into two parts; into one part should be cast the fresh manure and from the other the rotted manure should be hauled into the field; for manure is not so good when it is put in fresh as when it is well rotted. The best type of manure pit is that in which the top and sides are protected from the sun by branches and leaves; for the sun ought not to dry out the essence which the land needs. It is for this reason that experienced farmers arrange it, when possible, so that water will collect there, for in this way the strength is best retained; and some people place the privies for the servants on it.

§ 1.13.5  You should build a shed large enough to store the whole yield of the farm under cover. This shed, which is sometimes called a nubilarium, should be built hard by the floor on which you are to thresh the grain; it should be of a size proportioned to that of the farm, and open only on one side, that next to the threshing floor, so that you can easily throw out the grain for threshing, and quickly throw it back again, if it begins to 'get cloudy.' You should have windows on the side from which it can be ventilated most easily." 6 "A farm is undoubtedly more profitable, so far as the buildings are concerned," said Fundanius, "if you construct them more according to the thrift of the ancients than the luxury of the moderns; for the former built to suit the size of their crops, while the latter build to suit their unbridled luxury. Hence their farms cost more than their dwelling-houses, while now the opposite is usually the case. In those days a steading was praised if it had a good kitchen, roomy stables, and cellars for wine and oil in proportion to the size of the farm, with a floor sloping to a reservoir, because often, after the new wine is laid by, not only the butts which they use in Spain but also the jars which are used in Italy are burst by the fermentation of the must. 7 In like manner they took care that the steading should have everything else that was required for agriculture; while in these times, on the other hand, the effort is to have as large and handsome a dwelling-house as possible; and they vie with the 'farm houses' of Metellus and Lucullus, which they have built to the great damage of the state. What men of our day aim at is to have their summer dining-rooms face the cool east and their winter dining-rooms face the west, rather than, as the ancients did, to see on what side the wine and oil cellars have their windows; for in a cellar wine requires cooler air on the jars, while oil requires warmer. Likewise you should see that, if there be a hill, the house, unless something prevents, should be placed there by preference."

§ 1.14.1  "Now I shall speak of the enclosures which are constructed for the protection of the farm as a whole, or its divisions. There are four types of such defences: the natural, the rustic, the military, and the masonry type; and each of these types has several varieties. The first type, the natural, is a hedge, usually planted with brush or thorn, having roots and being alive, and so with nothing to fear from the flaming torch of a mischievous passer-by. 2 The second type, the rustic, is made of wood, but is not alive. It is built either of stakes planted close and intertwined with brush; or of thick posts with holes bored through, having rails, usually two or three to the panel, thrust into the openings; or of trimmed trees placed end to end, with the branches driven into the ground. The third, or military type, is a trench and bank of earth; but the trench is adequate only if it can hold all the rain water, or has a slope sufficient to enable it to drain the water off the land. 3 The bank is serviceable which is close to the ditch on the inside, or so steep that it is not easy to climb. This type of enclosure is usually built along public roads and along streams. At several points along the Via Salaria, in the district of Crustumeria, one may see banks combined with trenches to prevent the river from injuring the fields. Banks built without trenches, such as occur in the district of Reate, are sometimes called walls. 4 The fourth and last type of fence, that of masonry, is a wall, and there are usually four varieties: that which is built of stone, such as occurs in the district of Tusculum; that of burned brick, such as occurs in the Ager Gallicus; that of sun-dried brick, such as occurs in the Sabine country; and that formed of earth and gravel in mounds, such as occurs in Spain and the district of Tarentum.

§ 1.15.1  "Furthermore, if there are no enclosures, the boundaries of the estate are made more secure by the planting of trees, which prevent the servants from quarrelling with the neighbours, and make it unnecessary to fix the boundaries by lawsuits. Some plant pines around the edges, as my wife has done on her Sabine farms; others plant cypresses, as I did on my place on Vesuvius; and still others plant elms, as many have done near Crustumeria. Where that is possible, as it is there because it is a plain, there is no tree better for planting; it is extremely profitable, as it often supports and gathers many a basket of grapes, yields a most agreeable foliage for sheep and cattle, and furnishes rails for fencing, and wood for hearth and furnace.
"These points, then, which I have discussed," continued Scrofa, "are the four which are to be observed by the farmer: the topography of the land, the nature of the soil, the size of the plot, and the protection of the boundaries.

§ 1.16.1  "It remains to discuss the second topic, the conditions surrounding the farm, for they too vitally concern agriculture because of their relation to it. These considerations are the same in number: whether the neighbourhood is unsafe; whether it is such that it is not profitable to transport our products to it, or to bring back from it what we need; third, whether roads or streams for transportation are either wanting or inadequate; and fourth, whether conditions on the neighbouring farms are such as to benefit or injure our land. 2 Taking up the first of the four: the safety or lack of safety of the neighbourhood is important; for there are many excellent farms which it is not advisable to cultivate because of the brigandage in the neighbourhood, as in Sardinia certain farms near . . . . , and in Spain on the borders of Lusitania. Farms which have near by suitable means of transporting their products to market and convenient means of transporting thence those things needed on the farm, are for that reason profitable. For many have among their holdings some into which grain or wine or the like which they lack must be brought, and on the other hand not a few have those from which a surplus must be sent away. 3 And so it is profitable near a city to have gardens on a large scale; for instance, of violets and roses and many other products for which there is a demand in the city; while it would not be profitable to raise the same products on a distant farm where there is no market to which its products can be carried. Again, if there are towns or villages in the neighbourhood, or even well-furnished lands and farmsteads of rich owners, from which you can purchase at a reasonable price what you need for the farm, and to which you can sell your surplus, such as props, or poles, or reeds, the farm will be more profitable than if they must be fetched from a distance; sometimes, in fact, more so than if you can supply them yourself by raising them on your own place. 4 For this reason farmers in such circumstances prefer to have in their neighbourhood men whose services they can call upon under a yearly contract — physicians, fullers, and other artisans — rather than to have such men of their own on the farm; for sometimes the death of one artisan wipes out the profit of a farm. This department of a great estate rich owners are wont to entrust to their own people; for if towns or villages are too far away from the estate, they supply themselves with smiths and other necessary artisans to keep on the place, so that their farm hands may not leave their work and lounge around holiday-making on working days, rather than make the farm more profitable by attending to their duties.

§ 1.16.5  It is for this reason, therefore, that Saserna's book lays down the rule that no person shall leave the farm except the overseer, the butler, and one person whom the overseer may designate; if one leaves against this rule he shall not go unpunished, and if he does, the overseer shall be punished. The rule should rather be stated thus: that no one shall leave the farm without the direction of the overseer, nor the overseer without the direction of the master, on an errand which will prevent his return this day, and that no oftener than is necessary for the farm business. 6 A farm is rendered more profitable by convenience of transportation: if there are roads on which carts can easily be driven, or navigable rivers near by. We know that transportation to and from many farms is carried on by both these methods. The manner in which your neighbour keeps the land on the boundary planted is also of importance to your profits. For instance, if he has an oak grove near the boundary, you cannot well plant olives along such a forest; for it is so hostile in its nature that your trees will not only be less productive, but will actually bend so far away as to lean inward toward the ground, as the vine is wont to do when planted near the cabbage. As the oak, so large numbers of large walnut trees close by render the border of the farm sterile.

§ 1.17.1  "I have now discussed the four divisions of the estate which are concerned with the soil, and the second four, which are exterior to the soil but concern its cultivation; now I turn to the means by which land is tilled. Some divide these into two parts: men, and those aids to men without which they cannot cultivate; others into three: the class of instruments which is articulate, the inarticulate, and the mute; the articulate comprising the slaves, the inarticulate comprising the cattle, and the mute comprising the vehicles. 2 All agriculture is carried on by men — slaves, or freemen, or both; by freemen, when they till the ground themselves, as many poor people do with the help of their families; or hired hands, when the heavier farm operations, such as the vintage and the haying, are carried on by the hiring of freemen; and those whom our people called obaerarii and of whom there are still many in Asia, in Egypt, and in Illyricum. 3 With regard to these in general this is my opinion: it is more profitable to work unwholesome lands with hired hands than with slaves; and even in wholesome places it is more profitable thus to carry out the heavier farm operations, such as storing the products of the vintage or harvest. As to the character of such hands Cassius gives this advice: that such hands should be selected as can bear heavy work, are not less than twenty-two years old, and show some aptitude for farm labour. You may judge of this by the way they carry out their other orders, and, in the case of new hands, by asking one of them what they were in the habit of doing for their former master.
"Slaves should be neither cowed nor high-spirited. 4 They ought to have men over them who know how to read and write and have some little education, who are dependable and older than the hands whom I have mentioned; for they will be more respectful to these than to men who are younger. Furthermore, it is especially important that the foremen be men who are experienced in farm operations; for the foreman must not only give orders but also take part in the work, so that his subordinates may follow his example, and also understand that there is good reason for his being over them — the fact that he is superior to them in knowledge.

§ 1.17.5  They are not to be allowed to control their men with whips rather than with words, if only you can achieve the same result. Avoid having too many slaves of the same nation, for this is a fertile source of domestic quarrels. The foremen are to be made more zealous by rewards, and care must be taken that they have a bit of property of their own, and mates from among their fellow-slaves to bear them children; for by this means they are made more steady and more attached to the place. Thus, it is on account of such relationships that slave families of Epirus have the best reputation and bring the highest prices. 6 The good will of the foremen should be won by treating them with some degree of consideration; and those of the hands who excel the others should also be consulted as to the work to be done. When this is done they are less inclined to think that they are looked down upon, and rather think that they are held in some esteem by the master. 7 They are made to take more interest in their work by being treated more liberally in respect either of food, or of more clothing, or of exemption from work, or of permission to graze some cattle of their own on the farm, or other things of this kind; so that, if some unusually heavy task is imposed, or punishment inflicted on them in some way, their loyalty and kindly feeling to the master may be restored by the consolation derived from such measures.

§ 1.18.1  "With regard to the number of slaves required, Cato has in view two bases of calculation: the size of the place, and the nature of the crop grown. Writing of oliveyards and vineyards, he gives two formulas. The first is one in which he shows how an oliveyard of 240 iugera should be equipped; on a place of this size he says that the following thirteen slaves should be kept: an overseer, a housekeeper, five labourers, three teamsters, one muleteer, one swineherd, one shepherd. The second he gives for a vineyard of 100 iugera, on which he says should be kept the following fifteen slaves: an overseer, a housekeeper, ten labourers, a teamster, a muleteer, a swineherd. 2 Saserna states that one man is enough for eight iugera, and that he ought to dig over that amount in forty-five days, although he can dig over a single iugerum with four days' work; but he says that he allows thirteen days extra for such things as illness, bad weather, idleness, and laxness. 3 Neither of these writers has left us a very clearly expressed rule. For if Cato wished to do this, he should have stated it in such a way that we add or subtract from the number proportionately as the farm is larger or smaller. Further, he should have named the overseer and the housekeeper outside of the number of slaves; for if you cultivate less than 240 iugera of olives you cannot get along with less than one overseer, nor if you cultivate twice as large a place or more will you have to keep two or three overseers. 4 It is only the labourers and teamsters that are to be added proportionately to larger bodies of land; and even then only if the land is uniform. But if it is so varied that it cannot all be ploughed, as, for instance, if it is very broken or very steep, fewer oxen and teamsters will be needed. I pass over the fact that the 240 iugera instanced is a plot which is neither a unit nor standard (the standard unit is the century, containing 200 iugera);

§ 1.18.5  when one-sixth, or 40 iugera, is deducted from this 240, I do not see how, according to his rule, I shall take one-sixth also from thirteen slaves, or, if I leave out the overseer and the housekeeper, how I shall take one-sixth from the eleven. As to his saying that on 100 iugera of vineyard you should have fifteen slaves; if one has a century, half vineyard and half oliveyard, it will follow that he should have two overseers and two housekeepers, which is absurd. 6 Wherefore the proper number and variety of slaves must be determined by another method, and Saserna is more to be approved in this matter; he says that each iugerum is enough to furnish four days' work for one hand. But if this applied to Saserna's farm in Gaul, it does not necessarily follow that the same would hold good for a farm in the mountains of Liguria. Therefore you will most accurately determine the number of slaves and other equipment which you should provide 7 if you observe three things carefully: the character of the farms in the neighbourhood and their size; the number of hands employed on each; and how many hands should be added or subtracted in order to keep your cultivation better or worse. For nature has given us two routes to agriculture, experiment and imitation. The most ancient farmers determined many of the practices by experiment, their descendants for the most part by imitation. 8 We ought to do both — imitate others and attempt by experiment to do some things in a different way, following not chance but some system: as, for instance, if we plough a second time, more or less deeply than others, to see what effect this will have. This was the method they followed in weeding a second and third time, and those who put off the grafting of figs from spring-time to summer.

§ 1.19.1  "With regard to the second division of equipment, to which I have given the name of inarticulate, Saserna says that two yoke of oxen are enough for 200 iugera of cultivated land, while Cato states that three yoke are needed for 240 iugera of olive-yard. Hence, if Saserna is right, one yoke is needed for every 100 iugera; if Cato is right, one of every 80. My own opinion is that neither of these standards will fit every piece of land, and that each will fit some particular piece. One piece, for instance, may be easier or harder to work than another, 2 and there are places which oxen cannot break unless they are unusually powerful, and frequently they leave the plough in the field with broken beam. Wherefore on each farm, so long as we are unacquainted with it, we should follow a threefold guide: the practice of the former owner, the practice of neighbouring owners, and a degree of experimentation. 3 As to his addition of three donkeys to haul manure and one for the mill (for a vineyard of 100 iugera, a yoke of oxen, a pair of donkeys, and one for the mill); under this head of inarticulate equipment it is to be added that of other animals only those that are to be kept which are of service in agriculture, and the few which are usually allowed as the private property of the slaves for their more comfortable support and to make them more diligent in their work. Of such animals, not only owners who have meadows prefer to keep sheep rather than swine because of their manure, but also those who keep animals for other reasons than the benefit of the meadows. As to dogs, they must be kept as a matter of course, for no farm is safe without them.

§ 1.20.1  "The first consideration, then, in the matter of quadrupeds, is the proper kind of ox to be purchased for ploughing. You should purchase them unbroken, not less than three years old and not more than four; they should be powerful and equally matched, so that the stronger will not exhaust the weaker when they work together; they should have large horns, black for choice, a broad face, flat nose, deep chest, and heavy quarters. 2 Oxen that have reached maturity on level ground should not be bought for rough and mountainous country; moreover, if the opposite happens to be the case, it should be avoided. When you have bought young steers, if you will fasten forked sticks loosely around their necks and give them food, within a few days they will grow gentle and fit for breaking to the plough. This breaking should consist in letting them grow accustomed to the work gradually, in yoking the raw ox to a broken one (for the training by imitation is easier), and in driving them first on level ground without a plough, then with a light one, and at first in sandy or rather light soil. 3 Draught cattle should be trained in a similar way, first drawing an empty cart, and if possible through a village or town. The constant noise and the variety of objects, by frequent repetition, accustom them to their work. The ox which you have put on the right should not remain continuously on that side, because if he is changed in turn to the left, he finds rest by working on alternate sides. 4 In light soils, as in Campania, the ploughing is done, not with heavy steers, but with cows or donkeys; and hence they can more easily be adapted to a light plough or a mill, and to doing the ordinary hauling of the farm. For this purpose some employ donkeys, others cows or mules, according to the fodder available; for a donkey requires less feed than a cow, but the latter is more profitable. 5 In this matter the farmer must keep in mind the conformation of his land; in broken and heavy land stronger animals must be got, and preferably those which, while doing the same amount of work, can themselves return some profit.

§ 1.21.1  "As to dogs, you should keep a few active ones of good traits rather than a pack, and train them rather to keep watch at night and sleep indoors during the day. With regard to unbroken animals and flocks; if the owner has meadow-lands on the farm and no cattle, the best practice is, after selling the forage, to feed and fold the flocks of a neighbour on the farm.

§ 1.22.1  "With regard to the rest of the equipment — 'the mute', a term which includes baskets, jars, and the like — the following rules may be laid down: nothing should be bought which can be raised on the place or made by men on the farm, in general articles which are made of withes and of wood, such as hampers, baskets, threshing-sledges, fans, and rakes; so too articles which are made of hemp, flax, rush, palm fibre, and bulrush, such as ropes, cordages, and mats. 2 Articles which cannot be got from the place, if purchased with a view to utility rather than for show, will not cut too deeply into the profits; and the more so if care is taken to buy them where they can be had of good quality, near by and at the same lowest price. The several kinds of such equipment and their number are determined by the size of the place, more being needed if the farm is extensive. 3 Accordingly," said Stolo, "under this head Cato, fixing a definite size for his farm, writes that one who had under cultivation 240 iugera of olive land should equip it by assembling five complete sets of oil-pressing equipment; and he itemizes such equipment, as, copper kettles, pots, a pitcher with three spouts, and so forth; then implements made of wood and iron, as three large carts, six ploughs and ploughshares, four manure hampers, and so forth; then the kind and number of iron tools needed, as eight forks, as many hoes, half as many shovels, and so forth. 4 He likewise gives a second schedule for a vineyard, in which he writes that if it be one of 100 iugera it should have three complete pressing equipments, vats and covers to hold 800 cullei, twenty grape hampers, twenty grain hampers, and other like implements. Other authorities, it is true, give smaller numbers, but I imagine he fixed the number of cullei so high in order that the farmer might not be forced to sell his wine every year; for old wine brings a better price than new, and the same wine a better price at one time than at another.

§ 1.22.5  He likewise says much of the several kinds of tools, giving the kind and number needed, such as hooks, shovels, harrows, and so forth; some classes of which have several subdivisions, such as the hooks — thus the same author says there will be needed forty pruning-hooks for vines, five for rushes, three for trees, ten for brambles." So far Stolo; 6 and Scrofa resumed: "The master should keep, both in town and on the place, a complete inventory of tools and equipment of the farm, while the overseer on the place should keep all tools stored near the steading, each in its own place. Those that cannot be kept under lock and key he should manage to keep in sight so far as possible, and especially those that are used only at intervals; for instance, the implements which are used at vintage, such as baskets and the like; for articles which are seen every day run less risk from the thief."

§ 1.23.1  Agrasius remarked: "And since we have the first two of the fourfold division, the farm and the equipment with which it is usually worked, I am waiting for the third topic." "Since I hold," continued Scrofa, "that the profit of the farm is that which arises from it as the result of planting for a useful purpose, two items are to be considered: what it is most expedient to plant and in what place. For some spots are suited to hay, some to grain, others to vines, others to olive, and so of forage crops, including clover, mixed forage, vetch, alfalfa, snail clover, and lupines. 2 It is not good practice to plant every kind of crop on rich soil, nor to plant nothing on poor soil; for it is better to plant in thinner soil those crops which do not need much nutriment, such as clover and the legumes, except the chick pea, which is also a legume, as are all those plants which are pulled from the ground and not mowed, and are called legumes from the fact that they are 'gathered' (leguntur) in this way. In rich soil it is better to plant those requiring more food, as cabbage, wheat, winter wheat, and flax. 3 Some crops are also to be planted not so much for the immediate return as with a view to the year later, as when cut down and left on the ground they enrich it. Thus, it is customary to plough under lupines as they begin to pod — and sometimes field beans before the pods have formed so far that it is profitable to harvest the beans — in place of dung, if the soil is rather thin. 4 And also in planting selection should be made of those things which are profitable for the pleasure they afford, such as those plots which are called orchards and flower gardens, and also of those which do not contribute either to the sustenance of man or to the pleasure of his senses, but are not without value to the farm. So a suitable place is to be chosen for planting a willow bed and a reed thicket,

§ 1.23.5  together with other plants which prefer humid ground; and on the other hand places best suited for planting grain crops, beans, and other plants which like dry ground. Similarly, you should plant some crops in shady spots, as, for instance, the wild asparagus, because the asparagus prefers that type; while sunny ground should be chosen for planting violets and laying out gardens, as these flourish in the sun, and so forth. In still another place should be planted thickets, so that you may have withes with which to weave such articles as wicker wagon bodies, winnowing baskets, and hampers; and in another plant and tend a wood-lot, 6 in another a wood for fowling; and have a place for hemp, flax, rush, and Spanish broom, from which to make shoes for cattle, thread, cord, and rope. Some places are suitable at the same time for the planting of other crops; thus in young orchards, when the seedlings have been planted and the young trees have been set in rows, during the early years before the roots have spread very far, some plant garden crops, and others plant other crops; but they do not do this after the trees have gained strength, for fear of injuring the roots."

§ 1.24.1  "What Cato says about planting," said Stolo, "is very much to the point on this subject: 'Soil that is heavy, rich, and treeless should be used for grain; and the same soil, if subject to fogs, should preferably be planted in rape, turnips, millet, and panic-grass. In heavy, warm soil plant olives — those for pickling, the long variety, the Sallentine, the orcites, the posea, the Sergian, the Colminian, and the waxy; choose especially the varieties which are commonly agreed to be the best for these districts. Land which is suitable for olive planting is that which faces the west and is exposed to the sun; no other will be good. 2 In colder and thinner soil the Licinian olive should be planted. If you plant it in rich or warm soil the yield will be worthless, the tree will exhaust itself in bearing, and a reddish scale will injure it.' 3 A hostus is what they call the yield of oil from one factus; and a factus ('making') is the amount they make up at one time. Some say this is 160 modii, others reduce it so far as 120 modii, according to the number and size of the equipment they have for making it. As to Cato's remark that elms and poplars should be planted around the farm to supply leaves for sheep and cattle, and timber (but this is not necessary on all farms, and where it is necessary it is not chiefly for the forage), they may safely be planted on the northern edge, because there they do not cut off the sun."

§ 1.24.4  Scrofa gave the following advice from the same author: "'Wherever there is wet ground, poplar cuttings and a reed thicket should be planted. The ground should first be turned with the mattock and then the eyes of the reed should be planted three feet apart; . . . the same cultivation is adapted pretty much to each. The Greek willow should be planted along the border of the thicket, so that you may have withes for tying up vines.

§ 1.25.1  'Soil for laying out a vineyard should be chosen by the following rules: In soil which is best adapted for grapes and which is exposed to the sun the small Aminnian, the double eugeneum, and the small parti-coloured should be planted; in soil that is heavy or more subject to fogs the large Aminnian, the Murgentian, the Apician, and the Lucanian. The other varieties, and especially the hybrids, grow well anywhere.'

§ 1.26.1  "In every vineyard they are careful to see that the vine is protected toward the north by the prop; and if they plant live cypresses to serve as props they plant them in alternate rows, yet do not allow the rows to grow higher than the props, and are careful not to plant vines near them, because they are hostile to each other."71
"I am afraid," remarked Agrius to Fundanius, "that the sacristan will com back before our friend comes to the fourth act; for I am awaiting the vintage." "Be of good cheer," replied Scrofa, "and get ready the baskets and jar."

§ 1.27.1  "And since we have two measures of time, one annual which the sun bounds by its circuit, the other monthly which the moon embraces as it circles, I shall speak first of the sun. Its annual course is divided first into four periods of about three months each up to its completion, and more narrowly into eight periods of a month and a half each; the fourfold division embraces spring, summon, autumn, and winter. 2 For the spring plantings the untilled ground should be broken up so that the weeds which have sprung from it may be rooted up before any seed falls from them; and at the same time, when the clods have been thoroughly dried by the sun, to make them more accessible to the rain and easier to work when they have been thus broken up; and there should be not less than two ploughings, and preferably three. 3 In summer the grain should be gathered, and in autumn, when the weather is dry, the grapes; and this is the best time for the woods to be cleared, the trees being cut close to the ground, while the roots should be dug out at the time of the early rains, so that they cannot sprout again. In winter trees should be pruned, provided it is done when the bark is free from the chill of rain and ice.

§ 1.28.1  "The first day of spring occurs [when the sun is] in Aquarius, that of summer when it is in Taurus, of autumn when it is in Leo, of winter when it is in Scorpio. As the twenty-third day of each one of these four signs is the first day of the four seasons, this makes spring contain 91 days, summer 94, autumn 91, winter 89, which numbers, reduced to the official calendar now in force, fix the beginning of spring on February 7, of summer on May 9, of autumn on August 11, of winter on November 10. 2 But in the more exact divisions certain things are to be taken into account, which cause an eightfold division: the first from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox, 45 days, thence to the rising of the Pleiades 44 days, thence to the solstice 48 days, thence to the rising of the Dog Star 27 days, thence to the autumnal equinox 67 days, from there to the setting of the Pleiades 32 days, hence to the winter solstice 57 days, and back to the rising of the west wind 45 days.

