Columella: DE RE RUSTICA LIBRI XII

Saepenumero civitatis nostrae principes audio culpantes modo agrorum infecunditatem, modo caeli per multa iam tempora noxiam frugibus intemperiem, quosdam etiam praedictas querimonias velut ratione certa mitigantes, quod existiment ubertate nimia prioris aevi defatigatum et effetum solum nequire pristina benignitate praebere mortalibus alimenta. Quas ego causas, Publi Silvine, procul a veritate abesse certum habeo, quod neque fas sit existimare rerum naturam, quam primus ille mundi genitor perpetua fecunditate donavit, quasi quodam morbo sterilitate affectam; neque prudentis credere tellurem, quae divinam et aeternam iuventam sortita, communis omnium parens dicta sit, velut hominem consenuisse. Nec post haec reor intemperantia caeli nobis ista, sed nostro potius accidere vitio, qui rem rusticam pessimo cuique servorum, velut carnifici, noxae dedimus, quam maiorum nostrorum optimus quisque et optime tractaverit.

I very often hear the leaders of our state blaming now the infecundity of the fields, now the intemperance of the sky, harmful to the crops through many seasons already; some even mitigating the aforesaid complaints as if by a sure rationale, because they suppose that the soil, wearied out and effete by the excessive fecundity of a former age, cannot with its erstwhile benignity furnish nourishment to mortals. These causes, Publius Silvinus, I hold as certainly far from the truth: for neither is it right to suppose that the nature of things—which that first Begetter of the world endowed with perpetual fecundity—has been afflicted, as by a certain disease, with sterility; nor is it the part of a prudent man to believe that the earth, which, having obtained a divine and eternal youth, is called the common parent of all, has, as it were, grown old like a human being. Nor, after this, do I think those things befall us by the intemperance of the sky, but rather by our own fault, in that we have consigned husbandry to the worst of our slaves, as to an executioner, for harm—whereas each of the best of our ancestors both undertook it and handled it most excellently.

Atque ego satis mirari non possum, quid ita dicendi cupidi seligant oratorem, cuius imitentur eloquentiam; mensurarum et numerorum modum rimantes, placitae disciplinae consectentur magistrum; vocis et cantus modulatorem, nec minus corporis gesticulatorem, scrupulosissime requirant saltationis ac musicae rationis studiosi; iam qui aedificare velint, fabros et architectos advocent; qui navigia mari concredere, gubernandi peritos; qui bella moliri, armorum et militiae gnaros; et ne singula persequar, ei studio, quod quis agere velit, consultissimum rectorem adhibeat; denique animi sibi quisque formatorem praeceptoremque virtutis e coetu sapientum arcessat: sola res rustica, quae sine dubitatione proxima et quasi consanguinea sapientiae est, tam discentibus egeat quam magistris. Adhuc enim scholas rhetorum, et, ut dixi, geometrarum musicorumque, vel quod magis mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas, gulosius condiendi cibos et luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque et capillorum concinnatores non solum esse audivi, sed et ipse vidi, agricolationis neque doctores qui se profiterentur, neque discipulos cognovi, cum etiam si praedictarum artium professoribus egeret civitas, tamen, sicut apud priscos, florere posset res publica. Nam sine ludicris artibus atque etiam sine causidicis olim satis felices fuere futuraeque sunt urbes; at sine agri cultoribus nec consistere mortales nec ali posse manifestum est.

And I for my part cannot be sufficiently amazed, why it is that those eager for speaking choose an orator, whose eloquence they may imitate; prying into the rule of measures and of numbers, they pursue a master of the chosen disciplina; students of the voice and of song most scrupulously seek a modulator, and no less, of the body a gesture-master, those devoted to the ratio of dancing and of music; then those who wish to build summon smiths and architects; those who entrust ships to the sea, experts in piloting; those who are set on waging wars, men skilled in arms and in militia; and, not to pursue particulars, to whatever study one wishes to practice, he employs the most well-advised rector; finally, each one summons for himself a shaper of the mind and a preceptor of virtue from the coetus of the wise: agriculture alone, which without doubt is nearest and, as it were, consanguine to wisdom, stands in need of learners no less than of teachers. For up to now I have not only heard that there are schools of rhetors and, as I said, of geometers and musicians, but I myself have seen them, and—what is more wonderful—workshops of the most contemptible vices, for seasoning foods more gluttonously and arranging dishes more luxuriously, and tidy-uppers of heads and hair; but teachers of agricolation who profess themselves, nor pupils, I have not known—although even if the city were without professors of the aforesaid arts, still, as among the ancients, the commonwealth could flourish. For without ludicrous arts, and even without trial-lawyers, cities once were and will be sufficiently happy; but without cultivators of the field it is manifest that mortals can neither subsist nor be nourished.

Quo magis prodigii simile est, quod accidit, ut res corporibus nostris vitaeque utilitati maxime conveniens minime usque in hoc tempus consummationem heberet, idque sperneretur genus amplificandi relinquendique patrimonii, quod omni crimine caret. Nam cetera diversa et quasi repugnantia dissident a iustitia. Nisi aequius existimamus cepisse praedam ex militia, quae nobis nihil sine sanguine et cladibus alienis affert.

All the more is it like a prodigy, what has occurred: that the thing most fitting to our bodies and to the utility of life has least, up to this time, had consummation; and that the kind of amplifying and relinquishing one’s patrimony, which is free from every crime, is scorned. For the other pursuits, diverse and as it were repugnant, dissent from justice. Unless we deem it more equitable to have seized booty from military service, which brings us nothing without blood and others’ calamities.

An bellum perosis, maris et negotiationis alea sit optabilior, ut rupto naturae foedere terrestre animal homo, ventorum et maris obiectus irae, se fluctibus audeat credere semperque, ritu volucrum, longinqui litoris peregrinus ignotum pererret orbem? An feneratio probabilior sit, etiam his invisa, quibus succurrere videtur? Sed ne caninum quidem, sicut dixere veteres, studium praestantius locupletissimum quemque adlatrandi et contra innocentes ac pro nocentibus, neglectum a maioribus, a nobis etiam concessum intra moenia et in ipso foro latrocinium?

Or, with war being abhorred, is the hazard of the sea and of negotiation (commerce) more to be desired, so that, the covenant of nature being broken, man, a terrestrial animal, exposed to the wrath of the winds and the sea, dares to entrust himself to the waves and always, in the manner of birds, as a wanderer of a far-off shore, should traverse an unknown orb? Or is usury more acceptable, even hateful to those whom it seems to succor? But is not even the canine zeal, as the ancients said, of barking at each very wealthy man, and against the innocent and on behalf of the guilty—neglected by our forefathers—by us even conceded, brigandage within the walls and in the very forum?

An honestius duxerim mercenarii salutatoris mendacissimum aucupium circumvolitantis limina potentiorum, somnumque regis sui rumoribus augurantis? Neque enim roganti quid agatur intus respondere servi dignantur. An putem fortunatius a catenato repulsum ianitore saepe nocte foribus ingratis adiacere, miserrimoque famulatu per dedecus, fascium decus et imperium, profuso tamen patrimonio, mercari?

Or shall I deem more honorable the most mendacious bird-catching of a hired salutator, flitting around the thresholds of the more powerful, and auguring his king’s sleep from rumors? For the slaves do not deign to answer when he asks what is being done inside. Or should I think it happier to, repulsed by a chained doorkeeper, often in the night lie beside ungracious doors, and by a most wretched servitude, to his disgrace, to purchase the honor of the fasces and imperium, his patrimony poured out nevertheless?

Nam nec gratuita servitute, sed donis rependitur honor. Quae si et ipsa et eorum similia bonis fugienda sunt, superest, ut dixi, unum genus liberale et ingenuum rei familiaris augendae, quod ex agricolatione contigit. Cuius praecepta si vel temere ab indoctis, dum tamen agrorum possessoribus, antiquo more administrarentur, minus iacturae paterentur res rusticae.

For honor is repaid not by gratuitous servitude, but by gifts. If these, both this itself and things similar to them, are to be shunned by the good, there remains, as I said, one liberal and ingenuous kind of augmenting the household estate, which comes from agriculture. The precepts of which, if even heedlessly by the unlearned—provided, however, that they are owners of fields—were administered in the ancient manner, rural affairs would suffer less loss.

Nam industria dominorum cum ignorantiae detrimentis multa pensaret; nec quorum commodum ageretur, tota vita vellent imprudentes negotii sui conspici; eoque discendi cupidiores agricolationem pernoscerent. Nunc et ipsi praedia nostra colere dedignamur, et nullius momenti ducimus peritissimum quemque villicum facere; vel si nescium, certe vigoris experrecti, quo celerius, quod ignorat, addiscat. Sed sive fundum locuples mercatus est, e turba pedisequorum lecticariorumque defectissimum annis et viribus in agrum relegat; cum istud opus non solum scientiam, sed et viridem aetatem cum robore corporis ad labores sufferendos desideret; sive mediarum facultatum dominus, ex mercenariis aliquem, iam recusantem quotidianum illud tributum [qui vectigalis esse non possit], ignarum rei cui praefuturus est, magistrum fieri iubet.

For the industry of masters would counterbalance many things against the detriments of ignorance; nor would those for whose advantage the business was being transacted wish, for their whole life, to be seen as imprudent of their own affair; and therefore, more desirous of learning, they would come to know agriculture thoroughly. Now we ourselves both disdain to cultivate our estates, and we reckon it of no moment to make the bailiff most skilled; or, if unknowing, at least of awakened vigor, so that he may more swiftly learn what he does not know. But whether a wealthy man has purchased a farm, he banishes into the field, from the crowd of foot-servants and litter-bearers, the one most worn-out in years and in strength; although that work requires not only knowledge, but also a green age with the robustness of body for enduring labors; or, being a master of middling means, from among the hirelings he orders someone—already refusing that daily tribute [who cannot be tributary]—ignorant of the matter he is going to preside over, to be made master.

Quae cum animadvertam, saepe mecum retractans ac recogitans quam turpi consensu deserta exoleverit disciplina ruris, vereor ne flagitiosa et quodam modo pudenda aut inhonesta videatur ingenuis. Verum cum pluribus monumentis scriptorum admonear apud antiquos nostros fuisse gloriae curam rusticationis, ex qua Quintius Cincinnatus obsessi consulis et exercitus liberator, ab aratro vocatus ad dictaturam venerit, ac rursus fascibus depositis, quos festinantius victor reddiderat, quam sumpserat imperator, ad eosdem iuvencos et quattuor iugerum avitum herediolum redierit; itemque C. Fabricius et Curius Dentatus, alter Pyrrho finibus Italiae pulso, domitis alter Sabinis, accepta, quae viritim dividebantur, captivi agri septem iugera non minus industrie coluerit quam fortiter armis quaesierat; et ne singulos intempestive nunc persequar, cum tot alios Romani generis intuear memorabiles duces hoc semper duplici studio floruisse, vel defendendi, vel colendi patrios quaesitosve fines, intelligo luxuriae et deliciis nostris pristinum morem virilemque vitam displicuisse. Omnes enim (sicut M. Varro iam temporibus avorum conquestus est) patres familiae falce et aratro relictis intra murum correpsimus, et in circis potius ac theatris, quam in segetibus et vinetis manus movemus, attonitique miramur gestus effeminatorum, quod a natura sexum viris denegatum muliebri motu mentiantur, decipiantque oculos spectantium.

As I notice these things, often retracting and rethinking with myself how by a base consensus the discipline of the countryside has been deserted and has withered away, I fear lest it may seem disgraceful and in a certain way shameful or dishonorable to the freeborn. But since by many written monuments I am reminded that among our ancients there was a care for the glory of rustication, from which Quintius Cincinnatus, the liberator of the besieged consul and army, called from the plow, came to the dictatorship, and again, the fasces laid down, which as victor he had returned more hastily than, as commander, he had taken them up, he returned to the same yoke of oxen and to the ancestral little holding of four iugera; likewise Gaius Fabricius and Curius Dentatus—one with Pyrrhus driven from the borders of Italy, the other with the Sabines subdued—having received seven iugera of captured land, which were being divided man by man, did cultivate it no less industriously than they had bravely acquired it by arms; and lest I now untimely pursue individuals, since I behold so many other memorable leaders of the Roman stock to have always flourished in this twofold zeal, either of defending or of cultivating their ancestral or acquired boundaries, I understand that to our luxury and delights the former custom and manly life have become displeasing. For all of us (as M. Varro already in the times of our grandfathers complained), heads of household, with sickle and plow abandoned, have crept within the wall, and in circuses and theaters rather than in cornfields and vineyards we move our hands, and, thunderstruck, we admire the gestures of effeminates, because by a womanly motion they counterfeit for men a sex denied by nature, and they deceive the eyes of the spectators.

Mox deinde ut apti veniamus ad ganeas, quotidianam cruditatem Laconicis excoquimus, et exsucto sudore sitim quaerimus, noctesque libidinibus et ebrietatibus, dies ludo vel somno consumimus; ac nosmetipsos ducimus fortunatos, quod nec orientem solem vidimus nec occidentem. Itaque istam vitam socordem persequitur valetudo. Nam sic iuvenum corpora fluxa et resoluta sunt, ut nihil mors mutatura videatur.

Soon then, that we may come fit for the cookshops, we boil off the daily crudity in the Laconicums, and, the sweat sucked out, we court thirst, and we consume the nights in lusts and drunkenness, the days in play or sleep; and we deem ourselves fortunate, because we have seen neither the sun rising nor the sun setting. Accordingly, sickness dogs that slothful life. For thus the bodies of the young are so fluid and unstrung that death seems about to change nothing.

At mehercules vera illa Romuli proles assiduis venatibus nec minus agrestibus operibus exercitata, firmissimis praevaluit corporibus, ac militiam belli, cum res postulavit, facile sustinuit durata pacis laboribus, semperque rusticam plebem praeposuit urbanae. Ut enim qui in villis intra consepta morarentur, quam qui foris terram molirentur, ignaviores habitos; sic eos, qui sub umbra civitatis intra moenia desides cunctarentur, quam qui rura colerent [administrarentque opera colonorum] segniores visos. Nundinarum etiam conventus manifestum est propterea usurpatos, ut nonis tantummodo diebus urbanae res agerentur, reliquis administrarentur rusticae.

But, by Hercules, that true offspring of Romulus, exercised by assiduous huntings and no less by agrestial works, prevailed with the stoutest bodies, and easily sustained the militia of war, when the matter demanded it, having been hardened by the labors of peace, and it always set the rustic plebs before the urban. For just as those who stayed in farmsteads within enclosures were held more idle than those who worked the earth outside, so those who, slothful, loitered under the shade of the civitas within the walls were seen more sluggish than those who tilled the fields [and administered the works of the coloni]. It is evident also that the conventions of the nundinae were therefore employed, in order that on only the nundinal days urban affairs might be transacted, and on the remaining days rustic affairs administered.

