BOOK III

THE HUSBANDRY OF THE STEADING

_Introduction: the antiquity of country life_

I

There are two modes of human life, my dear Pinnius, which are

manifestly as different in the time of their origin as they are in

their habitat, that of the country and that of the town. Country life

is much the more ancient, for time was when men lived altogether in

the country and had no towns: indeed, the oldest town in Greece,

according to the tradition, is the Boeotian Thebes, which was founded

by King Ogyges, and in our own land that of Rome, founded by King

Romulus of which now it may be affirmed with confidence, as was not

possible when Ennius wrote:

"'Tis seven hundred years, or more or less,

Since first illustrious Rome began her sway,

With hallowed augury."

Now, if it is admitted that Thebes was founded before the deluge,

which is known by Ogyges' name, its age is not more than about

twenty-one hundred years: and if that period is compared with the

lapse of time since men began to cultivate the land and to live in

huts and hovels, knowing naught of city walls and gates, it is evident

that life in the country preceded life in town by a tale of immemorial

years. Nor is this to be wondered at since 'God made the country and

man made the town.'[157] While the tradition is that all the arts were

invented in Greece within a thousand years, there never was a time

when the earth could not be cultivated. And, as life in the country

is the more ancient, so it is the better life: for it was not without

good reason that our ancestors were wont to plant colonies of citizens

in the country, because by them they were both fed in times of peace

and protected in times of war: nor was it without significance that

they called both the Earth and Ceres by the common name of Mother and

esteemed that those who worshipped her lead a life at once pious and

useful and were the sole representatives left on earth of the race of

Saturn. A proof of this is that the mysteries peculiar to the cult of

Ceres were called _Initia_, the very name indicating that they related

to the beginning of things.

A further proof that country life was earlier than that of town is

found in the name of the town of Thebes, which was bestowed from the

character of its situation rather than from the name of its founder:

for in the ancient language, and among the Aeolians who had their

origin in Boeotia, a small hill is called _tebas_ without the

aspirate; and in the Sabine country, where Pelasgians from Greece

settled, they still have the same locution: witness that hill called

Tebae which stands in the Sabine country on the via Salaria not far

from the mile stone of Reate. At first agriculture was conducted on so

small a scale that it had little distinction, since those who followed

it, being sprung from shepherds, at once sowed their corn and

pastured their flocks on the same land, but as later this art grew in

importance the husbandry of live stock was separated, and it befel

that some men were called farmers and others shepherds.

The art of feeding live stock should really be divided into two

branches, as is not yet fully appreciated, one relating to the stock

kept at the steading, the other to the stock pastured in the fields.

The latter, which is designated by the name _pecuaria_, is well known

and highly esteemed so that rich men, either lease or buy much

pasture land in order to carry it on: the other, which is known as

_villatice_, has, because it seemed to be of less importance, been

treated by some as an incident of the husbandry of agriculture, when

in fact it should be made a part of the husbandry of live stock: nor

has it been described separately and at length by any one, so far as I

know.

And so, as I think that there are three branches of farm management

which are undertaken for profit, namely: agriculture, live stock and

the industries peculiar to the steading, I have planned three books,

of which I have already written two, the first concerning the

husbandry of agriculture, which I dedicated to my wife Fundania, and

the second concerning the husbandry of live stock to Turranius Niger:

the third, relating to the profits of those industries which are

carried on at the steading, I now send herewith to you; for the fact

that we are neighbours and entertain a mutual affection seems to

demand that it should be dedicated to you above all others.

Although you have a villa, which is remarkable for the beauty of its

workmanship within and without, and for the splendour of its mosaic

pavements, still you deem it to be bare unless you have the walls

decorated also with books: so in like manner that your villa may be

more distinguished by the profits you derive from it than by the

character of its construction, and that I may be of assistance to that

end, so far as may be, I have sent you this book, which is a summary

of some conversations which we have had on the subject of what makes

the perfectly equipped villa: and so I begin as follows:

_Of the definition of a Roman villa_

II. The Senator Q. Axius, my fellow tribesman, and I had cast our

votes at the comitia for the election of aediles, and, although it was

the heat of the day, we wished to be on hand when the candidate whom

we were supporting should go home. So Axius said to me: "What would

you think of taking shelter in the _villa publica_[158] while the votes

are being sorted rather than in the booth of our candidate." "I hold,"

said I, "not only with the proverb that bad advice is worst for him

who gives it, but that good advice is good for both the giver and the

taker."

And so we made our way to the _villa publica_, where we found Appius

Claudius,[159] the Augur, seated on a bench waiting for any call for his

services by the Consul: on his left was Cornelius Merula (blackbird)

of the Consular family of that name, and Fircellius Pavo (pea-cock)

of Reate, and on his right Minutius Pica (mag-pie) and M. Petronius

Passer (sparrow). When we had approached them Axius, smiling, said to

Appius: "May we come into your aviary where you are sitting among the

birds?"

"By all means," replied Appius, "and especially you who set before me

such birds as still make my mouth water, when I was your guest a few

days ago at your Reatine villa on my way to lake Velinus to settle the

controversy between the people of Interamna and Reate.[160]

"But" he added, "is not this villa, which our ancestors constructed,

simpler and so better than that elaborate one of yours at Reate: do

you see any where here any furniture of citrus wood or ormolu, any

decorations of vermillion or blue, any tessellations or mosaic work,

all of which on the other hand were displayed in your house? And while

this is open to the entire people, yours is available to you alone:

this is the resort for the citizens after the comitia in the Campus

Martius, and for all alike, while yours is reserved for mares and

asses. And furthermore it should be considered that this building is

useful in carrying on the public business, for here the consuls review

the army on parade, here the arms are inspected, here the censors

enumerate the people."

"Tell me," retorted Axius, "which is useful, this villa of yours

giving on the Campus Martius, more extravagantly arrayed with objects

of art than all Reate put together, so bedizened is it with pictures

and garnished with statues, or mine where there is no trace of the

artists Lysippus or Antiphilus, but there are many of the farm hand

and the shepherd?

"And since there can be no villa where there is no farm and that well

cultivated, how can you call this house of yours a villa which has no

land appurtenant to it and no cattle or horses? Again, tell me, pray,

how does your villa compare with that of your grandfather and great

grandfather, for one cannot see at yours, as one could always see at

theirs, cured hay in the mows, the vintage in the cellar, and the

harvest in the granary? Because, forsooth, a house is situated out of

town, it is no more a villa for that reason than the houses of those

who dwell beyond the Porta Flumentaria or in the Aemiliana suburb."

"Since it appears that I do not know what a villa is," replied Appius,

smiling, "I wish you would be good enough to instruct me, so that I

may not make a fool of myself, as I am planning to buy from M. Seius

his villa at Ostia: for if a mere house is not a villa unless it is

equipped with a jackass costing forty thousand sesterces ($2,000),

like that you showed me at your place, I fear that I would be making

a mistake in buying Seius' house on the shore at Ostia in the belief

that it is a villa. But it was our friend Merula here who put me in

mind of buying this house, for he told me that he had spent several

days there and that he had never seen a more delightful villa, and yet

he saw there no paintings, nor any bronze or marble statues, neither

did he see any wine press, or oil mill, or oil jars."

"And what kind of a villa is this," said Axius, turning to Merula,

"where there are neither the ornaments of a town house nor the

utensils of a farm?"

"Do you consider," said Merula, "that your house on the bank of

Velinus, which neither painter nor architect has ever seen, is any

less a villa than the one you have in Rosea so elegantly decorated

with the work of an architect and which you share with your famous

jackass?"

Axius admitted, with a nod, that a simple farm house was as much

entitled to be called a villa as any house which united the

characteristics of both town and country, and asked what he deduced

from this.

"What?" said Merula. "Why, if your estate in Rosea is to be approved

by reason of the husbandry which you carry on, and is properly called

a villa because there cattle are fed and stabled, then, by the same

reasoning, all those houses should be called villas in which large

profits are derived from husbandry: for what difference does it make

whether you derive your profit from sheep or from birds? Is the income

any sweeter which comes from cattle in which bees are generated, than

from the bees themselves, such as work in their hives at the villa of

Seius? Do you sell to the butcher the hogs which you raise at your

farm for more than Seius sells his wild boars to the meat market?"

"Am I any less able," replied Axius, "to have these things at my farm

at Reate: is Sicilian honey made at Seius' place and only Corsican

honey at Reate,[161] and does the mast which he buys for his wild boars

make them fat while that which I get for nothing from my woods makes

mine lean?"

"But," said Appius, "Merula does not deny that you _can_ carry on at

your villa the kind of husbandry which Seius does at his, yet I myself

have seen that you don't.

"For there are two kinds of husbandry of live stock: one in the fields,

as of cattle; and the other at the steading, as of chickens and

pigeons and bees and other such things which are usually kept at a

villa.

"About the latter, Mago the Carthaginian, and Cassius Dionysius and

others have treated specially in different parts of their books, and

it would seem that Seius has read their precepts and so has learned

how to make more profit from his villa alone by such husbandry than

others make out of an entire farm."

"Certainly," agreed Merula, "for I have seen there great flocks of

geese, chickens, pigeons, cranes and pea-cocks: also dormice, fish,

wild boars and other such game.[162] The freedman who keeps his books

which Varro has seen, assured me when he was doing the honours in the

absence of his master, that Seius derives an income of more than fifty

thousand sesterces ($2,500) per annum from his villa."