§ 1.29.1  "These are things which should be done in the first period, from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox:— All kinds of nurseries should be set out, orchards pruned, meadows manured, vines trenched and outcropping roots removed, meadows cleared, willow beds planted, grain-land weeded. The word seges is used of ploughed land which has been sowed, arvum of ploughed land not yet sowed, novalis of land where there has been a crop before it is "renewed" (novatur) by a second ploughing. 2 When they plough the first time they say they are 'breaking up,' the second time that they are 'breaking down,' because at the first ploughing large clods are usually turned up, and when the ploughing is repeated they call it 'breaking down.' When they plough the third time, after the seed has been broadcast, the oxen are said to 'ridge'; that is, with mould boards attached to the ploughshare they both cover the broadcast seed in ridges, and at the same time cut ditches to let the rain-water drain off. Some farmers, who have fields which are not very large, as in Apulia and farms of that kind, have the custom later on of breaking up with hoes any large clods which have been left on the ridges. 3 Where the plough makes a hollow or channel with the share, it is called a 'furrow.' The space between two furrows, the raised dirt, is called porca, because that part of the field presents (porricit) the grain; so they also used to employ the word porricere when they offered the entrails to the gods.

§ 1.30.1  "In the second period, between the vernal equinox and the rising of the Pleiades, these operations should be carried out:— Crops should be weeded, that is, the grass cleared from the crops, oxen should break up the ground, willows should be cut, and meadows fenced. What should have been done in the former period but was not completed should be done before the plants begin to bud and flower, because if those which are deciduous once begin to frond, they are at once unsuited for planting. Olives should be planted and pruned.

§ 1.31.1  "In the third period, between the rising of the Pleiades and the solstice, these operations should be carried out:— Digging or ploughing the young vines and then forking them, that is, breaking the ground so that there will be no clods. This is called occare because they crush (occidunt) the ground. The vines should be thinned (for that is better than pruning), but by an expert, and this should be done not in the orchard but in the vineyard. 2 Thinning consists in leaving the first and second, sometimes even the third of the strongest shoots with spring from the stock and picking off the rest, lest the stock be not strong enough to furnish sap to the shoots if all are left. For that reason, in the vine-nursery when the vine first comes out, it is the practice for the whole to be cut back, so that it may come from the ground with a sturdier stock and have greater strength in sending out shoots. 3 For a slender stock, on account of weakness, is sterile and cannot put out the vine, which, when it is smaller, they call flagellum, while the larger from which the grapes spring they call palma. The first word by the change of one letter is derived from flatus, the blowing of the wind, so that they call it flagellum instead of flabellum. The second word seems at first to have been called parilema, from parere, to bear, because the shoot is sent out to bear grapes; 4 thence, by change of letters, as in many words, it got to be called palma. On the other side, it bears a tendril; this is a vine twig twisted like a curl. It is by means of these tendrils that the vine holds the support on which it creeps to grasp a place, from which grasping (capere) it is called capreolus. All fodder crops should be cut, first clover, mixed fodder, and vetch, and last hay. Ocinum is derived, as is the garden clover (ocimum), from the Greek word ὠκέως, which means 'quickly.' It is called ocinum for the further reason that it moves (citat) the bowels of cattle, and is fed to them on that account, as a purgative. It is cut green from the bean crop before it forms pods.

§ 1.31.5  Farrago, on the other hand, is so called from a crop where a mixture of barley, vetch, and legumes has been sowed for green feed, either because it is cut with the steel (ferrum, ferrago) or for the reason that it was first sowed in a spelt (far) field. It is with this that horses and other animals are purged and fattened in the spring. Vetch is so called from vincire, to bind, because it also has tendrils as the vine has, with which, when it creeps up to cling to the stalk of the lupine or some other plant, it usually binds (vincit) it. If you have meadows to be irrigated, as soon as you have gathered the hay, irrigate them. During droughts water should be given every evening to the fruit trees that are grafted. It may be that they are called poma from the fact that they need drink (potus).

§ 1.32.1  "In the fourth period, between the solstice and the Dog Star, most farmers harvest, because it is a saying that the grain is in the sheath for fifteen days, blooms for fifteen days, dries for fifteen days, and is then ripe. Ploughing should be completed, and it will be more valuable in proportion as it is done in warm ground; if you are 'breaking up' the ground it should be crushed, that is, gone over a second time so that the clods may be broken; for in the first ploughing large clods are cut from the ground. 2 You should sow vetch, lentils, small peas, pulse, and other plants, which some call legumes, and others, like some Gallic farmers, call legarica, both words being derived from legere, because these are not reaped, but are gathered by pulling. Hoe old vines a second time, young ones even a third time, if there are clods still left.

§ 1.33.1  "In the fifth period, between the Dog Star and the autumnal equinox, the straw should be cut and stacks built, ploughed land harrowed, leaf-fodder gathered, and irrigated meadows mowed a second time.

§ 1.34.1  "In the sixth period, from the autumnal equinox, the authorities state that sowing should begin and continue up to the ninety-first day. After the winter solstice, unless necessity requires, there should be no sowing — a point of such importance that seeds which, when planted before the solstice, sprout in seven days, hardly sprout in forty if sowed after the solstice. And they hold that sowing should not begin before the equinox, because, if unfavourable seasons follow, the seeds usually rot. Beans are sowed to best advantage at the time of the setting of the Pleiades: 2 while the gathering of the grapes and the making of the vintage falls between the autumnal equinox and the setting of the Pleiades; then the pruning and layering of vines and the planting of fruit trees should begin. In some localities, where severe frosts come earlier, these operations are best carried on in spring.

§ 1.35.1  "In the seventh period, between the setting of the Pleiades and the winter solstice, they say that these operations should be carried out:— Planting of lilies and crocus. A rose which has already formed a root is cut from the root up into twigs a palm-breadth long and planted; later on the same twig is transplanted when it has made a living root. It is not profitable to plant violet beds on a farm for the reason that beds must be formed by heaping up the soil, and irrigation and heavy rains wash these away and thus make the ground poorer. 2 From the beginning of the west wind to the rising of Arcturus, it is proper to transplant from the nursery wild thyme, which gets its name (serpillum) from the fact that it 'creeps' (serpit). Dig new ditches, clear old ones, prune vineyards and orchards, provided you do not do this, or in fact most things, during the fifteen days preceding and following the solstice. And yet some trees, such as the elm, are properly planted at that time.

§ 1.36.1  "In the eighth period, between the solstice and the beginning of the west wind, these operations should be carried out:— Any water in the grain lands should be drained, but if there is a drought and the land is friable, harrow. Prune vineyards and orchards. When work cannot be carried out on the land, indoor tasks should be completed then in the early winter mornings. You should keep the rules I have laid down written and posted in the farmstead, in order that the overseer particularly may know them.

§ 1.37.1  "The lunar periods also must be taken into account; these are roughly twofold, as the moon waxes from the new to the full and then wanes again toward the new, until it reaches the intermenstruum, or time 'between two months,' on which day the moon is said to be 'last and first'; hence, at Athens they call this day ἕνην καὶ νέαν,79 or 'old and new,' while others call it τριακάδα, or the 'thirtieth.' Some operations should be carried out on the land during the waxing rather than the waning of the moon, while there are certain crops which you should gather in the opposite phase, such as grain and firewood." 2 "I learned this rule from my father," said Agrasius, "and I keep it not only in shearing my sheep but in cutting my hair, for fear that if I have it done when the moon is waxing I may become bald." "After what method is the moon divided into quarters," asked Agrius, "and what influence has that division on farming?" 3 "Have you never heard in the country," replied Tremelius, "the expressions 'eight days before the waxing of the moon,' and 'eight days before the waning of the moon,' and that of the things which should be done when the moon is waxing some are nevertheless better done after this 'eight days before the waxing' than before it; and that the things which should be done when she is waning are better done the less light that heavenly body has? I have discussed the fourfold division in agriculture."

§ 1.37.4  "There is," said Stolo, "a second, a sixfold-division of seasons of which may be said to bear a relation to the sun and moon, because almost every product comes to perfection in five stages and reaches jar and basket in the farmstead, and from these is brought forth for use in the sixth. The first stage is the preparation, the second the planting, the third the cultivation, the fourth the harvesting, the fifth the storing, the sixth the marketing. In the matter of preparation: for some crops you must make trenches or dig thoroughly or draw furrows, as when you wish to make an arbustum or an orchard; for others you must plough or spade, as when you starting a grain field; 5 for some the earth must be turned more or less deeply with the trenching spade. For some trees, such as the cypress, spread their roots less, and others, such as the plane, more; so much, indeed, that Theophrastus mentions a plane tree in the Lyceum at Athens which, even when it was quite young, had thrown out its roots to a spread of thirty-three cubits. Certain land, when you have broken it with oxen and plough, must be worked a second time before you broadcast the seed. Any preparation that is made in the matter of meadows consists in closing them from grazing, a practice which is usually observed from the time of the blooming of the pear trees; and if they are irrigated, in turning in the water at the proper time.

§ 1.38.1  "We must observe what parts of the land must be manured, how the manure is to be applied, and the best kind to use; for there are several varieties. Cassius states that the best manure is that of birds, except marsh- and sea-fowl; and that the dung of pigeons is the best of these, because it has the most heat and causes the ground to ferment. This should be broadcast on the land like seed, and not placed in piles like cattle dung. 2 My own opinion is that the best dung is from aviaries of thrushes and blackbirds, as it is not only good for the land, but is excellent food both for cattle and swine, to fatten them. Hence those who lease aviaries with the owner's stipulation that the dung shall remain on the place pay less rent than those who have the use of it. Cassius states that next to pigeon dung human excrement is the best, and in the third place goat, sheep, and ass dung; 3 that horse dung is least valuable, but good on grain land; for on meadows it is the most valuable of all, as is that of all draught animals which feed on barley, because it produces a quantity of grass. The farmer should make a dung-hill near the steading, so that the manure may be cleared out with the least labour. They say that if an oak stake is driven into the middle of it no serpent will breed there.

§ 1.39.1  "The second step, that of planting, requires care as to the season of planting which is suited to the nature of each seed. For in a field it is important to note the exposure of every section, and also the season at which each plant grows best. Do we not observe that some blossom in spring, some in summer, and that the autumn growth is not the same as the winter? 2 Thus some plants are sown and grafted and harvested earlier or later than others; and while most are grafted in spring rather than in autumn, figs are grafted near the solstice, and cherries actually in mid-winter. 3 Now as seeds are, in general, of four kinds — those furnished by nature, those which are transplanted from one piece of ground to another as rooted slips, cuttings from trees planted in the ground, and grafts from tree to tree — you should observe what separate operation should be carried out at each season and in each locality.

§ 1.40.1  "In the first place, the seed, which is the origin of growth, is of two kinds, one being invisible, the other visible. There are invisible seed, if, as the naturalist Anaxagoras holds, they are in the air, and if the water which flows on the land carries them, as Theophrastus writes. The seed which can be seen should be carefully watched by the farmer; for some seed, such as that of the cypress, though capable of generating, is so small that it can hardly be seen; (for the pods which it bears, that look like little balls of bark, are not the seeds but contain them). 2 The original seeds were given by nature, while the later were discovered in the experiments of the farmer. The first are those which, without the aid of the farmer, grow without being sown; the second are those which, derived from these, do not grow without being sown. In the case of the first,88a care should be taken to see that they are not dried out from age, and that they are clean and not mixed with seed of similar appearance. The age of the seed is of such importance in the case of some plants that it alters their nature; thus from the planting of old cabbage seeds it is said that rape grows, and on the other hand that cabbage grows from old rape seed. 3 In the case of the second class of seed,88b you should be careful not to transplant them too early or too late. The proper time is that given by Theophrastus — spring, autumn, and at the rising of the Dog Star — but the time is not the same for all localities and all species. In ground that is dry, thin, or clayey, spring is the proper season, because it is less humid; in good, rich land the autumn, because in spring it is very wet. Some authorities allow about thirty days for such planting. 4 In the third method, which consists in transferring shoots from a tree into the ground, if the shoot is buried in the earth, you must be careful, in the case of some, that the shoot be removed at the proper time — that is, before it shows any sign of budding or blossoming; and that what you transplant from the tree you tear from the stock rather than break off a limb, as the heel of a shoot is steadier, or the wider it is the more easily it puts out roots. They are thrust into the ground at once, before the sap dries out. In the case of olive cuttings, care must be taken that they be from a tender branch, sharpened evenly at both ends. Such cuttings, about a foot in length, are called by some clavolae, and by others taleae.

§ 1.40.5  In the fourth method, which consists in running a shoot from one tree to another, the points to be observed are the nature of the tree, the season, and the method of fastening. You cannot, for instance, graft a pear on an oak, even though you can on an apple. This is a matter of importance to many people who pay considerable attention to the soothsayers; for these have a saying that when a tree has been grafted with several varieties, the one that attracts the lightning turns into as many bolts as there are varieties, though the stroke is a single one. No matter how good the pear shoot which you graft on a wild pear, the fruit will not be as well flavoured as if you graft it on a cultivated pear. 6 It is a general rule in grafting, if the shoot and the tree are of the same species, as, for instance, if both are of the apple family, that for the effect on the fruit the grafting should be of a such a nature that the shoot is of a better type than the tree on which it is grafted. There is a second method of grafting from tree to tree which has recently been developed, under conditions where the trees stand close to each other. From the tree from which you wish to take the shoot a small branch is run to the tree on which you wish to graft and is inserted in a branch of the latter which has been cut off and split; the part which fits into the branch having first been sharpened on both sides with the knife so that one side the part which will be exposed to the weather will have bark fitted accurately to bark. Care is taken to have the tip of the grafted shoot point straight up. The next year, after it has taken firm hold, it is cut off the parent stem.

§ 1.41.1  "As to the proper season for grafting, this must be especially observed: that some plants which formerly were grafted in spring are now grafted in mid-summer also, such as the fig, which, as the wood is not hard, requires warm weather; it is for this reason that fig groves cannot be planted in cold localities. Moisture is harmful to a fresh graft, for it causes the tender shoot to decay quickly, 2 and hence it is the common view that this tree is best grafted in the dog days. In the case of plants which are not so soft, however, a vessel is fastened above the graft in such a way that water may drip slowly to keep the shoot from drying out before it unites with the tree. The bark of the shoot must be kept uninjured, and the shoot itself be sharpened in such a way as not to bare the pith. To prevent moisture or excessive heat from injuring it on the surface its be smeared with clay and tied up with bark. 3 For this reason the vine is cut off three days before grafting, so that any excessive moisture in it may run out before it is grafted; or else a cut is made in the branch on which the graft is made a little lower than the graft, so as to allow casual water to run off. On the other hand, figs, pomegranates, and plants of a drier nature are grafted at once. In other graftings, such as of figs, care must be taken that the shoot contains a bud.

§ 1.41.4  "Of these four forms of propagation it is better to use quicksets in the case of some slow-growing plants, as is the practice in fig groves; for the natural seed of the fig is on the inside of the fruit which we eat, in the form of very small grains. As the seedling can scarcely spring from these small grains — for all things which are small and dry grow slowly, while those which are of looser texture are also of more rapid growth, as, for instance, the female grows more rapidly than the male, a rule which holds good also in plants to some extent, the fig, the pomegranate, and the vine being, on account of their feminine softness, of rapid growth, while, on the other hand, the palm, the cypress, and the olive are of slow growth; 5 for in this respect the humid [are quicker] than the dry — it is therefore better to plant in the nursery shoots from the fig tree than grains from the fruit; unless this is impracticable, as when you wish to ship seeds overseas or import them thence. In this case we pass a string through the figs when they are ripe for eating, and after they have dried they are tied in bundles and may be sent where we will; and there they are planted in a nursery and reproduce. 6 It was in this manner that the Chian, Chalcidian, Lydian, African, and other varieties of over-sea figs were imported into Italy. For a similar reason, the seed of the olive being a nut, we prefer to plant in our nurseries the cuttings which I have described, as the stem was found to spring more slowly from the olive nut than from others.

§ 1.42.1  "Be especially careful not to plant in ground that is very dry or very wet, but rather in moderately moist ground. Authorities state that the proper amount of alfalfa is a modius and a half to the iugerum, if the ground is by nature moderately moist; the method of sowing is to broadcast the seed, as is done in sowing forage crops and grain.

§ 1.43.1  "Snail-clover is sowed on land that has been thoroughly worked, like cabbage seed; then it is transplanted at intervals of a foot and a half, or, when the plant is more mature, shoots are detached, and it is set out in planting as above.

§ 1.44.1  "Beans are sowed 4 modii to the iugerum, wheat 5, barley 6, spelt 10, the amount being a little more or less in some localities; more being sowed on rich ground and less on thin. You should therefore note the amount that is usually sowed in the district and follow this practice; for the locality and the type of soil is so important that the same seed in one district yields tenfold and in another fifteen-fold — as at some places in Etruria. 2 Around Sybaris in Italy the normal yield is said to be even a hundred to one, and a like yield is reported near Gadara in Syria, and for the district of Byzacium in Africa. It also makes a great difference whether the planting is on virgin soil or on what is called restibilis — land cultivated every year — or on vervactum, which is allowed sometimes to lie fallow between crops." 3 "In Olynthia," remarked Agrius, "they say that the land is cropped every year, but in such a way that a richer crop is produced every other year." "Land ought to be left every other year with somewhat lighter crops," rejoined Licinius; "I mean by that crops which are less exhausting to the land."
"Tell us now," said Agrius, "of the third step, the nurture and feeding of the plant." 4 "All plants," resumed Stolo, "grow in the soil, and when mature conceive, and when the time of gestation is complete bear fruit or ear, or the like; and the seed returns whence it came. Thus, if you pluck the blossom or an unripe pear, or the like, no second one will grown on the same spot in the same year, as the same plant cannot have two periods of gestation. For trees and plants, just as women, have a definite period from conception to birth.

§ 1.45.1  "Barley usually appears in seven days, wheat not much later; legumes usually in four or five days, except the bean, which is somewhat slower in appearing. Millet also, and sesame, and similar plants appear in about the same number of days, except in cases where the locality or the weather prevents this from occurring. 2 Seedlings in the nursery should be covered with leaves or straw during the winter if the locality is at all cold, as they are tender; and if rains follow, water must not be allowed to stand anywhere, for frost is baneful to the tender rootlets. 3 Plants do not grow at the same rate below and above ground; thus roots grow faster below than does the part above ground in autumn and in winter because, being covered, they are nourished by the heat of the earth, while the part above ground is checked by the colder air. Wild plants which have not been touched by the planter show that this is true; for roots grow before the plant which comes from them, but they go no deeper than the point to which the sun's warmth reaches. The growth of roots is determined by two factors: that nature thrusts one kind of wood to a greater distance than another; and that one kind of soil yields more readily than another.

§ 1.46.1  "As a result of factors of this kind there are several remarkable differences of character; so that, for instance, the season may be told from the leaves of such trees as the olive, the silver poplar, and the willow, by the direction in which they lie; thus when the leaves of these trees turn over it is said that the summer solstice has passed. No less remarkable is the behaviour of the flowers which are called 'heliotropes' from the fact that they face the rising sun in the morning and follow his course until the setting, facing him the whole time.

§ 1.47.1  "Plants such as the olive and fig, such, reared in the nursery from shoots and naturally somewhat delicate on top, should be protected at the top by two boards tied right and left; and the weeds should be cleared. These should be pulled while they are young; for after they become dry they resist more strongly, and break off more readily than they yield. On the other hand, growth that springs up on a meadow for haying must not only not be plucked while it is maturing, but also must not be trampled. For this reason flocks, and every sort of animal, including even man, must be kept off a meadow; for the foot of man is death to grass and marks the beginning of a path.

§ 1.48.1  "Now, in the case of grain crops, that by which the stalk puts forth the grain is the head. If is this "hornless," as in barley and wheat, it has three components: the grain, the husk, and the beard — and the sheath, also, when the ear first appears. The hard inner part is called the grain; the husk is its envelope; and the beard is the part which rises from the husk like a long, slender needle, just as if the husk and bead formed a peaked cap for the grain. 2 'Beard' and 'grain' are familiar words to most people, but 'husk' (gluma) to few; thus the only place where it occurs, to my knowledge, is in Ennius, in his translation of Euhemerus. The word (gluma) seems to be derived from glubere, 'strip,' because the grain is stripped (deglubitur) from this envelope; so the same word is used for the envelope of the edible fruit of the fig tree. The beard is called arista from the fact that it is the first part to dry (arescere). The grain is so called from gerere; for the seed is planted that the ear may 'bear' (gerat) the grain, not the husk of the beard; just as the vine is planted not to bear leaves but grapes. The ear, however, which the peasants, in their old-fashioned way, call speca, seems to have got its name from spes; for it is because they hope (sperant) to have this grow that they plant. 3 An ear which has no bears is said to be 'hornless,' as the beard may be said to be the 'horns' of the ear. When these are just forming and are not yet quite visible, the green envelope under which they are hidden is called the sheath, being like the sheath in which a sword is encased. The part at the top of the full-grown ear, which is smaller than the grain, is called frit; while the part, also smaller than the grain, at the bottom of the ear where it joins the top of the stalk is called urru."100b

§ 1.49.1  Stolo paused at this point, and, judging from the fact that no questions were asked that no further discussion of nutrition was desired, he continued: "I shall discuss next the subject of harvesting the ripe crops. First the grass on the hay-meadows should be cut close with the sickle when it ceases to grow and begins to dry out with the heat, and turned with the fork while it is drying out; when it is quite dry it should be made into bundles and hauled to the barn. Then the loose hay from the meadows should be raked up and added to the hay-pile. 2 After doing this you should 'sickle' the meadows — that is, cut with the sickle what the mowers have passed over, leaving the field humped, as it were, with tufts of grass. I suppose the verb sicilire, used with meadow as object, is derived from this cutting (sectio).

§ 1.50.1  "The word messis is properly employed of the crops which we 'measure' (metimur), especially of grain; and this, I suggest, is the derivation of the word. There are three methods of harvesting grain: the first, employed in Umbria, in which the stalk is cut close to the ground with the hook, and each bundle, as it is cut, is laid on the ground. When a number of bundles are formed, they go over them again, and cut the ears from each close to the stalk. The ears are cast into the basket and carried to the threshing-floor, while the straw is left in the field and afterwards stacked. 2 In the second method, employed in Picenum, they use a curved handle of wood with a small iron saw attached to the end; when this catches a bundle of ears it cuts them off and leaves the straw standing in the field to be cut later. In the third method, employed near Rome and in numerous other places, seizing the top with the left hand they cut the straw in the middle; and I suggest that the word messis is derived from this middle (medium) which they cut. The part of the stalk below the hand remains attached to the ground, and is cut later; 3 while the part which is attached to the ear is carried to the threshing-floor in baskets. The name for straw, palea, may be derived from the fact that there, in an uncovered place, it is detached 'openly' (palam); some derive the other word, stramentum, from stare, as they do also the word stamen, and others from stratus, because it is 'spread' (substernitur) under cattle. The grain should be cut when it is ripe; and on easily worked land it is held that the reaping of one iugerum is approximately a day's work for one man — this should include the carrying of the reaped ears to the threshing-floor in baskets.

§ 1.51.1  "The threshing-floor should be on the place, in a somewhat elevated spot, so that the wind can sweep over it; the size should be determined by the size of the harvest. It should preferably be round, with a slight elevation at the centre, so that, if it rains, water will not stand but be able to run off the floor in the shortest line — and of course in a circle the shortest line is from the centre to the circumference. It should be built of solid dirt, well packed, and especially if it is of clay, so that it may not crack in the heat and allow the grain to hide, or take in water and open the door to mice and ants. For this reason it is customary to coat it with amurca, which is poison to weeds, ants, and moles. 2 Some farmers build up the floor with stone to make it solid, or even pave it. Others, such as the Bagienni, go so far as to build a shelter over the floors, because in that country rain-storms frequently occur at threshing time. When the floor is without a roof and the climate is hot, a shelter should be built hard by, to which the hands may go at midday in hot weather.

§ 1.52.1  "On the threshing-floor the largest and best ears should be placed apart, to furnish the best seed, and the grain should be threshed on the floor. This is done in some districts by means of a yoke of steers and a sledge. The latter is constructed either of a board made rough with stones or iron, which separates the grain from the ear when it is dragged by a yoke of steers with the driver or a heavy weight on it; or of a toothed axle running on low wheels, called a Punic cart, the driver sitting on it and driving the steers which drag it — a contrivance in use in Hither Spain and other places. 2 Among other peoples the threshing is done by turning in cattle and driving them around with goads, the grain being separated from the beards by their hoofs. After the threshing the grain should be tossed from the ground when the wind is blowing gently, with winnowing fans or forks. The result is that the lightest part of it, called acus and palea, is fanned outside the floor, while the grain, being heavy, comes clean to the basket.

§ 1.53.1  "When the harvest is over the gleaning should be let, or the loose stalks gathered with your own force, or, if the ears left are few and the cost of labour high, it should be pastured. For the thing to be kept in view in this matter is that the expense shall not exceed the profit.

§ 1.54.1  "As to vineyards, the vintage should begin when the grapes are ripe; and you must choose the variety of grapes and the part of the vineyard with which to begin. For the early grapes, and the hybrids, the so-called black, ripen much earlier and so must be gathered sooner; and the part of the plantation and vineyard which is sunnier should have its vines stripped first. 2 At the vintage the careful farmer not only gathers but selects his grapes; he gathers for drinking and selects for eating. So those gathered are carried to the wine-yard, thence to go into the empty jar; those selected are carried to a separate basket, to be placed thence in small pots and thrust into jars filled with wine dregs, while others are plunged into the pond in a jar sealed with pitch, and still others go up to their place in the larder. When the grapes have been trodden, the stalks and skins should be placed under the press, so that whatever must remains in them may be pressed out into the same vat. 3 When the flow ceases under the press, some people trim around the edges of the mass and press again; this second pressing is called circumsicium, and the juice is kept separate because it tastes of the knife. The pressed grape-skins are turned into jars and water is added; this liquid is called lora, from the fact that the skins are washed (lota), and it is issued to the labourers in winter instead of wine.