Illis enim temporibus, ut ante iam diximus, proceres civitatis in agris morabantur; et cum consilium publicum desiderabatur, et villis arcessebantur in senatum. Ex quo, qui eos evocabant, viatores nominati sunt. Isque mos dum servatus est perseverantissimo colendorum agrorum studio, veteres illi Sabini Quirites atavique Romani, quamquam inter ferrum et ignes hosticisque incursionibus vastatas fruges, largius tamen condidere, quam nos, quibus diuturna permittente pace prolatare licuit rem rusticam.

For in those times, as we have already said before, the grandees of the state stayed in the fields; and when public counsel was desired, they were summoned from their farmsteads into the senate. Whence those who called them out were named viatores. And this custom, so long as it was kept, with the most persevering zeal for cultivating the fields, those ancient Sabine Quirites and ancestral Romans, although amid iron and fires and with the crops ravaged by enemy incursions, nevertheless stored up more abundantly than we, to whom, prolonged peace permitting, it has been allowed to prolong the rustic business.

Itaque in hoc Latio et Saturnia terra, ubi dii cultus agrorum progeniem suam docuerant, ibi nunc ad hastam locamus, ut nobis ex transmarinis provinciis advehatur frumentum, ne fame laboremus: et vindemiam condimus ex insulis Cycladibus ac regionibus Baeticis Gallicisque. Nec mirum, cum sit publice concepta et confirmata iam vulgaris existimatio, rem rusticam sordidum opus, et id esse negotium, quod nullius egeat magisterio praeceptoris. At ego, cum aut magnitudinem totius rei, quasi quandam vastitatem corporis, aut partium eius velut singulorum membrorum numerum recenseo, vereor ne supremus ante me dies occupet, quam universam disciplinam ruris possim cognoscere.

And so in this Latium and Saturnian land, where the gods had taught their progeny the cultivation of the fields, there now we put things up to the spear, so that grain may be conveyed to us from transmarine provinces, lest we suffer from hunger; and we lay up the vintage from the Cycladic islands and the Baetican and Gallic regions. Nor is it a marvel, since there is now publicly conceived and confirmed the vulgar estimation that agriculture is a sordid work, and that it is a business which needs the magistery of no preceptor. But I, when I reckon either the magnitude of the whole matter, as a certain vastness of a body, or the number of its parts, as it were of individual members, I fear lest the last day overtake me before I can come to know the entire discipline of the countryside.

Nam qui se in hac scientia perfectum volet profiteri, sit oportet rerum naturae sagacissimus, declinationum mundi non ignarus, ut exploratum habeat, quid cuique plagae conveniat, quid repugnet; siderum ortus et occasus memoria repetat, ne imbribus ventisque imminentibus opera inchoet, laboremque frustretur. Caeli et anni praesentis mores intueatur. Neque enim semper eundem velut ex praescripto habitum gerunt, nec omnibus annis eodem vultu venit aestas aut hiems; nec pluvium semper est ver aut humidus autumnus.

For whoever will wish to profess himself perfect in this science must be most sagacious in the things of nature, not ignorant of the declinations of the world, so that he may have it ascertained what suits each clime, what opposes; let him recall to memory the risings and settings of the stars, lest, with rains and winds imminent, he begin works and frustrate his labor. Let him consider the manners of the sky and of the present year. For they do not always bear the same habit, as if by prescription, nor do summer or winter come with the same face in every year; nor is spring always pluvial, or autumn humid.

Quae pernoscere sine lumine animi et sine exquisitissimis disciplinis non quemquam posse crediderim. Iam ipsa terrae varietas et cuiusque soli habitus, quid nobis neget, quid promittat, paucorum est discernere. Contemplatio vero cunctarum in ea disciplina partium quanto cuique contigit, ut et segetum arationumque perciperet usum, et varias dissimillimasque terrarum species pernosceret?

Which things I would not believe anyone able to come to know thoroughly without the light of the mind and without the most exquisite disciplines. Already the very variety of the earth and the habitus of each soil—what it denies us, what it promises—only a few are able to discern. But the contemplation of all the parts in that discipline: to what extent has it fallen to anyone, such that he might both perceive the use of crops and ploughings, and come to know thoroughly the various and most dissimilar kinds of lands?

Quarum nonnullae colore, nonnullae qualitate fallunt; atque in aliis regionibus nigra terra, quam pullam vocant, ut in Campania, est laudabilis; in aliis pinguis rubrica melius respondet; quibusdam sicut in Africa Numidiae putres arenae fecunditate vel robustissimum solum vincunt; in Asia Mysiaque densa et glutinosa terra maxime exuberat; atque in his ipsis haberet cognitum, quid <ferret aut> recusaret collis, quid campestris positio, quid cultus, quid silvester ager, quid humidus et graminosus, quid siccus et spurcus; rationem quoque dispiceret in arboribus vineisque, quarum infinita sunt genera, conserendis ac tuendis; et in pecoribus parandis conservandisque: quoniam et hanc adscivimus quasi agriculturae partem, cum separata sit ab agricolatione pastoralis scientia, nec ea tamen simplex. Quippe aliud exigit equinum, atque aliud bubulum armentum, aliud pecus ovillum; et in eo ipso dissimilem rationem postulat Tarentinum atque hirtum, aliud caprinum; et id ipsum aliter curatur mutilum et raripilum, aliter cornutum et setosum, quale est in Cilicia. Porculatoris vero et subulci diversa professio, diversae pastiones; nec eundem glabrae sues densaeque caeli statum, nec eandem educationem cultumve quaerunt.

Some of which deceive by color, some by quality; and in some regions the black earth, which they call dusky, as in Campania, is praiseworthy; in others a fat red earth answers better; in certain places, as in Africa’s Numidia, rotten/friable sands by their fecundity even outperform the most robust soil; in Asia and Mysia a dense and glutinous earth most of all overabounds; and in these very matters he should have known what a hill would refuse, what a level situation, what cultivated land, what woodland field, what moist and grassy, what dry and foul; he would also discern the rationale in trees and vines—of which there are infinite kinds—for planting and for tending; and in procuring and conserving herds: since we have also adopted this as, as it were, a part of agriculture, although the pastoral science is separate from tillage, nor is it simple. For the equine herd demands one management, the bovine another, the ovine flock another; and even within that, the Tarentine and the shaggy require unlike treatment, and the caprine another; and that itself is cared for differently—the polled and thin-fleeced differently from the horned and bristly, such as is in Cilicia. Indeed the boar-keeper and the swineherd have different profession, different pasturings; nor do smooth-haired and thick-coated swine require the same state of climate, nor the same rearing and cultivation.

Et ut a pecoribus recedam, quorum in parte avium cohortalium et apium cura posita est; quis tanti studii fuit, ut super ista, quae enumeravimus, tot nosset species insitionum, tot putationum? Tot pomorum olerumque cultus exerceret? Tot generibus ficorum, sicut rosariis impenderet curam?

And, to step away from the herds—of which part the care of courtyard birds and of bees is included—who was of such great zeal that, beyond those things which we have enumerated, he would know so many kinds of insitions (graftings), so many of putations (prunings)? Would he practice so many cultivations of fruits and vegetables? Would he bestow care upon so many kinds of figs, as upon rose-beds?

Cum a plerisque etiam maiora negligantur. Quamquam et ista iam non minima vectigalia multis esse coeperunt. Nam prata et salicta, genistaeque et arundines, quamvis tenuem, nihilominus aliquam desiderant industriam.

Although by the majority even greater matters are neglected. Yet even these have already begun to be no small revenues for many. For meadows and willow-stands, and broom and reeds, although slight, nonetheless demand some industry.

Post hanc tam multarum tamque multiplicium rerum praedicationem non me praeterit, si, quem desideramus agricolam, quemque describimus, exegero a participibus agrestium operum, tardatum iri studia discentium, qui tam variae, tamque vastae scientiae desperatione conterriti, nolent experiri quod se consequi posse diffident. Verumtamen quod in Oratore iam M. Tullius rectissime dixit, par est eos qui generi humano res utilissimas conquirere, et perpensas exploratasque memoriae tradere concupiverint, cuncta tentare. Nec si vel illa praestantis ingenii vis, vel inclitarum artium defecerit instrumentum, confestim debemus ad otium et inertiam devolvi; sed quod sapienter speraverimus, perseveranter consectari.

After this proclamation of so many and such multiple matters, it does not escape me that, if I shall have exacted from the participants in rustic works the sort of farmer whom we desire and whom we describe, the studies of learners will be slowed: terrified by despair of a knowledge so varied and so vast, they will not wish to try what they distrust they can attain. Nevertheless, as Marcus Tullius has most rightly said already in On the Orator, it is fitting that those who have desired to collect the most useful things for the human race, and—once weighed and explored—to hand them down to memory, should attempt everything. Nor, if either that force of outstanding genius or the instrument of renowned arts has failed, ought we straightway to roll down into leisure and idleness; but what we have wisely hoped for, we should pursue perseveringly.

Summum enim culmen affectantes satis honeste vel in secundo fastigio conspiciemur. Nam Latiae Musae non solos adytis suis Accium et Virgilium recepere, sed eorum et proximis et procul a secundis sacras concessere sedes. Nec Brutum aut Caelium Pollionemve cum Messala, et Calvo deterruere ab eloquentiae studio fulmina illa Ciceronis.

For while aiming at the highest summit, we shall be seen quite honorably even on the second ridge. For the Latin Muses received not only Accius and Virgil into their adyta, but granted sacred seats to those both nearest to them and far removed from second places. Nor did those thunderbolts of Cicero deter Brutus or Caelius or Pollio, along with Messalla and Calvus, from the study of eloquence.

Nam neque [ille] ipse Cicero territus cesserat tonantibus Demostheni Platonique: nec parens eloquentiae, deus ille Maeonius, vastissimis fluminibus facundiae suae posteritatis studia restinxerat. Ac ne minoris quidem famae opifices per tot iam saecula videmus laborem suum destituisse, qui Protogenem Apellemque cum Parrhasio mirati sunt. Nec pulchritudine Iovis Olympii Minervaeque Phidiacae sequentis aetatis attonitos piguit experiri Bryaxim, Lysippum, Praxitelem, Polyclitum, quid efficere, aut quousque progredi possent.

For neither had [that] Cicero himself, though frightened, yielded to the thunderings of Demosthenes and Plato: nor had the parent of eloquence, that Maeonian god, with the most vast rivers of his facundity, quenched the zeal of posterity. And we see that artificers of not even lesser fame through so many ages have not abandoned their labor, who have admired Protogenes and Apelles together with Parrhasius. Nor, though astonished by the beauty of Jove Olympius and of the Phidian Minerva, did it weary men of the following age—Bryaxis, Lysippus, Praxiteles, Polyclitus—to try what they could effect, and how far they could advance.

Sed in omni genere scientiae et summis admiratio veneratioque et inferioribus merita laus contigit. Accedit huc, quod ille, quem nos perfectum esse volumus agricolam, si quidem artis consummatae non sit, nec in universa rerum natura sagacitatem Democriti vel Pythagorae fuerit consecutus, et in motibus astrorum ventorumque Metonis providentiam vel Eudoxi, et in pecoris cultu doctrinam Chironis ac Melampodis, et in agrorum solique molitione Triptolemi aut Aristaei prudentiam, multum tamen profecerit, si usu Tremellios Sasernasque et Stolones nostros aequaverit. Potest enim nec subtilissima, nec rursus, quod aiunt, pingui Minerva res agrestis administrari.

But in every kind of knowledge, both to the highest has come admiration and veneration, and to the lower, deserved praise. Added to this is that the farmer whom we wish to be perfect, if indeed he be not of a consummated art, nor in the whole nature of things has attained the sagacity of Democritus or Pythagoras, and in the motions of the stars and of winds the foresight of Meton or Eudoxus, and in the tending of cattle the doctrine of Chiron and Melampus, and in the working of fields and soil the prudence of Triptolemus or Aristaeus, yet will have made much progress if by experience he shall have equaled our Tremellii, the Sasernas, and the Stolones. For the rustic business can be administered neither with very fine subtlety nor, again, as they say, with a “fat Minerva.”

Nam illud procul vero est, quod plerique crediderunt, facillimam esse nec ullius acuminis rusticationem. De cuius universitate nihil attinet plura nunc disserere, quandoquidem cunctae partes eius destinatis aliquot voluminibus explicandae sunt, quas ordine suo tunc demum persequar, cum praefatus fuero, quae reor ad universam disciplinam maxime pertinere.

For that is far from the truth which most have believed: that farming is very easy and of no acumen. Concerning the universality of which, it is not pertinent to discourse further now, since all its parts are to be explained in several designated volumes, which I will then at last pursue in their order, when I shall have prefaced the matters which I judge to pertain most to the entire discipline.

I. Qui studium agricolationi dederit, antiquissima sciat haec sibi advocanda: prudentiam rei, facultatem impendendi, voluntatem agendi. Nam is demum cultissimum rus habebit, ut ait Tremellius, qui et colere sciet et poterit et volet. Neque enim scire aut velle cuiquam satis fuerit sine sumptibus, quos exigunt opera; nec rursus faciendi aut impendendi voluntas <facultasque> profuerit sine arte, quia caput est in omni negotio nosse quid agendum sit, maximeque in agricultura, in qua voluntas facultasque citra scientiam saepe magnam dominis afferunt iacturam, cum imprudenter facta opera frustrantur impensas.

1. Whoever has dedicated zeal to agriculture should know that these very ancient fundamentals must be summoned to his aid: prudence in the matter, the faculty of expending, the will of acting. For he, as Tremellius says, will have the most well-cultivated estate who both will know how to cultivate and will be able and will be willing. For neither knowing nor willing will have been sufficient for anyone without the expenses which the works require; nor, in turn, will a will of doing or of expending <facultasque> be of profit without art (skill), because the chief point in every business is to know what must be done, and most especially in agriculture, in which willingness and capacity without knowledge often bring great loss to the owners, since works done imprudently frustrate the outlays.