As Axius seemed astonished, I asked him: "Surely you know the estate

of my aunt in the Sabine country which is at the twenty-fourth mile

stone from Rome on the via Salaria."

"Of course, I do," Axius replied, "for it is there that I am wont to

divide the day in summer on my way from Reate to town and to spend the

night when I come thence in winter."

"Well," I continued, "in that villa there is an aviary from which

I know that there were taken in one season five thousand thrushes,

which, at three deniers apiece, means that that department of the

establishment brought in a revenue of sixty thousand sesterces that

year, or twice the yield of the entire two hundred jugera of your farm

at Reate."[163]

"What, sixty thousand," exclaimed Axius, "sixty thousand: you are

making game of me!"

"Sixty thousand," I affirmed, "but in order that you might realize

such a lucky throw you will require either a public banquet or a

triumph on the scale of that of Scipio Metellus, or club dinners,

which indeed have now become so frequent as to raise the price of

provisions of the market."

"You will perchance expect this return every year," said Merula, "so I

trust that your aviary may not lead you into a loss. But surely in such

good times as these it could not happen that you would fail, except

rarely, for what year is there that does not see such a feast or a

triumph, or club dinners, such as now-a-days consume victuals without

number. Nay," he added, "it seems that in our habit of luxury such a

public banquet is a daily occurrence within the gates of Rome."[164]

To supplement the examples of such profits: L. Albutius, a learned

man and, as you know, the author of certain satires in the manner of

Lucilius, has said that the returns from feeding live stock on his

Alban farm are always less than his income from his villa, for the

farm yields less than ten thousand sesterces and the villa more than

twenty. He even maintains that if he should establish a villa near

the sea in such a place as he might choose he could derive from it

an income of more than a hundred thousand sesterces. Did not M. Cato

recently sell forty thousand sesterces worth of fishes from the fish

ponds of Lucullus after he had accepted the administration of his

estate?"

"My dear Merula," exclaimed Axius, "take me, I beg of you, as your

pupil in the art of the husbandry of the steading."

"I will begin," replied Merula, "as soon as you promise me a minerval

in the form of a dinner."[165]

"You shall have it," said Axius, "both today, and hereafter as well,

off those delicacies you will teach me to rear."

"I fear," replied Merula, "that what you may offer me at the beginning

of your experience with villa feeding will be dead geese or deceased

pea-cocks."

"And what difference will it make to you," retorted Axius, "if I do

serve you fish or fowl which has come to an untimely end: for in no

event could you eat them unless they were dead: but I beg you," he

added, "matriculate me in the school of villa husbandry and expound to

me the theory and the practice of it."

Merula accepted the invitation cheerfully.

_Of the Roman development of the industries of the steading_

III. "In the first place," he said, "you should know what kind of

creatures you may raise or feed in or about a villa, either for your

profit or for your pleasure. There are three divisions for this study:

poultry houses, warrens and fish ponds.

"I include under the head of poultry houses the feeding of all kinds of

fowls which are usually kept within the walls of a steading: under the

head of warrens not merely what our great grandfathers meant--places

where rabbits were usually kept--but any enclosure adjoining a villa

in which game animals are enclosed to be fed. In like manner I include

under the head of fish ponds all those places in which fish are kept

at a villa either in fresh or salt water.

"Each of these divisions may be separated into at least two parts: thus

the first, that with respect to poultry houses, should be treated with

reference to a classification of fowls as between those which are

content on land alone, such as pea-cocks, turtle doves, thrushes; and

those which require access to water as well as land, such as geese,

widgeons and ducks. So the second division, that relating to game, has

two different classifications: one which includes the wild boar, the

roe buck and hares; the other bees, snails and dormice.

"The third, or aquatic division, likewise has two classifications, one

including fresh water fish, the other salt water fish.

"In order to secure and maintain a supply of these six classes of stock

it is necessary to provide a force of three kinds of artificers,

namely: fowlers, hunters and fishermen, or else you may buy breeding

stock from such men, and trust to the diligence of your servants to

rear and fatten their offspring until they are ready for market.

Certain of them, such as dormice, snails and chickens, may, however,

be obtained without the aid of a hunter's net, and doubtless the

business of keeping them began with the stock native to every farm:

for the breeding even of chickens has not been a monopoly of the Roman

augurs, to make provision for their auspices, but has been practised

by all farmers from the beginning of time.[166] From such a start in the

kind of husbandry we are now discussing, the next step was to provide

masonry enclosures near the steading to confine game, and these served

as well for shelter for the bee-stand, for originally the bees were

wont to make their hives under the eaves of the farm house itself.

"The third division, that of keeping fish, had its origin in simple

fresh water ponds in which fish taken in the streams were kept.

"There have been two steps in the development of each of these three

conveniences; the earlier distinguished by the ancient simplicity,

the later by our modern luxury. The earlier stage was that of our

ancestors, who had but two places for keeping poultry: one the court

yard of the steading in which chickens were fed and their profit

derived from eggs and pullets, the other above ground, for their

pigeons were kept in the dormers or on the roof of the farm house.

"Now-a-days, on the contrary, what our ancestors called hen-houses are

known as _ornithones_, and serve to house thrushes and pea-cocks

to cater to the delicate appetite of the master: and indeed such

structures now have larger roofs than formerly sufficed to cover an

entire farm house.

"Such has been the progress in respect of warrens also: your father,

Axius, never saw any game but rabbits, nor did there exist in his time

any such extensive enclosures as now are made, many jugera in extent,

to hold wild boars and roe bucks. You can witness," he said, turning

to me, "that you found many wild boars in the warren of your farm at

Tusculum, when you bought it from M. Piso."

In respect of the third class, who was there who used to have any kind

of a fish pond, except of fresh water, stocked merely with cat fish

and mullets, while today our elegants declare that they would as soon

have a pond stocked with frogs as with those fish I have named. You

will recall the story of Philippus when he was entertained at Casinum

by Ummidius: a pickerel caught in your river, Varro, was put before

him, he tasted it and forthwith spat it out, exclaiming "May I perish,

but I thought it was fish!"[167]

As the luxury of this age has enlarged our warrens, so has it carried

our fish ponds even to the sea itself and has herded shoals of sea

fish into them. Have not Sergius Orata (goldfish) and Licinius Murena

(lamprey) taken their cognomens from fishes for this reason? And who

does not know the fame of the fish ponds of Philippus, of Hortensius,

and of the brothers Lucullus?

"Where, then, Axius, do you wish me to begin?"

_Of aviaries_

IV. "I prefer," replied Axius, "that you should begin with the

sequel--_postprincipia_, as they say in the camps--that is, with

the present day rather than with the past, because the profits from

pea-cocks are greater than those from hens, I will not dissemble that

I wish to hear first of _ornithones_ because the thrushes which are

kept in them make the very name sound like money: indeed, the 60,000

sesterces of Fircelina have consumed me with avarice."

"There are two kinds of _ornithones_," replied Merula; "one for

pleasure, like that so much admired which our friend Varro here has at

his villa near Casinum: the other for profit, such as are maintained

commercially, some even indoors in town, but chiefly in the Sabine

country which abounds in thrushes. There is a third kind, consisting

of a combination of the two I have mentioned, such as Lucullus

maintained at his Tusculan villa, where he contrived a dining room

under the same roof as his aviary to the end that he might feast

delicately, satisfying two senses, now by eating the birds cooked and

spread on a platter, now by seeing them flying about the windows: but

the truth is that he was disappointed, for the eyes did not take as

much pleasure from the sight of the flying birds as the nostrils were

offended by their odour."

_a. For profit_

V. "But, as I gather you would prefer, Axius, I will speak of that kind

of _ornithon_ which is established for profit, whence, but not where,

fat thrushes are served.

"For this purpose is built a dome, in the form of a peristyle, with

a roof over it and enclosed with netting, sufficiently large to

accommodate several thousand thrushes[168] and blackbirds; indeed, some

also include other kinds of birds, such as ortolans and quail, which

sell for a good price when fat. Into this enclosure water should be

conducted through a conduit and so disposed as to wind through the

aviary in channels narrow enough to be cleaned easily (for if the

water spreads out it is quickly polluted and rendered unfit to drink)

and draining like a running stream to find its vent through another

conduit, so that the birds may not be exposed to the risk of mud. The

door should be low and narrow and well balanced on its hinges like

the doors they have in the amphitheatres where bulls are fought: few

windows and so placed that the birds cannot see trees and wild birds

without, for that makes the prisoners pine and grow thin. The place

should have only so much light as may be necessary to enable the birds

to see where they are to perch and to eat and drink. The doors and the

windows should be lightly stuccoed round about to keep out rats and

other such vermin.

"Around the wall of the building on the inside are fastened many

perches where the birds can sit, and another such convenience should

be contrived from poles set on the ground and leaning against the

walls and tied together with other poles fastened transversely at

regular intervals, thus giving the appearance of the rising degrees of

a theatre. Down on the ground near the drinking water you should place

the birds' food, which usually consists of little balls of a paste

made out of figs and corn meal: but for twenty days before you intend

to market your thrushes it is customary to feed them more heavily,

both by giving them more food and that chiefly of finer meal.

"In this enclosure there should also be cages with wooden floors which

may serve the birds as resting places supplementing the perches.