§ 1.55.1  "With regard to the olive harvest: the olives which can be reached from the ground or by ladders should be picked rather than shaken down, because the fruit which has been bruised dries out and does not yield so much oil. Those picked with bare fingers are better than those picked with gloves,d as the hard gloves not only bruise the berry 2 but also tear the bark from the branches and leave them exposed to the frost. Those which cannot be reached with the hand should be beaten down; but a reed should be used rather than a pole, as the heavier blow renders necessary the work of the tree-doctor. The one who is beating should not strike the olive directly; 3 for an olive struck in this way often tears away the shoot with it, and the fruit of the next year is lost. This is not the least reason for the saying that the olive fails to bear a crop every other year, or does not bear so full a crop. 4 The olive reaches the steading by the same two roads as the grape, one portion for food, and one to gush forth and anoint the body not only within but also without, thus following the master into the bath and into the gymnasium.

§ 1.55.5  The portion from which oil is made is usually heaped on a flooring in piles as it comes in from day to day, so that it may mellow a little; and the piles pass in the same order through the jars and the olive vessels to the trapeta, which is an olive-mill fitted with hard stones roughened on the surface. 6 If the olives, after being picked, lie too long in the piles, they spoil from the heat and the oil becomes rancid; hence, if you cannot work them up promptly they should be aired by moving them about in the piles. 7 The olive yields two products: oil, well known to all, and amurca. As most people are ignorant of the value of the latter, you may see it flowing out from the olive presses on to the fields, and not only blackening the ground but rendering it barren when there is a large quantity of it; whereas, in moderate quantities, this fluid is not only extremely valuable for many purposes, but is especially valuable in agriculture, as it is usually poured around the roots of trees, chiefly olive trees, and where noxious weeds grow in the fields."

§ 1.56.1  "I have been sitting in the steading for a long time," exclaimed Agrius, "waiting, key in hand, Stolo, for you to bring the crops into the barn." "Well," replied Stolo, "here I am. I am coming up to the threshold; open the doors. First, it is better to stow the hay crop under cover than in stacks, as by this method it makes better fodder — as is proved by the fact that when both kinds are offered them, cattle prefer the former.

§ 1.57.1  "Wheat should be stored in granaries, above ground, open to the draught on the east and north, and not exposed to damp air rising in the vicinity. The walls and floor are to be coated with marble cement, 2 or at least with clay mixed with grain-chaff and amurca, as this both keeps out mice and worms and makes the grain more solid and firm. Some farmers sprinkle the wheat, too, with amurca, using a quadrantal to about a thousand modii. Different farmers use different powders or sprays, such as Chalcidian or Carian chalk, or wormwood, and other things of this kind. Some use underground caves as granaries, the so-called sirus, such as occur in Cappadocia and Thrace; and still others use wells, as in the Carthaginian and Oscensian districts in Hither Spain. They cover the bottom of these with straw, and are careful not to let moisture or air touch them, except when the grain is removed for use; for the weevil does not breed where air does not reach. Wheat stored in this way keeps as long as fifty years, and millet more than a hundred. 3 Some people, as in Hither Spain and in Apulia, build granaries in the field, above ground, so constructed that the wind can cool them not only from the sides, through windows, but also beneath from the ground.e Beans and legumes are kept fresh for a very long time in olive jars sealed with ashes.

§ 1.58.1  "Cato says that smaller and larger Aminnian grape, and the Apician, are best stored in jars, and that the same grapes keep well also in boiled or plain must; and that the best ones for drying are the hard grapes and the Aminnian.

§ 1.59.1  "The varieties of apples for preserving are the smaller and larger quinces, the Scantian, the Scaudian, the small round, and those formerly called must-apples, but now called honey-apples. It is thought that all these keep well in a dry and cool place, laid on straw. For this reason those who build fruit-houses are careful to let them have windows facing the north and open to the wind; but they have shutters, to keep the fruit from shrivelling after losing its juice, when the wind blows steadily. 2 And it is for this reason, too — to make it cooler — that they coat the ceilings, walls, and floors with marble cement.f Some people even spread a dining-table in it to dine there; and, in fact, if luxury allows people to do this in a picture gallery, where the scene is set by art, why should they not enjoy a scene set by nature, in a charming arrangement of fruit? Provided always that you do not follow the example set by some, of buying fruit in Rome and carrying it to the country to pile it up in the fruit-gallery for a dinner-party. 3 Some think that apples keep quite well in the gallery if placed on boards on the cement, but others lay them on straw, or even on wool; that pomegranates are preserved by burying their stems in a jar of sand, and large and small quinces in hanging baskets; while, on the other hand, late Anician pears keep best when put down in boiled must. Some hold that boiled sorbs keep best when cut up and dried in the sun, like pears; and that sorbs are easily kept just as they are, wherever they are put, if the place is dry; that rape should be cut up and preserved in mustard, walnuts in sand. Pomegranates are also kept in sand if they are stored freshly gathered and ripe; green ones also, if you keep them on the branch, put them in a pot with no bottom, bury them in the ground, and seal the ends of the branches so that no outside air can reach them; such fruits will be taken out not only sound but even larger than they would ever be if they had hung on the tree.

§ 1.60.1  "Of the olives, Cato writes that the table olives, the orcites, and the posea are best preserved either green or in brine, or, when bruised, in mastic oil. The black orcites, if they are covered with salt for five days after being dried, and then, after the salt has been shaken off, are exposed to the sun for two days, usually keep sound; and that the same varieties may be satisfactorily preserved unsalted in boiled must.

§ 1.61.1  "Experienced farmers store their amurca in jars, just as they do oil and wine. The method of preserving is: as soon as it flows out from the press, two-thirds of it is boiled away, and when it is cool it is stored in vessels. There are also other methods, such as that in which must is added.

§ 1.62.1  "As no one stores the products of the farm except to bring them forth later, a few remarks must be made about this, the sixth step. Preserved things are brought out of storage because they are to be either protected or consumed or sold. As the three operations are for different purposes, the protecting and the consuming take place at different times.

§ 1.63.1  "Grain which the weevil has begun to infest should be brought out for protection. When it is brought out, bowls of water should be placed around in the sun; the weevils will congregate at these and drown themselves. Those who keep their grain under ground in the pits which they call sirus should remove the grain some time after the pits are opened, as it is dangerous to enter them immediately, some people having been suffocated while doing so. Spelt which you have stored in the ear at harvest-time and wish to prepare for food should be brought out in winter, so that it may be ground in the mill and parched.

§ 1.64.1  "Amurca, which is a watery fluid, after it is pressed from the olives is stored along with the dregs in an earthenware vessel. Some farmers use the following method for preserving it: After fifteen days the dregs which, being lighter, have risen to the top are blown off, and the fluid is turned into other vessels; this operation is repeated at the same intervals twelve times during the next six months, the last cleansing being done preferably when the moon is waning. Then they boil in copper vessels over a slow fire until it is reduced to two-thirds its volume. It is then fit to be drawn off for use.

§ 1.65.1  "Must which is stored in jars to make wine should not be brought out while it is fermenting, and not even after the fermentation has gone far enough to make wine. If you wish to drink old wine (and wine is not old enough until a year has been added to its age), it should be brought out when it is a year old. But if it is of the variety of grapes that sours quickly, it must be used up or sold before the next vintage. There are brands of wine, the Falernian for instance, which are the more valuable when brought out the more years you have kept them in store.

§ 1.66.1  "If you take out the preserved white olives soon, while they are fresh, the palate will reject them because of the bitter taste; and likewise the black olives, unless you first steep them in salt so that they may be taken into the mouth without distaste.

§ 1.67.1  "As for the walnut, the date, and the Sabine fig, the sooner you use them the better the flavour; for with time the fig gets too pale, the date too soft, and the nut too dry.

§ 1.68.1  "Fruits that are hung, such as grapes, apples, and sorbs, themselves indicate the proper time for consumption; for by the change of colour and the shrivelling of the skin they put you on notice that if you do not take them down to eat they will come down to be thrown away. If you store sorbs which are ripe and soft, you must use them quickly; those hung up when sour may wait, for they mean, before ripening, to reach in the house a degree of maturity which they cannot reach on the tree.

§ 1.69.1  "The part of the spelt harvest which you wish to have ready for food should be taken out in winter to be roasted at the mill; while the part reserved for seed should be taken out when the land is ready to receive it. With regard to seed in general, each kind should be taken out at its proper time. As to the crops intended for market, care must be used as to the proper time for taking out each; thus you should take out and sell at once those which do not stand storage before they spoil, while you should sell those which keep well when the price is high. For often products which have been stored quite a long time will not only pay interest on the storage, but even double the profit if they are marketed at the right time."

§ 1.69.2  While he was speaking the sacristan's freedman runs up to us with tears in his eyes and begs us to pardon him keeping us so long, and asks us to go to a funeral for him the next day. We spring to our feet and cry out in chorus: "What? To a funeral? What funeral? What has happened?" Bursting into tears, he tells us that his master had been stabbed with a knife by someone, and had fallen to the ground; that in the crowd he could not tell who it was, but had only heard a voice saying that a mistake had been made. 3 As he had carried his old master home and sent the servants to find a surgeon and bring him with all speed, he hoped he might be pardoned for attending to his duty rather than coming to us; and though he had not been able to keep him from breathing his last a few moments later, he thought that he had acted rightly. We had no fault to find with him, and walking down from the temple we went our several ways, rather blaming the mischances of life than being surprised that such a thing had occurred in Rome.113
BOOK 2 It was not without pleasure that those great men, our ancestors, put the Romans who lived in the country ahead of those who lived in the city. For as in the country those who live in the villa are lazier than those who are engaged in carrying out work on the land, so they thought that those who settled in town were more indolent than those who dwelt in the country. Hence they so divided the year that they attended to their town affairs only on the ninth days, and dwelt in the country on the remaining seven. 2 So long as they kept up this practice they attained both objects — keeping their lands most productive by cultivation, and themselves enjoying better health and not requiring the citified gymnasia of the Greeks. In these days one such gymnasium is hardly enough, and they do not think they have a real villa unless it rings with many resounding Greek names, places severally called procoetion (ante-room), palaestra (exercise-room), apodyterion (dressing-room), peristylon (colonnade), ornithon (aviary), peripteros (pergola), oporotheca (fruit-room). 3 As therefore in these days practically all the heads of families have sneaked within the walls, abandoning the sickle and the plough, and would rather busy their hands in the theatre and in the circus than in the grain-fields and the vineyards, we hire a man to bring us from Africa and Sardinia the grain with which to fill our stomachs, and the vintage we store comes in ships from the islands of Cos and Chios.

§ 1.69.4  And so, in a land where shepherds who founded the city taught their offspring the cultivation of the earth, there, on the contrary, their descendants, from greed and in the face of the laws, have made pastures out of grain lands — not knowing that agriculture and grazing are not the same thing. For the shepherd is one thing and the ploughman another; and it does not follow that because cattle can graze in a field the herdsman is the same as the ploughman. For grazing cattle do not produce what grows on the land, but tear it off with their teeth; while on the other hand the domestic ox becomes the cause why the grain grows more easily in the ploughed land, and the fodder in the fallow land. 5 The skill and knowledge of the farmer, I repeat, are one thing, and those of the herdsman another; in the province of the farmer are those things which are made to spring from the earth by cultivation of the land; in that of the herdsman, however, those that spring from the herd. As the association between them is very close, inasmuch as it is frequently more profitable to the owner of the farm to feed the fodder on the place than to sell it, and inasmuch as manure is admirably adapted to the fruits of the earth, and cattle especially fitted to produce it, one who owns a farm ought to have a knowledge of both pursuits, agriculture and cattle-raising, and also of the husbandry of the steading. For from it, too, no little revenue can be derived — from the poultry-yards, the rabbit-hutches, and the fishponds. 6 And since I have written a book for my wife, Fundania, on one of these subjects, that of agriculture, on account of her owning a farm, for you, my dear Turranius Niger, who take keen delight in cattle, inasmuch as your feet often carry you, on buying bent, to market at Campi Macri, that you may more easily meet the outlay incurred by the many demands made upon you, I shall run over briefly and summarily the subject of cattle-raising; and I shall the more readily do this because I have myself owned large stocks of cattle, sheep in Apulia and horses in the district of Reate. I shall take as the foundation the conversations I had with extensive cattle-owners in Epirus, at the time when, during the war with the pirates, I was in command of the Greek fleets operating between Delos and Sicily. At this point I shall begin. . . .

§ 2.1.1  Book II
When Menates had left, Cossinius remarked to me: "We shall not let you go until you have set forth those three topics of which you had begun to speak when we were interrupted." "Which three?" inquired Murrius; "do you mean what you were saying to me yesterday about animal husbandry?" "The points our friend here had begun to discuss," said he, "the origin, the dignity, and science. . ." 2 "Well," said I, "I shall speak at least of the historical side and tell what I have learned of the two topics first mentioned — the origin and the dignity. Scrofa will take up the tale at the third division, when it becomes a science. He is, if I may quote Greek to half-Greek shepherds, 'a much better man than I am.' For he is the man who taught your son-in-law, Gaius Lucilius Hirtius, whose flocks in the country of the Bruttii are renowned." "But you shall have this discussion by us," said Scrofa, "only on condition that you, who are the cattle-raising champions of Epirus, shall repay us by disclosing what you know of the subject; for no man can know everything." 3 When I had accepted the proposal and was to open the play — not that I do not own flocks myself in Italy, but not all who own a harp are harpers" — I began: "As it is a necessity of nature that people and flocks have always existed (whether there was an original generating principle of animals, as Thales of Miletus and Zeno of Citium thought, or, on the contrary, as was the view of Pythagoras of Samos and of Aristotle of Stagira, there was no point of beginning for them), it is a necessity that from the remotest antiquity of human life they have come down, as Dicaearchus teaches, step by step to our age, and that the most distant stage was that state of nature 4 in which man lived on those products which the virgin earth brought forth of her own accord; they descended from this stage into the second, the pastoral, in which they gathered for their use acorns, arbutus berries, mulberries, and other fruits by plucking them from wild and uncultivated trees and bushes, and likewise caught, shut up, and tamed such wild animals as they could for the like advantage. There is good reason to suppose that, of these, sheep were first taken, both because they are useful and because they are tractable; for these are naturally most placid and most adapted to the life of man. For to his food they brought milk and cheese, and to his body wool and skins for clothing.

§ 2.1.5  Then by a third stage man came from the pastoral life to that of the tiller of the soil; in this they retained much of the former two stages, and after reaching it they went far before reaching our stage. Even now there are several species of wild animals in various places: as of sheep in Phrygia, where numerous flocks are seen, and in Samothrace those goats which are called in Latin rotae; for there are many wild goats in Italy in the vicinity of Mount Fiscellum and Mount Tetrica. As to swine, everybody knows — except those who think that wild boars ought not to be called swine. There are even now many quite wild cattle in Dardania, Maedica, and Thrace; wild asses in Phrygia and Lycaonia, and wild horses at several points in Hither Spain.

§ 2.1.6  "The origin is as I have given it; the dignity, as I shall now show. Of the ancients the most illustrious were all shepherds, as appears in both Greek and Latin literature, and in the ancient poets, who call some men 'rich in flocks,' others 'rich in sheep,' others 'rich in herds'; and they have related that on account of their costliness some sheep actually had fleeces of gold — as at Argos the one which Atreus complains that Thyestes stole from him; or as in the realm of Aeetes in Colchis, the ram in search of whose Golden Fleece the Argonauts of royal blood are said to have fared forth; or as among the Hesperides in Libya, from which Hercules brought from Africa to Greece golden mala, which is the ancient manner of naming goats and sheep. For the Greeks called these mela from the sound of their bleating; 7 and in fact our people give them a similar name from the same bleating, but with a different consonant (for the bleating seems to give the sound be, and not me), and they call the bleating of sheep baelare, and hence later, by the excision of a letter, as occurs in many words, balare. But if the flock had not been held in high honour among the ancients, the astronomers, in laying out the heavens, would not have called by their names the signs of the zodiac; they not only did not hesitate to give such names, but many of them begin their enumeration of the twelve signs with the names of the Ram and the Bull, placing them ahead of Apollo and Hercules. For those gods follow them, but are called the Twins. 8 And they were not content to have one-sixth of the twelve signs bear the names of domestic animals, but added Capricornus, so that one-fourth might have them. And besides this, they added of the domestic animals the she-goat, the kid, and the dog. Or are not tracts on land and sea also known by the names of animals? For instance, they named a sea Aegean from the word for goats, a mountain on the border of Syria, Taurus, a mountain in the Sabine country, Cantherius, and two straits Bosphorus (ox-ford) — the Thracian and the Cimmerian. 9 Did they not give such names to many places on land, as, for instance, the city in Greece called 'Hippion (horse-rearing) Argos'? And, finally, is not Italy named from vituli (bullocks), as Piso states? Further, does not everyone agree that the Roman people is sprung from shepherds? Is there anyone who does not know that Faustulus, the foster-father who reared Romulus and Remus, was a shepherd? Will not the fact that they chose exactly the Parilia as the time to found a city demonstrate that they were themselves shepherds? Is not the same thing proved by the following facts: that up to this day a fine is assessed after the ancient fashion in oxen and sheep; that the oldest copper coins are marked with cattle; 10 that when the city was founded the position of walls and gates was marked out by a bull and a cow; that when the Roman people is purified by the suovetaurilia, a boar, a ram, and a bull are driven around; that many of our family names are derived from both classes, the larger and the smaller, such as Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius from the smaller, and Equitius, Taurius, Asinius from the larger; and that the so-called cognomina [surnames] prove the same thing, as, for instance, the Annii Caprae, the Statilii Tauri, the Pomponii Vituli, and many others, derived from the names of domestic animals?

§ 2.1.11  "It remains to speak of the science of animal husbandry, and our friend, Scrofa, to whom this generation presents the palm in all agricultural matters, and who is therefore better fitted, will discuss it." When the eyes of all were turned on him Scrofa began:— "Well, there is a science of assembling and feeding cattle in such fashion as to secure the greatest returns from them; the very word for money is derived from them, for cattle are the basis of all wealth. 12 The science embraces nine divisions under three topics of three divisions each: the topic of the smaller animals, with its three divisions, sheep, goats, swine; the second topic, that of the larger animals, with likewise its three classes naturally separate, oxen, asses, horses. The third topic comprises animals which are kept not for the profit derived from them, but for the purpose of the above groups, or as a result of them, mules, dogs, and herdsmen. Each one of these divisions includes at least nine general subdivisions; and of these four are necessarily involved in assembling and an equal number in feeding; while one is common to both. There are, then, at the lowest 81 subdivisions, all of them important and not one insignificant. 13 First: in order to assemble a sound flock one must know one item — at what age it is profitable to get and keep each several kind. Thus, in the matter of cattle, they can be purchased at a lower price below the age of one year and beyond that of ten years, for they begin to yield a profit after the age of two or three, and do not continue to do so much beyond the age of ten years — 14 the earliest youth and extreme age of all animals being barren. The second of the first four heads is a knowledge of the proper characteristics of each species of animal, as this has a very important bearing on the profit. Thus, one buys an ox with dark rather than with white horns, a full-bodied she-goat rather than a thin one, and swine with long bodies provided the head is small. The third point of inquiry is as to the breed; it is for this reason that in Greece the asses of Arcadia are noted, and in Italy those of Reate — so much so that within my recollection an ass fetched 60,000 sesterces, and one team of four at Rome sold for 400,000. 15 The fourth topic is the law of purchase — the proper legal form to be followed in the purchase of each separate species. In order that the property of another may become mine an intermediate step is necessary, and not in all purchases is an agreement or the payment of money sufficient to effect a change of ownership; and in a purchase it is sometimes to be stipulated that the animal is sound, sometimes that it is from a sound flock, while at other times neither stipulation is made.

§ 2.1.16  "After the purchase has been made we come to the second group of four points which are to be observed: they are those concerned with pasturage, breeding, feeding, and health. Of pasturage, which is the first point, there are three divisions: the preferable locality for the pasturage of the several species, the time, and the manner; thus, it is better to pasture goats on a bushy hillside than on a grassy plain, while the opposite is true of mares. Again, the same localities are not equally suited in summer and winter to the pasturing of all species. Hence, flocks of sheep are driven all the way from Apulia into Samnium for summering, and are reported to the tax-collectors, for fear of offending against the censorial regulation forbidding the pasturing of unregistered flocks; 17 and mules are driven in summer from the level Rosea into the high mountains of Burbur. One must also consider the preferable method of pasturing each species — by which I do not mean merely that a horse or an ox is content with hay, but that barley and beans should be fed at intervals to some of them, and that lupines should be fed to oxen, and alfalfa and clover to milch cows; and besides that for thirty days before mating more food should be given rams and bulls to increase their vigour, and food should be lessened for the females, because it is claimed that they conceive more readily when they are thin. 18 The second topic is that of breeding — by which I mean the process from conception to birth, these being the limits of pregnancy. The first point to be observed, therefore, is that of mating — the time at which opportunity for coition should be allowed each species; thus, the period from the beginning of the west wind to the vernal equinox is deemed best suited to swine, while that from the setting of Arcturus to the setting of Aquila is considered best for sheep. Consideration should also be given to the proper period before breeding begins, during which the males should be kept away from the females — a period which both stockmen and shepherds usually fix at two months for all animals. 19 The second division comprises the points to be watched in breeding, arising from the difference among species in the period of gestation; thus, the mare carries her young twelve months, the cow ten, the sheep and the goat five, the sow four. (Speaking of breeding, there is a story from Spain which, though incredible, is quite authentic, that on the shore of the ocean in Lusitania, in the district in which is situated the town of Olisipo, certain mares on Mount Taurus, at a particular time of year, are impregnated by the wind; just as in this country frequently occurs in the case of those hens the eggs of which are called hypenemia. But the foals of these mares do not live beyond three years.) Care must be taken that the young which have gone the full time or longer have a clean, soft place to stand in, and that they be not trampled. Lambs which are born after the full period are called cordi, the name being derived from the fact that they have remained in those deep-lying folds which are called chorion. 20 There is a third item — the practice to be observed in the matter of feeding, including the number of days on which the young may have the teat, at what times, and where; and if the mother is deficient in milk, that the young be allowed to suckle the udder of another mother. Such animals are called subrumi, 'under the udder,' the udder being called rumis, as I suppose, in old Latin. As a rule, lambs are not weaned under four months, kids under three, and pigs under two. Those of the last named which are pure for sacrifice and may be offered up, used to be called sacres; Plautus uses the term in his sentence: 'What's the price of sacred pigs?' Similarly, oxen, fattened for public offerings, are called opimi, fatlings. 21 The fourth division is that of health — a complicated but extremely important matter, inasmuch as a sickly herd is a losing investment, and men frequently come to grief because it is not strong. There are two divisions of such knowledge, as there are in the treatment of human beings: in the one case the physician should be called in, while in the other even an attentive herdsman is competent to give the treatment. The topic has three heads: we must observe the cause of the several diseases, the symptoms displayed by such causes, and the proper method of treatment to be followed for each disease. 22 In general, sickness is caused by the fact that the animals are suffering from heat or from cold, or else from excessive work, or, on the other hand, from lack of exercise; or in case food or drink has been given them immediately after working, without a period of rest. The symptoms are that those which have fever from overwork keep the mouth open, pant fast with moist breath, and have hot bodies. The following is the treatment in such cases: 23 The animal is drenched with water, rubbed down with oil and warm wine, and, further, is sustained with food, and a covering is thrown over it to prevent a chill; in case of thirst tepid water is administered. If improvement is not obtained by such treatment, blood is let, usually from the head. Other diseases have other causes and other symptoms, and the man in charge of the herd should keep them all in written form.

§ 2.1.24  "There remains the ninth point I have mentioned, common to both divisions — the proper number. For the man who is feeding a herd must decide on the size, determining how many herds and how large he is going to graze, so that his pasturage will not run short, and so that he will not have idle pasturage and hence lose his profit. He must also decide how many females to have in the flock for breeding, how many males, how many young of each sex, and how many culls are to be cut out. In the matter of feeding, if too many young are born you should follow the practice of some breeders, and wean some of them; the result usually being that the rest grow better."