Itaque diligens pater familias, cui cordi est ex agri cultu certam sequi rationem rei familiaris augendae, maxime curabit, ut aetatis suae prudentissimos agricolas de quaque re consulat, et commentarios antiquorum sedulo scrutetur, atque aestimet quid eorum quisque senserit, quid praeceperit; an universa, quae maiores prodiderunt, huius temporis culturae respondeant, an aliqua dissonent. Multos enim iam memorabiles auctores comperi persuasum habere longo aevi situ qualitatem caeli situmque mutari; eorumque consultissimum astrologiae professorem Hipparchum prodidisse tempus fore quo cardines mundi loco moverentur; idque etiam non spernendus auctor rei rusticae Saserna videtur adcredidisse. Nam eo libro, quem de agricultura scriptum reliquit, mutatum caeli situm sic colligit, quod quae regiones antea propter hiemis assiduam violentiam nullam stirpem vitis aut oleae depositam custodire potuerint, nunc mitigato [iam] et intepescente pristino frigore largissimis olivitatibus Liberique vindemiis exuberent.

Therefore the diligent paterfamilias, to whom it is at heart from the cultivation of the field to follow a fixed method of augmenting the domestic estate, will be especially careful to consult, on each matter, the most prudent farmers of his own age, and to search diligently the commentaries of the ancients, and to assess what each of them thought, what he prescribed; whether all the things which the elders have handed down correspond to the cultivation of this time, or whether some are dissonant. For I have already found many memorable authors to be persuaded that, in the long lapse of time, the quality of the sky and its site are changed; and that Hipparchus, a most expert professor of astrology among them, reported that a time would come when the poles of the world would be moved from their place; and this too Saserna, a not-to-be-despised author of rustic affairs, seems to have given credence to. For in that book which he left written on agriculture, he thus infers the changed site of the sky: that those regions which previously, on account of the continual violence of winter, could keep safe no stock of vine or olive once set in the ground, now, with the former cold mitigated [already] and growing warm, abound in most plentiful olive-harvests and in the vintages of Liber.

Sed haec sive falsa seu vera ratio est, litteris astrologiae concedatur. Cetera non dissimulanda erunt agrorum cultori praecepta rusticationis, quae cum plurima tradiderint Poeni ex Africa scriptores, multa tamen ab his falso prodita coarguunt nostri coloni. Sicut Tremellius, qui querens id ipsum, tamen excusat, quod Italiae et Africae solum caelumque diversae naturae nequeat eosdem proventus habere.

But whether this line of reasoning is false or true, let it be left to the literature of astrology. The remaining precepts of rustication are not to be concealed from the cultivator of fields, which, although the Punic writers from Africa have handed down very many, yet our farmers convict many of these as falsely put forth. So too Tremellius, who, while complaining of this very thing, nevertheless offers the excuse that the soil and sky of Italy and Africa, being of a different nature, cannot have the same yields.

Quaecumque sunt autem, quae propter disciplina ruris nostrorum temporum cum priscis discrepat, non deterrere debent a lectione discentem. Nam multo plura reperiuntur apud veteres, quae nobis probanda sint, quam quae repudianda. Magna porro et Graecorum turba est de rusticis rebus praecipiens; cuius princeps celeberrimus vates non minimum professioni nostrae contulit Hesiodus Boeotius.

Whatever things, however, which on account of the discipline of the countryside in our times disagree with the ancients, ought not to deter the learner from reading. For far more are found among the ancients which are to be approved by us than those to be repudiated. Moreover, there is a great throng of Greeks prescribing about rustic matters; whose chief, the most celebrated vates, Hesiod the Boeotian, has contributed not a little to our profession.

Magis deinde eam iuvere fontibus orti sapientiae Democritus Abderites, Socraticus Xenophon, Tarentinus Archytas, Peripatetici magister ac discipulus Aristoteles cum Theophrasto. Siculi quoque non mediocri cura negotium istud prosecuti sunt Hieron et Epicharmus discipulus, Philometor et Attalus. Athenae vero scriptorum frequentiam pepererunt, e queis probatissimi auctores Chaereas, Aristandros, Amphilochus, Euphronius, Chrestus Euphronis, non, ut multi putant, Amphipolites, qui et ipse laudabilis habetur agricola, sed indigena soli Attici.

Then further it was helped more by those sprung from the founts of wisdom: Democritus the Abderite, Xenophon the Socratic, Archytas the Tarentine, the Peripatetics’ master and disciple, Aristotle with Theophrastus. The Sicilians too, with no mediocre care, prosecuted this business: Hieron and the disciple of Epicharmus, Philometor and Attalus. Athens indeed brought forth a multitude of writers, among whom the most approved authors are Chaereas, Aristandros, Amphilochus, Euphronius, Chrestus son of Euphron—not, as many think, the Amphipolitan, who also himself is held a praiseworthy agricola, but a native of the soil of Attica.

Insulae quoque curam istam celebraverunt, ut testis est Rhodius Epigenes, Chius Agathocles, Evagon et Anaxipolis Thasii. Unius quoque de septem Biantis illius populares Menander et Diodorus in primis sibi vindicaverunt agricolationis prudentiam. Nec his cessere Milesii Bacchius et Mnaseas, Antigonus Cymaeus, Pergamenus Apollonius, Dion Colophonius, Hegesias Maronites.

The islands too have celebrated this concern, as witness Epigenes the Rhodian, Agathocles the Chian, and Evagon and Anaxipolis, Thasians. The fellow-countrymen of that Bias, one of the Seven, Menander and Diodorus, claimed for themselves in the first rank the prudence of agriculture. Nor did these yield to them: Bacchius and Mnaseas of Miletus, Antigonus the Cymaean, Apollonius the Pergamene, Dion the Colophonian, and Hegesias of Maroneia.

Nam quidem Diophanes Bithynius Uticensem totum Dionysium, Poeni Magonis interpretem, per multa diffusum volumina, sex epitomis circumscripsit. Et alii tamen obscuriores, quorum patrias non accepimus, aliquod stipendium nostro studio contulerunt. Hi sunt Androtion, Aeschrion, Aristomenes, Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysius Euphyton, Euphorion.

For indeed Diophanes the Bithynian compressed the whole Dionysius of Utica, the interpreter of the Punic Mago, which was diffused through many volumes, into six epitomes. And yet others, more obscure, whose fatherlands we have not received, have contributed some stipend to our study. These are Androtion, Aeschrion, Aristomenes, Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysius Euphyton, Euphorion.

Nec minori fide pro virili parte tributum nobis intulerunt Lysimachus et Cleobulus. Et ut agricolationem Romana tandem civitate donemus, (nam adhuc istis auctoribus Graecae gentis fuit) iam nunc M. Catonem censorium illum memoremus, qui ea Latine loqui primus instituit. Post hunc duos Sasernas, patrem et filium, qui eam diligentius erudierunt; ac deinde Scrofam Tremellium, qui etiam eloquentem reddidit, et M. Terentium, qui expolivit; mox Virgilium, qui carminum quoque potentem fecit.

Nor with lesser faith did Lysimachus and Cleobulus, to the best of their ability, bring a contribution to us. And that we may at last endow agriculture with Roman citizenship (for up to now, with these authors, it had been of the Greek nation), let us now mention Marcus Cato, that Censor, who first instituted that it speak in Latin. After him the two Sasernae, father and son, who instructed it more diligently; and then Tremellius Scrofa, who even made it eloquent, and Marcus Terentius, who polished it; soon Virgil, who made it powerful in songs as well.

Nec postremo quasi paedagogi eius meminisse dedignemur Iulii Hygini: verumtamen ut Carthaginiensem Magonem rusticationis parentem maxime veneremur. Nam huius octo et viginti memorabilis illa volumina ex senatus consulto in Latinum sermonem conversa sunt. Non minorem tamen laudem meruerunt nostrorum temporum viri, Cornelius Celsus et Iulius Atticus.

Nor finally let us disdain to remember Julius Hyginus as, so to speak, its pedagogue: nevertheless, let us most greatly venerate Mago the Carthaginian as the parent of husbandry. For his memorable 28 volumes were translated into the Latin tongue by decree of the senate. Yet men of our times, Cornelius Celsus and Julius Atticus, have deserved no less praise.

Quippe Cornelius totum corpus disciplinae quinque libris complexus est. Hic de una specie culturae pertinentis ad vites singularem librum edidit. Cuius velut discipulus duo volumina similium praeceptorum de vineis Iulius Graecinus composita facetius et eruditius posteritati tradenda curavit.

Indeed Cornelius encompassed the whole corpus of the discipline in five books. He published a singular book on one species of cultivation pertaining to vines. As though his disciple, Julius Graecinus took care that two volumes of similar precepts about vineyards, composed more wittily and more eruditely, be handed down to posterity.

Hos igitur, Publi Silvine, prius quam cum agricolatione contrahas, advocato in consilium: nec tamen sic mente dispositus, velut summam totius rei sententiis eorum consecuturus: quippe eiusmodi scriptorum monumenta magis instruunt quam faciunt artificem. Usus et experientia dominantur in artibus: neque est ulla disciplina, in qua non peccando discatur. Nam ubi quid perperam administratum cessit improspere, vitatur quod fefellerat: illuminatque rectam viam docentis magisterium.

These men therefore, Publius Silvinus, before you enter into engagements with agriculture, call into counsel: yet not with your mind so disposed, as though you were about to obtain the sum of the whole matter from their opinions: for the monuments of writers of this sort instruct rather than make a craftsman. Use and experience dominate in the arts: nor is there any discipline in which one is not learned by erring. For when something administered amiss has turned out unfavorably, that which had deceived is avoided: and the magistery of the teacher illuminates the straight way.

Quare nostra praecepta non consummare scientiam, sed adiuvare promittunt. Nec statim quisquam compos agricolationis erit his perlectis rationibus, nisi et obire eas voluerit, et per facultates potuerit. Ideoque haec velut adminicula studiosis promittimus, non profutura per se sola, sed cum aliis.

Wherefore our precepts promise not to consummate knowledge, but to aid it. Nor will anyone straightway be a master of agriculture after these reasonings have been thoroughly read, unless he shall also have been willing to carry them out, and have been able to do so according to his faculties. And so we proffer these, as it were, as supports for the studious, not going to be of profit by themselves alone, but with others.

Ac ne ista quidem praesidia, ut diximus, non assiduus labor et experientia villici, non facultates ac voluntas impendendi tantum pollent, quantum vel una praesentia domini: quae nisi frequens operibus intervenerit, ut in exercitu cum abest imperator, cuncta cessant officia. Maximeque reor hoc significantem Poenum Magonem, suorum scriptorum primordium talibus auspicatum sententiis: qui agrum paravit, domum vendat, ne malit urbanum quam rusticum larem colere. Cui magis cordi fuerit urbanum domicilium, rustico praedio non erit opus.

And not even these safeguards, as we have said, do the assiduous labor and the experience of the farm-steward, nor the resources and the will to expend, avail as much as even the single presence of the master: which, unless it frequently intervenes in the works, as in an army, when the commander is absent, all duties cease. And most of all I think the Carthaginian Mago signified this, having inaugurated the beginning of his writings with such maxims: he who has prepared a field, let him sell his house, lest he prefer to tend an urban rather than a rustic hearth. For him to whom an urban domicile is more at heart, a rustic estate will be of no use.

Quod ego praeceptum, si posset his temporibus observari, non immutarem. Nunc quoniam plerosque nostrum civilis ambitio saepe evocat ac saepius detinet evocatos, sequitur ut suburbanum praedium commodissimum esse putem, quo vel occupato quotidianus excursus facile post negotia fori contingat. Nam qui longinqua ne dicam transmarina rura mercantur, velut haeredibus patrimonio suo, vel quod gravius est, vivi cedunt servis suis; quoniam quidem et illi tam longa dominorum distantia corrumpuntur, et corrupti post flagitia, quae commiserunt, sub expectatione successorum, rapinis magis quam culturis student.

Which precept I would not alter, if it could be observed in these times. Now, since civil ambition often calls forth most of us and more often detains those called forth, it follows that I consider a suburban estate to be most commodious, to which, even when one is occupied, a daily excursion may easily occur after the business of the forum. For those who purchase farms far away— not to say transmarine— as it were yield their patrimony to their heirs, or, what is more grievous, while alive they cede it to their slaves; since indeed they too are corrupted by so long a distance of their masters, and, once corrupted, after the outrages which they have committed, under the expectation of successors, they devote themselves to rapine rather than to cultivation.

II. Censeo igitur in propinquo agrum mercari, quo et frequenter dominus veniat et frequentius se venturum, quam sit venturus, denuntiet. Sub hoc enim metu cum familia villicus erit in officio. Quicquid vero dabitur occasionis, ruri moretur.

II. I judge, therefore, that a field should be bought nearby, so that the master both may come frequently and may more frequently give notice that he will come than he is actually going to come. Under this fear, indeed, the steward together with the household will be in duty. Whatever occasion is afforded, let him stay in the country.

Quae non sit mora segnis nec umbratilis. Nam diligentem patrem familias decet agri sui particulas omnes et omni tempore anni frequentius circumire, quo prudentius naturam soli sive in frondibus et herbis, sive iam maturis frugibus contempletur: nec ignoret quicquid in eo recte fieri poterit. Nam illud vetus est [et] Catonis, agrum pessime multari, cuius dominus quid in eo faciundum sit non docet, sed audit villicum.

Let there be no sluggish or umbratile delay. For it befits a diligent paterfamilias to make the rounds of all the parcels of his field, and at every season of the year to do so more frequently, so that he may more prudently contemplate the nature of the soil—whether in foliage and grasses, or now in ripened crops—and not be ignorant of whatever can be done rightly in it. For that old maxim of Cato stands: that a field is penalized in the worst way when its master does not teach what is to be done in it, but listens to the bailiff.

Quapropter vel a maioribus traditum possidenti vel empturo fundum praecipua cura sit scire quod maxime regionis genus probetur, ut vel careat inutili, vel mercetur laudabilem. Quod si voto fortuna subscripserit, agrum habebimus salubri caelo, uberi glaeba, parte campestri, parte alia collibus vel ad orientem vel ad meridiem molliter devexis; terrenisque aliis ac cultis atque aliis silvestribus et asperis, nec procul a mari aut navigabili flumine, quo deportari fructus et per quod merces invehi possint. Campus in prata et arva salictaque et arundineta digestus, aedificio subiaceat.

Wherefore, whether to one possessing a farm handed down by his elders or to one about to purchase, let chief care be to know what kind of region is most approved, so that he may either avoid a useless one or buy a laudable one. And if fortune shall subscribe to the wish, we shall have a field with a salubrious sky (climate), with a rich glebe, in part level, in another part with hills gently sloping either to the east or to the south; with some tracts loamy and tilled, and others wooded and rough, and not far from the sea or a navigable river, by which the produce may be carried down and through which merchandise may be brought in. Let the plain, divided into meadows and ploughlands and willow-beds and reed-beds, lie beneath the building.