"Next to the aviary should be contrived a smaller structure, called the

_seclusorium_, in which the keeper may array the birds found dead, to

render an account of them to his master, and where he may drive the

birds which are ready for market from the larger aviary: and to this

end this smaller room is connected with the main cage by a large door

and has more light: and there, when he has collected the number he

wishes to market, the keeper kills them, which is done secretly, lest

the others might despond at the sight and themselves die before they

are ready for market.

"Thrushes are not like other birds of passage which lay their eggs in

particular places, as the swan does in the fields and the swallows

under the roof, but they lay anywhere: for, despite their masculine

name (_turdus_) there are female thrushes, just as there are male

blackbirds, although they have a purely feminine name (_merula_).

"All birds are divided as between those which are of passage, like

swallows and cranes, and those which are domestic, like chickens and

pigeons: thrushes are birds of passage and every year fly from across

the sea into Italy about the time of the autumn equinox, returning

about the spring equinox. At another season doves and quail do the

same in immense numbers, as may be seen in the neighbouring islands of

Pontia, Palmaria and Pandataria, for there they are wont to rest a few

days on their arrival and again before they set out across the sea

from Italy."

_b. For pleasure_

"So," said Appius to Axius, "if you enclose five thousand thrushes

in such an aviary as Merula has described and there happens to be a

banquet or a triumph, you will gain forthwith that sixty thousand

sesterces which you so keenly covet and be able to lend the money out

at good interest." And then, turning to me, he added, "Do you tell us

of that other kind of ornithon, namely: for pleasure merely, for it is

said that you have constructed one near Casinum which surpasses not

only the original built by the inventor of such flying cages, our

friend M. Laenius Strabo of Brundisium (who was the first to keep

birds confined in the chamber of a peristyle and to feed them through

the net), but also the vast structures of Lucullus at Tusculum."

"You know," I said, "that there flows through my estate near

Casinum[169] a stream which is both deep and clear and fifty-seven feet

wide between the masonry embankments, so that it is necessary to use

bridges to get from one part of the property to the other. On the

upper reach of this stream is situated my Museum[170] and at a distance

of 950 feet below is an island formed by the confluence of another

stream. Along the bank for this distance is an uncovered walk ten feet

broad and between this walk and the field is the location of my aviary

enclosed on both sides, right and left, with high masonry walls. The

_ornithon_ itself is built in the shape of a writing tablet with a

capital on it, the main quadrangle being forty-eight feet wide and

seventy-two feet long, the capital semi-circular with a radius of

twenty-seven feet. To this a covered walk or portico is joined, as

it were across the bottom of the page of the tablet, with passages

leading on either side of the _ornithon_ proper which contains the

cages, to the upper end of the interior quadrangle [_adjoining the

capital_]. This portico is constructed of a series of stone columns

between which and the main outside walls are planted dwarf shrubs,

a net of hemp being stretched from the top of the walls to the

architrave of the portico, and thence down to the stylobate or floor.

The exterior spaces thus enclosed are filled with all kinds of birds

which are fed through the net, water being provided by a small running

stream. On the interior sides of the porticos, and adjoining them at

the upper end of the interior quadrangle, are constructed on both

sides two narrow oblong basins. Between these basins a path leads

to the _tholus_, or rotunda, which is surrounded with two rows of

columns, like that in the house of Catulus, except that I have

substituted columns for walls. Beyond these columns at the end is

a grove of large transplanted trees forming a roof of leaves, but

admitting light underneath, as that is entirely cut off by the high

walls on the sides. Between the exterior row of columns of the

_tholus_, which are of stone, and the interior row, which are of pine,

there is a narrow space, five feet in width. The exterior columns are

filled in with a transparent net instead of walls, thus permitting the

birds to look out upon the grove and the wild birds there but without

escaping: the interior columns being filled in with the net of the

main aviary. The space between the two rows of columns thus enclosed

is equipped with perches for the birds in the form of many rods let

into all the columns in ascending array like the degrees of a theatre;

and here are enclosed all kinds of birds, but chiefly singing birds,

like nightingales and blackbirds, for whom water is conducted by means

of a small canal and food is supplied under the net. [_Under the

lantern of the tholus is a basin of water: and around this_] a foot

and nine inches below the stylobate or pedestal of the interior row

of columns, runs a stone platform. This is five feet in width and two

feet above the level of the basin, thus affording a space on which

my bird guests may hop about from the cushions to the little columns

[_which are there provided for them_].[171]

"The basin is immediately surrounded with a quay a foot in width

adjoining [but below the level of] the platform and has a little

island in the middle. Around the platform and the quay are contrived

docks for ducks. On the island is a little column arranged to turn

on its axis and carrying a wheel-shaped table with hollow drum-like

dishes fashioned at the ends of the spokes two and a half feet wide

and a palm in depth. This is turned by a boy whose business that is,

so that meat and drink is put before all my bird guests in turn. From

the elevation of the platform, where mats are usually placed, the

ducks go out to swim in the basin, and from this streams flow into

the two basins I have already described, and little fish may be seen

darting from one to the other, while warm or cold water may be turned

on the guests from the circumference of the revolving table, which I

have described as equipped with spokes.

"Within the dome is an arrangement to tell the hours by marking the

position in the heavens of the sun by day and Hesperus by night: and

furthermore, as in the clock which [Andronicus] Cyrrestes constructed

at Athens, the eight winds are depicted on the dome, and, by means of

an arrow connecting with a vane, the prevailing wind is indicated to

those within."[172]

As we were talking an uproar was heard on the Campus Martius. While

this did not astonish old parliamentary hands[173] like ourselves, who

knew the enthusiasm of an election, yet we were anxious to know what

it meant, and at this moment Pantuleius Parra came up and told us that

while the votes were being sorted some one was caught stuffing the

ballot box[174] and had been haled before the consul by the supporters

of the rival candidate. Pavo rose to go, for it was understood that

he who had been arrested was the campaign manager of Pavo's own

candidate.

_Of pea-cocks_

VI. "Now that Fircellius is gone you can speak freely of pea-cocks,"

said Axius, "for if you should say any thing to their disadvantage in

his presence, you might perchance have a crow to pluck with him on

account of his relationship."[175]

"Within my memory," said Merula, "the practice of keeping commercial

flocks of pea-cocks has largely developed and it has so developed

that M. Aufidius Lurco is said to derive an income of sixty thousand

sesterces per annum from them. If you keep them for profit it is well

to have somewhat fewer males than females; while the contrary is true

if you keep them for pleasure, for the pea-cock far surpasses his hen

in beauty. With us they are fed in the country, but abroad it is said

that they are kept on islands, as at Samos in the grove of Juno and at

Planasia, the island of M. Piso. In setting up a flock age and beauty

must be considered, for nature has given the palm of beauty to the

pea-cock among all the birds. The hens are not fit for breeding under

two years of age, nor when they are aged. They are fed all kinds of

grain but chiefly barley. Scius makes a practice of feeding them a

modius of barley apiece for the month before they begin to breed, his

purpose being to make them more productive. He expects his overseer to

raise three pea fowl for every hen, and he sells them when matured for

fifty deniers ($10) a piece, a price such as one never obtains for a

sheep.[176]

"Furthermore, he buys eggs and sets them under dunghill hens,

transferring the young pea fowls so hatched to the shelter set apart

for their kind. This house should be built large enough for the number

of pea fowl to be kept and should be equipped with separate roosting

places smoothly stuccoed, so that snakes and such vermin may not be

able to get into it: and, furthermore, it should have attached to it

a run in which the pea fowl may feed on sunny days, and both these

places should be kept clean, as this kind of fowl demands. The keeper

should make the rounds often with a shovel to collect and preserve

their manure, which is not only fit for use in agriculture but serves

also as bedding for your pea chicks.

"It is said that Q. Hortensius was the first to serve pea-cocks at

dinner, on the occasion of his inauguration as an augur, an evidence

of prodigality which was more approved by the luxurious than by good

men of simple manners: but many others quickly followed his example,

so that the price of pea fowl was raised until an egg sold for five

deniers ($1) and a pea fowl itself readily for fifty ($10), thus a

flock of an hundred of them easily yields an income of forty thousand

sesterces, ($2,000), or even sixty ($3,000), if, as Abuccius advises,

one obtains three chickens from every pea hen."

_Of pigeons_

VII. In the meanwhile an apparitor came to Appius from the Consul and

said that the augurs were summoned. As Appius went out from the _villa

publica_, a flock of pigeons flew in, whereupon Merula said to Axius:

"If you had established a [Greek: peristerogropheion] you would think

that these were your pigeons, although they are wild, for it is the

custom to keep both kinds in a [Greek: peristerotropheion]. One is the

wild dove (or, as some call them the rock dove, or _saxatilis_), such

as live in the towers and dormers (_columines_) of a farm house,

whence they get the name _columbae_, because, on account of their

natural timidity, they seek the highest places on the roof. On this

account wild doves usually frequent towers, to which they may fly

from the fields of their own accord, and return.[177] The other kind of

pigeons is tamer and are wont to seek their food at the very threshold

of a house. This kind is usually white in colour, the wild variety

being mottled but without any white. From these two stocks a third or

mixed variety has been developed for commercial profit and these are

collected in the place which some call a _peristereon_ (pigeon house),

and others a _peristerotropheion_ (place for raising pigeons), where

there are often confined as many as five thousand at a time.