§ 2.1.25  "Don't get confused," said Atticus, "and let your ninefold division get away from the matter of smaller and larger animals. How will you get a ninefold division in the case of mules and herdsmen, where there is neither breeding nor bearing? 26 I see how you can use it in the case of dogs. I grant you also that even in the case of the humans the ninefold division can be retained, as they keep women in their huts in the winter ranches, and some have them even in the summer, thinking that this is worth while in order the more easily to keep the herdsmen with their herds; and by the natural increase they enlarge their slave gangs and make the cattle-raising more profitable." "The number," I remark, "is not to be taken as precisely accurate, just as we do not mean to be taken exactly when we say that a thousand ships set forth against Troy, or speak of the centumviral court at Rome. So, if you wish, subtract two of the topics, coition and foaling, when you speak of mules." 27 "Foaling?" asked Vaccius; "why, don't you know that it has several times been asserted that a mule has borne a colt at Rome?"36 To back up his statement, I add that both Mago and Dionysius remark that the mule and the mare bring forth in the twelfth month after conception. Hence we must not expect all lands to agree, even if it is considered a portent when a mule bears young here in Italy. Swallows and storks, for instance, which bear in Italy, do not bear in all lands. Surely you are aware that the date-palms of Syria bear fruit in Judea but cannot in Italy. 28 Scrofa, however, remarked: "If you insist on having 81 sub-heads, omitting the breeding and feeding of mules, you may easily fill that double gap; two very important sources of revenue fall outside the enumeration. There is the shearing — the clipping or pulling of wool and goat hair — and another, which is even more important, the matter of milk and cheese. The Greek authorities treat this as a separate topic, calling it tyropoiia (cheese-making), and have had a great deal to say about it.

§ 2.2.1  "But since I have completed my task, and the subject of stock-raising has been sketched in outline, you gentlemen of Epirus should take up the tale in your turn and let us see what the shepherds from Pergamis and Maledos can tell us under each head." 2 Then Atticus, who at the time bore the name Titus Pomponius, but is now called Quintus Cornelius though he retains the same cognomen, began: "I suppose I should start the discussion, as you all seem to be looking to me, and I shall speak of the earliest branch of animal husbandry, as you claim that sheep were the first of the wild animals to be caught and tamed by man. The first consideration is that these be in good condition when purchased; with respect to age that they be neither too old nor mere lambs, the latter being not yet, and the former no longer profitable — though the age which is followed by hope is better than the one which is followed by death. 3 As to form, sheep should be full-bodied, with abundant soft fleece, with fibres long and thick over the whole body, especially about the shoulders and neck, and should have a shaggy belly also. In fact, sheep which did not have this our ancestors called 'bald' (apicas), and would have none of them. The legs should be short; and observe that the tail should be long in Italy but short in Syria. The most important point to watch is to have a flock from good stock. 4 This can usually be judged by two points — the form and the progeny; by the form if the ram have a full coating of fleece on the forehead, have flat horns curving towards the muzzle, grey eyes, and ears overgrown with wool; if they are full-bodied, with wide chest, shoulders, and hind-quarters, and a wide, long tail. A black or spotted tongue is also to be avoided, for rams with such a tongue usually beget black or spotted lambs. The stock is determined by the progeny if they beget handsome lambs.

§ 2.2.5  In purchasing we take advantage of the variation which the law allows, some making more and others fewer exceptions; thus, some purchasers, when the price is fixed by the head, stipulate that two late-born lambs count as one sheep, and in the case of those which have lost their teeth from age, that they also be reckoned two for one. With this exception, the ancient formula is generally employed: when the purchaser has said, 'They are sold at such a price?' and the seller has replied, 'Yes,' and the money has passed, the purchaser, using the old formula, says: 6 'You guarantee that the sheep in question are perfectly sound, up to the standard of a flock which is perfectly sound, excepting those blind of one eye, deaf, or minae (that is, with belly bare of wool),43 that they do not come from a diseased flock, and that title may legally pass — that all this may be properly done?' Even after this has been agreed on, the flock does not change owners unless the money has been counted; and the purchaser still has the right to obtain a judgment against the vendor against the law of purchase and sale if he does not make delivery, even though no money has passed; just as the vendor may obtain a judgment against the purchaser under the same law if he does not make payment.

§ 2.2.7  "I shall discuss next the remaining four points — pasturage, breeding, feeding, health. It is first to be arranged that they feed properly the year round, indoors and out. The fold should be placed in a suitable situation, protected from the wind, and facing the east rather than the south. The ground on which they are to stand should be clear of undergrowth and sloping, so that it can easily be swept and kept clean; for the moisture of the ground injures not only the fleece of the sheep but their hoofs as well, and causes them to become scabby. 8 When they have been standing for some days, fresh brush should be spread for them, to give them a softer bed and keep them cleaner; for this increases their appetite. Separate enclosures should also be built, so that you may take the pregnant ones away from the flock, and also those that are sick. These measures concern most the flocks which are folded at the steading. 9 On the other hand, in the case of those that feed on the ranges and are far from cover, hurdles or nets are carried with which to make enclosures in a desolate district, as well as other necessary things; for they usually graze far and wide in all sorts of places, so that frequently the winter grazing grounds are many miles away from the summer." "I am well aware of that," said I,44 "for I had flocks that wintered in Apulia and summered in the mountains around Reate, these two widely separated ranges being connected by public cattle-trails, as a pair of buckets by their yoke." 10 "Such flocks, even when they feed in the same locality, are treated differently at different seasons; thus, in summer they begin feeding at daybreak, because at that time the grass, filled with dew, is superior to the grass of midday, which is drier. At sunrise they are driven to water, to make them more eager to graze when they come back. 11 During the midday heat they are driven under shady cliffs and wide-spreading trees to cool off until the day grows cooler; and they feed again in the evening until sunset. Sheep should be headed in grazing in such a way as to have the sun behind them, as the head of the sheep is its weakest part. A short time after sunset they are driven to water, and then again they graze until it becomes quite dark; for at this time the succulence comes again to the grass. This practice is usually kept up from the rising of the Pleiades until the autumnal equinox. 12 It is profitable to drive them into stubble fields for two reasons: they get their fill of the ears that have fallen, and make the crop better the next year by trampling the straw and by their dung. The feeding during the rest of the year, winter and spring, varies from this, in that when the frost has melted they are driven out to feed and range the whole day, and it is considered sufficient for them to be driven to water only once, at midday.

§ 2.2.13  "With regard to pasturage the foregoing remarks will suffice; the following apply to breeding. The rams which are to be used for breeding are to be removed from the flock two months ahead, and fed more generously. If barley is fed them on their return to the pens from the pasture, they are strengthened for the work before them. The best time for mating is from the setting of Arcturus to the setting of Aquila; as lambs which are conceived after that time grow undersized and weak. 14 As the period of pregnancy of the sheep is 150 days, the birth thus occurs at the close of autumn, when the air is fairly temperate, and the grass which is called forth by the early rains is just growing. During the whole time of breeding they should drink the same water, as a change of water causes the wool to spot and is injurious to the womb. When all the ewes have conceived, the rams should again be removed, as they are troublesome in worrying the ewes which have now become pregnant. Ewes less than two years old should not be allowed to breed, for the offspring of these is not sturdy and the ewes themselves are injured; and no others are better than the three-year-olds for breeding. They may be protected from the male by binding behind them baskets made of rushes or other material; but they are protected more easily if they feed apart.

§ 2.2.15  "As to feeding: when they begin to bear they are driven into the pens which are kept separate for that purpose; and there the new-born lambs are placed near a fire until they get their strength. They are kept penned for two or three days, while they are learning to recognise their dams and are getting their fill of nourishment. Then the dams go to pasture with the flock, and the lambs are kept penned; when the dams are brought back to them toward evening, the lambs are suckled by them and are again separated to keep them from being trampled by the dams during the night. The same thing takes place in the morning, before the dams go out to pasture, so that the lambs may be filled with milk. 16 When about ten days have passed, stakes are set to which the lambs are fastened at intervals by bark or other smooth ropes, so that the tender young things may not knock the skin off any of their legs while frisking about together during the whole day. If the lamb will not come to its dam's udder, it should be held close and its lips smeared with butter or hog's lard and the lips be given the savour of milk. A few days later ground vetch or tender grass is thrown out to them before they go out to pasture and when they come back; 17 and this feeding is continued until they are four months old. During this time some breeders do not milk the dams; and it is even better not to milk them at all, as they both yield more wool and bear more lambs. When the lambs are removed from the dams, care must be taken that they do not sicken from the separation; and so in feeding they must be coaxed by the daintiness of the food and guarded from being harmed by cold and heat. 18 They must be driven into the flock only after they no longer miss the dam, because they have forgotten the taste of milk. Lambs should be castrated not earlier than the fifth month, and then not until the heat or the cold has broken. Those they wish to rear for rams are chosen preferably from the young of dams which usually bear twins. The treatment is, in general, the same in the case of jacketed sheep — those which, on account of the excellence of the wool, are jacketed with skins, as is the practice at Tarentum and in Attica, to prevent the fleece from being soiled, in which case it cannot be so well dyed, or washed and bleached. 19 More care is employed in the case of these than in the case of rough-fleeced sheep, to keep the folds and stalls clean; and so they are covered with a stone pavement so that the urine may not stand anywhere in the stalls. To these the food which they prefer, such as fig leaves, straw, grape dregs, and bran, is fed in moderate quantities, to avoid under-feeding or over-feeding; either of which is harmful to their fattening, while alfalfa and snail-clover are both beneficial, as these fatten them very easily and produce milk.

§ 2.2.20  "In the matter of health there are many rules; but, as I said, the head shepherd keeps these written down in a book, and carries with him the remedies he may need. The only remaining division is that of number, and some make this larger, others smaller; for there are no natural limits in this respect. Our almost universal practice in Epirus is not to have less than one shepherd to the hundred rough-fleeced sheep, and two to the hundred jacketed sheep."

§ 2.3.1  Cossinius, addressing him, said: "As you have bleated long enough, my dear Faustulus, now hear from me, as from Homer's Melanthius born out of due season, with regard to goats; and learn how one ought to speak, briefly and to the point. One who decides to assemble a flock of goats should, in choosing his animals, have regard first to age, picking those of the age which is already capable of bringing in a profit, and this age preferably the one which can bring it longer; for the young goat is more profitable than the old. 2 As to conformation, see that they be strong and large, and have a smooth coat with thick hair, unless, to be sure, they belong to the hairless breed, for there are two breeds of goats. They should have two teat-like growths hanging under the chin, as such goats are more fertile; they should have rather large udders, so that they may give a greater quantity of milk and of richer quality in proportion. The buck should have hair which is rather soft and by preference white; short shoulders and neck; and a somewhat long throat. The flock is better if it is not formed of animals bought here and there, but of those which are accustomed to run together. 3 As to the breed, I make the remark which Atticus made with regard to sheep; with this exception, that the race of sheep is more quiet, inasmuch as they are gentler, while on the other hand that of goats is more nimble. As to their activity, Cato says in his Origines: 'On Soracte and Fiscellum there are wild goats which make leaps of more than sixty feet from the cliffs.' For just as the domesticated sheep is sprung from the wild sheep, so the domesticated goat is sprung from the wild goat; and the island Caprasia, off the coast of Italy, derives its name from these. 4 As she-goats which bear twins are of better stock, it is from these, preferably, that the males are usually chosen for service. Some owners are even careful to import she-goats from the island Melia, because it is thought that the largest and finest kids are produced there.

§ 2.3.5  "With regard to purchase, my rule is different from the usual practice, as no man sound of mind guarantees that goats (which are never free of fever) are sound of body. And so the bargain is struck with only a few exceptions made, after a formula derived from the code of Manilius: 'Do you guarantee that the said goats are to-day in good condition and able to drink, and that the title is in proper form?' There is a remarkable thing about these animals, and even Archelaus is authority for the statement: some shepherds who have watched quite closely claim that goats do not breathe, as other animals do, through the nostrils, but through the ears.a

§ 2.3.6  "Of the other four points, I have this to say with regard to feeding: It is better to have the goat stalls face the sunrise in winter, as the animals feel the cold acutely. Such stalls, and in fact all stalls, should be floored with stone or tile, to prevent the goat-house from being wet and muddy. When they have to spend the night outdoors, their pens should face in the same direction, and they should be bedded down with twigs so that they may not be muddied. The care of this animal in the matter of feeding is about the same as that of the sheep, though each has certain peculiarities; 7 thus, the goat prefers wooded glades to meadows, as it eats eagerly the field bushes and crops the undergrowth on cultivated land. Indeed, their name capra is derived from carpere, to crop. It is because of this fact that in a contract for the lease of a farm the exception is usually made that the renter may not pasture the offspring of a goat on the place. For their teeth are injurious to all forms of growth; and though the astronomers have placed them in the sky, they have put them outside the circle of the twelve signs — there are two kids and a she-goat not far from Taurus. 8 As to breeding, at the close of autumn, while the herd is at pasture, the bucks are driven from it into the goat-houses, as was directed with regard to rams. The female which has conceived drops her kid four months later, during the spring. As to rearing, when the kids reach the age of three months they are turned out and begin to form part of the flock. What can I say of the health of animals which are never healthy? I can only make one remark: that the head goatherds keep written directions as to the remedies to be used for some of their diseases and for flesh wounds which they frequently receive, as they are always fighting one another with their horns, and as they crop in thorny places. 9 One topic remains — that of number. This is smaller in the goat herd than in the flock, as goats are wanton and scatter widely, while sheep, on the contrary, huddle together and crowd into the same space. Hence in the Ager Gallicus breeders keep numerous herds rather than large ones, because in large herds an epidemic quickly spreads, and this may ruin the owner. 10 A flock of about fifty is considered quite large enough. The experience of the Roman knight, Gaberius, is thought to prove this: He had a place containing 1000 iugera near the city, and hearing from a certain goatherd who drove ten goats to the city that they yielded him a denarius a day per head, he bought 1000 goats, hoping that he would make 1000 denarii a day profit. In which he was sadly mistaken, for within a short time he lost the whole flock by disease. Among the Sallentini, however, and around Casinum, they have herds running as high as 100. As to the proportion of males to females, there is about the same difference of opinion, some (and this is my own practice) keeping one buck to every ten does; others, such as Menas, one to fifteen; and still others, such as Murrius, one to twenty.

§ 2.4.1  "But who sails forth from harbour, and preferably from an Italian harbour, to discourse about swine? I need hardly ask, for that Scrofa should be chosen to speak on that subject this surname of his indicates." "You seem," said Tremelius in reply, "not to know why I have the nickname Scrofa. That these gentlemen, too, may learn the reason while you are being enlightened, you must know that my family does not bear a swinish surname, and that I am no descendant of Eumaeus. My grandfather was the first to be called Scrofa. He was quaestor to the praetor Licinius Nerva, in the province of Macedonia, and was left in command of the army until the return of the praetor. The enemy, thinking that they had an opportunity to win a victory, began a vigorous assault on the camp. 2 In the course of his plea to the soldiers to seize arms and go to meet them, my grandfather said that he would scatter those people as a sow scatters her pigs; and he was as good as his word. For he so scattered and routed the enemy in that battle that because of it the praetor Nerva received the title of Imperator, and my grandfather earned the surname of Scrofa. Hence neither my great-grandfather nor any of the Tremelii who preceded him was called by this surname of Scrofa; and I am no less than the seventh man of praetorian rank in succession in our family. 3 Still, I will not shrink from the task of telling what I know about swine. For I have been a close student of agriculture since my earliest days, and this matter of swine is of equal interest to me and to you who are large cattle-owners. For who of our people cultivates a farm without keeping swine? and who has not heard that our fathers called him lazy and extravagant who hung in his larder a flitch of bacon which he had purchased from the butcher rather than got from his own farm?
"A man, then, who wishes to keep his herd in good condition should select, first, animals of the proper age, secondly, of good conformation (that is, with heavy members, except in the case of feet and head), of uniform colour rather than spotted. You should see that the boars have not only these same qualities, but especially that their shoulders are well developed. 4 The breed of swine is determined by their appearance, their litter, and the locality from which they come: from their appearance if both boar and sow are handsome; from their litter if they produce numerous pigs; from the locality if you get them from places where fat rather than thin swine are produced.

§ 2.4.5  The formula of purchase usually runs as follows: 'Do you guarantee that the said swine are sound, and that the title is good, and that I am protected from suits for damage, and that they are not from a diseased herd?' Some buyers add the stipulation that they have got through with fever and diarrhoea.
"In the matter of feeding, ground proper for this animal is wet, as it likes not only water but even mud. It is for this reason, they say, that wolves, when they catch swine, always drag them to water, because their teeth cannot endure the heat of the flesh. 6 As this animal feeds chiefly on mast, and next on beans, barley, and other grains, this food produces not only fat but a pleasant flavour in the flesh. In summer they are driven to pasture early in the day, and before the heat grows intense they are driven into a shady spot, preferably where there is water; then in the afternoon, when the heat has diminished, they are again turned out to pasture. In winter they are not turned out until the frost has disappeared and the ice has melted. 7 In the matter of breeding, the boars are to be separated out two months ahead. The best time for service is from the beginning of the west wind to the spring equinox, as in this case the litter is produced in summer. For the sow is pregnant for four months and will thus bear her young when the land is rich in food. Sows should not be bred when less than a year old, and it is better to wait until they are twenty months old, so that they will be two years old when they bear. When they once begin bearing it is said that they continue to do so satisfactorily up to the seventh year. 8 At the time of breeding they are driven into muddy lanes and pools, so that they may wallow in the mud; for this is their form of refreshment, as bathing is to human beings. After all the sows have conceived, the boars are again separated. The boar begins to cover at eight months and keeps his vigour up to three years; after which time he begins to deteriorate until he reaches the butcher, the appointed go-between of pork and the populace.

§ 2.4.9  "The Greek name for the pig is ὕς, once called θῦς from the verb θῦειν, that is, 'to sacrifice'; for it seems that at the beginning of making sacrifices they first took the victim from the swine family. There are traces of this in these facts: that pigs are sacrificed at the initial rites of Ceres; that at the rites that initiate peace, when a treaty is made, a pig is killed; and that at the beginning of the marriage rites of ancient kings and eminent personages in Etruria, the bride and groom, in the ceremonies which united them, first sacrificed a pig. 10 The ancient Latins, too, as well as the Greeks living in Italy, seem to have had the same custom; for our women, and especially nurses, call that part which in girls is the mark of their sex porcus,b as Greek women call it choeros, meaning thereby that it is a distinctive part mature enough for marriage. There is a saying that the race of pigs is expressly given by nature to set forth a banquet; and that accordingly life was given them just like salt, to preserve the flesh. The Gauls usually make the best and largest flitches of them; it is a sign of their excellence that annually Comacine and Cavarine hams and shoulders are still imported from Gaul to Rome. 11 With regard to the size of the Gallic flitches, Cato uses this language: 'The Insubrians in Italy salt down three and four thousand flitches; in spring the sow grows so fat that she cannot stand on her own feet, and cannot take a step; and so when one is to be taken anywhere it is placed in a wagon.' Atilius of Spain, a thoroughly truthful man and one widely versed in a variety of subjects, used to tell the story that when a sow was killed in Lusitania, a district of Farther Spain, there was sent to the senator Lucius Volumnius a piece of the meat with two ribs attached which weighed •three-and-twenty pounds; and that the meat of that sow was •one foot three fingers thick from skin to bone." 12 "No less remarkable a thing was told me in Arcadia," I remarked; "I recall that I went to look at a sow which was so fat that not only could she not rise to her feet, but actually a shrew-mouse had eaten a hole in her flesh, built her nest, and borne her young. I have heard that the same thing occurred in Venetia."

§ 2.4.13  "It may usually be determined from the first litter which sow is prolific in breeding, as there is not much difference in the number of pigs in the succeeding litters. As to rearing, which is called porculatio, the pigs are allowed to remain with their mothers for two months; in the second month, after they are able to feed, they are removed. Pigs born in winter are apt to grow thin on account of the cold and because the mothers drive them off on account of the scantiness of the milk, and the consequent bruising of their teats by the teeth of the pigs. Each sow should have her separate sty in which to feed her pigs; because she does not drive away the pigs of a strange litter, and so, if they become mixed she deteriorates in breeding. 14 Her year is naturally divided into two parts, as she bears twice a year, being with young for four months and giving suck for two. The sty should be constructed •about three feet high, and a little more than that across, at such a height from the ground that if the sow when pregnant should try to jump out, she will not cast her young. The height of the pen should be such that the swineherd can easily look around it, to prevent the little pigs from being crushed by the mother, and be able to clean the bottom without trouble. The sty should have a door with the lower sill •one and a third feet high, so that the pigs cannot jump over it when the mother leaves the sty. 15 Whenever the swineherd cleans the sty he should always cover the floor with sand, or throw into each sty something to soak up the moisture; and when a sow has young he should feed her more bountifully so that she may more easily supply milk. They are usually fed about two pounds of barley soaked in water; some double this amount, feeding both morning and evening, if they have no other food to give. 16 Pigs when weaned are by some people no longer called 'sucking-pigs,' but delici or shoats. On the tenth day after birth they are considered 'pure,' and for that reason the ancients called them sacres, because they are said to be fit for sacrifice first at that age. Hence in Plautus's play, the Menaechmi, the scene of which is laid in Epidamnus, a character who, thinking that another is mad, wants him to make sacrifice and be cured, asks: 'What's the price of porci sacres in this town?' Wine dregs and grape refuse are usually fed them if the farm produces these. 17 When they have outgrown the name of sucking-pigs they are called nefrendes, from the fact that they are not able to 'crunch' (frendere), that is crush, beans. Porcus is an old Greek word, but it is obsolete, as they now use the word choeros. At the time of bearing, care is taken to see that the sows drink twice a day for the sake of the milk. The saying is that a sow should bear as many pigs as she has teats; if she bear less she will not pay for herself, and if she bear more it is a portent. 18 It is recorded that the most ancient portent of this kind is the sow of Aeneas at Lavinium, which bore thirty white pigs; and the portent was fulfilled in that thirty years later the people of Lavinium founded the town of Alba. Traces of this sow and her pigs are to be seen even to this day; there are bronze images of them standing in public places even now, and the body of the sow is exhibited by the priests, having been kept in brine, according to their account. 19 A sow can feed eight little pigs at first; but when they have taken on weight it is the practice of experienced breeders to remove half of them, as the mother cannot supply enough milk and the whole of the litter cannot grow fat. The mother is not driven out of the sty except for water during the first ten days after delivery; but after this time they are allowed to range for food in near-by parts of the steading, so that they may come back often and feed their pigs. 20 When these are grown they are allowed to follow the mother to pasture; but when they come home they are separated from the mothers and fed apart, so as to grow accustomed to the lack of the mother's nourishment, a point which they reach in ten days. The swineherd should accustom them to do everything to the sound of the horn. At first they are penned in; and then, when the horn sounds, the sty is opened so that they can come out into the place where barley is spread out. This is spread in a row because in that way less is wasted than if it is heaped up, and more of them can reach it easily. The idea in having them gather at the sound of the horn is that they may not become lost when scattered in wooded country. 21 The best time for castrating the boars is when one year old, and certainly not less than six months; when this is done their name is changed, and they are called 'barrows' instead of boars. As to the health of swine, I shall give but one illustration: if the sow cannot furnish enough milk for the sucking-pigs, toasted wheat should be fed (for raw wheat loosens the bowels), or barley soaked in water, until they are three months old. 22 As to numbers, ten boars are considered enough for 100 sows, and some breeders even lessen this number. The number in a herd varies; for myself I consider a herd of 100 a reasonable number, but some breeders have larger ones, the number sometimes going as high as 150. Some double the size of the herd, and others have even a larger herd. A rather small herd is less expensive than one too large, as the herdsman requires fewer helpers; and so the breeder determines the size of the herd by his own advantage, and not as he determines the number of boars to keep, as this latter point is derived from nature."

§ 2.5.1  So far he. At this point Quintus Lucienus, the senator, a thoroughly kindly and jovial person, and a friend to all the company, entered and said "Greetings, fellow-citizens of Epirus; for to Scrofa and to our friend Varro, shepherd of the people, I paid my greetings this morning." One returned his greeting and another chid him for coming late to his appointment; whereupon he remarked: "I'll see you again presently, my merry men, and bring my skin and whips back with me. But as for you, Murrius, come along as my backer while I am paying my pence to the Lares, so that if they demand them from me later you can bear me witness." 2 "Tell him while you are going," said Atticus to Murrius, "how far our conversation has gone and what has not been discussed, so that he may come back ready for his part; and let us meanwhile tack on the second act, on the larger animals." "That is where my part comes in," said Vaccius, "since there are cows in it. So I shall give the advantage of the knowledge I have acquired on the subject of the cattle herd, so that he who is ignorant may learn, and he who knows may see where I go wrong." "Watch your step, Vaccius," said I; 3 "for the cow should be in the highest esteem among cattle, and especially in Italy, which is supposed to have derived its name from the word for oxen. For the ancient Greeks, according to Timaeus, called bulls itali, and the name Italy was bestowed because of the number and beauty of its cattle, and the great number of calves. Others say it is so named from the fact that Hercules chased hither from Sicily a noble bull which was called italus. This is man's partner in his rustic labours and is the servant of Ceres; 4 and hence the ancients so wished his life to be safe that they made it a capital offence to kill one. In this matter Attica is witness as well as Peloponnesus; for it is to this animal that Buzuges owes his fame at Athens, and Bomagiros at Argos." "I am acquainted," replied Vaccius, "with the high esteem in which oxen are held, and the fact that many large things are named from them, such as busycos (bull fig), bupais (bull-boy), bulimos (bull hunger), boopis (cow-eyed), and that a grape also has the name bumamma (cow's udder).