Colles alii vacui arboribus, ut soles segetibus serviant; quae tamen modice siccis ac pinguibus campis melius quam praecipitibus locis proveniunt. Ideoque etiam celsiores agri frumentarii planities habere et quam mollissime devexi ac simillimi debent esse campestri positioni. Alii deinde colles olivetis vinetisque et earum futuris pedamentis vestiantur, .... materiam lapidemque, si necessitas aedificandi coegerit, nec minus pecudibus pascua praebere possint.

Let other hills be empty of trees, so that the suns may serve the sown fields; which, however, in moderately dry and rich fields thrive better than in precipitous places. And so even the higher grain-bearing lands ought to have level stretches and to be as gently sloping as possible, and most similar to a campestral position. Other hills then should be clothed with olive-groves and vineyards and with their future props, .... may be able to provide timber and stone, if the necessity of building has compelled, and no less to provide pastures for the flocks.

Tum rivos decurrentes in prata et hortos et salicta, villaeque aquas salientes demittant, nec absint greges armentorum ceterorumque quadrupedum culta et dumeta pascentium. Sed haec positio, quam desideramus, difficilis et rara paucis contingit. Proxima est huic, quae plurima ex his habet; tolerabilis, quae non paucissima.

Then let rivulets running down discharge into the meadows and gardens and willow-groves, and let them send down the leaping waters of the villa; nor let there be lacking herds of cattle and of the other quadrupeds grazing the cultivated lands and the thickets. But this position, which we desire, is difficult and rare, and befalls few. Next to this is that which possesses very many of these; tolerable, that which has not very few.

III. Porcius quidem Cato censebat in emendo inspiciendoque agro praecipue duo esse consideranda: salubritatem caeli et ubertatem loci; quorum si alterum deesset, ac nihilo minus quis vellet incolere, mente esse captum, atque eum ad agnatos et gentiles deducendum. Neminem enim sanum debere facere sumptus in cultura sterilis soli; nec rursus pestilenti quamvis feracissimo pinguique agro dominum ad fructus pervenire. Nam ubi sit cum orco ratio ponenda, ibi non modo perceptionem fructuum, sed et vitam colonorum esse dubiam, vel potius mortem quaestu certiorem.

3. Porcius Cato indeed judged that in buying and inspecting a field two things above all must be considered: the salubrity of the climate and the fertility of the place; if either of these were lacking, and nonetheless someone wished to dwell there, he was taken in mind, and ought to be led to his agnates and clansmen. For no sane person should incur expenses on the cultivation of sterile soil; nor, on the other hand, does an owner in a pestilent field, however fertile and rich, come through to the fruits. For where an account has to be reckoned with Orcus, there not only is the perception of the fruits doubtful, but even the life of the farmers—nay rather, death is more certain than gain.

Post haec duo principalia subiungebat illa non minus intuenda: viam et aquam et vicinum. Multum conferre agris iter commodum: primum, quod est maximum, ipsam praesentiam domini, qui libentius commeaturus sit, si vexationem viae non reformidet. Deinde ad invehenda et exportanda utensilia; quae res frugibus conditis auget pretium, et minuit impensas rerum invectarum; qui minoris apportentur eo, quo facili<ori> nisu perveniatur.

After these two principal points he subjoined those no less to be considered: the road, the water, and the neighbor. A commodious route contributes much to estates: first, and this is the greatest, the very presence of the master, who will more willingly travel back and forth if he does not dread the vexation of the way. Next, for importing and exporting utensils; this increases the price of stored produce and diminishes the expenses of things brought in; which are conveyed at a lower cost, in proportion as one arrives with easier exertion.

Nec nihil esse etiam parvo vehi, si conductis iumentis iter facias, quod magis expedit quam tueri propria. Servos quoque qui secuturi patrem familias sint, non aegre iter pedibus ingredi. De bonitate aquae ita omnibus clarum est, ut pluribus non sit disserendum.

Nor is it a negligible matter to be conveyed even for a small expense, if you make the journey with hired beasts of burden, which is more expedient than maintaining your own. The slaves too, who are going to follow the paterfamilias, can make the journey on foot without much difficulty. As for the goodness of water, it is so clear to everyone that there is no need to discuss it further.

Quis enim dubitet eam maxime probatam haberi, sine qua nemo nostrum vel prosperae vel adversae valetudinis vitam prorogat? De vicini commodo non est quidem certum, quem nonnumquam mors aliaeque nobiscum <diversae> causae mutant. Et ideo quidam respuunt Catonis sententiam: qui tamen multum videntur errare.

For who, indeed, would doubt that it is held as most approved, without which none of us prolongs life in prosperous or in adverse health? As to the neighbor’s convenience, there is indeed nothing certain, since him sometimes death and other causes, <different> in relation to us, change. And therefore some spurn Cato’s opinion: who nevertheless seem to err much.

Nam quemadmodum sapientis est fortuitos casus magno animo sustinere, ita dementis est ipsum sibi malam facere fortunam; quod facit, qui nequam vicinum suis nummis parat, cum a primis cunabulis, si modo liberis parentibus est oriundus, audisse potuerit Oud'an bous apoloit'ei me geitos kakos eie. Quod non solum de bove dicitur, sed etiam de omnibus partibus rei nostrae familiaris; adeo quidem, ut multi praetulerint carere penatibus, et propter iniurias vicinorum sedes suas profugerint. Nisi aliter existimamus diversum orbem gentes universas petiisse relicto patrio solo, Achaeos dico et Hiberos, Albanos quoque, nec minus Siculos, et, ut primordia nostra contingam, Pelasgos, Aborigenes, Arcadas, quam quia malos vicinos ferre non potuerant.

For just as it is the part of a wise man to sustain fortuitous chances with a great spirit, so it is the part of a demented man to make bad fortune for himself; which he does who procures a worthless neighbor with his own coins, although from his earliest cradles, if only he is sprung from freeborn parents, he could have heard: “Not even an ox would perish, if only my neighbor were not bad.” This is said not only of the ox, but also of all the parts of our familiar (household) estate; indeed to such a degree that many have preferred to lack their Penates, and on account of the injuries of neighbors have fled their seats. Unless we think otherwise that whole nations sought a different world, their native soil left behind—I speak of the Achaeans and the Iberians, the Albanians too, and no less the Sicilians, and, to touch our origins, the Pelasgians, the Aborigines, the Arcadians—than because they could not bear bad neighbors.

Ac ne tantum de publicis calamitatibus loquar, privatos quoque memoria tradidit et in regionibus Graeciae et in hac ipsa Hesperia detestabiles fuisse vicinos; nisi si Autolycus ille cuiquam potuit tolerabilis esse conterminus; aut Aventini montis incola Palatinis ullum gaudium finitimis suis Cacus attulit. Malo enim praeteritorum quam praesentium meminisse, ne vicinum meum nominem, qui nec arborem prolixiorem stare nostrae regionis, nec inviolatum seminarium, nec pedamentum adnexum vineae, nec etiam pecudes neglegentius pasci sinit. Iure igitur, quantum mea fert opinio, M. Porcius talem pestem vitare censuit, et in primis futurum agricolam praemonuit ne sua sponte ad eam perveniret.

And lest I speak only of public calamities, tradition has handed down that in the regions of Greece and in this very Hesperia neighbors were detestable also to private persons; unless that Autolycus could have been a tolerable contiguous neighbor to anyone; or Cacus, the inhabitant of Mount Aventine, brought any joy to his Palatine neighbors. For I prefer to remember things past rather than present, lest I name my neighbor, who allows neither a more towering tree to stand within our district, nor a nursery to remain inviolate, nor a prop fastened to the vine, nor even the livestock to be pastured the least bit more negligently. Rightly therefore, so far as my opinion carries, M. Porcius judged that such a pest should be avoided, and first of all warned the future farmer not of his own accord to come into it.

Nos ad cetera praecepta illud adicimus, quod sapiens unus de septem in perpetuum posteritati pronuntiavit, adhibendum modum mensuramque rebus; idque ut non solum aliud acturis, sed et agrum paraturis dictum intellegatur, ne maiorem quam ratio calculorum patiatur, emere velint. Nam huc pertinet praeclari nostri poetae sententia: laudato ingentia rura, exiguum colito. Quod vir eruditissimus, ut mea fert opinio, traditum vetus praeceptum numeris signavit.

To the other precepts we add this, which one of the Seven Wise Men pronounced for posterity in perpetuity: that a mode and measure be applied to things; and let this be understood to have been said not only for those about to do other business, but also for those about to procure a field, lest they wish to buy one greater than the rationale of calculations permits. For to this pertains the sentiment of our illustrious poet: praise vast fields, cultivate a small one. Which traditional ancient precept, as my opinion holds, a most erudite man signed in numbers.

Quippe acutissimam gentem Poenos dixisse convenit, imbecilliorem agrum quam agricolam esse debere; quoniam cum sit colluctandum cum eo, si fundus praevaleat, allidi dominum. Nec dubium quin minus reddat laxus ager non recte cultus, quam angustus eximie. Ideoque post reges exactos Liciniana illa septena iugera, quae plebi tribunus viritim diviserat, maiores quaestus antiquis rettulere, quam nunc nobis praebent amplissima veterata.

Indeed, it is agreed that the Punic nation, most acute, used to say that the field ought to be feebler than the farmer; since one must wrestle with it, if the estate prevail, it dashes the owner to the ground. Nor is there any doubt that a lax field not rightly cultivated yields less than a narrow one cultivated excellently. And so, after the kings were driven out, those Licinian seven iugera, which the tribune divided to the plebs man by man, brought back greater profits to the ancients than the amplest veterate holdings furnish to us now.

Tanta quidem Curius Dentatus, quem paulo ante rettulimus, prospero ductu parta victoria, ob eximiam virtutem deferente populo praemii nomine quinquaginta soli iugera, supra consularem triumphalemque fortunam putavit satis esse; repudiatoque publico munere populari ac plebeia mensura contentus fuit. Mox etiam cum agrorum vastitatem victoriae nostrae et interneciones hostium fecissent, criminosum tamen senatori fuit supra quinquaginta iugera possedisse, suaque lege C. Licinius damnatus est, quod agri modum, quem in magistratu rogatione tribunicia promulgaverat, immodica possidendi libidine transcendisset; nec magis quia superbum videbatur tantum loci detinere, quam quia flagitiosum, quos hostis profugiendo desolasset agros, novo more civem Romanum supra vires patrimonii possidendo deserere. Modus ergo, qui in omnibus rebus, etiam parandis agris adhibebatur.

So great indeed was Curius Dentatus—whom we recounted a little before—that, with victory won by prosperous generalship, when the people, by way of reward for his exceptional virtue, were conferring fifty iugera of soil, he judged it enough, beyond consular and triumphal fortune; and, the public gift having been repudiated, he was content with the popular and plebeian measure. Soon also, although the devastation of the fields had been brought about by our victory and the internecions of the enemy, nevertheless it was criminal for a senator to have possessed above fifty iugera, and by his own law Gaius Licinius was condemned, because the measure of land which, while in magistracy, he had promulgated by a tribunician rogation, he had overstepped through an immoderate lust of possessing; and this, not so much because it seemed arrogant to detain so much ground, as because it was flagitious that, by a new custom, the Roman citizen, by possessing beyond the strength of his patrimony, should abandon the fields which the enemy, by fleeing, had left desolate. Measure, therefore, was applied in all things, even in the procuring of lands.

Tantum enim obtinendum est, quanto est opus, ut emisse videamur, quo potiremur, non quo oneraremur ipsi, atque aliis fruendum eriperemus; more praepotentium, qui possident fines gentium, quos ne circumire equis quidem valent; sed proculcandos pecudibus et vastandos <ac populandos> feris derelinquunt, aut occupatos nexu civium et ergastulis tenent. Modus autem erit sua unicuique voluntas facultasque. Neque enim satis est, ut iam prius dixi, possidere velle, si colere non possis.

For only so much ought to be held as there is need, that we may seem to have purchased it in order that we might possess it, not that we might burden ourselves and snatch the enjoyment from others; after the custom of the very-powerful, who possess the borders of nations, which they are not strong enough even with horses to ride around; but they leave them to be trampled by flocks and to be laid waste <ac populandos> by wild beasts, or, once seized, they hold them by the bond of citizens and in ergastula (workhouses). But the measure will be each one’s own will and means. For it is not enough, as I said before, to want to possess, if you cannot cultivate.

IV. Sequitur deinceps Caesonianum praeceptum, quo fertur usus etiam Cato Marcius, agrum esse revisendum saepius eum, quem velis mercari. Nam prima inspectione neque vitia neque virtutes abditas ostendit, quae mox retractantibus facilius apparent. Inspectionis quoque velut formula nobis a maioribus tradita est agri pinguis ac laeti: de cuius qualitate dicemus suo loco, cum de generibus terrae disseremus.

4. Next in order follows the Caesonian precept, which even Cato Marcius is reported to have employed: that the field which you wish to purchase should be revisited more frequently. For at a first inspection it shows neither its hidden vices nor its hidden virtues, which soon appear more easily to those re-examining. A sort of formula of inspection too has been handed down to us by the ancestors for a rich and fertile field: of whose quality we shall speak in its proper place, when we discourse on the kinds of soil.

In universum tamen quasi testificandum atque saepius praedicandum habeo, quod primo iam Punico bello dux inclutissimus M. Atilius Regulus dixisse memoratur, fundum sicuti ne fecundissimum quidem soli, cum sit insalubris, ita nec effeti, si vel saluberrimus sit, parandum: quod Atilius aetatis suae agricolis maiore cum auctoritate suadebat peritus usu. Nam Pupiniae pestilentis simul et exilis agri cultorem fuisse eum loquuntur historiae. Quapropter cum sit sapientis non ubique emere, nec aut ubertatis illecebris aut deliciarum concinnitate decipi: sic vere industrii patris familias est, quicquid aut emerit aut acceperit facere fructuosum atque utile: quoniam et gravioris caeli multa remedia priores tradiderunt, quibus mitigetur pestifera lues; et in exili terra cultoris prudentia ac diligentia maciem soli vincere potest.

In general, however, I have it as if to bear witness and to be more often proclaimed, what in the First Punic War already the most renowned leader M. Atilius Regulus is remembered to have said: that an estate ought not to be procured—just as not even of the most fecund soil, when it is unhealthful, so neither of effete soil, even if it be most healthful. This Atilius, experienced in practice, recommended to the farmers of his age with greater authority; for the histories say that he was a cultivator of Pupinia, a pestilent and meager district. Wherefore, since it is the part of a wise man not to buy everywhere, nor to be deceived either by the enticements of fertility or by the concinnity of delights, so it is truly the mark of an industrious paterfamilias to make whatever he has either bought or received fruitful and useful: since our elders have handed down many remedies for a harsher climate, by which a pestiferous plague may be mitigated; and in exiguous soil the prudence and diligence of the cultivator can overcome the leanness of the ground.