"A pigeon house is made like a great dome, with arched roof, a narrow

entrance, and grilled windows or with wider lattices on all sides so

that the interior may be well lighted and yet no snake or other such

pest may have access. The walls and the dome within and the edges of

the windows without should be smeared with light stucco to keep out

rats and lizards, for nothing is so timid as a pigeon. A round nest

should be provided for each pair of pigeons and these should be

arranged in close order so that there may be established as many as

possible of them ranked from the ground to the very dome. Each nest

should have a door no bigger than necessary to enable the pigeons to

go in and out but within should be of three palms in diameter. Under

each rank of nests should be fastened planks two palms broad for the

use of the pigeons as a vestibule on coming out. Water should be led

into the pigeon house, both for them to drink and to bathe in, for

pigeons are very clean birds. For this reason the keeper of the

pigeons should sweep out the house several times a month, for that

which soils it has so great a. value in agriculture that some writers

even claim that it is the best of all manures. Furthermore, the keeper

in these rounds may tend any pigeon which is ailing, remove any which

are dead, and take out such squabs as are fit for market. Likewise,

those which are setting should be transferred to a particular place,

separated from the others by a net but from which the mothers may

be free to get out of doors: which is done for two reasons: first,

because if they become weary or decrepit from being cooped too long,

they will be refreshed by the free air when they go abroad: secondly,

because they serve as decoys for other pigeons, for their squabs will

always bring them home themselves unless they are struck down by a

crow or cut off by a hawk. Pigeon breeders rid themselves of the

last mentioned pests by planting in the ground two rods smeared with

birdlime and bent in one upon the other, and then tie on some bait

so disposed that when the hawk falls upon his prey he finds himself

entangled in the birdlime and is taken.

"It may be noted that the pigeon has a homing instinct, as is proved by

the practice of many in letting pigeons loose from their bosoms in the

theatre expecting them to return home, for if they did not return the

practice would not persist.

"The food for pigeons is placed in mangers fastened around the walls

and filled from the outside by means of conduits. They thrive on

millet, wheat, barley, peas, beans and vetch. This regimen should be

followed also, as far as possible, in the care of the wild pigeons,

which live on the towers and the roofs of the barn.

"In equipping a [Greek: peristereon] pigeons of good age should be

secured, neither squabs nor veterans, and as many males as females.

Nothing is more prolific than the pigeon, for in forty days they

conceive, lay, hatch and raise a brood, and they keep this up nearly

all the year, stopping only from the winter solstice until spring.

Squabs are hatched in pairs, and as soon as they have grown up and

have strength breed with their own mothers. Those who fatten squabs in

order to sell them dearer, make a practice of isolating them as soon

as they are covered with feathers, then they cram them with white

bread which has been chewed:[178] in winter this is fed twice a day, in

summer three times a day, morning, noon and night, the midday meal

being omitted in winter. Those which are just beginning to have

feathers are left in the nests, but their legs are broken, and, in

order that they may be crammed, the food is put before the mothers,

for they will feed themselves and their squabs on it all day long.

Squabs which are reared in this way become fat more quickly than

others and have whiter flesh.

"A pair of pigeons will commonly sell at Rome for two hundred _nummi_,

if they are well made, of good colour, without blemish, and of good

breed: some times they even bring a thousand _nummi_, and there is

a report that recently L. Axius, a Roman of the equestrian order,

declined that sum, refusing to sell for less than four hundred

deniers."[179]

"If I could procure a fully equipped [Greek: peristereon]," cried

Axius, "as readily as I have bought a supply of earthen ware nests, I

would have had it already on the way to my farm."

"As if," remarked Pica, "there were not many of them here in town. But

perhaps those who have pigeon houses on their roofs do not seem to you

to be justified in calling them [Greek: peristereonas] even though

some of them represent an investment of more than one hundred thousand

sesterces. I advise you to buy out one of them and learn how to pocket

a profit here in town, before you build on a large scale in the

country."

_Of turtle doves_

VIII. "So much for that then," said Axius. "Proceed, please, to the

next subject, Merula."

"For turtle doves," said Merula, "in like manner a house should be

constructed proportioned to the number you intend to feed, and this,

like the pigeon house, I have described, should have a door and

windows and fresh water and walls and a vaulted roof, but in place of

breeding nests the mutules should be extended through the walls or

poles set in them in regular order with hempen mats on them, the

lowest rank being not more than three feet from the floor, the rest at

intervals of nine inches, the top rank six inches from the vault, and

of equal breadth as the mutule stands out from the wall. On these

the doves are fed day and night. For food they are given dry wheat,

usually a half modius for every one hundred and twenty doves. Every

day the house should be cleaned out, that they may not be injured by

the accumulation of manure, and because also it has its place in the

economy of the farm. The best time for fattening doves is about the

harvest, for then the mothers are in their best condition and produce

young ones not only in the largest number but the best for cramming:

so that is the time when they are most profitable."

_Of poultry_

IX. "Tell me now, if you please, Merula," said Axius, "what I should

know of raising and fattening poultry and wood pigeons, then we can

proceed to the discussion of the remainder of our programme."

"There are three kinds of fowls usually classed as poultry," replied

Merula, "dunghill fowl, jungle fowl and guinea fowl. The dunghill fowl

are those which are constantly kept in the country at farms.

"He who wishes to establish an [Greek: ornithoboskeion] from which, by

the exercise of intelligence and care, he can take large profits, as

the people of Delos do with such great success,[180] should observe five

principal rules: 1° in regard to buying, what kind and how many he

will keep: 2° in regard to breeding: 3° in regard to eggs, how they

are set and hatched: 4° in regard to chicks, how and by whom they are

reared, and 5°, which is a supplement of all the foregoing, how they

are fattened.

"The females of the dunghill fowl are called hens, the breeding males

cocks, and the males which have been altered capons. Cocks are

caponized by burning the spurs[181] with a hot iron until the skin is

broken, the wound being poulticed with potters' clay.

"He who wishes to have a model [Greek: ornithoboskeion] should equip it

with all three kinds of fowls, though chiefly the dunghill variety. In

purchasing these last it is important to choose fertile hens, which

are indicated by red feathers, black wings, unequal toes, large heads,

combs upstanding and heavy, for such hens are more likely to lay.

"A lusty cock may be known by his muscular carriage, his red comb, a

beak short, strong and sharp, eyes tawny or black, wattles a whitish

red, neck spotted or tinged with gold, the second joint of his legs

well covered with feathers, short legs long spurs, a heavy tail, and

profuse feathers, also by his spirit and his frequent crowing, his

readiness to fight, and that he is not only not afraid of such animals

as do the hens harm, but even goes out to fight them. You must be

careful, however, not to buy for breeding any fowls of the breeds

known as Tanagran, Medean and Chalcidean, for, while they are

beautiful to look at and are fit for fighting with one another, they

are practically sterile.

"If you wish to keep a flock of two hundred, choose an enclosed place

and there construct two large poultry houses side by side and looking

to the East, each about ten by five feet and a little less than five

feet in height, and furnished with windows three by four feet in which

are fitted shutters of wickerwork, which will serve to let in plenty

of fresh air and light and yet keep out such vermin as prey upon

chickens.

"Between the two houses should be a door by which the _gallinarius_ who

takes care of them, may have access. Within the houses enough poles

are arranged to serve as roosts for all the chickens: opposite each

roost a nest should be set in the wall. In front of the house should

be an enclosed yard to which the fowls may have access in the day time

and where they can dust themselves,[182] and there should be constructed

the keeper's house, which should be equipped all about with nests,

either set into the walls or firmly fastened to them, for the least

disturbance injures eggs when they are setting.

"When the hens begin to lay, straw should be spread in their nests and

this should be renewed when they begin to set, for in such bedding

are bred mites and other insects which will not suffer the hen to be

quiet, with the result that the eggs are hatched unequally or rot.

"A hen should not be allowed to set on more than twenty-five eggs,

although such is her fecundity that she lays more than that in a

season. The best time for hatching is from the spring to the autumn

equinox. Eggs laid before or after this season, or the first eggs laid

by a pullet, should never be set. Hens used for setting should be

old rather than young, without sharp beaks and claws, for those so

equipped are better employed in laying than in setting. Hens a year or

two years old are better fitted for laying.

"If you set pea-cock eggs under a hen, you should wait ten days before

adding hen eggs to the nest, to insure them all hatching together, for

the period of incubation of chicken eggs is thrice seven days and that

of the eggs of pea-fowl is thrice nine. Sitting hens should be shut up

day and night, except for a time in the morning and evening, when they

are let out to eat and drink.

"The keeper should make the rounds every few days and turn the eggs,

so that they may be kept warm all over. It is said that you can tell

whether an egg is fertile or sterile by putting it in water: for if it

is sterile it will float, while if it is fertile it will sink. Those

who shake their eggs to ascertain this fact make a mistake for thereby

they destroy the germ in them. It is also said that you can tell a

sterile egg by the fact that it is transparent when held against the

light.

"To preserve eggs they should be rubbed with fine salt or soaked for

three or four hours in brine, and then cleaned off or packed in chaff

or straw. Care should be taken to set eggs only in uneven numbers. The

keeper can tell whether an egg is fertile or not four days after it is

set, by holding it to the light, when he should throw it out if it is

found to be empty and substitute another for it.