§ 2.5.5  I know, further, that it was this animal into which Jupiter chose to change himself when he carried his beloved Europa over the sea from Phoenicia; that it was this animal which saved the sons of Neptune by Menalippa from being trampled in the stall, when they were infants, by a herd of cattle; further, that it is from the putrefied body of this animal that there spring the sweetest bees,d those honey-mothers from which the Greeks therefore call bees 'the ox-sprung' (βουγενεῖς); and we have the official record that the praetor reported to the Senate at Rome that it was this animal which said, in Latin, 'Plautius rather than Hirrius.'87 So be of good cheer; I shall give you as much satisfaction as the author of the Bugonia could.

§ 2.5.6  "First: in the race of cattle four stages of life are distinguished, the first that of calf, the second that of yearling, the third that of prime, the fourth that of old; and a distinction of sex is indicated in each sex, in the first by bull-calf and heifer-calf, in the second by bullock and heifer, and in the third and fourth by bull and cow. A sterile cow is called taura, and a pregnant cow is called horda. It is from the fact that at that time pregnant cows are sacrificed that one of the days in the calendar is called hordicidia. 7 One who wishes to buy a herd of cattle should be careful to have animals of such an age that they are sound for bearing calves rather than those which have already reached the age of barrenness. They should be well formed, that is, clean-limbed, square-built, large, with blackish horns, wide foreheads, large black eyes, hairy ears, narrow jaws, somewhat snub-nosed, not humpbacked, but with a slight depression of the spine, spreading nostrils, blackish lips, 8 thick, long neck, with dewlap hanging from it, body well ribbed, broad shoulders, sturdy rump, a long tail hanging down to the ankles, curling somewhat at the end with thick hair, with legs rather short and straight, knees prominent and a good distance apart, feet not wide and not splaying as they walk, the hoofs not widely cloven but with the two toes smooth and of equal size, the skin not hard and rough to touch. The best colour is black, next red, then dun, and then white; for those of the last mentioned colour are most delicate, and those of the first most hardy. 9 Of the other two colours the first is preferable to the second, while both are more common than the black and the white. He should furthermore see that the males be of good breed, and their conformation should be looked to, for their young reproduce the characteristics of the parents. It is also a matter of importance where they are born; thus in Italy many Gallic oxen of good breed are good workers, while the Ligurian are of small account; 10 of foreign cattle those of Epirus are not only the best in all Greece, but are even better than the Italian. Yet some people use cattle of Italian breeds, which they claim excel in size, as offerings, and these they reserve for solemn offerings to the gods. These are doubtless to be preferred for sacrificial purposes because of the splendour of their size and colour; and this is done all the more because white cattle are not so common in Italy as they are in Thrace on the shores of the Black Gulf where there are few of any other colour. In the purchase of oxen which have been broken in, the bargain is in these terms: 'Do you guarantee that the said oxen are sound, and that I am protected from suits for damage?' 11 In buying them unbroken, the formula runs: 'Do you guarantee that the said bullocks are quite sound and of a sound herd, and that I am protected from suits for damage?' Butchers use a somewhat fuller form, following the rule of Manilius, in buying for slaughter; those who buy for sacrifice do not usually demand a guarantee of soundness in the victim.
"Large cattle are most conveniently pastured on wooded land where there is much undergrowth and foliage; and those that spend the winter along the coast are driven in summer into the leafy hills. In the matter of breeding I usually follow these principles: 12 for one month before they are mated, cows should not have their fill of food and drink, because it is thought that when thin they are in better condition to conceive. On the other hand, I keep the bulls filled with grass, straw, and hay for two months before mating; and I keep them away from the females. I keep the same number of bulls as Atticus — two to every 70 brood cows — one a yearling, the other a two-year-old. I attend to this matter following the rising of the constellation which the Greeks call Lyra, and which our people call Fides — 13 it is only then that I turn the bulls into the herd. The bull shows by the way he dismounts whether a male or female has been conceived by his act: if it is a male he comes down on the right side, and if a female on the left. Why this is true," he remarked to me, "you who read Aristotle will have to find out. Cows should not be covered which are less than two years old, so that they may be three years old when they bear; and it will be all the better if they are four years old. Most of them continue bearing up to ten years, and some of them even longer. The best time for mating is from the rising of the Dolphin up to forty days or a little more; for cows which conceive at that time drop their calves at the most temperate season, as cows carry their calves for ten months. 14 On this subject I have seen a remarkable statement — that if you turn in a bull immediately after he has been castrated, he can get a calf. The cows should be pastured in grassy and watered ground, and care should be taken not to let them crowd, be struck, or run against one another. As cattle-flies have a way of tormenting them in summer and certain minute insects grow under their tails, some breeders keep them shut up in pens, to keep them from being worried. The pens should be strewn with a bedding of leaves or some such thing, so that they may rest in greater comfort. In summer they should be driven to water twice, in winter once. 15 When they come to the time of calving, fresh fodder should be kept near the stalls for them to nibble at as they go out, for they become dainty. Care should also be taken that the place into which they turned shall not be chilly, for chill and hunger make them grow thin. 16 In the matter of rearing, the following rules should be observed with this kind of animal: Sucklings must not sleep with their dams, as they will be trampled; they should be admitted to their dams in the morning and when they have come back from pasture. When the calves have made some growth, the dams should be relieved by throwing green food before the calves in the pens. These stalls (and this holds good for practically all stalls) should be paved with stones or something of the sort, so that their hoofs may not rot. After the autumnal equinox calves pasture along with their dams. 17 They should not be castrated until they are two years old, because it is hard for them to recover otherwise; while those which are castrated later become tough and worthless. Just as in the case of other herds, there should be a culling once a year, and the culls should be cut out of the herd, as they take up the room of those which can bring in a profit. If a cow has lost her calf she should be given some whose dams do not give enough milk. Calves six months old are fed wheat bran and barley-meal and tender grass, and care is taken that they drink morning and evening. 18 On the subject of health there are many rules; these have been copied down from Mago's treatise, and I see to it that my head herdsman is reading some of them repeatedly. As to the number of bulls and cows, the rule is that there be, to every sixty cows, one yearling bull and one two-year-old. Some breeders make the number smaller or larger; as, for instance, in Atticus's herd there are two bulls to seventy breeding cows. The number of animals in a herd varies with the owner, some breeders (and I am one of them) considering a hundred a reasonable number. But Atticus has 120, as does Lucienus."

§ 2.6.1  So far Vaccius. Then Murrius, who had returned with Lucienus while Vaccius was speaking, said: "I shall speak by preference on the subject of asses, as I am from Reate, where the best and largest are grown; out of this stock I have bred colts here and several times sold them even to Arcadians.96a 2 One who wishes, then, to start a good herd of asses should first be careful to get males and females of the proper age, so that they both may continue to bring in a profit as long as possible. They should be sturdy, sound in all parts, full-bodied, of good stock, and from those districts from which the best come; this is a point considered by those breeders in Peloponnesus who, by preference, buy in Arcadia, and those in Italy who buy in the neighborhood of Reate. For it does not at all follow that, because the best 'floating' lampreys grow in Sicily and the helops off Rhodes, these fish grow of the same excellence in all seas. There are two species of these animals: the wild ass, called onagrus, 3 of which there are many herds, as, for instance, in Phrygia and Lycaonia; and the domesticated, such as are all those in Italy. The wild ass is well suited for breeding, because he is easily changed from wild to tame and never changes back from tame to wild. As the young reproduce the qualities of their parents, both sire and dam should be chosen with an eye to their worth. In the matter of transfer of title, they change owners, as do other animals, by purchase and delivery; and there is the usual guarantee of soundness and against liability for damage. 4 The best food for them is spelt and barley bran. They are bred before the solstice, so that they may drop their colts at the same season the next year; for they foal in the twelfth month after conception. Pregnant jennies are relieved of work, as work makes the womb bear a poorer offspring. The male is not kept from work, as he loses vigour from lack of labour. In the matter of foaling about the same rules are followed as in the case of mares. The young are not separated from their dams for a year after birth; but during the next year they are allowed to be with them at night, and are kept loosely tied with a leather halter or the like. In the third year they begin their training for the work for which their owners wish to keep them.

§ 2.6.5  There remains the question of number; but there really are no herds of these animals except of those which form pack trains, for the reason that they are usually separated and sent to the mills, or to the fields for hauling, or even for ploughing where the land is porous, as it is in Campania. The trains are usually formed by the traders, as, for instance, those who pack oil or wine and grain or other products from the region of Brundisium or Apulia to the sea in donkey panniers."

§ 2.7.1  "I too," broke in Lucienus, "shall open the barriers as I come, and begin to let out the steeds, and not the stallions only, which I keep for breeding, as Atticus does, one to every ten mares. The females of these Quintus Modius Equiculus, a very gallant gentleman whose father was also a soldier, used to value as highly as the males. Those who wish to establish a herd of horses and mares, as some do in the Peloponnesus and in Apulia, should first have an eye to age; and the following rules are laid down: We are careful to have them not less than three nor more than ten years old. 2 The age of horses and of almost all animals with solid hoof, and in fact of those with horns, is determined by the teeth, the horse being said to drop, at thirty months, first the middle teeth, two upper and as many lower; at the beginning of the fourth year they again cast, this time dropping the same number of those coming next to those which they have lost; and to so-called canine teeth begin to grow. 3 At the beginning of the fifth year they again shed two in each jaw in the same way, as at that time the animal has hollow fresh teeth which fill out in the sixth year, so that in the seventh it usually has a full set of permanent teeth. It is said that there is no way of determining those which are older than this, except that when the teeth become prominent and the brows grey with hollows under them, they determine by looking at him that such a horse is sixteen years old. 4 As to conformation they should be of moderate size, neither over nor under size, and the mares should have broad quarters and bellies. Stallions kept for breeding should be chosen of broad body, handsome, with no part of the body breaking the harmony.

§ 2.7.5  What sort of a horse is going to turn out can be determined from the colt: if it has a head not over size and well-proportioned limbs, dark eyes, full nostrils, close-lying ears; mane abundant, dark, slightly curling, with very fine hair falling on the right side of the neck; broad, full chest, broad shoulders, fair-sized barrel, flanks converging downward, broad shoulder-blades, preferably with a double spine or at least with the backbone not prominent, full, somewhat curly tail, legs straight and sloping symmetrically rather inward than outward, the knees round but not large, and hard hoofs. The veins should be visible over the whole body, as a horse of this kind is capable of easy treatment when it is sick. 6 The stock from which they come is of great importance, as there are a number of breeds; hence noted breeds are named from the districts from which they come, as in Greece the Thessalian from Thessaly, in Italy the Apulian from Apulia, and the Rosean from Rosea. It is a sign that the horse will be a good one if, when in pasture with its mates, it vies with them in racing or in other ways to show its superiority; if, when a river is to be crossed by the herd, it runs with the leaders and does not look back at the rest of the herd. The terms of purchase for horses are practically the same as those for cattle and asses, as they change owners by purchase on the same terms, as laid down in the decisions of Manilius.106

§ 2.7.7  "The breeding stud of horses is best fed in meadows on grass, and in stalls and enclosures on dry hay; and when they have foaled, with an additional ration of barley, and with water twice a day. In the matter of breeding, the beginning of mating should be at the vernal equinox and it should continue until the solstice, so that the foal may come at a seasonable time; for it is said that they are born on the tenth day of the twelfth month after conception. Foals which are born after this time are usually defective and unprofitable. 8 When the proper season arrives, the stallion should be admitted twice daily, morning and evening, with the help of the groom — as they call the man who attends to the mating. For with his help, when the mare is tied, the coition takes place more quickly, and the stallions do not, in their eagerness, eject the seed to no purpose. The mares show when they have conceived by defending themselves. If the horse will not cover the mare, the centre of a squill is crushed in water and reduced to the consistency of honey; with this the natural parts of the mare are touched when she is in heat, and on the other hand the nostrils of the horse are touched with what comes from the natural parts of the mare. 9 (Though it is incredible, as it actually happened the following story should be recorded: when a horse could not be induced to mount his dam, the groom covered his head, led him up, and forced him to do so; but when he took the cloth from the horse's eyes after he had come down, the horse dashed at him and killed him with his teeth.) 10 Care must be taken that the mares, after conceiving, are not worked over hard or kept in cold places, as chill is extremely injurious to those with foal. So in their stalls the ground should be kept free of dampness, the doors and windows should be kept shut, and poles should be placed in the pen to separate each mare, so that they cannot fight one another. A mare with foal should not be over-fed or under-fed. 11 Those who mate their mares every other year claim that they breed for a longer time and that the colts are better; and that those which become pregnant every year are sooner exhausted, just as are fields which are planted every year.108
"Within ten days after birth colts should be driven to pasture with their dams, so that the dung may not burn their tender hoofs. When the colts are five months old, on being driven back to the stable they should have spread before them barley-meal ground with bran, and whatever other product of the soil they relish. 12 When they become yearlings they should be fed with barley and bran so long as they suckle. And they should not be removed before the end of two years; and while they are still with the dam they should be handled from time to time, to prevent them from being frightened when they are separated. For the same purpose harness should be hung in the stall, so that the young horses may become accustomed both to the sight of it and to its jingling when it moves. 13 As soon as they have become accustomed to coming up and being handled it is well to let a boy mount them two or three times, first lying flat on his stomach and then seated. This should be done when the colt is a three-year-old, for at that age it is growing most rapidly, and putting on muscle. Some breeders claim that a young horse can be broken at eighteen months; but it is better to wait until they are three-year-olds; from which time it is customary to feed mixed forage, for this is a most necessary form of purging for horses. It should be fed for ten days, and the horse should be allowed to taste no other food. 14 From the eleventh to the fourteenth day barley should be fed, the amount being increased gradually from day to day; and the amount fed on the fourth day should be continued for the next ten days. After that time he should have gentle exercise, and be rubbed down with oil after he has sweated. If the weather is chilly, a fire should be built in the stall.

§ 2.7.15  "As some horses are fitted for military service, others for hauling, others for breeding, and others for racing, all are not to be judged and valued by the same standards. Thus the experienced soldier chooses his horses by one standard and feeds and trains them in one way, and the charioteer and circus-rider in another; and the trainer who is breaking horses for riding under the saddle or for the carriage does not use the same system as the man who has military service in view; for as on the one hand, in the army, they want spirited horses, so on the other hand they prefer more docile ones for road service. It is for this reason that there has grown up the greatest difference in the matter of castrating horses; for when the testicles have been removed they become more steady for the reason that they no longer have seed. Such horses are called geldings, just as castrated boars are called barrows, and castrated cocks are called capons. 16 In the matter of treatment there are, in the case of horses, a great many symptoms of disease and methods of treatment, and the head groom should have these written out. It is for this reason that in Greece those who treat cattle in general are called by the special name ἱππίατροι, 'horse-doctors.'"

§ 2.8.1  While we were thus speaking a freedman comes from Menates to tell us that the cakes had been offered and the sacrifice was made ready; if the gentlemen wished they might come there and perform their sacrifices for themselves. "But," I said, "I shan't let you go until you have played out the third act — on mules, dogs, and herdsmen." "It will take only a short time to discuss them," said Murrius; "for mules and hinnies are hybrids and grafts, not from roots after their own kind; for the mule is the offspring of a mare and an ass, while the hinny is the offspring of a horse and a jenny; 2 each is useful work, but neither brings any return from young. When an ass colt is newly born it is placed under a mare and becomes fatter on her milk, as they claim that such nourishment is more nutritious than the ass's milk. They are reared, in addition, on straw, hay, or barley. Special care is also taken of the foster-mother, so the mare may furnish the colt with an abundant supply of milk. A jack so reared may be used for breeding after three years, and because it is accustomed to horses it will not refuse to mate. 3 If you use him at an early age, he himself tires sooner, and his offspring will be of poorer quality. Those who do not have such a jack, reared on mare's milk, but want a breeding jack, pick one as heavy and handsome as they can find and of good breed — of the Arcadian breed, our ancestors used to say, but of Reatine breed, as we have found by experience; in that district several breeding asses have sold for three hundred and even four hundred thousand sesterces. In purchasing we observe the same rules as in the case of horses, and make the same stipulations in the matter of purchase and acceptance as were named in the case of horses. 4 We feed these chiefly on hay and barley and increase the amount before breeding, so that we may furnish strength from the food for begetting; and we mate them at the same season in which we mate horses, and we are careful also to have them cover the mares with the help of a groom. When a mare drops a horse-mule or a mare-mule we rear it at the teat.

§ 2.8.5  If these are born in swampy or damp ground they have soft hoofs; but if they are driven into the mountains in summer, as is done in the district of Reate, their hoofs grow quite hard. In assembling a herd of mules both age and build must be watched — the former that they may be strong enough to bear the labour of hauling, and the latter that they may please the eyes with the appearance; for it is by pairs of these animals that all vehicles are drawn on the roads. 6 You would take my word for this as being an expert from Reate," he remarked to me, "if you did not keep herds of mares at home yourself, and had not sold herds of mules. The so-called hinny is the offspring of a horse and a jenny; smaller than the mule, usually rather redder, with ears like a horse's, but with mane and tail like those of the ass. These are reared and fed just as young horses are, and their age is determined by the teeth."

§ 2.9.1  "There is left," said Atticus, "of the discussion of quadrupeds only the topic of dogs; but it is of great interest to those of us who keep fleece-bearing flocks, the dog being the guardian of the flock, which needs such a champion to defend it. Under this head come especially sheep but also goats, as these are the common prey of the wolf, and we use dogs to protect them. In a herd of swine, however, there are some members which can defend themselves, namely, boars, barrows, and sows; for they are very much like wild boars, which have often killed dogs in the forest with their tusks. 2 And why speak about the larger animals? For I know that while a herd of mules was feeding and a wolf came upon them, the animals actually whirled about and kicked him to death; that bulls often stand facing different ways, with their hind-quarters touching, and easily drive off wolves with their horns. As there are, then, two sorts of dogs — the hunting-dog suited to chase the beasts of the forest, and the other which is procured as a watch-dog and is of importance to the shepherd — I shall speak of the latter under nine divisions, according to the scientific division which has been set forth.115

§ 2.9.3  "In the first place, they should be procured of the proper age, as puppies and dogs over age are of no value for guarding either themselves or sheep, and sometimes fall a prey to wild beasts. They should be comely of face, of good size, with eyes either darkish or yellowish, symmetrical nostrils, lips blackish or reddish, the upper lip neither raised too high nor drooping low, stubby jaw with two fangs projecting somewhat from it on the right and left, the upper straight rather than curved, 4 their sharp teeth covered by the lip, large head, large and drooping ears, thick shoulders and neck, the thighs and shanks long, legs straight and rather bowed in than out, large, wide paws which spread as he walks, the toes separated, the claws hard and curving, the sole of the foot not horny or too hard, but rather spongy, as it were, and soft; with the body tapering at the top of the thigh, the backbone neither projecting nor swayed, tail thick; with a deep bark, wide gape, preferably white in colour, so that they may the more readily be distinguished in the dark; and of a leonine appearance.

§ 2.9.5  Bitches, in addition, should have well formed dugs with teats of equal size. Care should also be taken that they be of good breed; accordingly they receive their names from the districts from which they come: Spartans, Epirotes, Sallentini. You should be careful not to buy dogs from huntsmen or butchers — in the latter case because they are too sluggish to follow the flock, and in the other because if they see a hare or a stag they will follow it rather than the sheep. It is better, therefore, to buy from a shepherd a bitch which has been trained to follow sheep, or one that has had no training at all; for a dog forms a habit for anything very easily, and the attachment he forms for shepherds is more lasting than that he forms for sheep. 6 Publius Aufidius Pontianus, of Amiternum, had bought some herds of sheep in furthest Umbria, the purchase including the dogs but not the shepherds, but providing that the shepherds should take them to the pastures of Metapontum and to market at Heraclea. When the men who had taken them there had returned home, the dogs, without direction and simply from their longing for their masters, returned to the shepherds in Umbria a few days later, though it was a journey of many days, having lived off the country. And yet not one of those shepherds had done what Saserna, in his book on agriculture, directed: that a man who wanted a dog to follow him should throw him a boiled frog! It is very important that the dogs be all of the same family, as those which are related are the greatest protection to one another. 7 The fourth point is that of purchase: possession passes when the dog is delivered by the former owner to the next. With regard to health and liability to damage, the same precautions are taken as in the case of sheep, except that it is advisable to make the following stipulation: some people fix the price of dogs per head, others stipulate that pups go with their mother, others that two pups count as one dog just as usually two lambs count as one sheep, and many that dogs be included which have become accustomed to being together.

§ 2.9.8  "The food of dogs is more like that of man than that of sheep: they eat scraps of meat and bones, not grass and leaves. Great care must be taken for their supply of food; for hunger will drive them to hunt for food, if it is not provided, and take them away from the flock — 9 even if they do not, as some think, come to the point of disproving the ancient proverb, or even go so far as to enact the story of Actaeon, and sink their teeth in their master. 10 You should also feed them barley bread, but not without soaking it in milk; for when they have become accustomed to eating that kind of food they will not soon stray from the flock. They are not allowed to feed on the flesh of a dead sheep, for fear that the taste will make them less inclined to spare the flock. They are also fed on bone soup and even broken bones as well; for these make their teeth stronger and their mouths of wider stretch, because their jaws are spread with greater force, and the savour of the marrow makes them more keen. Their habit is to eat during the day when they are out with the flocks, and at evening when these are folded. 11 The beginning of breeding is fixed at the opening of spring, for at that time they are said to be 'in heat,' that is, to show their desire for mating. Those that conceive at that time have a litter about the time of the summer solstice, for they usually carry their young for three months. During the period of gestation they should be fed barley bread rather than wheat bread, for they are better nourished on the former and yield a larger supply of milk. 12 In the matter of rearing after birth, if the litter is large you should at once pick those that you wish to keep and dispose of the others. The fewer you leave the better they will grow, because of the abundance of milk. Chaff and other like stuff is spread under them, because they are more easily reared on a soft bedding. The pups open their eyes within twenty days; for the first two months after birth they are not taken from the mother, but are weaned by degrees. Several of them are driven into one place and teased to make them fight, so as to make them more keen; but they are not allowed to tire themselves out, as this makes them sluggish. 13 They are also accustomed to being tied, at first with slight leashes; and if they try to gnaw these they are whipped to keep them from forming the habit of doing this. On rainy days the kennels should be bedded with leaves or fodder, and this for two purposes: to keep them from being muddied, and to keep them from getting chilled. 14 Some people castrate them, because they think that by this means they are less likely to leave the flock; others do not, because they think this makes them less keen. Some people crush filberts in water and rub the mixture over their ears and between their toes, as the flies and worms and fleas make ulcers there if you do not use this ointment. 15 To protect them from being wounded by wild beasts, collars are placed on them — the so-called melium, that is, a belt around the neck made of stout leather with nails having heads; under the nail heads there is sewed a piece of soft leather, to prevent the hard iron from injuring the neck. The reason for this is that if a wolf or other beast has been wounded by these nails, this makes the other dogs also, which do not have the collar, safe. 16 The number of dogs is usually determined by the size of the flock; it is thought to be about right for one dog to follow each shepherd. But the number varies with the circumstances; thus in countries where wild beasts are plentiful there should be more, as is usually the case with those who escort the flocks to summer and winter pastures through distant woodland trails. On the other hand, for a flock feeding near the steading two dogs to the farm are sufficient. These should be a male and a female, for in this case they are more watchful, as one makes the other more keen, and if one of the two is sick that the flock may not be without a dog."

§ 2.10.1  As he glanced around to see if he had overlooked anything, I123 remarked: "Your silence gives the cue to another actor; for the remaining scene in this act concerns the number and kind of herdsmen to be kept." Whereupon Cossinius: "For herds of larger cattle older men, for the smaller even boys; but in both cases those who range the trails should be sturdier than those on the farm who go back to the steading every day. Thus on the range you may see young men, usually armed, while on the farm not only boys but even girls tend the flocks. 2 The herdsmen should be required to stay on the range the entire day and have the herds feed together; but, on the other hand, to spend the night each with his own herd. They should all be under one herd-master; he should preferably be older than the rest and more experienced, as the other herdsmen will be more disposed to take orders from one who surpasses them in both age and knowledge. 3 Still, he should not be so much older that his age will prevent him from being as able to stand hard work; for neither old men nor boys can easily endure the hardships of the trail and the steepness and roughness of the mountains — all of which must be encountered by those who follow the herd, and especially herds of cattle and oats, which like cliffs and woods for pasturage. The men chosen for this work should be of a sturdy sort, swift, nimble, with supple limbs; men who can not only follow the herd but can also protect it from beasts and robbers, who can lift loads to the backs of pack animals, who can dash out, and who can hurl the javelin. 4 It is not every people that is fitted for herding; thus neither a Bastulan nor a Turdulan is suited, while Gauls are admirably adapted, especially for draught cattle. In the matter of purchase there are some six methods of acquiring a legitimate title: by legal inheritance; by receiving, in due form, through mancipation from one who had a legal right to transfer; by legal cession, from one who had the right to cede, and that at the proper time; by right of possession; by purchase at auction from war-booty; and lastly by official sale among other property or in confiscated property.