Haec autem consequemur, si verissimo vati velut oraculo crediderimus dicenti ventos et proprium caeli perdiscere morem cura sit ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum, et qui quaeque ferat regio et quid quaeque recuset; nec contenti tamen auctoritate vel priorum vel praesentium colonorum, nostra praetermiserimus exempla, novaque tentaverimus experimenta. Quod etsi per partes nonnumquam damnosum est, in summa tamen fit compendiosum, quia nullus ager sine profectu colitur, simul ac tentando possessor efficit ut in id formetur, quod maxime praestari possit. Ea res etiam feracissimos agros utiliores reddit.

We shall achieve these things, if we will have believed, as an oracle, the most truthful seer saying that our care should be to learn thoroughly the winds and the proper custom of the sky, and the native cultivations and the conditions of places, and what each region bears and what each refuses; and yet, not content with the authority either of former or of present colonists (farmers), let us not pass by our own examples, and let us try new experiments. Which, although in parts is sometimes harmful, yet in the sum becomes a saving, because no field is cultivated without progress, as soon as by trying the possessor brings it about that it is shaped into that which it can most excellently render. This thing even makes the most fertile fields more useful.

Itaque nusquam experimentorum varietas omittenda est; longeque etiam in pingui solo magis audendum, quoniam nec laborem nec sumptum frustratur effectus. Sed cum refert qualis fundus et quo modo colatur, tum villa qualiter aedificetur et quam utiliter disponatur. Multos enim deerrasse memoria prodidit, sicut praestantissimos viros L. Lucullum et Q. Scaevolam, quorum alter maiores, alter minus amplas, quam postulavit modus agri, villas exstruxit, cum utrumque sit contra rem familiarem.

Therefore nowhere should the variety of experiments be omitted; and all the more even on rich soil one should be more daring, since the outcome frustrates neither labor nor expense. But since it matters what kind of farm it is and in what way it is cultivated, so too how the villa is to be built and how usefully it is to be laid out. For record has handed down that many have gone astray, as even the most outstanding men Lucius Lucullus and Quintus Scaevola, of whom the one built villas larger, the other less spacious, than the scale of the field demanded, since either course is contrary to the household estate.

Diffusiora enim consepta non solum pluris aedificamus, sed etiam impensis maioribus tuemur; at minora cum sunt, quam postulat fundus, dilabitur fructus. Nam et humidae res et siccae, quas terra progenerat, facile vitiantur, si aut non sunt aut propter angustias incommoda sunt tecta, quibus inferantur. Pro portione enim facultatum, quam optime pater familias debet habitare, ut et libentius rus veniat, et degat in eo iucundius; utique vero, si etiam matrona comitabitur, cuius ut sexus, ita animus est delicatior.

For more diffuse enclosures we not only build at greater cost, but also keep them up with larger expenses; but when they are smaller than the estate demands, the profit slips away. For both moist things and dry things, which the earth brings forth, are easily spoiled, if either there are no roofs, or the roofs into which they are to be brought are inconvenient because of narrowness. In proportion to his resources, the paterfamilias ought to be lodged as well as possible, so that he may both come to the countryside more willingly and spend his time there more pleasantly—especially, indeed, if the matron will accompany him, whose disposition, like her sex, is more delicate.

Quamobrem amoenitate aliqua demerenda erit, quo patientius moretur cum viro. Eleganter igitur aedificet agricola; nec sit tamen aedificator; atque areae pedem tantum complectantur, quod ait Cato, quantum ne villa fundum quaerat, neve fundus villam; cuius universum situm qualem oporteat esse, nunc explicabimus. Quod inchoatur aedificium, sicuti salubri regione, ita saluberrima parte regionis debet constitui.

Wherefore some amenity must be provided to win her over, that she may abide more patiently with her husband. Let the farmer, then, build elegantly; yet let him not be a builder; and let the courtyards encompass only so much footprint, as Cato says, that the villa not seek the estate, nor the estate the villa; what the overall site of it ought to be, we will now explain. The building that is begun ought to be set, just as in a salubrious region, so in the most salubrious part of the region.

Nam circumfusus aer corruptus plurimas affert corporibus nostris causas offensarum. Sicut quaedam loca, quae solstitiis minus concalescunt, sed frigoribus hiemis intolerabiliter horrent, sicut Thebas ferunt Boeotias. Sunt quae tepent hieme, sed aestate saevissime candent, ut affirmant Euboicam Chalcidem.

For the ambient air, when corrupted, brings to our bodies very many causes of afflictions. Just as certain places, which at the solstices grow less warm, but shudder intolerably with the colds of winter, as they report of Boeotian Thebes. There are those which are tepid in winter, but in summer glow most savagely, as they affirm of Chalcis in Euboea.

Petatur igitur aer calore et frigore temperatus, qui fere medios obtinet colles, quod neque depressus hieme pruinis torpet, aut torretur aestate vaporibus, neque elatus in summa montium perexiguis ventorum motibus aut pluviis omni tempore anni saevit. Haec igitur est medii collis optima positio, loco tamen ipso paululum intumescente; ne cum a vertice torrens imbribus conceptus adfluxerit, fundamenta convellat.

Therefore let air be sought tempered in heat and cold, which for the most part occupies the middle hills, because, being not low-lying, it does not grow numb in winter with hoarfrosts, nor is it parched in summer by vapors, nor, being lifted up on the tops of mountains, does it rage at every season of the year with the very slight movements of winds or with rains. This, therefore, is the best position of a middle hill, with the place itself swelling a little; lest, when a torrent, conceived by showers, has flowed down from the summit, it should wrench the foundations.

V. Sit autem vel intra villam vel extrinsecus inductus fons perennis; lignatio pabulumque vicinum. Si deerit fluens unda, putealis quaeratur in vicino, quae non sit haustus profundi, non amari saporis aut salsi. Haec quoque si deficiet, et spes artior aquae manantis coegerit, vastae cisternae hominibus, piscinaeque pecoribus instruantur, colligendae aquae tandem pluviali, quae salubritati corporis est accommodatissima.

5. Let there be, moreover, either within the villa or led in from outside, a perennial spring; firewood and fodder nearby. If flowing water is lacking, a well-water source should be sought in the vicinity, which should not be a draught from profound depth, nor of bitter or salty taste. If this too fails, and a narrower hope of water flowing compels, vast cisterns for humans and pools for livestock should be set up, for collecting, at last, rainwater, which is most well-suited to the salubrity of the body.

Sed ea sic habetur eximia, si fictilibus tubis in contectam cisternam deducatur. Huic proxima fluens aqua e montibus oriunda, si per saxa praeceps devolvitur, ut est in Guarceno Campaniae. Tertia putealis collina, vel quae non infima valle reperitur.

But it is regarded as exceptional in this way, if it is led down by earthen (fictile) pipes into a covered cistern. Next to this is running water originating from the mountains, if it is poured headlong over rocks, as is at Guarcenum in Campania. Third is well-water of the hill-country, or that which is found not in the lowest valley.

Deterrima palustris, quae pigro lapsu repit. Pestilens, quae in palude semper consistit. Hic idem tamen humor, quamvis nocentis naturae, temporibus [tamen] hiemis edomitus imbribus mitescit: ex quo caelestis aqua maxime salubris intelligitur, quod etiam venenati liquoris eluit perniciem.

The very worst is the marshy [water], which creeps with a sluggish lapse. Pestilential is that which always stands in a marsh. This same moisture, however, although of a harmful nature, at the times of winter, [nevertheless] tamed by rains, grows mild: whence celestial water is understood to be most salubrious, because it even washes out the perniciousness of poisonous liquid.

Sed hanc potui probatissimam diximus. Ceterum ad aestatum temperandos calores et amoenitatem locorum plurimum conferunt salientes rivi, quos, si conditio loci patietur, qualescumque, dummodo dulces, utique perducendos in villam censeo. Sin summotus longius a collibus erit amnis, et loci salubritas editiorque situs ripae permittet superponere villam profluenti, cavendum tamen erit, ut a tergo potius quam prae se flumen habeat, et ut aedificii frons aversa sit ab infestis eius regionis ventis, et amicissimis adversa; cum plerique amnes aestate vaporantis, hieme frigendis nebulis caligent.

But this one we have pronounced most approved. Moreover, to temper the heats of summer and for the amenity of places, springing rivulets contribute very much; which, if the condition of the place allows, of whatever sort, provided they are sweet (fresh), I for my part judge should certainly be conducted into the villa. But if the river is removed farther from the hills, and the salubrity of the place and the more elevated site of the bank permit setting the villa above the flowing water, it must nevertheless be taken care that it have the river at its back rather than before it, and that the front of the building be turned away from the hostile winds of that region and face the most friendly; since most rivers are obscured by vaporous mists in summer and by chilling fogs in winter.

Quae, nisi vi maiore inspirantium ventorum submoventur, pecudibus hominibusque conferunt pestem. Optime autem salubribus, ut dixi, locis ad orientem vel [ad] meridiem, gravibus ad septentrionem villa convertitur. Eademque semper mare recte conspicit, cum pulsatur ac fluctu respergitur; numquam ex ripa, sed haud paulum submota a litore.

Which, unless they are removed by the greater force of the blowing winds, confer pestilence upon flocks and humans. But, as I said, the villa is best oriented in salubrious places toward the Orient or toward the Meridian, in oppressive ones toward the North. And the same should always rightly behold the sea, when it is beaten and sprinkled by the swell; never from the bank, but not a little withdrawn from the shore.

Nam praestat a mari longo potius intervallo, quam brevi refugisse; quia media sunt spatia gravioris halitus. Nec paludem quidem vicinam esse oportet aedificiis, nec iunctam militarem viam; quod illa caloribus noxium virus eructat et infestis aculeis armata gignit animalia, quae in nos densissimis examinibus involant; tum etiam nantium serpentiumque pestes, hiberna destituta uligine, coeno et fermentata colluvie vere natas emittit, ex quibus saepe contrahuntur caeci morbi, quorum causas ne medici quidem perspicere queunt; et et anni toto tempore situs atque humor instrumentum rusticum supellectilemque et inconditos conditosque fructus corrumpit: hac autem praetereuntium viatorum populationibus et assiduis devertentium hospitiis infestat rem familiarem. Propter quae censeo eiusmodi vitare incommoda, villamque nec in via nec pestilenti loco, sed procul et editiore situ condere, sic ut frons eius ad orientem aequinoctialem directa sit.

For it is better to have fled from the sea by a long rather than a short interval; because the intermediate spaces are of a heavier exhalation. Nor ought a marsh to be near to the buildings, nor a military road adjoining; because the former, in heats, belches forth a noxious miasma and, armed with hostile stings, brings forth animals which fly upon us in the densest swarms; then too it sends out, the winter being deprived of moisture, plagues of swimming creatures and of serpents, born in spring from mud and fermented sludge, from which blind diseases are often contracted, whose causes not even physicians are able to discern; and throughout the whole time of the year mold and moisture corrupt the rustic implements, the household furniture, and both unpreserved and preserved produce: by this, moreover, it harasses the family estate with the ravagings of passing travelers and the continual lodgings of those turning aside. For which reasons I advise avoiding inconveniences of this kind, and to establish the villa neither on the road nor in a pestilential place, but far off and in a more elevated site, so that its front be directed to the equinoctial east.

Nam eiusmodi positio medium temperatumque libramentum ventorum hiemalium et aestivorum tenet: quantoque fuerit aedificii solum pronius orienti, tanto et aestate liberius capere perflatus et hiemis procellis minus infestari, et matutino regelari ortu poterit, ut concreti rores liquescant: quoniam fere pestilens habetur, quod est remotum ac sinistrum soli et apricis flatibus; quibus si caret, nulla alia vis potest nocturnas pruinas et quocumque rubiginis aut spurcitiae resedit siccare aut detergere. Haec autem cum hominibus afferant perniciem, tum et armentis et virentibus eorumque fructibus. Sed quisquis aedificia volet in declivibus areis exstruere, semper ab inferiore parte auspicetur: quia cum ex depressiore loco fuerint orsa fundamenta, non solum superficiem suam facile sustinebunt, sed et pro fultura et substructione fungentur, adversus ea, quae mox, si forte villam prolatare libuerit, ab superiore parte applicabuntur: quippe ab imo praestructa valenter resistent contra ea, quae postmodum superposita incumbent, at si summa pars clivi fundata propriam molem susceperit, quicquid ab inferiore mox apposueris, fissum erit rimosumque.

For such a position holds a middle and temperate equilibrium of the hibernal and aestival winds: and the more the floor of the building is inclined toward the east, by so much the more freely in summer will it catch the breezes and be less harassed by the storms of winter, and it can be tempered by the morning rising, so that the congealed dews may liquefy: since what is withdrawn and turned away from the sun and from sunny breaths is generally held to be pestilential; and if it lacks these, no other force can dry or cleanse the nocturnal frosts and wherever rust or filth has settled. And since these things bring destruction to human beings, so too to herds and to the green growth and their fruits. But whoever will wish to erect buildings on sloping sites, let him always commence from the lower part: because when the foundations have been begun from the more depressed place, they will not only easily sustain their own surface, but also serve as a prop and substruction against those things which presently, if perchance it shall have pleased to extend the villa, will be applied from the upper part: indeed, being preconstructed from the bottom, they will strongly resist those things which afterward, superposed, press upon them; but if the topmost part of the slope, having been founded, has taken up its own mass, whatever you soon add from the lower will be split and fissured.

Nam cum veteri adstruitur recens aedificium, quasi surgenti reluctans oneri cedit; et quod prius exstructum imminebit cedenti, paulatim degravatum pondere suo praeceps attrahetur. Igitur id structurae vitium, cum primum statim fundamenta iaciuntur, evitandum est.

For when a new building is added onto an old one, it yields to the burden that is rising, as if reluctant; and that which was built earlier will overhang the one yielding, and, gradually, weighed down by its own weight, will be dragged headlong. Therefore this defect of the structure must be avoided from the very first, as soon as the foundations are being laid.

VI. Modus autem membrorumque numerus aptetur universo consepto, et dividatur in tres partes, urbanam, rusticam et fructuariam. Urbana rursus in hiberna et aestiva sic digeratur, ut spectent hiemalis temporis cubicula brumalem orientem, coenationes aequinoctialem occidentem. Rursus aestiva cubicula spectent meridiem aequinoctialem, sed coenationes eiusdem temporis prospectent hibernum orientem.