"The new hatched chickens should be taken from every nest and given to

a hen who has only a few to care for. When in this way a setting hen

has less than half her eggs left unhatched, they should be taken from

her and put under another hen which has eggs still unhatched. It is

not well to give more than thirty chicks to a hen. Chicks should

be fed for the first fifteen days in the dust to protect them from

injuring their tender beaks on the hard ground: their diet being

crushed barley mixed with cress seed and soaked in wine, for prepared

in this way the grain is digestible. They should be kept away from

water in the beginning. When they begin to have feathers on their legs

the mites should be carefully picked off their heads and necks, for

these banes often destroy them. Deer's horn should be burnt around

their coops to keep snakes away, for the very smell of those vermin is

fatal to young chickens. They should be allowed to run in the sun and

to scratch in a dung heap, which serves to develop them. This rule

applies not only to young chickens but also to the entire [Greek:

ornithoboskeion], and should be practised all summer and even in

winter on mild and sunny days. A net should be stretched over the

chicken yard to keep the fowls themselves from flying out and to

protect them from hawks and other birds of prey. Fowls should be

protected from heat as well as cold, for both are harmful to them.

When the chicks have got their feathers it is best to accustom them to

follow one or two hens, leaving the other hens free to go to laying,

in which occupation they are more useful than in rearing chicks.

"A hen should be set after the new moon, for those which begin earlier

seldom hatch many chicks.

"They hatch usually in twenty days.

"And now since I have discussed the dunghill fowl at some length, I

will make up to you by brevity with respect to the other kinds of

fowls.

"Jungle fowl are rarely seen at Rome, and then usually in cages. They

resemble guinea chickens more than dunghill fowls. When perfect in

form and appearance they are often carried in the public processions

with parrots and white blackbirds and other such rarities. They do not

usually lay or raise their chickens on a farm, but in the forests. The

island of Gallinaria, which lies in the Tuscan sea off the coast of

Italy, opposite the Ligurian mountains (and the towns of Intermelii

and Alba Ingannua) derives its name from them, though some maintain

that the name comes from dunghill fowl which were carried to that

island by sailors and have there run wild. Guinea fowl (_gallinae

africanae_) are large, mottled and have their humps in their backs.

The Greeks call them [Greek: meleagrís].[183] They are the last fowls

which the culinary art has introduced to our dining tables, on account

of their gamy flavour.[184] By reason of their rarity they sell for a

high price.

"Of the three kinds of fowls, the ordinary dunghill fowl is used

chiefly for cramming. For this purpose they are shut up in a small

confined and darkened coop, because both exercise and light are

enemies of fat. Any large chickens may be selected for this operation,

not necessarily of that breed which the peasants call Melica

incorrectly, for as the ancients said Thelis when they meant Thetis,

so the country people still say Melica for Medica. This name was given

at first to the fowls which were imported from Medea on account of

their great size and then to all of that breed, but now the name is

given indiscriminately to all large fowls by reason of their general

resemblance. After the feathers have been pulled from their tails and

wings they are crammed with balls of barley paste, with which may be

mixed darnel meal, or flax seed soaked in soft water. They are fed

twice a day but care must be taken to see that the last meal is

digested before another is put before them. After they have been fed

and their heads have been cleaned of mites, they are shut up again.

This process is kept up for twenty-five days, when they will be fat.

"Some cram them on wheat bread soaked in water, or even in wine of

good flavour and bouquet, claiming that they are thereby made fat and

tender in twenty days.[185]

"If in the process of cramming the fowls lose their appetite from too

much food, the ration should be reduced daily during the last ten days

in the same proportion as it was increased during the first ten days,

so that the ration will be the same on the twentieth as on the first

day.

"Wood pigeons are crammed and fattened in the same way."

_Of geese_

X. "Let us now pass," said Axius, "to that tribe which cannot live in

the barn yard all the time, or even on land, but requires access to

ponds. I mean those whom you philhellenes call amphibia. I understand

that you call the places in which geese are kept by the Greek name

[Greek: chaenoboskeion], and that Scipio Metellus and M. Seius have

several large flocks of geese."

"It is Seius' practice," said Merula, "to maintain his flocks of

geese[186] in accordance with the five rules I have laid down for

poultry, namely: with respect to choice of individuals, breeding,

eggs, goslings and the process of cramming.

"On the first point he requires the slave who buys his geese to select

them of good size and of white plumage, because they reproduce their

own qualities in their goslings. This is necessary for there is

another kind of geese of variegated plumage, which are called wild,

and do not flock freely with the other kind and are domesticated with

difficulty.

"The best time for breeding geese is at the end of winter and for

laying and hatching from the beginning of February or March until the

summer solstice. They breed usually in the water, diving to the bottom

of the stream or pond.[187] A goose lays only three times a year: and

each one should be furnished with a coop about two and a half feet

square and bedded with straw: each of their eggs should be marked for

identification, for they will not hatch any eggs but their own. They

are usually set on nine or eleven eggs, never more than fifteen, nor

less than five. In cold weather they set for thirty days, in warm

weather twenty-five. When they are hatched the goslings are suffered

to remain with their mother for five days, and then daily, when the

weather is fine, they are driven out to the meadows or to the ponds

or some swampy place. The gosling houses may be built either above or

below ground, but never more than twenty should be housed together and

care must be taken lest the floor be damp and that they are bedded on

chaff or some thing of that kind, and that the house is so constructed

as to keep out weasels and other beasts which prey on goslings. Geese

are fed in wet places and it is the practice to sow especially for

their food supply, using for this purpose any kind of grain, but

particularly that salad plant called endive[188] which keeps green

wherever there is water, freshening at the mere contact of water

however dry it may be. This is gathered to be fed to them, for if they

have access to the place where it is growing they will destroy the

plant by trampling on it, or else kill themselves by eating too much

of it, for they are greedy by nature. For this reason they must be

watched, as often in feeding their greediness leads them to seize a

root and to break their own necks in attempting to pull it from the

ground: for the neck is weak, as the head is soft.

"If there is none of this plant they should be fed barley or some other

grain. When the farrago season is on, feed that to them, but in the

same manner as I have described in respect of endive. While they are

setting they may be fed ground barley soaked in water. The goslings

may be fed for the first two days on barley cake (_pollenta_) or raw

barley, and for the next three days fresh water cress chopped fine in

a dish. When they are of an age to be kept by themselves in flocks of

twenty, in the kind of house I have described, they are fed on barley

meal or farrago or some kind of young herbage cut up.

"For cramming, goslings are picked out when they are about six months

old, and are shut up in the fattening pen and there are fed three

times a day as much as they will eat, of crushed barley and flour

dust mixed with water, and after meals they should be made to drink

copiously. Kept on this diet they will be fat in about two months.[189]

After every meal the feeding place must be cleaned, for, while geese

like a clean place, they never leave any place clean in which they

have been."

_Of ducks_

XI. "Whoever wishes to keep a flock of ducks and to establish a [Greek:

naessotropheion], should choose for it, above all others if it is

possible, a swampy location because that is most agreeable to the

ducks, but, if not, then a situation sloping to a natural lake or

pool, or to an artificial pond, with steps leading down to it,

practicable for the ducks. The enclosure where they are kept should

have a wall fifteen feet high, such as you saw at Seius' villa, with

only one door opening into it. All around the wall on the inside

should run a broad platform on which are built against the wall the

duck houses, fronting on a level concrete vestibule in which is

constructed a permanent channel in which their food can be placed in

water, for ducks are fed in that way. The entire wall should be given

a smooth coating of stucco to keep out polecats[190] and other animals

of prey, and the enclosure should be covered with a net of large mesh

to prevent eagles from pouncing in and the ducks themselves from

flying out.[191]

"For food they are given wheat, barley, grape marc, and some times even

lobsters and other such aquatic animals. The pond in the enclosure

should be fed with a large head of water so that it may be kept always

fresh.

"There are other kinds of similar birds, like teals and coots which may

be fed in the same way.

"Some even keep partridges, which, as Archelaus writes, conceive

when they hear the voice of the male bird. By reason of the natural

abundance and the delicacy of their flesh, these last are not crammed

like those domestic fowls I have described, but they are fattened by

feeding in the ordinary way.

"And now, as I think that I have completed the first act of the drama

of the barn yard, I am done."

_Of rabbits_

XII. At this point Appius returned and, after an exchange of questions

and answers as to what had been said and done during his absence, he

said: "Here beginneth the second act of those industries which are

wont to be practised at a villa, namely of those enclosures which are

still known as _leporaria_ from their ancient special designation.

Today a warren no longer means an acre or two in which hares are kept,

but some times forests of vast extent in which troops of red deer

and roe deer are enclosed. Q. Fulvius Lippinus is said to have forty

jugera enclosed in the neighbourhood of Tarquinii[192] where he keeps

not only those animals I have named but wild sheep as well. Parks

of still larger extent are found in the territory of Statonia (in

Etruria) and in certain other places: indeed, in transalpine Gaul T.

Pompeius has so great a game preserve that the enclosure is about four

miles in extent.[193]

"It is the practice to keep in such enclosures not only the animals

I have named, but also snail houses and bee hives and jars in which

dormice are fed, but the care and the increase and the feeding of all

these things are easy, except in the case of bees. Who does not know

that a _leporarium_ should be enclosed with masonry walls which are

at once smooth and high the one to keep out wild cats and badgers and

other such beasts: the other to prevent wolves from getting over.

Within should be coverts where the hares may lurk in the day time

under bushes and grass, and trees with broad spreading branches to

ward off the attacks of the eagle.