§ 2.10.5  In the purchase of slaves, it is customary for the peculium to go with the slave, unless it is expressly excepted; and for a guarantee to be given that he is sound and has not committed thefts or damage; or, if the transfer is not by mancipation, double the amount is guaranteed, or merely the purchase price, if this be agreed on. They should eat during the day apart, each with his own herd, but in the evening all those who are under one head-herdsman should eat together. The head-herdsman is to see that all equipment needed for the animals and herdsmen, and especially for sustenance of the men and the treatment of the cattle, shall accompany them; for which purpose owners keep pack animals, in some cases mares, in others any animal instead, which can carry a load on its back.

§ 2.10.6  "As to the breeding of herdsmen; it is a simple matter in the case of those who stay all the time on the farm, as they have a female fellow-slave in the steading, and the Venus of herdsmen looks no farther than this. But in the case of those who tend the herds in mountain valleys and wooded lands, and keep off the rains not by the roof of the steading but by makeshift huts, many have thought that it was advisable to send along women to follow the herds, prepare food for the herdsmen, and make them more diligent. 7 Such women should, however, be strong and not ill-looking. In many places they are not inferior to the men at work, as may be seen here and there in Illyricum, being able either to tend the herd, or carry firewood and cook the food, or to keep things in order in their huts. 8 As to feeding their young, I merely remark that in most cases they suckle them as well as bear them." At the same time, turning to me, he said: "As I have heard you say that you, when you were in Liburnia, saw mothers carrying logs and children at the breast at the same time, sometimes one, sometimes two; showing that our newly-delivered women, who lie for days under their mosquito-nets, are worthless and contemptible." 9 "It is quite true," I replied; "and in Illyricum I have seen something even more remarkable: for it often happens there that a pregnant woman, when her time has come, steps aside a little way from her work, bears her child there, and brings it back so soon that you would say she had not borne it but found it. They have also another remarkable practice: their custom does not refuse to allow women, often as much as twenty years old (and they call them maidens, too), before marriage to mate with any man they please, to wander around by themselves, and to bear children." 10 (Cossinius resumes), "All directions for caring for the health of human beings and cattle, and all sicknesses which can be treated without the aid of a physician, the head-herdsman should keep in writing. For one who does not know his letters is not fit for the place, because he cannot possibly keep his master's cattle accounts correctly. The number of herdsmen is determined differently, some having a smaller, some a larger number. 11 My own practice is to have a herdsman to every eighty wool-bearing sheep, while Atticus has one to every hundred. If flocks of sheep are very large (and some people have as many as 1000) you can decrease the number of shepherds more easily than you can in smaller flocks, such as those of Atticus and mine. My own flocks contain 700, and yours, I think, had 800; but still you had one tenth of them rams, as I do. Two men are needed for a herd of fifty mares, and each of these should certainly have for his use a mare which has been broken to the saddle, in those districts where it is customary for the mares to be rounded up and driven to stalls, as is frequently true in Apulia and Lucania.

§ 2.11.1  "As we have completed what we promised," he said, "let us leave." "Yes," said I, "but not until you have added, as was promised, something about supplementary profit from the flock, including under it the milk and the shearing." (Cossinius continues) "Of all the liquids which we take for sustenance, milk is the most nourishing — first sheep's milk, and next goat's milk. Mare's milk, however, has the greatest purgative effect, secondly ass's milk, then cow's milk, and lastly goat's milk. 2 But there are certain differences among these which arise from a difference of pasturage, a difference in the nature of the animal, and a difference in the milking. As affected by pasturage, milk is best for nourishment which comes from animals fed on barley and straw, and, in general, on solid dry food; while that from animals fed on green food is best for purging, and especially if the green food such as purges us when we eat it ourselves. As affected by the nature of the animal, milk from healthy animals and those not yet old is better than if it is the reverse. As affected by milking and birth, the best milk is that which has not been kept too long after milking and which has not been milked immediately after parturition. 3 Of the cheeses which are made from this milk, those made of cow's milk have the most nutriment, but when eaten are discharged with most difficulty; next come those made of sheep's milk, while those made of goat's milk have the least nutriment and are most easily voided. There is also a difference depending on whether the cheeses are soft and fresh or dry and old, as the soft cheeses are more nutritious and less constipating, while the old, dry cheeses are just the opposite. 4 The period for making cheese extends from the rising of the Pleiades in spring until the Pleiades in summer. In spring the milk for cheese making is drawn in the morning, while at other seasons the milking takes place toward midday; but the practice is not entirely uniform because of differences in locality and food. To two congii of milk is added a bit of rennet the size of an olive, to make it coagulate; this is better when made from a hare or a kid than when made from a lamb. Others use, instead of rennet, the milk from the stem of a fig, and vinegar; they also curdle with various other substances — a thing which, in Greek, is sometimes called ὀπός, and sometimes δάκρυον."

§ 2.11.5  "I should not be surprised," I remarked, "if that is the reason that a fig tree was planted by shepherds near the shrine of the goddess Rumina; you know at that place sacrifice is offered with milk instead of with wine and sucklings. For people used to call the udder rumis, and even to-day we have lambs called subrumi from this word, just as they are called lactantes (sucklings) from lac (milk). Those who sprinkle salt prefer mineral salt to sea salt.

§ 2.11.6  "As to the shearing of sheep, I first am careful to see, before beginning it, whether the sheep have the scab or sores, so that they may be treated if necessary before being sheared. The proper time for shearing is the period from the spring equinox to the solstice, after the sheep have begun to sweat; it is because of this sweat (sudor) that freshly shorn wool is called 'juicy' (sucida). 7 Freshly clipped sheep are rubbed down on the same day with wine and oil, to which some add a mixture of white chalk and hog lard; and if they have been accustomed to wear a jacket, the skin with which they were covered is greased on the inside with the same mixture and placed on them again. If a sheep has been cut during the shearing, the wound is smeared with soft pitch. Sheep with coarse fleece are shorn about the time of the barley harvest, or at other places before the cutting of the hay. 8 Some shear their sheep twice a year, as is done in Hither Spain, shearing every six months. They undergo the double work on the supposition that more wool is secured by this method — which is the same motive that leads some to mow their meadows twice a year. The more careful farmers spread out cloths and shear the sheep over them to prevent loss of the wool. 9 Calm days are chosen for this work, and on these the shearing is done from about the fourth to the ninth hour. The fleece from a sheep that is clipped when the sun is rather warm is rendered softer by the sweat, as well as heavier and of better colour. When the fleece has been removed and rolled up it is called by some vellus, by others vellimnum; and it may be seen from these words that in the case of wool, plucking was discovered earlier than shearing. Some people pluck the wool even to-day; and these keep the sheep without food for three days before, as the roots of the wool hold less tightly when the sheep are weak."

§ 2.11.10  "In fact, it is claimed that barbers first came to Italy from Sicily 453 years after the founding of the city of Rome (as is recorded still on a public monument at Ardea), and that they were introduced by Publius Titinius Mena. That there were no barbers in early days is evident from the statues of the ancients, many of which have long hair and a large beard." 11 Cossinius resumed: "As the sheep affords a profit from its wool to be used for clothing, so the goat from her hair is of service for nautical purposes, as well as for military engines and for workmen's equipment. Some barbarous people, too, use their skins for clothing, as, for instance, in Gaetulia and Sardinia. That this usage obtained among the ancient Greeks also is evident from the fact that the old men who appear in the tragedies get their name of diphtheriae from the goat skin, and in comedies those who are engaged in rustic labour, such as the young man in Caecilius's Hypobolimaeus, and the old man in Terence's Heautontimorumenos. 12 Because they have long hair, goats are clipped over a large part of Phrygia; and it is from this that hair-cloth (cilicia) and other fabrics of the kind are made. But it is said that the Cilicians gave the name to it from the fact that this clipping was first practised in Cilicia."
This was their contribution, and Cossinius found nothing to alter in it. At the same time a freedman of Vitulus, on his way to the city from the park, turned aside to us and said: "I was sent to you, and was on my way to your house to ask you not to make the holiday shorter but to come early." And so Scrofa and I set out to Vitulus's place, and the others, my dear Turranius Niger, some for their homes and some to Menates.

§ 3.1.1  Book III
Though there are traditionally two ways in which men live — one in the country, the other in the city — there is clearly no doubt, Pinnius, that these differ not merely in the matter of place but also in the time at which each had its beginning. Country life is much more ancient — I mean the time when people lived on the land and had no cities. 2 For tradition has it that the oldest of all cities is a Greek one, Thebes in Boeotia, founded by King Ogygus; while the oldest on Roman territory is Rome, founded by King Romulus. For we may now say, with regard to this, with more accuracy than when Ennius wrote:
Seven hundred years are there, a little more or less,
Since glorious Rome was founded, with augury august."

§ 3.1.3  Thebes, however, which is said to have been founded before the deluge which takes its name from Ogygus, is some 2,100 years old. If, now, you compare this span of time with that early day when fields were first tilled, and men lived in huts and dugouts, and did not know what a wall or a gate was, farmers antedate city people by an enormous number of years. 4 And no marvel, since it was divine nature which gave us the country, and man's skill that built the cities; since all arts are said to have been discovered in Greece within a thousand years, while there never was a time when there were not fields on earth that could be tilled. And not only is the tilling of the fields more ancient — it is more noble. It was therefore not without reason that our ancestors tried to entice their citizens back from city to the country; for in time of peace they were fed by the country Romans, and in time of war aided by them. 5 It was also not without reason that they called the same earth "mother" and "Ceres," and thought that those who tilled her lived a pious and useful life, and that they were the only survivors of the stock of King Saturnus. And it is in accordance with this that the sacred rites in honour of Ceres are beyond all others called "Initiations."

§ 3.1.6  The name of Thebes, too, no less clearly shows that the country is more ancient, in that the name given it comes from a type of land, and not from the name of the founder. For the old language, and the Aeolians of Boeotia in Greece as well, use the word teba for hill, leaving out the aspirate; and among the Sabines, a country which was settled by the Pelasgians from Greece, up to this day they use the same word; there is a trace of it in the Sabine country on the Via Salaria, not far from Reate, where a slope of a mile in length is called tebae. 7 At first, because of their poverty, people practised agriculture, as a rule, without distinction, the descendants of the shepherds both planting and grazing on the same land; later, as this flocks grew, they made a division, with the result that some were called farmers, and others herdsmen. 8 This matter of herding has a twofold division (though no writer has made the distinction clearly), as the feeding around the steading is one thing, and that on the land is another. The latter is well known and highly esteemed, being also called pecuaria, and wealthy men frequently have ranches devoted to it, which they have either leased or bought; while the other, that of the steading, as it seems insignificant, has, by some writers, been brought under the head of agriculture, though it is a matter of feeding; and the subject as a whole has not, so far as I know, been treated as a separate topic by anyone. 9 Hence, as I suggested that there are three divisions of rural economy which are instituted for gainful ends — one of agriculture, a second of animal husbandry, and a third of the husbandry of the steading — I fixed on three books, of which I have written two: the first to my wife Fundania, on agriculture, and the second to Turranius Niger, on animal husbandry. The third book, that on the husbandry of the steading, which remains, I am herewith sending to you, thinking that in view of our nearness and our affection it is to you particularly that I should dedicate it. 10 For just as you had a villa noteworthy for its frescoing, inlaid work, and handsome mosaic floors, but thought it was not fine enough until its walls were adorned also by your writings, so I, that it might be farther adorned with fruit, so far as I could make it so, am sending this to you, recalling as I do the conversations which we held on the subject of the complete villa. And in discussing that subject we shall begin as follows.

§ 3.2.1  During the election of aediles, Quintus Axius, the senator, a member of my tribe, and I, after casting our ballots, wished, though the sun was hot, to be on hand to escort the candidate whom we were supporting when he returned home. Axius remarked to me: "While the votes are being sorted, shall we enjoy the shade of the Villa Publica, instead of building us one out of the half-plank of our own candidate?"7 "Well," I replied, "I think that the proverb is correct, 'bad advice is worst for the adviser,' and also that good advice should be considered good both for the adviser and the advised. 2 So we go our way and come to the Villa. There we find Appius Claudius, the augur, sitting on a bench so that he might be on hand for consultation, if need should arise. There were sitting at his left Cornelius Merula ('Blackbird'), member of a consular family, and Fircellius Pavo ('Peacock'), of Reate; and on his right Minucius Pica ('Magpie') and Marcus Petronius Passer ('Sparrow'). When we came up to him, Axius said to Appius, with a smile: "Will you let us come into your aviary, where you are sitting among the birds?" 3 "With pleasure," he replied, "and especially you; I still 'bring up' those hospitable birds which you set before me a few days ago in your villa at Reate, when I was on my way to lake Velinus in the matter of the dispute between the people of Interamna and those of Reate. But," he added, "isn't this villa, which our ancestors built, simpler and better than that elaborate villa of yours at Reate? 4 Do you see anywhere here citrus wood or gold, or vermilion or azure, or any coloured or mosaic work? At your place everything is just the opposite. Also, while this villa is common property of the whole population, that one belongs to you alone; this one is for citizens and other people to come to from the Campus, and that one is for mares and asses; and furthermore, this one is serviceable for the transaction of public business — for the cohorts to assemble when summoned by the consul for a levy, for the inspection of arms, for the censors to convoke the people for the census."

§ 3.2.5  "Do you really mean, replied Axius, "that this villa of yours on the edge of the Campus Martius is merely serviceable, and isn't more lavish in luxuries than all the villas owned by everybody in the whole of Reate? Why, your villa is plastered with paintings, not to speak of statues; while mine, though there is no trace of Lysippus or Antiphilus, has many a trace of the hoer and the shepherd. Further, while that villa is not without its large farm, and one which has been kept clean by tillage, this one of yours has never a field or ox or mare. 6 In short, what has your villa that is like that villa which your grandfather and great-grandfather had? For it has never, as that one did, seen a cured hay harvest in the loft, or a vintage in the cellar, or a grain-harvest in the bins. For the fact that a building is outside the city no more makes it a villa than the same fact makes villas of the houses of those who live outside the Porta Flumentana or in the Aemiliana."16

§ 3.2.7  To which Appius replied, with a smile: "As I don't know what a villa is, I should like you to enlighten me, so that I shall not go wrong from lack of foresight; since I want to buy a villa from Marcus Seius near Ostia. For if buildings are not villas unless they contain the ass which you showed me at your place, for which you paid 40,000 sesterces, I'm afraid I shall be buying a 'Seian' house instead of a seaside villa. 8 My friend here, Lucius Merula, made me eager to own this house when he told me, after spending several days with Seius, that he had never been entertained in a villa which he liked more; and this in spite of the fact that he saw there no picture or statue of bronze or marble, nor, on the other hand, apparatus for pressing wine, jars for olive oil, or mills." 9 Axius turned to Merula and asked: "How can that be a villa, if it has neither the furnishings of the city nor the appurtenances of the country?" "Why," he replied, "you don't think that place of yours on the bend of the Velinus, which never a painter or fresco-worker has seen, is less a villa than the one in the Rosea which is adorned with all the art of the stucco-worker, and of which you and your ass are joint owners?" 10 When Axius had indicated by a nod that a building which was for farm use only was as much a villa as one that served both purposes, that of farm-house and city residence, and asked what inference he drew from that admission. "Why," he replied, "if your place in the Rosea is to be commended for its pasturage, and is rightly called a villa because cattle are fed and stabled there, for a like reason that also should have the name in which a large revenue is derived from pasturing. 11 For if you get a revenue from flocks, what does it matter whether they are flocks of sheep or of birds? Why, is the revenue sweeter on your place from oxen which give birth to bees than it is from the bees which are busy at their task in the hives of Seius's villa? And do you get more from the butcher for boars born on your place there than Seius does from the market-man for the wild boars from his place?" 12 "Well," replied Axius, "what is there to prevent me from keeping these at my villa at Reate? You don't think that honey is Sicilian if it is produced on Seius's place, and Corsican if it is produced at Reate? And that if mast which has to be bought feeds a boar on his place it makes him fat, while that which is had for nothing on my place makes him thin?" Whereupon Appius remarked: "Merula did not say that you could not have husbandry like Seius's on your place; but I have, with my own eyes, seen that you have not. 13 For there are two kinds of pasturing: one in the fields, which includes cattle-raising, and the other around the farmstead, which includes chickens, pigeons, bees, and the like, which usually feed in the steading; the Carthaginian Mago, Cassius Dionysius, and other writers have left in their books remarks on them, but scattered and unsystematic. These Seius seems to have read, and as a result he gets more revenue from such pasturing out of one villa than others receive from a whole farm." 14 "You are quite right," said Merula; "I have seen there large flocks of geese, chickens, pigeons, cranes, and peafowl, not to speak of numbers of dormice, fish, boars, and other game. His book-keeper, a freedman who waited on Varro and used to entertain me when his patron was away from home, told me that he received, because of such husbandry, more than 50,000 sesterces from the villa every year." When Axius expressed his surprise, I remarked to him: "Doubtless you know my maternal aunt's place in the Sabine country, at the twenty-fourth milestone from Rome on the Via Salaria?" 15 "Of course," he replied; "it is my custom to break the journey there at noon in summer, when I am on my way to Reate from the city, and to camp there at night in winter when I am on my way from there to town." "Well, from the aviary alone which is in that villa, I happen to know that there were sold 5,000 fieldfares, for three denarii apiece, so that that department of the villa in that year brought in sixty thousand sesterces — twice as much as your farm of 200 iugera at Reate brings in." "What? Sixty?" exclaimed Axius, "Sixty? Sixty? You are joking!" 16 "Sixty," I repeated. "But to reach such a haul as that you will need a public banquet or somebody's triumph, such as that of Metellus Scipio at that time, or the club dinners which are now so countless that they make the price of provisions go soaring. If you can't look for this sum in all other years, your aviary, I hope, will not go bankrupt on you; and if fashions continue as they now are, it will happen only rarely that you miss your reckoning. For how rarely is there a year in which you do not see a banquet or a triumph, or when the clubs do not feast?" "Why," said he, "in this time of luxury it may fairly be said that there is a banquet every day within the gates of Rome. 17 Was it not Lucius Abuccius, who is, as you know, an unusually learned man (his writings are quite in the manner of Lucilius), who used to remark likewise that his estate near Alba was always beaten in feeding by his steading? for his land brought in less than 10,000, and his steading more than 20,000 sesterces. He also claimed that if he had got a villa near the sea, where he wanted one, he would take in more than 100,000 from the villa. Come, did not Marcus Cato, when he took over the guardianship of Lucullus recently, sell the fish from his ponds for 40,000 sesterces?" 18 "My dear Merula," said Axius, "take me, I beg, as your pupil in this villa-feeding." "Certainly," he replied; "I will begin as soon as you promise the minerval."25 "That is satisfactory to me; you may have it to-day, or I'll pay it time and again from that feeding." "Humph," replied Appius, "the first time some geese or peacocks out of your flock die!" "Well," retorted Axius, "what does it matter if you eat fowls or fish that have died, seeing that you never eat them unless they are dead? But, I pray you," said he, "lead me into the way of the science of villa-husbandry, and set forth its scope and method."

§ 3.3.1  Merula began without hesitation: "In the first place, the owner ought to have so clear an idea of those creatures which can be reared or fed in the villa and around it that they may afford him both profit and pleasure. There are three divisions of this science: the aviary, the hare-warren, and the fish-pond. Under the head of aviary I include enclosures for all fowls which are usually reared within the walls of the villa. 2 Under the head of hare-warrens I wish you to understand, not those which our forefathers called by that name — places where there are only hares — but all enclosures which are attached to the villa and keep animals enclosed for feeding. Similarly, by the term fish-pond I mean ponds which keep fish enclosed near the villa, either in fresh or salt water. 3 Each of these divisions may be subdivided into at least two: thus, under the first head, those which are not content with the land only, but need water also, as geese, teal, and ducks. In the same way the second head — that of game — contains its two diverse classes, one under which come the boar, the roe, and the hare, and the second, those which are also outside the villa, such as bees, snails, and dormice. 4 There are likewise two divisions of the third class, the aquatic, inasmuch as fish are kept sometimes in fresh water, sometimes in sea-water. For the three classes formed of these six subdivisions must be secured three classes of craftsmen — fowlers, hunters, fishers — or else you must purchase from these those creatures which you are to preserve by the activity of your own servants during the period of gestation and up to the time of birth, and when they are born to rear and fatten so that they may reach the market. And there are, moreover, certain other creatures which are to be brought into the villa without the use of net by fowler or hunter or fisher, such as dormice, snails, and chickens.

§ 3.3.5  The rearing of the last named, chickens, was the first to be attempted within the villa; for not only did Roman soothsayers raise chickens first for their auspices, but also the heads of families in the country. Next came the animals which are kept in an enclosure near the villa for hunting, and hard by it the bee-hives; for from the first bees took advantage of the roof of the villa under the eaves. Thirdly there began to be built fresh-water ponds, to which were carried fish which had been caught from the streams. 6 Each of these three classes has two stages: the earlier, which the frugality of the ancients observed, and the later, which modern luxury has now added. For instance, first came the ancient stage of our ancestors, in which there were simply two aviaries: the barn-yard on the ground in which the hens fed — and their returns were eggs and chickens — and the other above ground, in which were the pigeons, either in cotes or on the roof of the villa. 7 On the other hand, in these days, the aviaries have changed their name and have become ornithones; and those which the dainty palate of the owner has constructed have larger buildings for the sheltering of fieldfares and peafowl than whole villas used to have in those days. 8 So too in the second division, the warren, your father, Axius, never saw any better game from his hunting than a paltry hare. For in his day there was no great preserve, whereas nowadays people enclose many acres within walls, so as to keep numbers of wild boars and roes. When you bought your place near Tusculum from Marcus Piso," he added, turning to me, "were there not many wild boars in the 'hare-warren?' 9 In the third division, who had a fish-pond, except a fresh-water pond, or kept any fish in it except squali or mugiles? On the other hand what young fop in these days will not tell you that he would as soon have his pond full of frogs as of such fish as these? You remember that Philippus once, when he had turned aside to visit his friend Ummidius at Casinum, was served with a fine pike from your river; he tasted it, spat it out, and exclaimed: 'I'll be hanged if I didn't think it was fish!' 10 So our generation, with the same extravagance with which it extended the boundaries of its warrens, has thrust its fish-ponds to the sea, and has brought into them whole schools of deep-sea fish. Was it not from these that Sergius Orata ('Goldfish') and Licinius Murena ('Lamprey') got their names? And, indeed, who does not know, on account of their fame, the fish-ponds of Philippus, Hortensius, and the Luculli? So, then, where do you wish me to begin, Axius?"

§ 3.4.1  "Personally," he replied, "if I may use a military figure, I should like you to begin post principia, that is, with the present rather than the former times, as larger returns are had from peafowl than from chickens. And what is more, I will make no secret of the fact that I want to hear first about the ornithon, because those fieldfares have made the word mean 'gain'; for those sixty thousand sesterces of Fircellia have set me on fire with greed."

§ 3.4.2  "There are," resumed Merula, "two kinds of ornithon; one merely for pleasure, such as our friend Varro has built near Casinum, which has found many admirers, and the other for profit. Of the latter class are the enclosures which those who supply fowl for the market keep, some in the city, others in the country; especially the leased enclosures in the Sabine district, as, because of the nature of the country, large flocks of fieldfares are found there. 3 Lucullus claimed that the aviary which he built on his place near Tusculum, formed by a combination of these two, constituted a third class. Under the same roof he had an aviary and a dining-room, where he could dine luxuriously, and see some birds lying cooked on the dish and others fluttering around the windows of their prison. But they found it unserviceable; for in it the birds fluttering around the windows do not give pleasure to the eyes to the same extent that the disagreeable odour which fills the nostrils gives offence.