6. Moreover, let the measure and the number of the members be fitted to the whole conception, and let it be divided into three parts: urban, rustic, and fructuary. Let the urban part again be arranged into winter and summer [quarters] thus: that the bedchambers of the winter season face the brumal east, the dining rooms the equinoctial west. Again, let the summer bedchambers face the equinoctial south, but let the dining rooms of the same season look toward the hibernal east.

Balnearia occidenti aestivo advertantur, ut sint post meridiem et usque in vesperum illustria. Ambulationes meridiano aequinoctiali subiectae sint, ut hieme plurimum solis et aestate minimum recipiant. At in rustica parte magna et alta culina ponetur, ut et contignatio careat incendii periculo, et in ea commode familiares omni tempore anni morari queant.

Let the baths be oriented to the summer west, so that they may be bright after midday and up to evening. Let the ambulationes be set under the equinoctial south, so that in winter they receive the most sun and in summer the least. But in the rustic part a large and tall kitchen shall be placed, so that the upper flooring may be free from the peril of fire, and in it the household attendants may be able to remain comfortably at every season of the year.

Optime solutis servis cellae meridiem aequinoctialem spectantes fient; vinctis quam saluberrimum subterraneum ergastulum, plurimis idque angustis illustratum fenestris, atque a terra sic editis, ne manu contingi possint. Pecudibus fient stabula, quae neque frigore neque calore infestentur. Domitis armentis duplicia bubilia sint, hiberna atque aestiva.

For the unshackled slaves, cells looking toward the equinoctial south will be made; for the chained, a most salubrious subterranean ergastulum, illuminated by very many and narrow windows, and so raised from the ground that they cannot be touched by the hand. For the flock-beasts, stalls will be made which are troubled by neither cold nor heat. For tamed herds, let there be double byres, winter and summer.

Ceteris autem pecoribus, quae intra villam esse convenit, ex parte tecta loca, ex parte sub dio parietibus altis circumsaepta, ut illic per hiemem, hic per aestatem sine violentia ferarum conquiescant. Sed omnia stabula sic ordinentur, ne quis humor influere possit: et ut quisque ibi conceptus fuerit, quam celerrime dilabatur, ut nec fundamenta parietum corrumpantur, nec ungulae pecudum. Lata bubilia esse oportebit pedes decem vel minime novem: quae mensura et ad procumbendum pecori et iugario ad circumeundum laxa ministeria praebeat.

Moreover, for the other livestock, which it is fitting to be within the villa, let there be places partly roofed, partly under the open sky enclosed with high walls, so that there in winter, here in summer, they may rest without the violence of wild beasts. But let all the stables be arranged thus, that no moisture can flow in: and that whatever damp has been there gathered may as swiftly as possible drain away, so that neither the foundations of the walls are spoiled, nor the hooves of the cattle. The ox-stalls ought to be in width 10 feet, or at the least 9: which measure may afford roomy service both for the herd to lie down and for the yoke-man to go around.

Non altius edita esse praesepia convenit, quae ut bos aut iumentum sine incommodo stans vesci possit. Villico iuxta ianuam fiat habitatio, ut intrantium exeuntiumque conspectum habeat. Procuratori supra ianuam ob easdem causas: et is tamen villicum observet ex vicino; sitque utrique proximum horreum, quo conferatur omne rusticum instrumentum; et intra id ipsum clausus locus, quo ferramenta condantur.

It is not fitting for the mangers to be set higher, so that an ox or a beast of burden may be able to feed while standing without inconvenience. Let a dwelling for the bailiff be made next to the door, so that he may have a view of those entering and exiting. For the procurator, above the door for the same reasons; and he, nevertheless, should keep the bailiff under observation from nearby; and let there be for each a storehouse close at hand, into which all the rustic instruments are gathered; and within that very place an enclosed spot, where the iron implements are stored.

Bubulcis pastoribusque cellae ponantur iuxta sua pecora, ut ad eorum curam sit opportunus excursus. Omnes tamen quam proxime alter ab altero debent habitare, ne villici diversas partes circumeuntis sedulitas distendatur, et ut inter se diligentiae et negligentiae cuiusque testes sint. Pars autem fructuaria dividitur in cellam oleariam, torculariam, cellam vinariam, defrutariam, fenilia paleariaque et apothecas et horrea, ut ex iis quae sunt in plano, custodiam recipiant humidarum rerum tamquam vini aut olei venalium; siccae autem res congerantur tabulatis, ut frumenta, foenum, frondes, paleae ceteraque pabula.

Let cells be set for the oxherds and shepherds next to their own herds, so that there may be ready access for their care. Yet all ought to live as near as possible to one another, lest the assiduity of the bailiff, going around different parts, be stretched thin, and so that they may be witnesses among themselves of each one’s diligence and negligence. The fructuary (store) part is divided into the oil-cell, the press-room (torcularium), the wine-cell, the defrutary, hay-lofts and chaff-sheds and apothecae and granaries, so that from those which are on the ground floor they may receive the custody of moist things, such as wine or oil for sale; but dry things may be heaped on the boarded floors, such as grains, hay, leaves, chaff, and the other fodders.

Sed granaria, ut dixi, scalis adeantur, et modicis fenestellis aquilonibus inspirentur. Nam ea caeli positio maxime frigida et minime humida est; quae utraque perennitatem conditis frumentis afferunt. Eadem ratio est <quae> in plano sitae vineariae cellae, quae submota procul esse debet a balineis, furno, sterquilinio reliquisque immunditiis tetrum odorem spirantibus: nec minus a cisternis aquisque salientibus, quibus extrahitur humor, qui vinum corrumpit.

But the granaries, as I said, should be approached by stairs, and be breathed upon by the north winds through modest little windows. For that position of the sky is most cold and least humid; both of which bring perennity to the grains stored. The same rule applies to the wine-cellar <which> is situated on the level, which ought to be removed far away from the baths, the oven, the dung-heap, and the remaining uncleannesses that exhale a foul odor: and no less from cisterns and springing waters, by which moisture is drawn out, which corrupts the wine.

Neque me praeterit, sedem frumentis optimam quibusdam videri horreum camara contectum, cuius solum terrenum prius quam consternatur, perfossum et amurca recenti non salsa madefactum, velut Signinum opus pilis condensatur. Tum deinde cum exaruit, simili modo pavimenta testacea, quae pro aqua receperint amurcam mixta calci et arenae, supersternuntur, et magna vi paviculis inculcantur atque expoliuntur, omnesque parietum et soli iuncturae testaceis pulvinis fibulantur. Quoniam fere cum in his partibus aedificia rimas egerunt, cava praebent et latebra subterraneis animalibus.

Nor does it escape me that to some the best seat for grains seems to be a granary covered with a vault, whose earthen floor, before it is paved, having been trenched and soaked with fresh unsalted amurca (olive lees), is compacted with rammers like Signine work. Then, when it has dried, tile pavements, which in place of water have taken in amurca mixed with lime and sand, are spread over on top, and with great force are pressed in with little rammers and polished; and all the joints of the walls and the floor are fastened with tile pads. For generally, when in these parts buildings have driven out cracks, they offer hollows and hiding-places to subterranean animals.

Sed et lacubus distinguuntur granaria, ut separatim quaeque legumina ponantur. Parietes oblinuntur amurca subacto luto, cui pro paleis admista sunt arida oleastri, vel, si ea non sunt, oleae folia. Deinde cum praedictum tectorium inaruit, rursus amurca respergitur, qua siccata frumentum infertur.

But also the granaries are divided by bins, so that each of the legumes may be placed separately. The walls are smeared with amurca and kneaded clay, to which, in place of chaff, are added the dry leaves of the wild olive, or, if these are not available, the leaves of the olive. Then, when the aforesaid plaster has dried, amurca is again sprinkled on; when this has dried, the grain is brought in.

Ea res ab noxa curculionum et similium animalium commodissime videtur conditas fruges defendere; quae nisi diligenter repositae sint, celeriter ab eis consumuntur. Sed id genus horrei, quod scripsimus, nisi [sit in] sicca positione villae, quamvis granum robustissimum corrumpit situ: qui si nullus adsit, possunt etiam defossa frumenta servari, sicut transmarinis quibusdam provinciis, ubi puteorum in modum, quos appellant siros, exhausta humus, editos a se fructus recipit. Sed nos in nostris regionibus, quae redundant uligine, magis illam positionem pensilis horrei, et hanc curam pavimentorum et parietum probamus.

This thing seems most commodiously to defend stored produce from the harm of weevils and similar animals; which, unless they have been laid away diligently, are quickly consumed by them. But that kind of granary, which we have written of, unless it [be in] a dry situation of the villa, corrupts by mustiness even the most robust grain; but if none be present, even buried grain can be preserved, as in certain transmarine provinces, where, in the manner of wells, which they call siros, the earth, having been excavated, receives the fruits produced by itself. But we, in our own regions, which overflow with dampness, approve rather that placement of a hanging granary, and this care of pavements and walls.

Quoniam, ut rettuli, sic emunita sola et latera horreorum prohibent curculionem. Quod genus exitii cum incidit, multi opinantur arceri posse, si exesae fruges in horreo ventilentur, et quasi refrigerentur. Id autem falsissimum est: neque enim hoc facto expelluntur animalia, sed immiscentur totis acervis; qui si maneant immoti, summis tantum partibus infestantur, quoniam infra mensuram palmi non nascitur curculio; longeque praestat id solum, quod iam vitiatum est, quam totum periculo subicere.

Since, as I have related, thus well-fortified floors and sides of granaries prohibit the weevil. When that kind of destruction occurs, many opine it can be warded off if the gnawed grains are ventilated in the granary and, as it were, refrigerated. But that is most false: for by this done the animals are not expelled, but are intermixed through the whole heaps; which, if they remain unmoved, are infested only in the topmost parts, since the weevil is not engendered below the measure of a palm; and it is far better to deal with only that which is already vitiated than to subject the whole to peril.

Nam cum exiget usus, facile est, eo sublato, quod vitiatum erit, integro inferiore uti. [Sed] haec, etsi extrinsecus, non tamen intempestive videor hoc loco rettulisse. Torcularia praecipue cellaeque oleariae calidae esse debent, quia commodius omnis liquor vapore solvitur, ac frigoribus magis constringitur.

For when need shall require, it is easy, with that which will have been tainted removed, to use the lower, intact [portion]. [But] although these things are extrinsic, I do not seem to have reported them untimely in this place. The press-rooms especially and the oil-cellars ought to be warm, because every liquor is more conveniently dissolved by vapor, and is more constricted by cold.

Oleum, quod minus provenit, si congelatur, fracescet. Sed ut calore naturali est opus, qui contingit positione caeli et declinatione, ita non est opus ignibus aut flammis, quoniam fumo et fuligine sapor olei corrumpitur. Propter quod torcular debet a meridiana parte illustrari, ne necesse habeamus ignes lucernamque adhibere, cum premitur olea.

Oil, which yields less, if it congeals, will go rancid. But just as there is need of natural heat, which comes about from the position of the sky and declination, so there is no need of fires or flames, since by smoke and soot the savor of the oil is corrupted. For which reason the press ought to be illuminated from the southern side, so that we may not have to apply fires and a lamp when the olive is being pressed.

Cortinale ubi defrutum fiat, nec angustum nec obscurum sit, ut sine incommodo minister, qui sapam decoquet, versari possit. Fumarium quoque, quo materia, si non sit iampridem caesa, festinato siccetur, in parte rusticae villae fieri potest iunctum rusticis balneis. Nam eas quoque refert esse, in quibus familia, sed tantum feriis, lavetur.

The cauldron-room, where defrutum is produced, should be neither narrow nor dark, so that the attendant who boils the sapa can move about without inconvenience. A fumarium as well, in which timber, if it has not long since been cut, may be dried in haste, can be made in the rustic part of the villa, joined to the rustic baths. For it also matters that these exist, in which the household may bathe, but only on feast-days.

Neque enim corporis robori convenit frequens usus earum. Apothecae recte superponentur his locis, unde plerumque fumus exoritur; quoniam vina celerius vetustescunt, quae fumi quodam tenore praecoquem maturitatem trahunt. Propter quod et aliud tabulatum esse debebit, quo amoveantur, ne rursus nimia suffumatione medicata sint.

For neither does frequent use of them suit the strength of the body. Apothecae (store-rooms) will rightly be set above those places whence smoke for the most part arises; since wines age more swiftly, which by a certain tenor of smoke draw a precocious maturity. On which account there ought also to be another story, to which they may be removed, lest again they be medicated by excessive suffumation.

Quod ad villae pertinet situm partiumque eius dispositionem, satis dictum est. Circa villam deinceps haec esse oportebit: furnum et pistrinum quantum futurus numerus colonorum postulaverit; piscinas minimum duas: alteram, quae anseribus ac pecoribus serviat, alteram, in qua lupinum, vimina et virgas atque alia, quae sunt usibus nostris apta, maceremus. Sterquilinia quoque duo sint: unum, quod nova purgamenta recipiat, et in annum conservet; alterum, ex quo vetera vehantur.

As regards the site of the villa and the disposition of its parts, enough has been said. Around the villa thereafter there ought to be these things: an oven and a bakehouse, as much as the coming number of coloni shall have required; at least two pools: one which may serve for geese and for livestock, the other in which we may soak lupine, osiers and rods, and other things which are apt for our uses. Let there also be two dung-heaps: one which may receive new refuse and keep it for a year; the other, from which the old material may be carted away.

Sed utrumque more piscinarum devexum leni clivo; et exstructum pavitumque solum habeant, ne humorem transmittant. Plurimum enim refert, non adsiccato succo fimum vires continere, et assiduo macerari liquore, ut si qua interiecta sint stramentis aut paleis spinarum vel graminum semina, intereant, nec in agrum exportata segetes herbidas reddant. Ideoque periti rustici, quicquid ovilibus stabulisque conversum progesserunt, superpositis virgeis cratibus tegunt, nec arescere ventis sinunt, aut solis incursu patiuntur exuri.

But both, in the manner of fishponds, should be sloped with a gentle incline; and they should have a built-up and paved floor, lest they transmit moisture. For it matters very greatly that the manure, its juice not desiccated, retain its potency, and be macerated by continual liquid, so that, if any seeds of thorns or of grasses have been interposed among the straw or the chaff, they may perish, and, when carried out into the field, may not render the crops weedy. And so experienced husbandmen cover whatever, turned over from the sheepfolds and stalls, they have brought out, with wattled hurdles of twigs laid above, and they do not allow it to dry by the winds, nor suffer it to be scorched by the incursion of the sun.