"Who does not know also that if he introduces only a few hares of both

sexes in a short time the place will be full of them, for such is

the fecundity of this quadruped that two pair are enough to stock an

entire warren in a short time. Often a mother who has just had her

litter is found to be big with another: indeed, Archelaus says that if

you want to know how old a hare is you have only to count the number

of openings in her belly, for without doubt there is one for every

year of her life.

"It has recently become the practice to cram hares as well as poultry,

and for this purpose they are taken out of the warren and shut up in

small hutches where they are fattened. There are three kinds of hares:

the first, our common Italian kind, which has short front legs and

long hind legs, the upper part of the body dark coloured, the belly

white, and long ears. Some say that our hare conceives a second time

while it is still big. In transalpine Gaul and Macedonia they grow to

a great size, but in Spain and in Italy they are not so large. The

second kind is native in Gaul near the Alps, and is white all over the

body: these are brought to Rome, but rarely. The third kind is native

in Spain and is like our hare in every way except that it is smaller

and is called rabbit (_cuniculus_).[194] L. Aelius thinks that the hare

(_lepus_) gets his name from his swiftness, as it were that he is

light of foot (_levipes_), but I think the name is derived from the

ancient Greek, because the Aeolians of Boeotia call him [Greek:

leporis]. The rabbits derive their latin name of _cuniculi_ from the

habit of making underground burrows to hide in [for _cuniculus_ is a

Spanish word for mine]. If possible you should have all these three

kinds in your warren. I am sure you already have the first two kinds,"

Apius added, turning to me, "and, as you were so many years in Spain

doubtless some rabbits followed you home.""

_Of game preserves_

XIII. Then addressing himself again to Axius, Appius continued:

"You know, of course, that wild boars are kept in game parks, and that

those which are brought in wild are fattened with as little trouble as

the tame ones which are born in the park, for you have doubtless seen

at the farm near Tusculum, which Varro here bought from M. Pupius

Piso, wild boars and roe bucks assemble at the sound of the trumpet

to be fed at regular hours, when from a platform, the keeper scatters

mast to the wild boars and vetch or some such forage to the roe

bucks."

"I saw this done," put in Axius, "more dramatically when I was a

visitor at the villa of Q. Hortensius in the country near Laurentum.

He has there a wood of more than fifty jugera in extent, all enclosed,

but it might better be called a [Greek: theriotropheion] than a

warren; there on high ground he caused his dinner table to be spread,

and while we supped Hortensius gave orders that Orpheus be summoned:

when he came, arrayed in his long robe, with a cithara in his hands,

he was desired to sing. At that moment a trumpet was sounded and at

once Orpheus was surrounded by a large audience of deer and wild boars

and other quadrupeds: it seemed to be not less agreeable a spectacle

than the shows of game, without African beasts, which the Aediles

provide in the Circus Maximus."

_Of snails_

XIV. And turning to Merula, Axius continued: "Appius has lightened

your task, my dear Merula, so far as concerns the matter of game, and

briefly the second act of our drama may be brought to an end, for I

do not seek to learn any thing about snails and dormice, which is all

that is left on the programme, for there can be no great trouble in

keeping them."

"It is not so simple as you seem to think, my dear Axius," replied

Merula, "for a place suitable for keeping snails[195] I must be not only

in the open air but entirely surrounded by water, otherwise you will

be kept running not only after the children but also the parents which

you have supplied for breeding."

"In other words," said I, "they must be enclosed by water to save the

maintenance of a slave catcher."

"A place which is not baked by the sun and on which the dew remains is

preferable," continued Merula. "If the place you use for your snails

is not supplied with dew naturally, as often is the case in sunny

situations, and there is no available shady recess, such as is found

under rocks or hills whose feet are laved by a lake or a stream, then

you must supply dew artificially. This may be done by leading into the

snailery a pipe on the end of which is fixed a rose nozzle, through

which water is forced against a rock so that it scatters in spray. The

problem of feeding snails is small, for they supply themselves without

help, finding what they require as they creep over the level ground

and also while clinging to the sides of a wall, if no running water

prevents their access to it. On the hucksters' stands they keep alive

a long time, as it were chewing their own cud, all that is done for

them being to supply a few laurel leaves and scatter a little bran

over them: so a cook never knows whether he is cooking them alive or

dead.

"There are many kinds of snails, such as the small white ones, which

come from Reate: the large variety which are imported from Illyricum,

and the medium size which come from Africa: but they vary in size in

certain localities of each of those countries. Thus, there is found in

Africa a variety which are called _solitannae_ of so great size that

their shells will hold ten quarts:[196] and so in the other countries

I have named they are found together of all sizes. They produce an

innumerable progeny, which at first are very small and soft but

develop their hard shell with time. If you have large islands in the

enclosure you may expect a rich haul from your snails.

"Snails are fattened by placing them in a jar smeared with boiled must

and corn meal, on which they feed, and pierced with holes to admit the

air, but they are naturally hardy."

_Of dormice_

XV. "Dormice[197] are preserved on a different systern than snails, for

while the one is confined by barriers of water, the other is kept in

by a wall which must be coated on the inside with smooth stone or

stucco to prevent their escape. Young nut trees should be planted in

the enclosure, and when these are not bearing, mast and chestnuts

should be thrown in to the dormice, for that is what makes them

fat. Roomy cages should be provided for them in which to rear their

young.[198] Little water is necessary, for dormice do not require much

water, but on the contrary affect dry places. They are fattened in

jars which are usually kept indoors. The potters make these jars in

different shapes, but with paths for the dormice to use contrived on

the sides and a hollow to hold their food, which consists of mast,

walnuts and chestnuts.[199] Covers are placed on the jars and there in

the dark the dormice are fattened."

_Of bees_

XVI. "It remains now," said Appius, "to rehearse the third and last

act of our drama of the husbandry of the steading and to discuss the

keeping of fishes."

"The third, indeed," exclaimed Axius, "shall we deprive ourselves of

honey because in your youth you never drank mead in your own house,

such was your practice of frugality?"

"He speaks the truth," said Appius, to us, "for I was indeed left a

poor orphan with two brothers and two sisters to provide for, and it

was not until I had married one of them to Lucullus without portion

and he had named me his heir that I began to drink mead in my own

house and to supply it to my household: but there never was a day when

I did not offer it to all my guests. But apart from that, it has been

my fortune, not yours,[200] Axius, to have known these winged creatures

whom nature has endowed so richly with industry and art, and that you

may appreciate that I know more than you do of their almost incredible

natural art, listen to what I am to say. It will then be for Merula

to develop the practice of the bee keeper, or, as the Greeks call it,

[Greek: melittourgia], as methodically as he has his other subjects.

"To begin then,[201] bees are generated partly by other bees and partly

from the decaying carcase of an ox: so Archelaus in one of his

epigrams calls them

'flitting offspring of decaying beef,'

and else where he says,

'wasps spring from horses, bees from calves.'

"Bees are not of a solitary habit like eagles, but are of a social

nature, like men, a characteristic they share with daws, but not for

the same reason, for bees live in colonies, the better to work and

build, while daws congregate for gossip. Thus the life of a bee is one

of intelligence and art, for man has learned from them to manufacture,

to build, and to store his food: three occupations which are not the

same but are diverse in their nature, for it is one thing to provide

food, another to manufacture wax and honey, and still another to build

a house. Has not each cell in a honey comb six sides, or as many as a

bee has feet, the art of which arrangement appears in the teaching of

the geometricians that of all polygons the hexagon covers the largest

area within a circle.[202] Bees feed out of doors, but it is at home

that they manufacture that which is the sweetest of all things,

acceptable to gods and men alike: for honey comb is offered on the

altars and honey is served at the beginning of a dinner and again at

dessert.

"Bees have institutions like our own, consisting of royalty, government

and organized society. Cleanliness in all things is their aim: and so

they never alight in any place where there is filth or an evil odour,

or even where there is a strong savour of such an unguent as we may

consider agreeable. For the same reason if one who approaches them is

covered with perfume,[203] they do not lick him as flies do, but they

sting him, and by the same token no one ever sees bees crawling on

meat and blood and grease, as flies do. And so they only settle in

places of sweet savour. They do a minimum of damage because in their

harvesting they leave what they touch none the worse.[204] They are not

so cowardly as not to resist who ever attempts to disturb them, and

yet they are fully conscious of their own weakness. They are called

the Winged Servants of the Muses, because when they swarm they are

quickly brought together by the music of cymbals and the clapping of

hands: and as men assign Helicon and Olympus to be the haunts of the

Muses, so nature has attributed the flowery and uncultivated mountains

to the bees. They follow their king[205] wheresoever he goes, supporting

him when he is tired and even taking him upon their backs if he is

unable to fly, so do they wish to serve him.[206] As they are not idlers

themselves, so do they hate those who are, and thus driving out the

drones, they exclude them from the hive, because they are of no

service but merely consume honey: and it happens that a few bees,

buzzing with wrath, will drive out a number of drones.

"They smear every thing about the entrance to the hive with a gum which

is found between the cells which the Greeks call [Greek: erithakae].

They live under the discipline of an army, taking turns in resting and

all doing their equal share of work, and they send out colonies and

carry out the orders of their leaders, given with the voice, but as it

were with a trumpet: and in like manner they have signs of peace and

of war.