§ 3.5.1  "I shall, however, as I suppose you prefer, Axius, discuss the aviary which is built for profit — the place from which fat fieldfares are taken, and not the place where they are taken. Well, there is built a large domed building, or a peristyle covered with tiles or netting, in which several thousand fieldfares and blackbirds can be enclosed; 2 though some breeders add besides other birds which, when fattened, bring a high price, such as ortolans and quails. Into this building water should be conducted through a pipe and allowed to spread preferably through narrow channels which can easily be cleaned (for if the water spreads there in pools, it more easily becomes foul and is not good for drinking), and the superfluous drip-water from these should run out through a pipe, so that the birds may not be troubled by mud. 3 It should have a low, narrow door, and preferably of the kind which they call coclia, such as usually are seen in the pit where bullfights are held. The windows should be few, and so arranged that trees and birds outside cannot be seen; for the sight of these, and the longing for them, makes the imprisoned birds grow thin. It should have only enough openings for light to enable the birds to see where to perch, and where the food and water is. It should be faced around the doors and windows with smooth plaster, so that no mice or other vermin can enter anywhere. 4 Around the walls of this building on the inside there should be a number of poles for the birds to perch on; and, in addition, rods sloping from ground to wall, with transverse rods fastened to them in steps at moderate intervals, after the fashion of the balustrades of the theatre or the arena. At the bottom, on the ground, there should be water for them to drink, and here should be placed cakes for their food. These are usually made by kneading a mixture of figs and spelt. Twenty days before the breeder desires to remove fieldfares, he feeds them more liberally, giving larger quantities and beginning to feed them on spelt ground finer. In this building there should be recesses, equipped with several shelves, as a supplement to the perches;

§ 3.5.5  it is here, facing the perches, that the caretaker usually keeps on hand the birds which have died in the place, so as to render account to his master. When it become necessary to remove from this aviary birds which are fit for market, they should be taken out and put into a smaller aviary, called the seclusorium (coop), which is connected by a door with the larger aviary and better lighted. When he has the number which he desires to take shut up here, he kills them all. 6 The reason for doing this privately in a separate room is to prevent the others, if they should see it, from moping and dying at a time which would be inopportune for the seller. Fieldfares do not rear their young here and there as do the other migratory birds, storks in the field, swallows under the roof [and though their name (turdi) is masculine, there are in fact females too; nor is the case otherwise as regards blackbirds (merulae) — though they have a feminine name, there are also males].39 7 Again, birds being partly migratory, as swallows and cranes, and partly indigenous, as hens and doves, fieldfares belong to the former class, the migratory, and fly yearly across the sea into Italy about the time of the autumnal equinox, and back again whence they came about the spring equinox, as do turtle-doves and quail at another season in vast numbers. The proof of this is seen in the near-by islands of Pontiae, Palmaria, and Pandateria; for when they arrive in these at the first migration, they remain there for a few days to rest, and do the same when they leave Italy for their return across the sea.

§ 3.5.8  "If you put 5,000 birds into this aviary," said Appius to Axius, "and there comes a banquet and a triumph, you may at once put at high interest that 60,000 sesterces which you want." Then, turning to me, he said: "Do you now describe that other kind of aviary which I am told you built for your amusement near Casinum, in the construction of which you are reputed to have far surpassed not only the archetype left by its inventor, our friend Marcus Laenius Strabo, our host at Brundisium, who was the first to keep birds penned up in a recess in his peristyle, feeding them through a net covering, but also Lucullus' huge buildings on his place at Tusculum." 9 I replied: "I own, near the town of Casinum, a stream which runs through my villa, clear and deep, with a stone facing, 57 feet wide, and requiring bridges for passage from one side of the villa to the other; it is 950 feet in a straight line from the island in the lowest part of the stream, where another stream runs into it, to the upper part of the stream, where the Museum is situated. 10 Along the banks of this stream there runs an uncovered walk 10 feet broad; off this walk and facing the open country is the place in which the aviary stands, shut in on two sides, right and left, by high walls. Between these lies the site of the aviary, shaped in the form of a writing-tablet with a top-piece, the quadrangular part being 48 feet in width and 72 feet in length, while at the rounded top-piece it is 27 feet. 11 Facing this, as it were a space marked off on the lower margin of the tablet, is an uncovered walk with a plumula extending from the aviary, in the middle of which are cages; and here is the entrance to the courtyard. At the entrance, on the right side and the left, are colonnades, arranged with stone columns in the outside rows and, instead of columns in the middle, with dwarf trees; while from the top of the wall to the archway the colonnade is covered with a net of hemp, which also continues from the archway to the base. These colonnades are filled with all manner of birds, to which food is supplied through the netting, while water flows to them in a tiny rivulet. 12 Along the inner side of the base of the columns, on the right side and on the left, and extending from the middle to the upper end of the open quadrangle, are two oblong fish-basins, not very wide, facing the colonnades. Between these basins is merely a path giving access to the tholos, which is a round domed building outside the quadrangle, faced with columns, such as is seen in the hall of Catulus, if you put columns instead of walls. Outside these columns is a wood planted by hand with large trees, so that the light enters only at the lower part, and the whole is enclosed with high walls. 13 Between the outer columns of the rotunda, which are of stone, and the equal number of slender inner columns, which are of fir, is a space five feet wide. Between the exterior columns, instead of a wall there is a netting of gut, so that there is a view into the wood and the objects in it, while not a bird can get out into it. In the spaces between the interior columns the aviary is enclosed with a net instead of a wall. Between these and the exterior columns there is built up step by step a sort of little bird-theatre, with brackets fastened at frequent intervals to all the columns as bird-seats. 14 Within the nettings are all manner of birds, chiefly songsters, such as nightingales and blackbirds, to which water is supplied by means of a small trench, while food is passed to them under the netting. Below the base of the columns is stone-work rising a foot and nine inches above the platform; the platform itself rises about two feet above a pond, and is about five feet wide, so that the guests can walk in among the benches and the small columns. At the foot of the platform inside, is the pond, with a border a foot wide, and a little island in the middle. Along the platform also docks have been hollowed out as shelters for ducks. 15 On the island is a small column, and on the inside of it is a post, which holds up, instead of a table, a wheel with spokes, in such fashion that on the outer rim, where the felloe usually stands, there is a curved board with raised edges like a tambourine, two and a half feet in width and a palm in height. This is revolved by a single manservant in such a way that everything to drink and eat is placed on it at once and moved around to all the guests. 16 From the side of the platform, on which there are usually coverlets, the ducks come out into the pond and swim about; from this pond a stream runs into the two fish-basins which I have described, and the minnows dart back and forth, while it is so arranged that cold and warm water flows for each guest from the wooden wheel and the table which, as I have said is at the ends of the spokes, by the turning of cocks. 17 Inside, under the dome of the rotunda, the morning-star by day and the evening-star at night circle around near the lower part of the hemisphere, and move in such a manner as to show what the hour is. In the middle of the same hemisphere, running around the axis, is a compass of the eight winds, as in the horologium at Athens, which was built by the Cyrrestrian; and there a pointer, projecting from the axis, runs about the compass in such a way that it touches the wind which is blowing, so that you can tell on the inside which it is."

§ 3.5.18  While we were thus conversing, a shouting arose in the Campus. We old hands at politics were not surprised at this occurrence, as we knew how excited an election crowd could become, but still we wanted to know what it meant; thereupon Pantuleius Parra comes to us, and tells us that a man had been caught, while they were sorting the ballots in the office, in the act of casting ballots into the ballot-box; and that he had been dragged off to the consul by the supporters of the other candidates. Pavo arose, as it was the watcher for his candidate who was reported to have been arrested.

§ 3.6.1  "You may speak freely about peafowl," said Axius, "since Fircellius has gone; if you should say anything out of the way about them, he would perhaps have a bone to pick with you for the credit of the family." To whom Merula said: "As to pea-fowl, it is within our memory that flocks of them began to be kept and sold at a high price. From them Marcus Aufidius Lurco is said to receive an income of more than 60,000 sesterces a year. There should be somewhat fewer males than females if you have an eye to the financial returns; but the opposite if you look at the pleasure, for the male is handsomer. 2 They should be pastured in flocks in the fields. Across the water they are said to be reared in the islands — on Samos, in the grove of Juno, and likewise in Marcus Piso's island of Planasia. For the forming of a flock they are to be secured when they are young and of good appearance; for nature has awarded the palm of beauty to this fowl over all winged things. The hens are not suited for breeding under two years, and are no longer suited when they get rather old. 3 They eat any kind of grain placed before them, and especially barley; so Seius issues a modius of barley a month per head, with the exception that he feeds more freely during the breeding season, before they begin to tread. He requires of his breeder three chicks for each hen, and these, when they are grown, he sells for fifty denarii each, so that no other fowl brings in so high a revenue. 4 He buys eggs, too, and places them under hens, and the chicks which are hatched from these he places in that domed building in which he keeps his peafowl. This building should be made of a size proportioned to the number of peafowl, and should have separate sleeping quarters, coated with smooth plaster, so that no serpent or animal can get in;

§ 3.6.5  it should also have an open place in front of it, to which they may go out to feed on sunny days. These birds require that both places be clean; and so their keeper should go around with a shovel and pick up the droppings and keep them, as they are useful for fertilizer and as litter for chicks. 6 It is said that Quintus Hortensius was the first to serve these fowl; it was on the occasion of his inauguration as aedile, and the innovation was praised at that time rather by the luxurious than by those who were strict and virtuous. As his example was quickly followed by many, the price has risen to such a point that the eggs sell for five denarii each, the birds themselves sell readily for 50 each, and a flock of 100 easily brings 40,000 sesterces — in fact, Abuccius used to say that if one required three chicks to every hen, the total might amount to 60,000.

§ 3.7.1  Meanwhile Appius's bailiff comes with a message from the consul that the augurs are summoned, and he leaves the villa. But pigeons fly into the villa, and Merula, pointing to them, remarks to Axius: "If you had ever built a dove-cote you might think these were your doves, wild though they are. For in a dove-cote there are usually two species of these: one the wild, or as some call them, the rock-pigeon, which lives in turrets and gable-ends (columina) of the farmhouse — whence the name columbae — and these, because of their natural shyness, hunt for the highest peak of the roof; hence the wild pigeons chiefly hunt for the turrets, flying into them, from the fields and back again, as the fancy takes them. 2 The other species of pigeon is gentler, and being content with the food from the house usually feeds around the doorstep. This species is generally white, while the other, the wild, has no white, but is variously coloured. From these two stocks is bred for profit a third hybrid species; these are put in a place called by some peristeron and by others peristerotrophion, and often a single one of these will contain as many as 5,000. 3 The peristeron is built in the form of a large building, with a vaulted roof; it has one narrow door and windows of the Punic style, or wider ones with double lattice-work, so that the whole interior is light, but so that no snake or other noxious creature can get in. The whole of the walls and chambers in the interior is covered with the smoothest possible plaster made of marble dust, and the exterior is also plastered around the windows, so that no mouse or lizard can crawl into the pigeon nest; for nothing is more timid than a pigeon. 4 Round nests are constructed for each pair, side by side in a row, and as many rows as possible are run from the floor up to the vaulted roof. Each nest should be so constructed as to have an opening large enough to allow only entrance and exit, and on the interior should be three palms in all directions. Under each row there should be fixed a board two palms wide, to serve as an entrance and walk-way.

§ 3.7.5  Provision should be made for water to flow in, so that they may have a place to drink and bathe, for these birds are extremely cleanly. So the pigeon-keeper should sweep them out frequently every month; for the droppings which make the place filthy are so well suited for fertilizing that several writers have stated that it is the best kind. He should see to it that any pigeon which has been hurt be treated, and that any dead one be removed, and should remove the squabs which are fit for market. 6 He should also have a place shut off by a net from the rest, to which the brooding birds may be transferred, and from which the mother-birds may be able to fly away from the pigeon-house. This they do for two reasons: first, if they lose their appetite or grow sickly from confinement, as they are refreshed by the open air when they fly over the fields, or secondly for a decoy; for they will themselves return in any case, because of the young they have, unless they are killed by a crow or cut off by a hawk. 7 These birds the pigeon-keepers make a practice of killing by planting two limed twigs in the ground, leaning toward each other, after placing between them, with its legs tied, some animal which hawks are in the habit of chasing; and they are caught in this way, when they have smeared themselves with the lime. You may see that doves do return to a place, from the fact that many people let them loose from their bosoms in the theatre and they return to their homes; and if they did not come back they would not be turned loose. 8 Food is furnished them in troughs running around the walls, which are filled from the outside through pipes. Their favourite foods are millet, wheat, barley, peas, kidney-beans, and vetch. Those who have wild pigeons in turrets and in the tops of their villas should imitate these methods so far as they can. Those which are placed in the pigeon-house should be of a proper age, neither squabs nor old birds; and there should be an equal number of cocks and hens. 9 Nothing is more prolific than the pigeon; thus, within a period of forty days it conceives, lays, hatches, and brings off its young. And they continue this, too, through practically the entire year, leaving an interval only between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Two chicks are born each time, and as soon as they have grown and have their strength they breed along with their mothers. Those who practise the fattening of squabs to increase their selling price, shut them up as soon as they are covered with down; then they stuff them with white bread which has been chewed, twice a day in winter and three times in summer — morning, noon, and evening; in winter they omit the noon feeding. 10 When they begin to have feathers they are left in the nest, with their legs broken, and are left to their mothers so that they can eat the food more freely; for they feed themselves and their young on it all day long. Birds which are reared in this way fatten more quickly than others, and their parents become white. At Rome, if the birds are handsome, of good colour, sound, and of good breed, single pairs sell usually for 200 sesterces; but unusually fine ones sometimes for 1,000 sesterces. When a trader wanted recently to buy such birds at this price from Lucius Axius, a Roman knight, he said he would not sell for less than 400 denarii." 11 Axius remarked: "If I could buy a ready-made pigeon-house, as I bought an earthenware dove-cote when I wanted one in my town house, I should already have gone to buy it and have sent it to the farm-house." "Just as if," replied Pica, "there weren't many of them in the city, also. Or doesn't it seem to you that people who have dove-cotes on their roof-tiles possess pigeon-houses, inasmuch as some of them have equipment worth more than 100,000 sesterces? I suggest that you buy the complete outfit from one of these, and before you build in the country learn here in the city to put in your purse every day the big profit of a penny or two. But go ahead with your subject, Merula."

§ 3.8.1  "For turtle-doves, also," he resumed, "a place should be built of a size proportioned to the number you wish to raise; and this, too, as was remarked of pigeons, so that it has a door and windows, clear water, walls and cupola covered with plaster. 2 But instead of nests set in the walls it should have brackets or poles in a row, and over these there should be placed small mats of hemp. The bottom row should be not less than three feet from the ground, between the other rows there should be a space of nine inches, with a half-foot interval between the top and the cupola; and the row should be as wide as the bracket can stand out from the wall, as they feed on the brackets day and night. 3 As to food, dry wheat is given them, about a half-modius for 120 turtle-doves, and their quarters are swept out every day so that they may not suffer harm from the dung — and this is also kept for fertilizing the ground. The most suitable time for fattening is about harvest, for at that time their mothers are at their best, when most chicks are being born, these latter being better for fattening; and hence the income from them is greatest at this time."

§ 3.9.1  "I wish, Merula," said Axius, "you would tell us of the division of fattening in which I am interested — that of chickens; then if there is anything in the other topics that is worth taking into account we may do so." "Well, under the term poultry are included three kinds of fowl: the barn-yard, the wild, and the African. 2 Barn-yard fowls are the species which are kept continuously in farmsteads. One who wants to set up a poultry-farm of these — that is, wants to gain a large profit by the exercise of knowledge and care, as the Delians generally have done — should observe especially the following five points: purchase, including the breed and number to secure; breeding, including the manner of mating and laying; eggs, including the manner of sitting and hatching; chicks, including the manner of rearing and the birds by which they are reared; and to these is added, as an appendix, the fifth topic — the method of fattening. 3 Of the three species, the proper name for the female of the barn-yard fowl is hen, for the male is cock, while that of the half-males, which have been castrated, is capon. Cocks are castrated, to make them capons, by burning with a red-hot iron at the lowest part of the leg until it bursts; and the sore which results is smeared with potter's clay. 4 One who intends to have a complete poultry-farm should, of course, procure all three species, but chiefly the barn-yard fowls. In buying these he should choose hens which are prolific, usually of a reddish plumage, with black wing feathers, toes of uneven length, large heads, upright crest, full-bodied, as these are better fitted for laying.

§ 3.9.5  Cocks should be amorous; and this is judged from their being muscular, with comb reddish, beak short, wide, and sharp, eyes yellowish or black, wattles red with a trace of white, neck particoloured or golden, thighs feathered, lower leg short, claws long, tail large, feathers thick; also by their stretching and crowing often, being stubborn in a fight — those which not only do not fear animals which attack the hens but even fight for the hens. 6 In choosing a strain, however, it is not well to go after the Tanagrian, Median, or Chalcidian; these are undoubtedly handsome birds and very well fitted for fighting one another, but they are rather poor for laying. If you wish to raise 200 you should assign them an enclosed place, and on it construct two large connecting hen-houses, facing eastward, each about ten feet in length, one-half smaller in width, and a little less in height. In each of these there should be a window three feet wide and one foot higher; these should be made of withes so spaced as to allow plenty of light to enter, and yet to keep from passing through them any of the things which usually injure fowls. 7 Between the two houses there should be a door through which their keeper, the gallinarius, can enter. In the houses should be run a number of perches sufficient to hold all the hens. Facing the several perches separate nests should be built for them in the wall. In front of it, as I said, should be an enclosed yard, in which they may run during the daytime and dust themselves. In addition there should be a large room for the caretaker to live in, so built that the surrounding walls may be entirely filled with hens' nests, either built in the wall or firmly attached; for movement is harmful to a sitting hen. 8 In their nests at laying-time chaff should be spread under them; and when they have laid their eggs, the bedding should be removed and other fresh bedding spread, as in old bedding lice and other vermin generally breed, and these keep the hen from resting quietly, the result being that the eggs either develop unevenly or become stale. If you wish the hen to cover the eggs, it is claimed that a sitting should number not more than 25, even if the hen has been so prolific as to lay more, 9 and that the laying is best from the vernal to the autumnal equinox. So eggs which are laid before or after that period, and even the first laid within the period, should not be set; and the eggs which you set should be put under old hens (and such hens should not have sharp beaks or claws) rather than under pullets, as the latter ought to be busy at laying rather than at sitting. They are best fitted for laying when one or two years old. 10 If you are putting peafowl eggs under a hen, you should put the hen's eggs under her only at the beginning of the tenth day of sitting, so that she will hatch them together; for chicks require twice ten days, and peafowl chicks thrice nine. The hens should be shut up so that they may sit day and night, except at the times morning and evening, when food and drink are being given them. 11 The caretaker should go around at intervals of several days and turn the eggs so that they will warm evenly. It is said that you can tell whether eggs are full and fertile or not if you drop them into water, as the empty egg floats, while the full one sinks. Those who shake an egg to find this out make a mistake, as they break up the vital veins in them. The same authorities state that when you hold it up to the light, the one that the light shines through is infertile. 12 Those who wish to keep eggs a considerable time rub them down thoroughly with fine salt or brine for three or four hours, and when this is washed off pack them in bran or chaff. In setting eggs, care is taken that the number be uneven. The caretaker can find out four days after the sitting begins whether the incubating eggs contain the embryo of a chick. If he holds one against a light and observes it to be uniformly clear, the belief is that it should be thrown out and another substituted. 13 The chicks, when hatched, should be taken from the several nests and placed under a hen which has few chicks; and if a few eggs are left they should be taken away from this hen and put under others which have not yet hatched and those which have fewer than 30 chicks; for the batch must not exceed this number. During the first fifteen days there should be fed to the chicks in the morning, on a bed of dust, so that the hard earth may not injure their beaks, a mixture of barley-meal and cress-seed which has been worked up some time before with water, so that when it is eaten it may not swell up in their crops; and they must be kept away from water. 14 When they begin to grow feathers from the rump, the lice must be picked from their heads and necks often, for they frequently waste away because of these. Around their houses stag horns should be burned, to keep snakes from coming in; for the smell of these animals is usually fatal to them. They should be driven out into the sunshine and on to the dung-hill so they can flutter about, as in that way they grow healthier — 15 not only the chicks but the whole poultry yard, both in summer and whenever the air is mild and it is sunny, with a net spread above them to keep them from flying outside the enclosure, and to keep hawks and the like from flying into it from outside; avoiding heat and cold, each of which is harmful to them. As soon as they have their wing-feathers they should be trained to follow one or two hens, so that the others may be free for laying rather than busied with the rearing of young. 16 They should begin to sit after the new moon, for the sittings which begin before that time usually do not turn out well. They are hatched in about twenty days. As really too much has been said about these barnyard fowls, I shall make up for it by brevity in speaking of the rest.
"Wild hens are found rarely in town and are hardly seen in Rome, except the tamed ones in cages. In appearance they not like these barn-yard fowls of ours, but rather like the African fowl. 17 Birds whose appearance and shape show that they are of unmixed breed are usually displayed in public ceremonies, along with parrots, white blackbirds, and other unusual things of that sort. Usually they do not produce eggs and chicks in farmsteads, but in the forests. It is from these fowls that the island Gallinaria, in the Tuscan Sea off the coast of Italy opposite the Ligurian mountains, Intimilium, and Album Ingaunum, is said to have got its name; others hold that they are the descendants of those barnyard fowls which were carried there by sailors and became wild. 18 The African hens are large, speckled, with rounded back, and the Greeks call them 'meleagrides.'73 These are the latest fowls to come from the kitchen to the dining-room because of the pampered tastes of people. 19 On account of their scarcity they fetch a high price. Of the three species, it is chiefly the barnyard fowls which are fattened. These are shut into a warm, narrow, darkened place, because movement on their part and light free them from the slavery of fat. For this purpose the largest hens are chosen, but not necessarily those which are mistakenly called "Melic"; for the ancients said "Melic" for "Medic," just as they said "Thelis" for "Thetis." Those were called so originally which, because of their size, were imported from Media, and the descendants of these; but later on all large hens got the name on account of their likeness. 20 On these hens the feathers are pulled from wings and tail, and they are fattened on pellets of barley-meal, sometimes mixed with darnel flour, or with flax seed soaked in fresh water. They are fed twice a day, and are watched to see, from certain symptoms, that the last food taken has been digested before more is given. When they have eaten, and their heads have been cleaned to prevent their having lice, they are again shut up. This is continued as long as twenty-five days, and at this time they finally become fat. 21 Some breeders fatten them also on wheat bread softened in water mixed with a sound, fragrant wine, which results in making them fat and tender within twenty days. If, in the course of the fattening, they lose their appetites from too much food, the amount fed should be lessened, diminishing in the last ten days in the same proportion as it increased in the first ten, so that the twentieth day will be equal to the first. The same method is followed in fattening wood-pigeons and making them plump."

§ 3.10.1  "Pass on now," said Axius, "to that kind of fowl which is not content with any farmstead and land, but wants ponds — the kind you Greek-lovers call amphibious. The place where geese are reared you call by the foreign name of chenoboscion. Scipio Metellus and Marcus Seius have several large flocks of geese." "Seius," continued Merula, "in making provision for his flocks of geese, observed the five steps which I have described in the case of chickens, and which had to do with strain, mating, eggs, chicks, and fattening. 2 His first injunction to his servant was to see in choosing them that they were full-bodied and white, as usually they have goslings like themselves. For there is another species, mottled, which is called 'wild,' and these do not like to flock with the others, and are not tamed so easily. 3 The most suitable time for mating, in the case of geese, is after the winter solstice, for laying and sitting from the first of February or March up to the summer solstice. As they usually mate in the water, they are driven into a stream or a pond. Individuals do not lay more than three times in a year, and when they do, square coops should be built for each, about two and a half feet on each side, and these should be carpeted with straw. Their eggs should be distinguished by some mark, as they do not hatch the eggs of another. Usually nine eggs or eleven form a sitting; if fewer are set, five, if more, fifteen. In cold weather they sit thirty days, in warmer weather twenty-five. 4 When they hatch they are allowed to stay with the mother for the first five days; then they are driven out daily, when the weather is good, into meadows, and also into ponds or swamps. Coops are made for them above ground or under it, and not more than twenty goslings are placed in each; and care is taken that these quarters do not have moisture in the ground, and that they do have a soft cushion of straw or some other material, and that weasels cannot get in, or any other harmful beasts.

§ 3.10.5  Geese feed in damp places; so a food is sowed which will bring in a profit, and also there is sowed for them an herb which is called seris, because this, even when it is dry, if touched by water becomes green. The leaves of this are plucked and fed to them, for if they are driven into the place where it is growing they either ruin it by their trampling or die from over-eating; for they are naturally ravenous. For this reason you must restrain them, for, as often happens in their feeding because of their greed, if they catch hold of a root which they want to pull out of the ground, they break their necks; for the neck is exceedingly weak, just as the head is soft. If there is none of this herb, they should be fed on barley or other grain. When the season for mixed forage comes, this should be fed as I said in regard to seris. 6 While the geese are sitting they should be fed on barley soaked in water. The goslings are fed first on barley-meal or barley for two days, and for the next three on green cress cut fine, soaked in water and turned into a vessel. But after they are shut into the coops or the underground nests, twenty to the nest, as I have said, they are fed on ground barley or mixed forage or tender grass cut fine. 7 For fattening, goslings are chosen which are about one and one-half months old; these are enclosed in the fattening pen, and there they are fed on a food consisting of barley-meal and flour dampened with water, being surfeited three times a day. After eating, they are allowed the opportunity of drinking as much as they want. When they are treated in this way they become fat in about two months. After every feeding the place is cleaned out; for they like a clean place, and yet never leave any place clean where they have been.

§ 3.11.1  "One who wishes to keep flocks of ducks and build a duck-farm should choose, first, if he has the opportunity, a place which is swampy, for they like this best of all; if this is not available, a place preferably where there is a natural pond or pool or an artificial pond, to which they can go down by steps. 2 There should be an enclosure in which they can move about, some fifteen feet high, as you saw at Seius's place, closed by one entrance. Around the entire wall on the inside should run a wide ledge, along which, next to the wall, are the covered resting places, and in front of them their vestibule levelled with plastered brickwork. In this is a continuous trough, in which food is placed for them and water is admitted; for in this way they take their food. 3 All the walls are smoothed with plaster, so that no weasel or other beast can get in to harm them; and the entire enclosure is covered with a wide-meshed net, so that an eagle cannot fly in or the ducks fly out. For food they are often given wheat, barley, grape-skins, and sometimes water-crabs and certain aquatic food of that sort. Any ponds in the enclosure should have a large inflow of water, so that it may always be fresh.