Area, si competit, ita constituenda est, ut vel a domino vel certe a procuratore despici possit. Eaque optima est silice constrata, quod et celeriter frumenta deteruntur, non cedente solo pulsibus ungularum tribularumque, et eadem ventilata mundiora sunt, lapillisque carent et glaebulis, quas per trituram fere terrena remittit area. Huic autem nubilarium applicari debet, maximeque in Italia, propter inconstantiam caeli, quo collata semitrita frumenta protegantur, si subitaneus imber incesserit.

The threshing-floor, if it is suitable, must be so established that it can be overlooked either by the lord or at least by the procurator. And it is best when paved with flint, because both the grains are quickly worn free, the soil not yielding to the blows of hoofs and threshing-sledges, and the same, when winnowed, are cleaner, and they lack little stones and clods, which an earthen threshing-floor commonly sends back during the threshing. But to this a nubilarium (storm-shed) ought to be adjoined, especially in Italy, on account of the inconstancy of the sky, whereby the gathered half-threshed grains may be protected if a sudden shower has set in.

Nam in transmarinis quibusdam regionibus, ubi aestas pluvia caret, supervacuum est. Pomaria quoque et hortos oportet saepto circumdari, et esse in propinquo, atque in ea parte, quo possit omnis stercorata colluvies cortis balineorumque et oleis expressa amurcae sanies influere. Nam eiusmodi quoque laetatur alimentis et olus et arbor.

For in certain transmarine regions, where summer lacks rain, it is superfluous. Orchards also and gardens ought to be surrounded by an enclosure, and to be near at hand, and on that side to which all the dung-mixed run-off of the farmyard and of the baths, and the discharge of amurca expressed from olives, can flow in. For both the pot-herb and the tree are gladdened by aliment of this kind.

VII. His omnibus ita vel acceptis vel compositis, praecipua cura domini requiritur, cum in ceteris rebus, tum maxime in hominibus. Atque hi vel coloni vel servi sunt, soluti aut vincti. Comiter agat cum colonis, facilemque se praebeat.

7. With all these things thus either accepted or set in order, the principal care of the master is required, both in the other matters and most of all in people. And these are either tenant-farmers or slaves, unfettered or fettered. Let him act courteously with the tenant-farmers, and present himself as easy to deal with.

Avarius opus exigat quam pensiones, quoniam et minus id offendit, et tamen in universum magis prodest. Nam ubi sedulo colitur ager, plerumque compendium, numquam (nisi si caeli maior vis aut praedonis accessit) detrimentum affert, eoque remissionem colonus petere non audet. Sed nec dominus in unaquaque re, cum colonum obligaverit, tenax esse iuris debet, sicut in diebus pecuniarum, ut lignis et ceteris parvis accessionibus exigendis, quarum cura maiorem molestiam quam impensam rusticis licet.

Let him more strictly exact the work than the installments, since that both offends less and yet, on the whole, profits more. For when the field is diligently tilled, it generally brings gain and never—unless some greater force of the sky or of a brigand has intervened—does it bring loss; and for that reason the tenant does not dare to ask for a remission. But neither should the lord, in each and every matter, once he has bound the tenant, be a stickler for his right, as in the due dates of monies, and in demanding wood and other small accessories, the oversight of which turns out for countryfolk to be a greater annoyance than an expense.

Nec sane est vindicandum nobis quidquid licet. Nam summum ius antiqui summam putabant crucem. Nec rusus in totum remittendum, quoniam vel optima nomina non appellando fieri mala fenerator Alphius dixisse verissime fertur.

Nor indeed must we vindicate to ourselves whatever is permitted. For the ancients thought supreme law to be a supreme cross. Nor again must everything be remitted in total, since even the best “names” by not calling them in are made bad; the usurer Alphius is most truly reported to have said this.

Sed et ipse nostra memoria veterem consularem virumque opulentissimum L. Volusium asservantem audivi, [patris familias] felicissimum fundum esse, qui colonos indigenas haberet, et tamquam in paterna possessione natos iam inde a cunabulis longa familiaritate retineret. Ita certe mea fert opinio, rem malam esse frequentem locationem fundi; peiorem tamen urbanum colonum, qui per familiam mavult agrum quae per se colere. Saserna dicebat ab eiusmodi homine fere pro mercede litem reddi.

But I myself, within our own memory, heard L. Volusius, an aged consular and a most opulent man, asserting that the happiest estate [of a paterfamilias] is one which has indigenous tenant-farmers, and, as if born in the paternal possession, retains them from the cradle by long familiarity. Thus certainly my opinion bears that frequent leasing of a farm is a bad thing; worse, however, is the urban tenant, who prefers to cultivate the field through his household rather than by himself. Saserna used to say that from a man of this sort there is returned, almost in place of rent, a lawsuit.

Propter quod operam dandam esse, ut et rusticos et eosdem assiduos colonos retineamus, cum aut nobismetipsis non licuerit, aut per domesticos colere non expedierit; quod tamen non evenit, nisi in his regionibus, quae gravitate caeli solique sterilitate vastantur. Ceterum cum mediocris adest et salubritas et terrae bonitas, numquam non ex agro plus sua cuique cura reddidit quam coloni; nonnumquam etiam villici, nisi si maxima vel neglegentia servi vel rapacitas intervenit. Quae utraque peccata plerumque vitio domini vel committi vel foveri nihil dubium est; cum liceat aut cavere, ne talis praeficiatur negotio, aut iam praepositus ut submoveatur curare.

For which reason effort must be given, that we retain both rustics and the same assiduous coloni (tenant‑farmers), when either it has not been permitted to us ourselves to cultivate, or it has not been expedient to cultivate through domestics; which, however, happens only in those regions that are laid waste by the heaviness of the climate and the sterility of the soil. But when there is present a moderate healthfulness and goodness of the land, one’s own care has never failed to render more from the field to each than the coloni; sometimes even the farm‑stewards do so, unless very great either the negligence of a slave or rapacity intervenes. Both of which faults, for the most part, there is no doubt are either committed or fostered by the master’s vice; since it is allowed either to beware, that such a man not be put in charge of the business, or, if already put in charge, to take care that he be removed.

In longinquis tamen fundis, in quos non est facilis excursus patris familias, cum omne genus agri tolerabilius sit sub liberis colonis quam sub villicis servis habere, tum praecipue frumentarium, quem et minime (sicut vineas aut arbustum) colonus evertere potest, et maxime vexant servi, qui boves elocant, eosdemque et cetera pecora male pascunt, nec industrie terram vertunt, longeque plus imputant seminis iacti quam quod severint; sed nec quod terrae mandaverint sic adiuvant, ut recte proveniat, idque cum in aream contulerunt, per trituram cotidie minuunt vel fraude vel negligentia. Nam et ipsi diripiunt, et ab aliis furibus non custodiunt. Sed nec conditum cum fide rationibus inferunt.

In far-off estates, into which an excursion of the paterfamilias is not easy, since every kind of land is more tolerable to have under free coloni than under steward-slaves, then especially the grain-land, which both the colonus can least overturn (as he can vineyards or arbustum), and which the slaves most vex, who let out the oxen, and the same and the other herds they pasture badly, nor do they turn the soil industriously, and they charge far more of the seed cast than what they have actually sown; nor do they so assist what they have committed to the earth that it may come up rightly, and when they have brought it into the threshing-floor, through the threshing they diminish it daily either by fraud or by negligence. For both they themselves plunder it, and they do not guard it from other thieves. Nor do they enter what has been stored into the accounts with good faith.

Ita fit ut et actor et familia peccent, et ager saepius infametur. Quare talis generis praedium, si, ut dixi, domini praesentia cariturum est, censeo locandum.

Thus it comes about that both the agent (actor) and the household err, and the field is more often brought into ill repute. Wherefore an estate of such a kind, if, as I said, it is going to lack the master’s presence, I judge should be leased out.

VIII. Proxima est cura de servis, cui quemque officio praeponere conveniat, quosque et qualibus operibus destinare. Igitur praemoneo ne villicum ex eo genere servorum, qui corpore placuerunt, instituamus; ne ex eo quidem ordine, qui urbanas ac delicatas artes exercuerit. Socors et somniculosum genus id mancipiorum, otiis, campo, circo, theatris, aleae, popinae, lupanaribus consuetum, numquam non easdem ineptias somniat, quas cum in agriculturam transtulit, non tantum in ipso servo, quantum in universa re detrimenti dominus capit.

8. The next care is about slaves, whom it is fitting to set over each office, and whom, and to what kinds of works, to assign. Therefore I forewarn that we should not appoint a farm‑steward from that sort of slaves who have pleased by their body; nor yet from that order which has exercised urban and delicate arts. That kind of mancipia is slothful and somnolent, accustomed to leisures, the campus, the circus, the theaters, dice, cook‑shops, brothels; it never fails to dream the same ineptitudes, which, when he has transferred them into agriculture, the master takes loss not so much in the slave himself as in the whole enterprise.

Eligendus est rusticis operibus ab infante duratus et inspectus experimentis. Si tamen is non erit, de iis praeficiatur, qui servitutem laboriosam toleraverunt. Iamque is transcenderit aetatem primae iuventae, necdum senectutis attigerit.

He should be chosen who from infancy has been hardened by rustic works and tested by trials. If, however, such a one will not be available, let him be set over the rest from among those who have endured laborious servitude. And let him already have passed the age of first youth, yet not have reached old age.

Illa, ne [et] auctoritatem detrahat ad imperium, cum maiores dedignentur parere adulescentulo; haec, ne laboriosissimo succumbat operi. Mediae igitur sit aetatis et firmi corporis, peritus rerum rusticarum, aut certe maximae curae, quo celerius addiscat. Nam non est nostri negotii alterum imperare et alterum docere.

The former, lest [and] he detract authority from his command, since elders disdain to obey an adolescent; the latter, lest he succumb to a most laborious work. Therefore let him be of middle age and of strong body, experienced in rustic affairs, or at least of the greatest care, so that he may the more swiftly learn. For it is not our business that one should command and another teach.

Neque enim recte opus exigere valet, qui, quid aut qualiter faciendum sit, ab subiecto discit. Potest etiam illitteratus, dummodo tenacissimae sit memoriae, rem satis commode administrare. Eiusmodi villicum Cornelius Celsus ait saepius nummos domino quam librum afferre, quia nescius litterarum vel ipse minus possit rationes confingere, vel per alium propter conscientiam fraudis timeat.

For he is not able to exact the work rightly who learns from a subordinate what is to be done, or in what manner it is to be done. Even an illiterate man, provided he is of a most tenacious memory, can administer the matter quite commodiously. Cornelius Celsus says that a steward of this kind brings money to the master more often than a ledger, because, unskilled in letters, he either is himself less able to fabricate accounts, or he fears, by means of another, on account of the consciousness of fraud.

Sed qualicumque villico contubernalis mulier assignanda est, quae contineat eum, et in quibusdam rebus tamen adiuvet. Eidemque actori praecipiendum est, ne convictum cum domestico, multoque minus cum extero habeat. Nonnumquam tamen eum, quem assidue sedulum et fortem in operibus administrandis cognoverit, honoris causa mensae suae die festo dignetur adhibere.

But to the bailiff, of whatever sort, a contubernal woman is to be assigned, who may restrain him and yet assist him in certain matters. And to the same actor it must be prescribed that he have no companionship at table with a domestic, much less with an outsider. Sometimes, however, him whom he has found to be constantly industrious and stout in administering the works, for the sake of honor, let him deign to invite to his own table on a feast day.

Sacrificia nisi ex praecepto domini ne fecerit. Aruspices sagasque, quae utraque genera vana superstitione rudis animos ad impensas ac deinceps ad flagitia compellunt, ne admiserit; neque urbem neque ullas nundinas noverit, nisi emendae vendendaeve pertinentis ad se rei causa. Villicus enim, quod ait Cato, ambulator esse non debet nec egredi terminos, nisi ut addiscat aliquam culturam; et hoc si ita in vicino est, ut cito remeare possit.

Let him not perform sacrifices unless by the precept of the master. Let him not admit haruspices and sorceresses, which both kinds by vain superstition drive rude minds to expenses and thereafter to flagitious acts; nor let him know either the city or any market-days, except for the sake of buying or selling a matter pertaining to himself. For the bailiff, as Cato says, ought not to be a wanderer nor to go beyond the boundaries, except to learn in addition some cultivation; and this if it is so in the vicinity that he can quickly return.

Semitas novosque limites in agro fieri ne patiatur; neve hospitem nisi amicum familiaremque domini necessarium receperit. Ut ab his arcendus, ita exhortandus est ad instrumenti ferramentorumque curam; ut duplicia, quam numerus servorum exigit, refecta et reposita custodiat, ne quid a vicino petendum sit; quia plus in operis servorum <avocandis> quam in pretio rerum eiusmodi consumitur. Cultam vestitamque familiam magis utiliter quam delicate habeat, munitamque diligenter a vento, frigore pluviaque; quae cuncta prohibentur pellibus manicatis, centonibus confectis vel sagis cucullis.

Let him not allow paths and new boundaries to be made in the field; nor let him admit a guest unless he be a friend and familiar of the master, and one needful. As he must be kept away from these, so he must be exhorted to the care of the equipment and the iron-tools; that he may keep, repaired and laid up, double the amount which the number of slaves requires, lest anything need be sought from a neighbor; because more is consumed in calling off the slaves from their works than in the price of things of this sort. Let him have the household cared for and clothed more usefully than delicately, and carefully fortified against wind, cold, and rain; all of which are warded off by pelts with sleeves, by patchwork coverings (centones) made, or by hooded cloaks (saga with cuculli).

Id si fiat, nullus dies tam intolerabilis est, quo non sub divo moliri aliquid possit. Nec tantum operis agrestis sit artifex, sed et animi, quantum servile patitur ingenium, virtutibus instructus, ut neque remisse neque crudeliter imperet; semperque aliquos ex melioribus foveat, parcat tamen etiam minus bonis; ita ut potius timeant eius severitatem, quam crudelitatem detestentur. Id contingere poterit, si maluerit custodire subiectos, ne peccent, quam negligentia sua committere, ut puniat delinquentes.

If that be done, no day is so intolerable that he cannot under the open sky work at something. And let him be not only an artificer of agricultural work, but also of mind, in so far as a servile disposition allows, equipped with virtues, so that he may command neither slackly nor cruelly; and let him always foster some of the better, yet spare even the less good; so that they rather fear his severity than detest cruelty. This can come to pass, if he prefers to guard his subjects, that they not offend, rather than by his negligence to bring it about that he punish delinquents.