"But, Merula, now in my course I pass on the torch to you, as our

Axius here is doubtless languishing while he has listened to all this

natural history, for I have said nothing of profit."

"I do not know," said Merula, "whether what I can say on the subject

of the profit to be derived from bees will satisfy you, Axius, but I

have as my authorities not only Seius, who takes five thousand pounds

of honey every year from the hives he leases,[207] but also our friend

Varro here, for I have heard him tell of two brothers Veiani, from the

Falerian territory, whom he had under his command in Spain and who,

although their father left them only a small house with a curtilage of

not exceeding a jugerum in extent, nevertheless made themselves rich.

They set bee hives all about the house and planted part of the land

in a garden and filled up the rest with thyme and clover and that

bee plant known to us as _apiastrum_, though some call it [Greek:

meliphullon], others [Greek: mellissophullon] and still others

_melittaena_: and by this means they were wont to derive, as they

estimated, an average income of not less than ten thousand sesterces

per annum from honey; but they did this by being willing to wait until

they could sell at their own time and price rather than by forcing the

market."

"Tell me," exclaimed Axius, "where and how I should establish a

bee-stand to make such a handsome profit."

"The apiary," replied Merula, "which some call by the Greek names

[Greek: melitton] and [Greek: melittotropheion], and others

_mellarium_, should preferably be placed near the house[208] in a

location where there is no echo (for such sounds are deemed to put

them to flight, as timid men are by the din of a battle) and where the

temperature is mild, exposed neither to the heat of summer nor the

cold of winter, giving preferably to the Southeast and near of access

to places where their food is abundant and there is a supply of fresh

water. If there is no natural supply of food available you should

plant such things as best serve bees for pasture, namely: roses,

thyme, bee balm,[209] poppies, beans, lentils, peas, basil, gladiolus,

alfalfa, and especially clover which is of great service to the bees

which are sick, for it begins to bloom at the vernal equinox and lasts

until that of autumn. As clover is the best food for sick bees, so

thyme is the best for making honey, and it is because Sicily abounds

in good thyme that it takes the palm for producing honey. On this

account some men bruise thyme in a mortar and mix warm water with it

and then spray all their nursery plants with it for the sake of the

bees.

"The hives should be set as near the house as convenient: some men even

put them under the very portico for greater safety. Hives are made in

various shapes and sizes and of different material;[210] thus some make

them round out of wicker work: others of frame covered with bark:

others use hollow tree trunks: others vessels of pottery: some even

build them square out of rods, allowing about three feet in length and

a foot in height, but these dimensions should be reduced where you

have not enough bees to fill a hive of that size, for fear that the

bees might become discouraged by too large an empty space.

"The bee hive derives its name _alvus_, which is the same as our word

for belly, from the fact that it holds food, that is to say, honey;

and it is on this analogy that hives are usually shaped to imitate the

form of the belly, small in the waist and bulging out below. When the

hives are made of wicker work they should be coated evenly within and

without with ox dung[211] so that the bees may not be driven away by

the roughness of their roof. The hives should be so ordered under the

shelter of a wall that they may not be disturbed nor touch one another

when arranged in ranks, for it is the practice to place hives in two

and some times three separated ranks, but the opinion is that it is

better to reduce the ranks to two than to increase them to four. In

the middle of the hive small openings are made on the right and the

left to serve as entrances for the bees, and on top is placed a

practicable cover, which may be removed to give access to the honey

comb. This is best when made of bark, and worst of pottery, because

that is strongly affected both by the cold of winter and the heat of

summer. In spring and summer the bee keeper should inspect each hive

at least three times a month, fumigating them lightly, cleaning

and throwing out dirt and worms. At the same time he should take

precautions to keep down the number of princes, for they keep the bees

from work by stirring up sedition. There are said to be three kinds of

royalties among the bees: the black, the red and the mottled, or, as

Menecrates writes, two: the black and the mottled: and as the latter

is the better it behooves the bee keeper, when he finds both kinds in

a hive, to kill the black one, as he is forever playing politics[212]

against the other king, whereby the hive must suffer, for inevitably

one of the kings will flee or be driven out, in either case taking his

party with him.

"Of working bees the small round mottled variety is considered the

best. The drone, or, as some call him, the thief,[213] is black with a

large belly. The wasp, which has some resemblance to a bee, is not,

however, a fellow labourer, but attacks the bees with his sting,

wherefore the bees keep him at a distance.

"Bees are themselves distinguished as wild and tame. I call those wild

which feed in the forests, and those tame which feed in cultivated

places. The forest bees are smaller in size and hairy but better

workmen.

"In buying bees it behooves the purchaser to see whether they are

well or ailing. The signs of health are a thick swarm, well groomed

appearance and a hive being filled in a workmanlike manner. The signs

of lack of condition on the other hand are a hairy and bristling

appearance and a dusty coat, unless this last is caused by a pressure

of work, for under such circumstances they often wear themselves down

and become thin.

"If the hives are to be transferred from one place to another it is

necessary to choose a fit time to make the move and a suitable place

to receive them. As to time, spring is preferable to winter because in

winter they have difficulty in adjusting themselves to a new location

and so often run away, as they do also if you move them from a good

location to a place where proper pasture is not available. Nor is a

transfer from one hive to another in the same place to be undertaken

carelessly, but that to which the bees are to be transferred should be

rubbed with bee balm, which will serve as a bait for them, and

some pieces of honey comb should be placed in it, not far from the

entrances, for fear that the bees might run away if they found the

larder of their new home empty.

"Menecrates says that bees contract a malady of the bowels from their

first spring pasture on the blossoms of the almond and the cornel

cherry and are cured by giving them urine to drink.[214]

"That gummy substance which the bees use, chiefly in summer to

construct a sort of curtain between the entrance and the hive, is

called _propolis_, and by the same name is used by physicians in

making plasters: by reason of which use it sells in the Via Sacra for

more than honey itself. That substance which is called _erithacen_,

and is used to glue the cells together, is different from both honey

and _propolis_: it is supposed to have a quality of attraction for

bees and is accordingly mixed with bee balm and smeared on the branch

or other place on which it is desired to have a swarm light. The comb

is made of wax and is multicellular, each cell in it having six sides

or as many as nature has given the bee feet. It is said that bees do

not gather from the same plants all the materials which enter in these

four substances which they manufacture, namely: propolis, erithacen,

wax and honey. Thus from the pomegranate and the asparagus they gather

food alone, wax from the olive tree, honey from the fig, but not of

good quality: other plants like the bean, the bee balm, the gourd and

the cabbage serve a double purpose and yield both wax and food: while

the apple and the wild pear serve a similar double purpose but for

food and honey and the poppy again for wax and honey.

"Others again provide material for three purposes, food, honey and

wax, such as the almond and the charlock.[215] In like manner there

are flowers from each of which they derive a different one of these

substances, and others from which they derive several of them: while

they make distinctions in respect of plants according to the quality

of the product they yield,--or rather the plants make the distinction

for them--as with respect to honey, some yield liquid honey, like the

skirwort,[216] and others thick honey like the rosemary. So again honey

of insipid flavour is made from the fig, good honey from clover, and

the best of all from thyme.

"And since drink is part of a bee's diet and water is the liquid they

use, there should be provided near the stand a place for them to

drink, which may be either a running stream or a reservoir not more

than two or three fingers deep in which bricks or stones are placed

in such a way as to project a little from the water, and so furnish

a place for the bees to sit and drink; but the greatest care must be

taken to keep this water fresh, as it is of high importance to the

making of good honey.

"As the bees cannot go out to distant pasture in all weathers, food

must be prepared for them, as otherwise they will live on their supply

of honey and so deplete the store in the hive. For this purpose ten

pounds of ripe figs may be boiled in six congii of water and bits

of the paste thus prepared should be set out near the hives. Others

provide honey water in little dishes and float flocks of clean wool on

them through which the bees may suck without risk of either getting

more than is good for them or of being drowned. One such dish should

be provided for each hive and they should be kept filled. Others again

bray dried grapes and figs together and, mixing in some boiled must,

make a paste of which bits are exposed near the hives during such part

of the winter as the bees are still able to go forth in search of

food.

"When a swarm is about to come out of the hive (which happens when a

number of young bees have matured, and the hive determines to send

their youth out to found a colony, as formerly the Sabines often were

compelled to do on account of the number of their children)[217] there

are two signs by which the intention may be known: one that for

several days before hand, and especially in the evening, many bees

weave themselves together and hang upon the entrance of the hive like

grapes: the other that when they are about to go forth or have already

begun to go they buzz together lustily, as soldiers do when they break

camp. Those who have come forth first fly about the hive waiting for

the others, who have not yet collected, to join them. When the bee

keeper notices this he has only to throw dust on them and at the

same time beat upon some copper vessel to collect them, thoroughly

frightened, where he desires in some nearby place on which he has

smeared erithacen and bees' balm and other things in which they

delight. When they have settled down he should place near them a hive

smeared within with the same baits, and then, by blowing a light smoke

around them, compel them to enter the hive. When thus introduced into

their new abode the swarm makes itself at home cheerfully, so that

even if placed next to the parent hive they will prefer their new

colonial settlement.

"And now, having told you all I know about the care of bees, I will

speak of that for which the industry is carried on, that is to say, of

the profit.

"The honey is taken off when the hive is full, as may be determined by

removing the cover of the hive, for if the openings of the combs are

seen to be sealed, as it were with a skin, then the hive is full

of honey: but the bees themselves give notice of this condition by

keeping up a loud buzzing within, by their agitation when they go in

and out and by driving out the drones.