§ 3.11.4  "There are also other species not unlike them, such as the teal, coot, and partridge, which, as Archelaus writes, conceive when they hear the voice of the male. These are not stuffed as are those above mentioned, either to increase their fecundity or to improve their flavour, but they become fat by merely feeding them as described. I have finished telling what seems to belong to the first act of the husbandry of the steading."82

§ 3.12.1  Meanwhile Appius returns, and we are asked by him and he by us what has been said and done. Appius continues: "There follows the second act, which is usually an appendage to the villa and retains its old name of hare-warren because of one part of it — for not only are hares enclosed in it in woods, as used to be the case on an acre or two of land, but also stags and roes on many acres. It is reported that Quintus Fulvius Lippinus has a preserve in the vicinity of Tarquinii of forty iugera, in which are enclosed, not only the animals I have named, but also wild sheep; and an even larger one near Statonia, and some in other places; 2 while in Transalpine Gaul, Titus Pompeius has a hunting preserve so large that he keeps a tract of about four square miles enclosed. In addition to this, in the same enclosure are usually kept places for snails and bee-hives, and also casks in which dormice are kept confined. But the care, increase, and feeding of all these, except the bees, is evident. 3 For everybody knows that walled enclosures in warrens ought to be covered with plaster and ought to be high — in the one case to make it impossible for a weasel or a badger or other animal to enter, and in the other to keep a wolf from leaping over; and they should have coverts in which the hares may hide in the day-time under the brush and grass, and trees with spreading branches to hinder the swooping of an eagle. 4 Who also does not know that if he points in a few hares, male and female, in a short time the place will be filled? Such is the fecundity of this animal. For place only four in a warren and it is usually filled in a short time; for often, while they have a young litter they are found to have others in the womb. And so Archelaus writes of them that one who wishes to know how old they are should examine the natural openings, for undoubtedly one has more than another.

§ 3.12.5  There is a recent practice of fattening these, too, by taking them from the warren and shutting them up in hutches and fattening them in an enclosed space. There are, then, some three species of these: one, this Italian species of ours, with short fore-legs and long hind legs, the upper part of the body dark, belly white, and ears long. This hare is said to conceive even while it is pregnant. In Transalpine Gaul and Macedonia they grow very large; in Spain and in Italy they are medium-sized. 6 Belonging to the second species is the hare which is born in Gaul near the Alps, which usually differs in the fact that it is entirely white; these are not often brought to Rome. To the third species belongs the one which is native to Spain — like our hare in some respects, but with short legs — which is called cony. Lucius Aelius thought that the hare received its name lepus because of its swiftness, being levipes, nimble-foot. My own opinion is that it comes from an old Greek word, as the Aeolians called it λέπορις. The conies are so named from the fact that they have a way of making in the fields tunnels (cuniculos) in which to hide. 7 You should have all these three species in your warren if you can. You surely have two species anyway, I suppose, as you were in Spain for so many years that I imagine the conies followed you all the way from there.

§ 3.13.1  "You know, Axius," Appius continued, "that boars can be kept in the warren with no great trouble; and that both those that have been caught and the tame ones which are born there commonly grow fat in them. For on the place that our friend Varro here bought from Marcus Pupius Piso near Tusculum, you saw wild boars and roes gather for food at the blowing of a horn at a regular time, when mast was thrown from a platform above to the boars, and vetch or the like to the roes." 2 "Why," said he, "I saw it carried out more in the Thracian fashion at Quintus Hortensius's place near Laurentum when I was there. For there was a forest which covered, he said, more than fifty iugera; it was enclosed with a wall and he called it, not a warren, but a game-preserve. In it was a high spot where was spread the table at which we were dining, to which he bade Orpheus be called. 3 When he appeared with his robe and harp, and was bidden to sing, he blew a horn; whereupon there poured around us such a crowd of stags, boars, and other animals that it seemed to me to be no less attractive a sight than when the hunts of the aediles take place in the Circus Maximus without the African beasts."

§ 3.14.1  "Appius has lightened your task, my dear Merula," said Axius. "So far as game is concerned, the second act has been completed briefly; and I do not ask for the rest of it — snails and dormice — as that cannot be a matter of great effort." "The thing is not so simple as you think, my dear Axius," replied Appius. "You must take a place fitted for snails, in the open, and enclose it entirely with water; for if you do not, when you put them to breed it will not be their young which you have to search for, but the old snails. 2 They have to be shut in, I repeat, with water, so that you need not get a runaway-catcher. The best place is one which the sun does not parch, and where the dew falls. If there is no such natural place — and there usually is not in sunny ground — and you have no place where you can build one in the shade, as at the foot of a cliff or a mountain with a pool or stream at the bottom, you should make an artificially dewy one. This can be done if you will run a pipe and attach to it small teats to squirt out the water in such a way that it will strike a stone and be scattered widely in a mist. 3 They need little food, and require no one to feed them; they get their food, not only in the open while crawling around, but even discover any upright walls, if the stream does not prevent. In fact, even at the dealer's they keep alive for a long time by chewing the cud, a few laurel leaves being thrown them for the purpose, sprinkled with a little bran. Hence the cook usually doesn't know whether they are alive or dead when he is cooking them. 4 There are several varieties of snails, such as the small whites, which come from Reate, the large-sized, which are brought from Illyricum, and the medium-sized, which come from Africa. Not that they do not vary in these regions in distribution and size; thus, very large ones do come from Africa — the so-called solitannae — so large that 80 quadrantes can be put into their shells; and so in other countries the same species are relatively larger or smaller.

§ 3.14.5  They produce innumerable young; these are very small and with a soft shell, but it hardens with time. If you build large islands in the yards, they will bring in a large haul of money. Snails, too, are often fattened as follows: a jar for them to feed in, containing holes, is lined with must and spelt — it should contain holes in order to allow the air to enter, for the snail is naturally hardy.

§ 3.15.1  "The place for dormice is built on a different plan, as the ground is surrounded not by water but by a wall, which is covered on the inside with smooth stone or plaster over the whole surface, so that they cannot creep out of it. In this place there should be small nut-bearing trees; when they are not bearing, acorns and chestnuts should be thrown inside the walls for them to glut themselves with. 2 They should have rather roomy caves built for them in which they can bring forth their young; and the supply of water should be small, as they do not use much of it, but prefer a dry place. They are fattened in jars, which many people keep even inside the villa. The potters make these jars in a very different form from other jars, as they run channels along the sides and make a hollow for holding the food. In such a jar acorns, walnuts, or chestnuts are placed; and when a cover is placed over the jars they grow fat in the dark."a

§ 3.16.1  "Well," remarked Appius, "the third act of the husbandry of the steading is left — fishponds." "Why third?" inquired Axius. "Or, just because you were accustomed in your youth not to drink honey-wine at home for the sake of thrift, are we to overlook honey?" "It is the truth he is telling," Appius said to us. 2 "For I was left in straitened circumstances, together with two brothers and two sisters, and gave one of them to Lucullus without a dowry; it was only after he relinquished a legacy in my favour that I, for the very first time, began to drink honey-wine at home myself, though meantime mead was none the less commonly served at banquets almost daily to all guests. 3 And furthermore, it was my right and not yours to know these winged creatures, to whether nature has given so much talent and art. And so, that you may realize that I know bees better than you do, hear of the incredible art that nature has given them. Our well-versed Merula, as he has done in other cases, will tell you of the practice followed by bee-keepers.

§ 3.16.4  "In the first place, bees are produced partly from bees, and partly from the rotted carcass of a bullock. And so Archelaus, in an epigram, says that they are 'the roaming children of a dead cow'; and the same writer says: 'While wasps spring from horses, bees come from calves.' Bees are not of a solitary nature, as eagles are, but are like human beings. Even if jackdaws in this respect are the same, still it is not the same case; for in one there is a fellowship in toil and in building which does not obtain in the other; in the one case there is reason and skill — it is from these that men learn to toil, to build, to store up food.

§ 3.16.5  They have three tasks: food, dwelling, toil; and the food is not the same as the wax, nor the honey, nor the dwelling. Does not the chamber in the comb have six angles, the same number as the bee has feet? The geometricians prove that this hexagon inscribed in a circular figure encloses the greatest amount of space.b They forage abroad, and within the hive they produce a substance which, because it is the sweetest of all, is acceptable to gods and men alike; for the comb comes to the altar and the honey is served at the beginning of the feast and for the second table. 6 Their commonwealth is like the states of men, for here are king, government, and fellowship. They seek only the pure; and hence no bee alights on a place which is befouled or one which has an evil odour, or even one which smells of sweet perfume. So one who approaches them smelling of perfume they sting, and do not, as flies do, lick him; and one never sees bees, as he does flies, on flesh or blood or fat — so truly do they alight only on objects which have a sweet savour. 7 The bee is not in the least harmful, as it injures no man's work by pulling it apart; yet it is not so cowardly as not to fight anyone who attempts to break up its own work; but still it is well aware of its own weakness. They are with good reason called 'the winged attendants of the Muses,' because if at any time they are scattered they are quickly brought into one place by the beating of cymbals or the clapping of hands; and as man has assigned to those divinities Helicon and Olympus, so nature has assigned to the bees the flowering untilled mountains. 8 They follow their own king where he goes, assist him when weary, and if he is unable to fly they bear him upon their backs, in their eagerness to serve him. They are themselves not idle, and detest the lazy; and so they attack and drive out from them the drones, as these give no help and eat the honey, and even a few bees chase larger numbers of drones in spite of their cries. On the outside of the entrance to the hive they seal up the apertures through which the air comes between the combs with a substance which the Greeks call erithace. They all live as if in an army, sleeping and working regularly in turn, and send out as it were colonies, and their leaders give certain orders with the voice, as it were in imitation of the trumpet, as happens when they have signals of peace and war with one another. But, my dear Merula, that our friend Axius may not waste away while hearing this essay on natural history, in which I have made no mention of gain, I hand over to you the torch in the race."103

§ 3.16.10  Whereupon Merula: "As to the gain I have this to say, which will perchance be enough for you, Axius, and I have as my authorities not only Seius, who has his apiaries let out for an annual rental of 5,000 pounds of honey, but also our friend Varro here. I have heard the latter tell the story that he had two soldiers under him in Spain, brothers named Veianius, from the district near Falerii. They were well-off, because, though their father had left only a small villa and a bit of land certainly not larger than one iugerum, they had built an apiary entirely around the villa, and kept a garden; and all the rest of the land had been planted in thyme, snail-clover, and balm — a plant which some call honey-leaf, others bee-leaf, and some call bee-herb. 11 These men never received less than 10,000 sesterces from their honey, on a conservative estimate, as they said they preferred to wait until they could bring in the buyer at the time they wanted rather than to rush into market at an unfavourable time." "Tell me, then," said he, "where I ought to build an apiary and of what sort, so as to get a large profit." 12 "The following," said Merula, "is the proper method for building apiaries, which are variously called melitrophia and mellaria: first, they should be situated preferably near the villa, but where echoes do not resound (for this sound is thought to be a signal for flight in their case); where the air is temperate, not too hot in summer, and not without sun in winter; that it preferably face the winter sunrise, and have near by a place which has a good supply of food and clear water. 13 If there is no natural food, the owner should sow crops which are most attractive to bees. Such crops are: the rose, wild thyme, balm, poppy, bean, lentil, pea, clover, rush, alfalfa, and especially snail-clover, which is extremely wholesome for them when they are ailing. It begins flowering at the vernal equinox and continues until the second equinox. 14 But while this is most beneficial to the health of bees, thyme is best suited to honey-making; and the reason that Sicilian honey bears off the palm is that good thyme is common there. For this reason some bruise thyme in a mortar and soak it in lukewarm water, and with this sprinkle all the plots planted for the bees. 15 So far as the situation is concerned, one should preferably be chosen close to the villa — and some people place the apiary actually in the portico of the villa, so that it may be better protected. Some build round hives of withes for the bees to stay in, others of wood and bark, others of a hollow tree, others build of earthenware, and still others fashion them of fennel stalks, building them square, about three feet long and one foot deep, but making them narrower when there are not enough bees to fill them, so that they will not lose heart in a large empty space. All such hives are called alvi, 'bellies,' because of the nourishment (alimonium), honey, which they contain; and it seems that the reason they are made with a very narrow middle is that they may imitate the shape of the bees. 16 Those that are made of withes are smeared, inside and out, with cow-dung, so that the bees may not be driven off by any roughness; and these hives are so placed on brackets attached to the walls that they will not be shaken nor touch one another when they are arranged in a row. In this method, a second and a third row are placed below it at an interval, and it is said that it is better to reduce the number than to add a fourth. At the middle of the hive small openings are made on the right and left, by which the bees may enter; 17 and on the back, covers are placed through which the keepers can remove the comb. The best hives are those made of bark, and the worst those made of earthenware, because the latter are most severely affected by cold in winter and by heat in summer. During the spring and summer the bee-keeper should examine them about thrice a month, smoking them lightly, and clear the hive of filth and sweep out vermin. 18 He should further see to it that several chiefs do not arise, for they become nuisances because of their dissensions. Some authorities state also that, as there are three kinds of leaders among bees — the black, the red, and the striped — or as Menecrates states, two — the black and the striped — the latter is so much better that it is good practice for the keeper, when both occur in the same hive, to kill the black; for when he is with the other king he is mutinous and ruins the hive, because he either drives him out or is driven out and takes the swarm with him. 19 Of ordinary bees, the best is the small round striped one. The one called by some the thief, and by others the drone, is black, with a broad belly. The wasp, though it has the appearance of a bee, is not a partner in its work, and frequently injures it by its sting, and so the bees keep it away. Bees differ from one another in being wild or tame; by wild, I mean those which feed in wooded places, and by tame those which feed in cultivated ground. The former are smaller in size, and hairy, but are better workers.
"In purchasing, the buyer should see whether they are well or sick. 20 The signs of health are their being thick in the swarm, sleek, and building uniformly smooth comb. When they are not so well, the signs are that they are hairy and shaggy, as if dusted over — unless it is the working season which is pressing them; for at this time, because of the work, they get tough and thin. 21 If they are to be transferred to another place, it should be done carefully, and the proper time should be observed for doing it, and a suitable place be provided to which to move them. As to the time, it should be in spring rather than in winter, as in winter it is difficult for them to form the habit of staying where they have been moved, and so they generally fly away. If you move them from a good situation to one where there is no suitable pasturage, they become runaways. And even if you move them from one hive into another at the same place, the operation should not be carried out carelessly, 22 but the hive into which the bees are going should be smeared with balm, which has a strong attraction for them, and combs full of honey should be placed inside not far from the entrance, for fear that, when they notice either a lack of food. . . .112 He says that when bees are sickly, because of their feeding in the early spring on the blossoms of the almond and the cornel, it is diarrhoea that affects them, and they are cured by drinking urine. 23 Propolis is the name given to a substance with which they build a protectum ('gable') over the entrance opening in front of the hive, especially in summer. This substance is used, and under the same name, by physicians in making poultices,c and for this reason it brings even a higher price than honey on the Via Sacra. Erithace is the name given a substance with which they fasten together the ends of the comb (it is a different substance than either honey or propolis) and it is in it that the force of the attraction lies. So they smear with this substance, mixed with balm, the bough or other object on which they want the swarm to settle. 24 The comb is the structure which they fashion in a series of cells of wax, each separate cell having six sides, the same number as that of the feet given to each bee by nature. It is said that they do not gather wholly from the same sources the materials which they bring in for making the four substances, propolis, erithace, comb, and honey. Sometimes what they gather is of one kind, since from the pomegranate and the asparagus they gather only food, from the olive tree wax, from the fig honey, but of a poor quality. 25 Sometimes a double service is rendered, as both wax and food from the bean, the balm, the gourd, and the cabbage; and similarly a double service of food and honey from the apple and wild pear, and still another double service in combination, since they get wax and honey from the poppy. A threefold service, too, is rendered, as food, honey, and wax from the almond and the charlock. From other blossoms they gather in such a way that they take some materials for just one of the substances, other materials for more than one; 26 they also follow another principle of selection in their gathering (or rather the principle follows the bees); as in the case of honey, they make watery honey from one flower, for instance the sisera, thick honey from another, for instance from rosemary; and so from still another they make an insipid honey, as from the fig, good honey from snail-clover, and the best honey from thyme.

§ 3.16.27  As drink is a component of food, and as this, in the case of bees, is clear water, they should have a place from which to drink, and this close by; it should flow past their hives, or run into a pool in such a way that it will not rise higher than •two or three fingers, and in this water there should lie tiles or small stones in such a way that they project a little from the water, so that the bees can settle on them and drink. In this matter great care should be taken to keep the water pure, as this is an extremely important point in making good honey. 28 As it is not every kind of weather that allows them to go far afield for feeding, food should be provided for them, so that they will not have to live on the honey alone at such times, or leave the hives when it is exhausted. So about ten pounds of ripe figs are boiled in six congii of water, and after they are boiled they are rolled into lumps and placed near the hives. Other apiarists have water sweetened with honey placed near the hives in vessels, and drop clean pieces of wool into it through which they can suck, for the double purpose of keeping them from surfeiting themselves with the drink and from falling into the water. A vessel is placed near each hive and is kept filled. Others pound raisins and figs together, soak them in boiled wine, and put pellets made of this mixture in a place where they can come out to feed even in winter.

§ 3.16.29  "The time when the bees are ready to swarm, which generally occurs when the well hatched new brood is over large and they wish to send out their young as it were a colony (just as the Sabines used to do frequently on account of the number of their children), you may know from two signs which usually precede it: first, that on preceding days, and especially in the evenings, numbers of them hang to one another in front of the entrance, 30 massed like a bunch of grapes; and secondly, that when they are getting ready to fly out or even have begun the flight, they make a loud humming sound exactly as soldiers do when they are breaking camp. Those which have gone out first fly around in sight, looking back for the others, which have not yet gathered, to swarm. When the keeper observes that they have acted so, he frightens them by throwing dust on them and by beating brass around them; 31 and the place to which he wishes to carry them, and which is not far away, is smeared with bee-bread and balm and other things by which they are attracted. When they have settled, a hive, smeared on the inside with the same enticing substances, is brought up and placed near by; and then by means of a light smoke blown around them they are induced to enter. When they have moved into the new colony, they remain so willingly that even if you place near by the hive from which they came, still they are content rather with their new home.

§ 3.16.32  "As I have given my views on the subject of feeding, I shall now speak of the thing on account of which all this care is exercised — the profit. The signal for removing the comb is given by the following occurrences . . . if the bees make a humming noise inside, if they flutter when going in and out, and if, when you remove the covers of the hives, the openings of the combs are seen to be covered with a membrane, the combs being filled with honey. 33 Some authorities hold that in taking off honey nine-tenths should be removed and one-tenth left; for if you take all, the bees will quit the hive. Others leave more than the amount stated. Just as in tilling, those who let the ground lie fallow reap more grain from interrupted harvests, so in the matter of hives if you do not take off honey every year, or not the same amount, you will by this method have bees which are busier and more profitable. 34 It is thought that the first season for removing the comb is at the time of the rising of the Pleiades, the second at the end of summer, before Arcturus is wholly above the horizon, and the third after the setting of the Pleiades. But in this case, if the hive is well filled no more than one-third of the honey should be removed, the remainder being left for the wintering; but if the hive is not well filled no honey should be taken out. When the amount removed is large, it should not all be taken at one time or openly, for fear the bees may lose heart. If some of the comb removed contains no honey or honey that is dirty, it should be cut off with a knife. 35 Care should be taken that the weaker bees be not imposed upon by the stronger, for in this case their output is lessened; and so the weaker are separated and placed under another king. Those which often fight one another should be sprinkled with honey-water. When this is done they not only stop fighting, but swarm over one another, licking the water; and even more so if they are sprinkled with mead, in which case the odour causes them to attach themselves more greedily, and they drink until they are stupefied.

§ 3.16.36  If they leave the hive in smaller numbers and a part of the swarm remains idle, light smoke should be applied, and there should be placed near by some sweet-smelling herbs, especially balm and thyme. 37 The greatest possible care should be taken to prevent them from dying from heat or from cold. If at any time they are knocked down by a sudden rain while harvesting, or overtaken by a sudden chill before they have foreseen that this would happen (though it is rarely that they are caught napping), and if, struck by the heavy rain-drops, they lie prostrate as if dead, they should be collected into a vessel and placed under cover in a warm spot; the next day, when the weather is at its best, they should be dusted with ashes made of fig wood, and heated a little more than warm. Then they should be shaken together gently in the vessel, without being touched with the hand, and placed in the sun. 38 Bees which have be warmed in this way recover and revive, just as happens when flies which have been killed by water are treated in the same way.d This should be carried out near the hives, so that those which have been revived may return each to his own work and home."

§ 3.17.1  Meantime Pavo returns to us and says: "If you wish to weigh anchor, the ballots have been cast and the casting of lots for the tribes is going on; and the herald has begun to announce who has been elected aedile by each tribe." Appius arose hurriedly, so as to congratulate his candidate at once and then go on to his home. And Merula remarked: "I'll give you the third act of the husbandry of the steading later, Axius." As they were rising, and we were looking back, because we knew that our candidate was coming also, Axius remarked to me: "I am not sorry that Merula left at this point, 2 for the rest is pretty well known to me. There are two kinds of fish-ponds, the fresh and the salt. The one is open to common folk, and not unprofitable, where the Nymphs furnish the water for our domestic fish; the ponds of the nobility, however, filled with sea-water, for which only Neptune can furnish the fish as well as the water, appeal to the eye more than to the purse, and exhaust the pouch of the owner rather than fill it. For in the first place they are built at great cost, and in the second place they are stocked at great cost, and in the third place they are kept up at great cost. 3 Hirrus used to take in 12,000 sesterces from the buildings around his fish-ponds; but he spent all that income for the food which he gave his fish. No wonder; for I remember that he lent to Caesar on one occasion 2,000 lampreys by weight; and that on account of the great number of fish his villa sold for 4,000,000 sesterces. Our inland pond, which is for the common folk, is properly called 'sweet,' and the other 'bitter'; for who of us is not content with one such pond? Who, on the other hand, who starts with one of the sea-water ponds doesn't go on to a row of them? 4 For just as Pausias and the other painters of the same school have large boxes with compartments for keeping their pigments of different colours, so these people have ponds with compartments for keeping the varieties of fish separate, as if they were holy and more inviolate than those in Lydia about which, Varro, you used to say that while you were sacrificing, they would come up in schools, at the sound of a flute, to the edge of the shore and the altar, because no one dared catch them (the same time as that at which you saw the dancing islands of the Lydians); just so no cook dares 'haul these fish over the coals.'

§ 3.17.5  Though our friend Quintus Hortensius had ponds built at great expense near Bauli, I was at his villa often enough to know that it was his custom always to send to Puteoli to buy fish for dinner. 6 And it was not enough for him not to feed from his ponds — nay, he must feed his fish with his own hands; and he actually took more pains to keep his mullets from getting hungry than I do to keep my mules at Rosea from getting hungry, and indeed he furnished them nourishment in the way of both food and drink much more generously than I do in caring for my donkeys. For I keep my very valuable asses with the help of a single stable-boy, a bit of barley, and water from the place; while Hortensius in the first place kept an army of fishermen to supply food, and they were continually heaping up minnows for the larger fish to eat. 7 Besides, he used to buy salted fish and throw them into ponds when the sea was disturbed and on account of bad weather this source of supply of the ponds failed to furnish food, and the live food — the fish which supplies the people with supper — could not be brought ashore with the net." "You could more easily get Hortensius's consent to take the carriage mules (mulas) from his travelling-carriage and keep them for your own," said I, "than take a barbed mullet (mullum) from his pond."

§ 3.17.8  "And," he continued, "he was no less disturbed over his sick fish than he was over his ailing slaves. And so he was less careful to see that a sick slave did not drink cold water than that his fish should have fresh water to drink. In fact he used to say that Marcus Lucullus suffered from carelessness in this respect, and he looked down on his ponds because they did not have suitable tidal-basins, and so, as the water became stagnant, his fish lived in unwholesome quarters; 9 while, on the other hand, after Lucius Lucullus had cut through a mountain near Naples and let a stream of sea-water into his ponds, so that they ebbed and flowed, he had no need to yield to Neptune himself in matter of fishing — for he seemed, because of the hot weather, to have led his beloved fish into cooler places, just as the Apulian shepherds are wont to do when they lead their flocks along the cattle-trails into the Sabine hills. But while he was building near Baiae he became so enthusiastic that he allowed the architect to spend money as if it were his own, provided he would run a tunnel from his ponds into the sea and throw up a mole, so that the tide might run into the pond and back to the sea twice a day from the beginning of the moon until the next new moon, and cool off the ponds."
10 So far we. Then a noise on the right, and our candidate, as aedile-elect, came into the villa wearing the broad stripe. We approach and congratulate him and escort him to the Capitolium. Thence, he to his home, we to ours, my dear Pinnius, after having had the conversation on the husbandry of the villa, the substance of which I have given you.