Nulla est autem maior vel nequissimi hominis custodia, quam operis exactio, ut iusta reddantur, ut villicus semper se repraesentet. Sic enim et magistri singulorum officiorum sedulo munia sua exsequentur, et ceteri post defatigationem operis quieti ac somno potius quam deliciis operam dabunt. Iam illa vetera, sed optimi moris, quae nunc exoleverunt, utinam possint obtineri: ne conservo ministro quoquam nisi in re domini utatur; ne cibum nisi in conspectu familiae capiat; neve alium, quam qui ceteris praebetur.

However, there is no greater custody even of the most wicked man than the exaction of work, that the things justly due be rendered, that the steward always present himself. For thus both the masters of each office will diligently carry out their duties, and the rest, after the fatigue of work, will apply themselves to rest and sleep rather than to delights. Now those old practices, yet of the best custom, which now have died out—would that they could be maintained: that he not make use of any fellow-slave as an attendant except in the master’s business; that he take food only in the sight of the household; and not any other than that which is provided to the others.

Sic enim curabit, ut et panis diligenter confiat, et reliqua salubriter apparentur. Ne extra fines nisi a se missum progredi sinat: sed nec ipse mittat, nisi magna necessitate cogente. Neve negotietur sibi, pecuniamve domini aut animalibus aut rebus aliis promercalibus occupet.

Thus indeed he will take care that both the bread be carefully baked, and the rest be prepared wholesomely. Let him not allow anyone to go beyond the bounds unless sent by himself; but neither let him send them, unless a great necessity compels. Nor let him negotiate for himself, nor occupy the master’s money in livestock or other mercantile goods.

Haec enim negotiatio curam villici avocat, nec umquam patitur eum cum rationibus domini paria facere; sed ubi numeratio exigetur, rem pro nummis ostendit. In universum tamen hoc maxime obtinendum ab eo est, ne quid se putet scire quod nesciat, quaeratque semper addiscere quod ignorat. Nam cum multum prodest perite quid facere, tum plus obest perperam fecisse.

This kind of dealing draws the bailiff’s care away, and never allows him to make things tally with the master’s accounts; but when a reckoning is demanded, he shows goods in place of coin. In general, however, this must be especially secured from him: that he not think he knows anything which he does not know, and that he always seek to learn additionally what he is ignorant of. For while it profits much to do something skillfully, it harms more to have done it amiss.

Unum enim ac solum dominatur in rusticatione, quicquid exigit ratio culturae, semel facere; quippe cum emendatur vel imprudentia vel negligentia, iam res ipsa decoxit, nec tantum postmodum exuberat, ut et se amissam restituat et quaestum temporum praeteritorum resarciat. In ceteris servis haec fere praecepta servanda sunt, quae me custodisse non paenitet, ut rusticos, qui modo non incommode se gessissent, saepius quam urbanos familiariusque alloquerer; et cum hac comitate domini levari perpetuum laborem eorum intelligerem, nonnumquam etiam iocarer, et plus ipsis iocari permitterem. Iam illud saepe facio, ut quasi cum peritioribus de aliquibus operibus novis deliberem, et per hoc cognoscam cuiusque ingenium, quale quamque sit prudens.

For one single thing rules in rustication: whatever the rationale of cultivation demands, to do it once-for-all; since, when either imprudence or negligence is corrected, the thing itself has already boiled away, nor does it afterwards so abound as both to restore itself once lost and to repair the profit of times past. In the rest concerning slaves these nearly such precepts are to be observed, which I do not regret having kept: that I would address the rustics, who had conducted themselves not incommodiously, more often than the urban and more familiarly; and since I understood that by this affability of the master their perpetual labor was lightened, I would sometimes also jest, and allow them to jest more. Now this I often do: that, as if with the more expert, I deliberate about certain new works, and through this I come to know each one’s ingenium, of what sort it is and how prudent each is.

Tum etiam libentius eos id opus aggredi video, de quo secum deliberatum et consilium ipsorum susceptum putant. Nam illa sollemnia sunt omnibus circumspectis, ut ergastuli mancipia recognoscant; ut explorent an diligenter vincta sint; an ipsae sedes custodiae satis tutae munitaeque sint; num villicus aut alligaverit quempiam domino nesciente, aut revinxerit. Nam utrumque maxime servare debet, ut et quem pater familias tali poena multaverit, villicus nisi eiusdem permissu compedibus non eximat; et quem ipse sua sponte vinxerit, ante quam sciat dominus, non resolvat; tantoque curiosior inquisitio patris familias debet esse pro tali genere servorum, ne aut in vestiariis aut in ceteris praebitis iniuriose tractentur, quanto et pluribus subiecti, ut villicis, ut operum magistris, ut ergastulariis, magis obnoxii perpetiendis iniuriis, et rursus saevitia atque avaritia laesi magis timendi sunt.

Then too I see them more willingly undertake that work, about which they suppose that deliberation has been held with them and their own counsel adopted. For these are the solemn routines for all who are circumspect: that they review the ergastulum slaves; that they explore whether they are diligently bound; whether the very seats of custody are sufficiently safe and fortified; whether the bailiff has either tied someone up with the master not knowing, or rebound him. For he ought especially to observe both: that the bailiff not remove from fetters one whom the paterfamilias has mulcted with such a penalty, except by that same man’s permission; and that one whom he himself of his own accord has bound, he not unloose before the master knows; and by so much the more scrupulous ought the inquiry of the paterfamilias to be on behalf of such a class of slaves, lest either in the clothing-rooms or in the other allowances they be treated injuriously, inasmuch as, subjected to more persons—bailiffs, masters of works, ergastulum-warders—they are more liable to suffer wrongs, and in turn, when injured by cruelty and greed, are more to be feared.

Itaque diligens dominus, cum et ab ipsis, tum et ab solutis, quibus maior est fides, quaerat an ex sua constitutione iusta percipiant. Atque ipse panis potionisque bonitatem gustu suo exploret; vestem, manicas, pedumque tegmina recognoscat. Saepe etiam querendi potestatem faciat de iis, qui aut crudeliter eos aut fraudulenter infestent.

Therefore a diligent master, both from them themselves and from the unshackled, to whom greater trust is due, should inquire whether by his own constitution they receive their just dues. And he himself should explore by his own taste the goodness of the bread and drink; he should review the clothing, the sleeves, and the coverings of the feet. Let him also often grant the power of making complaint concerning those who harass them either cruelly or fraudulently.

Nos quidem aliquando iuste dolentes tam vindicamus, quam animadvertimus in eos, qui seditionibus familiam concitant, qui calumniantur magistros suos; ac rursus praemio prosequimur eos, qui strenue atque industrie se gerunt. Feminis quoque fecundioribus, quarum in sobole certus numerus honorari debet, otium nonnumquam et libertatem dedimus, cum plures natos educassent. Nam cui tres erant filii, vacatio, cui plures libertas quoque contingebat.

We indeed, sometimes grieving justly, both vindicate and also inflict punishment upon those who rouse the household to seditions, who calumniate their masters; and in turn we pursue with reward those who conduct themselves strenuously and industriously. To women too who are more fecund, for whom in offspring a fixed number ought to be honored, we have sometimes granted leisure and even liberty, when they had reared several children born. For she who had three sons obtained exemption; she who had more, liberty also befell.

Haec et iustitia et cura patris familias multum confert augendo patrimonio. Sed et illa meminerit, cum e civitate remeaverit, deos penates adorare; deinde si tempestivum erit, confestim, si minus, postero die fines oculis perlustrare, et omnes parte agri revisere atque aestimare, numquid absentia sua de disciplina et custodia remiserit; num aliqua vitis, num arbor, num fruges absint; tum etiam pecus et familiam recenseat, fundique instrumentum et supellectilem; quae cuncta si per plures annos facere instituerit, bene moratam disciplinam, cum senectus advenerit, obtinebit. Nec erit ulla eius aetas annis ita confecta, ut spernatur a servis.

These things both the justice and the care of the father of the household contribute much to augmenting the patrimony. But let him also remember, when he has returned from the city, to adore the household gods, the Penates; then, if it is seasonable, at once—if not, on the next day—to sweep with his eyes the boundaries, and to revisit and assess every part of the field, whether his absence has remitted anything of discipline and custody; whether any vine, any tree, any crops are missing; then also let him review the herd and the household, and the equipment of the estate and the furnishings; which, if he shall have established himself to do through many years, he will maintain a well-ordered discipline when old age has arrived. Nor will any age of his be so worn by years that he is scorned by the servants.

IX. Dicendum etiam est, quibus operibus quemque habitum corporis aut animi contribuendum putemus. Magistros operibus oportet praeponere sedulos ac frugalissimos. Ea res utraque plus quam corporis statura roburque confert huic negotio; quoniam id ministerium custodiae diligentis et artis officium est.

9. It must also be said by what kinds of works we think each habit of body or of mind ought to be cultivated. Masters should be set over the works who are most diligent and most frugal. Each of these qualities contributes more to this business than bodily stature and strength; since that ministry is a duty of watchful custody and of art (skill).

Bubulco quamvis necessaria, non tamen satis est indoles mentis, nisi eum vastitas vocis et habitus metuendum pecudibus efficit. Sed temperet vires clementia; quoniam terribilior debet esse quam saevior, ut et obsequantur eius imperiis, et diutius perennent boves non confecti vexatione simul operum verberumque. Sed quae sint magistrorum munia, quaeque bubulcorum, suo loco repetam.

For the oxherd, although a disposition of mind is necessary, it is nevertheless not sufficient, unless a vastness of voice and a bearing make him to be feared by the cattle. But let clemency temper his strength; for he ought to be more terrible than more savage, so that they both comply with his commands, and the oxen may endure longer, not worn out by the vexation of both labors and beatings. But what the duties (munia) of the overseers are, and what those of the oxherds, I will return to in its proper place.

Nunc admonuisse satis est, nihil in his, in illis plurimum referre vires et proceritatem. Nam longissimum quemque aratorem, sicut dixi, faciemus, et propter id, quod paulo ante rettuli et quod in re rustica nullo minus opere fatigatur prolixior, quia in arando stivae paene rectus innititur. Mediastinus qualiscumque status potest esse, dummodo perpetiendo labori sit idoneus.

Now it is enough to have admonished that strength and stature matter nothing in the former, but very much in the latter. For we shall make every plowman the very tallest, as I said, both on account of that which I reported a little before and because in rustic work the taller man is fatigued by no less toil, since in plowing he leans upon the stilt of the plow almost upright. The Mediastinus may be of whatever build, provided that he is suitable for enduring labor.

Vineae non sic altos quemadmodum latos et lacertosos viros exigunt. Nam his habitus fossuris et putationibus ceterisque earum culturis magis aptus. Minus in hoc officio, quam in ceteris, agricolatio frugalitatem requirit, quia et in turba et sub monitore vinitor opus facere debet.

Vineyards do not so much require men tall as broad and sinewy. For for these, a physique more apt for trenchings and prunings and the other cultivations of them. Less in this duty than in the others does agriculture require frugality, because the vine-dresser ought to do his work both in a crowd and under a monitor.

Ac plerumque velocior animus est improborum [hominum], quem desiderat huius operis conditio. Non solum enim fortem, sed et acuminis strenui ministrum postulat. Ideoque vineta plurimum per alligatos excoluntur.

And for the most part the mind of the more unscrupulous [men] is swifter, which the condition of this work desires. For it demands not only a strong man, but also an assistant of strenuous acumen. And therefore vineyards are for the most part cultivated by those bound in chains.

Nihil tamen eiusdem agilitatis homo frugi non melius quam nequam faciet. Hoc interposui, ne quis existimet, in ea me opinione versari, qua malim per noxios quam per innocentes rura colere. Sed et illud censeo, ne confundantur opera familiae, sic ut omnes omnia exsequantur.

Nevertheless, in nothing of the same agility will a frugal man not do better than a good-for-nothing. I have interposed this, lest anyone estimate that I am engaged in that opinion in which I would rather cultivate the fields through the noxious than through the innocent. But I also judge this: that the works of the household not be confounded, so that not everyone carries out everything.

Nam id minime conducit agricolae, seu quia cum enisus est, non suo sed communi officio proficit, ideoque labori multum se subtrahit; nec tamen viritim malefactum deprehenditur, quod fit a multis. Propter quod separandi sunt aratores a vinitoribus <et vinitores ab aratoribus>, iique a mediastinis. Classes etiam non maiores quam denum hominum faciundae, quas decurias appellaverunt antiqui et maxime probaverunt, quod is numeri modus in opere commodissime custodiretur, nec praeeuntis monitoris diligentiam multitudo confunderet.

For that least conduces to the farmer, either because, when he has strained himself, he advances not his own but a common duty, and so withdraws himself much from the labor; nor, however, is wrongdoing detected man by man, since it is done by many. For which reason plowmen are to be separated from vine-dressers <and vine-dressers from plowmen>, and these from the day-laborers. Classes also are to be made no larger than ten men, which the ancients called decuries and most highly approved, because that measure of number could be most conveniently kept in the work, and the multitude would not confound the diligence of the monitor who goes before.

Itaque si latior est ager, in regiones diducendae sunt eae classes, dividundumque ita opus, ut neque singuli binive sint, quoniam dispersi non facile custodiuntur; nec tamen supra decem, ne rursus ubi nimia turba sit, id opus ad se pertinere singuli non existiment. Haec ordinatio non solum concitat aemulationem, sed et deprehendit ignavos. Nam cum certamine opus excitetur, tu in cessantes animadversio iusta et sine querela videtur adhiberi.

Therefore, if the field is broader, those classes must be led out into regions, and the work must be divided in such a way that neither are there individuals or pairs, since, being dispersed, they are not easily kept under watch; nor, however, above 10, lest again, where there is an excessive crowd, individuals think that the work does not pertain to themselves. This ordination not only arouses emulation, but also catches the lazy. For when the work is stirred by competition, then against the idlers a just animadversion seems to be applied without complaint.

Sed nimirum dum quae maxime providenda sunt agricolae futuro praecipimus, de salubritate, de via, de vicino, de aqua, situ villae, fundi modo, colonorum et servorum generibus, officiorum operumque distributione, tempestive per haec ad ipsum iam terrae cultum pervenimus, de quo pluribus libro insequente mox disserimus.

But assuredly, while we prescribe in advance those things which are to be most especially provided for by the future agricola—about salubrity, about the road, about the neighbor, about water, the site of the villa, the plan of the estate, the kinds of coloni and slaves, the distribution of offices and works—seasonably through these we have now come to the very cultivation of the earth, about which we shall soon discourse at greater length in the book that follows.