"In taking off honey some say that you should be content with nine

parts, leaving the tenth, because if you take it all the bees will

desert the hive: others leave a still larger proportion than I have

mentioned.

"As those who crop their corn land every year obtain good yields only

at intervals, so it is with bee hives: you will have more industrious

and more profitable bees if you do not exact of them the same tribute

every year.

"It is considered that honey should be taken off for the first time at

the rising of the Pleiades, for the second time at the end of summer

before Arcturus has reached the zenith, and for the third time after

the setting of the Pleiades, but this last time beware not to take

more than one-third of the store even if the hive is full, leaving

the other two-thirds for the winter supply, but if the hive is only

partially filled nothing should be taken off. In any event, when a

large amount of honey is to be taken off a hive it should not be done

all at once or ostentatiously less the bees be discouraged. Those

combs which, on being taken off, are found to be partly unfilled with

honey or to be soiled, should be pared with a knife.

"Care must be taken that the weaker bees in a hive are not oppressed by

the stronger, for this diminishes the profit: to this end the minority

party[218] may be colonized under another king. When bees are given to

fighting with one another, you should sprinkle them with honey water,

upon which they will not only cease fighting but will crowd together

and kiss one another: and this will prove the case even more if they

are sprinkled with mead, for the savour of the wine in it will cause

them to apply themselves so greedily that they will fuddle themselves

in sucking it. If the bees seem lazy about coming out to work and any

part of them get the habit of remaining in the hive, they should be

fumigated and odoriferous herbs, like bees' balm and thyme, should be

placed near the hive. Watchful care is necessary to protect them from

ruin by heat or cold. If the bees are overtaken by a sudden rain or

cold while at pasture (which rarely happens for they usually foresee

such things) and are stricken down by the heavy rain drops and laid

low and stunned, you should gather them in a dish and place them under

cover in a warm place until the weather has cleared, when they should

be sprinkled with ashes of fig wood (making sure that the ashes are

rather hot than warm) the dish should then be shaken gently without

touching the bees with your hand, and placed in the sun. When the bees

feel this warmth they revive and get on their feet again, just as

flies do after they have been apparently drowned. This should be done

near the hive so that when the bees have come to themselves they may

return home and to work."

_Of fish ponds_

XVII. Here Pavo returned and said: "You may weigh anchor now if you

wish. The drawing of the lots of the tribes to determine a tie vote is

over and the herald is announcing the result of the election."

Appius arose without delay and went to congratulate his candidate, and

escort him home.

Merula said: "I will leave the third act of our drama of the husbandry

of the steading to you, Axius," and went out with the others, leaving

Axius with me to wait for our candidate whom we knew would come to

join us. Axius said to me: "I do not regret Merula's departure at this

point, for I am quite well up on the subject of fish ponds, which

still remains to complete our programme.

"There are two kinds of fish ponds, of fresh water and salt water. The

former are commonly maintained by farmers and without much expense,

for the Lymphae, the homely goddesses of the Fountains, supply the

water for them, while the latter, the sea ponds, are the play things

of our nobles and are furnished with both water and fishes, as it were

by Neptune himself: serving more the purposes of pleasure than of

utility, their accomplishment being rather to empty than to fill the

exchequers of their lords. For in the first place they are built at

great expense, then they are stocked at great expense, and finally

they are maintained at great expense.

"Hirrus was wont to derive an income of twelve thousand sesterces from

the buildings surrounding his fish ponds, all of which he spent

for food for his fishes: and no wonder, for I remember that on one

occasion he lent two thousand _murenae_ to Caesar[219] by weight

(stipulating for their return in kind), so that his villa (which

was not otherwise extraordinary) sold for four million sesterces on

account of the stock of fish.

"In sooth, the inland ponds of our farmer folk may well be called

_dulcis_, and those other _amara_.[220]

"A single fish pond suffices us simple folk, but those amateurs must

have a series of them linked together: for as Pausias and other

painters of his school have boxes with as many compartments as they

have different coloured wax, so must they fain have as many ponds as

they have different varieties of fish.

"These fish are furthermore sacred, more sacred, indeed, than those

fish which you, Varro, say you saw in Lydia, (at the same time that

you saw the dancing isles)[221] which came to the shore, where the altar

was erected for a sacrifice, in shoals at the sound of the Greek pipe,

because no one ever ventured to molest them; so no cook has ever been

known to have 'sauced' one of these fishes.[222]

"When our friend Hortensius had those fish ponds at Baulii, which

represented so large an investment, he was wont to send to Puteoli to

buy the fish he served on his table, as I have often seen when I was

visiting him. And it was not enough that his fishes did not supply

his table, but he was at pains to supply theirs, taking greater

precautions lest his mullets (_mulli_) should go hungry than I do for

my mules in Rosea, and it was not at less cost that he supplied meat

and drink to his stock than I do to mine. For I raise my asses, which

bring such fancy prices, at the cost of one servant, a little barley

and the water which springs from my land, while Hortensius must needs

maintain a fleet of fishermen to keep him supplied with small fry to

feed to his fish, or, when the sea runs high and such deep sea forage

is cut off by a storm, and it is not possible even to draw live bait

ashore in a net, he is fain to buy in the market for the delectation

of the denizens of his ponds the very salt fish which is the food of

the people."

"Doubtless," said I, "Hortensius would prefer to have you take the

carriage mules out of his stable than one of his barbel mules from the

fish pond."

"Yes, indeed," agreed Axius, "and he would rather have a sick slave

drink cold water than that his beloved fish should be risked in that

which is fresh. On the other hand, M. Lucullus was reputed to be so

careless and neglectful of his fish ponds that he did not provide any

suitable quarters for his fishes in hot weather, but permitted them to

remain in ponds which were unhealthy with stagnant water: a practice

very different from that of his brother L. Lucullus, who yielded

nothing to Neptune himself in his care of his fishes, for he pierced

a mountain at Naples, and so contrived that the sea water in his fish

ponds should be renewed by the action of the tides. Furthermore, he

has arranged that his beloved fishes may be driven into a cool place

during the heat of the day, just as the Apulian shepherds do when they

drive their flocks along the drift ways to the Sabine mountains: for

so great was his ardour for the welfare of his fishes that he gave a

commission to his architect to drive at his sole cost a tunnel from

his fish ponds at Raise to the sea, and by throwing out a mole

contrived that the tide should flow in and out of his fish ponds twice

a day, from moon to moon, and so cool them off."

At this moment, while we were talking, there was a sound of foot steps

on the right and our candidate came into the _villa publica_ arrayed

in the broad purple of his new rank as an aedile. We went to meet him

and, after congratulations, escorted him to the Capitol, whence he

departed for his home and we to ours.

So there, my dear Pinnius, is the brief record of our discourse on the

husbandry of the steading.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "The manner in which the ancients managed their fallow

is certainly most worthy of our attention: their care in ploughing,

according to the situation of the land, and nature of the climate, and

their manner of adapting the kind of ploughing to answer the purposes

intended by the operation, are also most worthy of our imitation.

Their exactness in these things exceeds any thing of the kind found

amongst the moderns, and is even beyond what any practical writer on

agriculture has proposed. This is an evidence that tillage is not even

in this age brought to that perfection of which it is capable: and

that, notwithstanding all the improvements lately introduced, we may

yet receive some instruction from a proper attention to the precepts

and practices of the ancients. I am desirous to add that this

attention may be useful by preventing improvers from running into

every specious scheme of agriculture produced by a lively imagination

and engaging them to study the great variety of soils and even

climates in this island, and to be careful in adapting to these their

several operations." Dickson _Husbandry of the Ancients_, XXIII.

The Rev. Andrew Dickson, who died in 1776, was minister of Aberlady in

the county of East Lothian, the son of a progressive and successful

Scots farmer, and had experience in practical agriculture, as well as

in scholarship, as his book shows.]

[Footnote 2: The compilation of rural lore, known as the _Geoponica_,

which exists in Greek, was made at Byzantium for the Emperor

Constantine VII about the middle of the tenth century A.D. It is very

largely a paraphrase of the Roman authors, and is useful principally

in elucidating their textual difficulties.]

[Footnote 3: Donald G. Mitchell made an interesting collation, in his

_Wet Days at Edgewood_, of the large number of books on agriculture

which have been written in old age and by men of affairs, in many

lands and many languages.]

[Footnote 4: It is interesting to record, however, that Varro received

the _Navalis Corona_ for personal gallantry in the war against the

pirates. This distinction was even more rare than our modern Medal of

Honor or Victoria Cross, and was awarded only to a commander who leapt

under arms on the deck of an enemies' ship and then succeeded in

capturing her.]

[Footnote 5: Caesar did not live to accomplish this, but some years

after his death a public library was established at Rome by Asinius

Pollio, which Pliny says (H.N. VII, 31) was the first ever built,

those at Alexandria and Pergamus having been private institutions of

the kings.

In a land where public libraries have been every where founded out

of the accumulations of Big Business, it is interesting to note that

Pollio derived the funds with which this the first of their kind was

endowed, from the plunder of the Illyrians!]

[Footnote 6: Cf. Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Augustan Age_. Virgil Ch.

V. Boissier, _Etudes sur M.T. Varron_, Ch. IX. Servius _Comm. in Verg.

Georg_. I, 43.