Columella: DE RE RUSTICA LIBRI XII

I. Quae fere consummabant, Publi Silvine, ruris expe<d>iendi scientiam, quaeque pecuariae negotiationis exigebat ratio, septem memoravimus libris. Hic nunc sequentis numeri titulum possidebit, nec quia proximam propriamque rustici curam desiderent ea quae dicturi sumus, sed quia non alio loco quam in agris aut villis debeant administrari. Et tamen agrestibus magis quam urbanis prosint;

1. The things which for the most part completed, Publius Silvinus, the science of expediting/ordering the countryside, and which the method of the cattle-raising business required, we have recounted in seven books. This now will possess the title of the following number, not because the matters we are about to speak of lack the nearest and proper care of the rustic, but because they ought to be administered in no other place than in fields or villas. And yet they are of more use to countryfolk than to urban people;

[2] quippe villaticae pastiones sicut pecuariae non minimam colono stipem conferunt, cum et avium stercore macerrimis vineis et omni surculo atque arvo medeantur, et eisdem familiarem focum mensamque pretiosis dapibus opulentent, postremo venditorum animalium pretio villae reditum augeant. Quare de hoc quoque genere pastionis dicendum censui.

[2] for indeed farmyard feedings, just as pastoral ones, contribute no mean stipend to the tenant‑farmer, since with the dung of birds they remedy the most meager vineyards and every shoot and ploughed field, and with the same they make the household hearth and table opulent with precious dishes, and finally, by the price of the animals sold, they augment the villa’s revenue. Wherefore I judged that this kind of feeding too should be spoken of.

[3] Est autem id fere vel in villa vel circa villam. In villa est quod appellant Graeciornithonnes kai peristereones, atque etiam, cum datur liquoris facultas, ichthyotropheia sedula cura exercentur. Ea sunt omnia, ut Latine potius loquamur, sicut avium cohortalium stabula nec minus earum, quae conclavibus septae saginantur, vel aquatilium animalium receptacula.

[3] It is, however, for the most part either in the villa or around the villa. In the villa are what the Greeks callornithonnes kai peristereones, and likewise, when a supply of liquid is afforded, ichthyotropheia are managed with assiduous care. All these things are, to speak rather in Latin, as it were the stables of courtyard birds, and no less of those which, enclosed in chambers, are fattened, or the receptacles of aquatic animals.

[4] Rursus circa villam ponunturmelissones kai chenoboskia, quin etiam lagotropheia studiose administrantur; quae nos similiter appellamus apum cubilia, apiaria, vel nantium volucrum, quae stagnis piscinisque laetantur, aviaria, vel etiam pecudum silvestrium, quae nemoribus clausis custodiuntur, vivaria.

[4] Again around the villa are setbeehouses and goose-pastures, indeed even hare-warrens are diligently administered; which we likewise call bee-dwellings, apiaries, or of swimming birds, which take delight in pools and fishponds, aviaries, or also of wild herd-animals, which are kept in enclosed groves, vivaria.

II. DE COHORTALIBUS GALLINIS Prius igitur de his praecipiam, quae intra septa villae pascuntur. ac de aliis quidem forsitan ambigatur an sint agrestibus possidenda, gallinarum vero plerumque agricolae cura sollemnis est. Earum genera sunt vel cohortalium vel rusticarum vel Africanarum.

2. ON COHORTAL HENS Therefore, first I will prescribe about those which are fed within the enclosures of the villa. And indeed concerning others perhaps it may be doubted whether they ought to be possessed by countrymen; but the care of hens is for the most part the farmer’s solemn/customary concern. Their kinds are either cohortal, or rustic, or African.

[2] Cohortalis est avis quae vulgo per omnes fere villas conspicitur, rustica, quae non dissimilis villaticae per aucupem decipitur - eaque plurima est in insula quam navitae Ligustico mari sitam producto nomine alitis Gallinariam vocitaverunt. Africana est quam plerique Numidicam dicunt, meleagridi similis, nisi quod rutilam galeam et cristam capite gerit, quae utraque sunt in Meleagride caerulae.

[2] The cohortal is the bird which is commonly seen through almost all villas; the rustic, which, not unlike the villatic, is caught by the fowler - and this one is in very great numbers on the island which sailors, situated in the Ligurian sea, have, with the extended name of the fowl, called Gallinaria. The African is what most call the Numidian, similar to the Meleagris, except that it bears on its head a ruddy helmet and crest, both of which in the Meleagris are blue.

[3] Sed ex his tribus generibus cohortales feminae proprie appellantur gallinae, mares autem galli, semimares capi, qui hoc nomine vocantur cum sint castrati libidinis abolendae causa. Nec tamen id patiuntur amissis genitalibus, sed ferro candente calcaribus inustis, quae cum ignea vi consumpta sunt, facta ulcera dum consanescant, figulari creta linuntur.

[3] But of these three kinds, the cohortal females are properly called hens, the males cocks, the semi-males capons, who are called by this name since they are castrated for the purpose of abolishing libido. Yet they do not undergo this by having the genitals removed, but with a red-hot iron the spurs are branded; and when these have been consumed by fiery force, the ulcers that are made, while they are healing, are smeared with potter’s clay.

[4] Huius igitur villatici generis non spernendus est reditus, si adhibeatur educandi scientia, quam plerique Graecorum et praecipue celebravere Deliaci. Sed et hi, quoniam procera corpora et animos ad proelia pertinacis requirebant, praecipue Tanagricum genus et Rhodium probabant, nec minus Chalcidicum et Medicum, quod ab imperito vulgo littera mutata Melicum appellatur.

[4] Therefore, the return of this villatic kind is not to be scorned, if the science of rearing be applied, which many of the Greeks and especially the Delians have celebrated. But even they, since they required tall bodies and spirits pertinacious for battles, especially approved the Tanagrian kind and the Rhodian, and no less the Chalcidian and the Median, which by the unskilled crowd, with a letter changed, is called Melic.

[5] Nobis nostrum vernaculum maxime placet, omisso tamen illo studio Graecorum, qui ferocissimum quemque alitem certaminibus et pugnae praeparabant. Nos enim censemus instituere vectigal industrii patrisfamiliae, non rixosarum avium lanistae, cuius plerumque totum patrimonium, pignus aleae, victor gallinaceus pyctes abstulit.

[5] To us our native home-bred stock is most pleasing, with that zeal of the Greeks, however, set aside, who were preparing each most-fierce bird for contests and for combat. For we judge that we should establish the revenue of an industrious paterfamilias, not of a lanista of brawling birds, whose whole patrimony for the most part—pledged to gaming—the victorious gallinaceous pugilist has carried off.

[6] Igitur cui placebit sequi nostra praecepta, consideret oportet primum quam multas et cuiusmodi parare debeat matrices, deinde qualiter eas tutari et pascere, mox quibus anni temporibus earum partus excipere, tum demum ut incubent et excludant efficere, postremo ut commode pulli educentur operam dare. His enim curis et ministeriis exercetur ratio cohortalis, quam Graeci vocantornithotrophian.

[6] Therefore, whoever will be pleased to follow our precepts ought first to consider how many and of what kind he ought to prepare breeding mothers (matrices), then how to guard and feed them, next at what seasons of the year to receive their offspring, then at last to bring it about that they brood and hatch, and finally to give attention that the chicks be raised conveniently. For by these cares and ministries the cohortal method is exercised, which the Greeks callornithotrophian.

[7] Parandi autem modus est ducentorum capitum, quae pastoris unius curam distendant, dum tamen anus sedula vel puer adhibeatur custos vagantium, ne obsidiis hominum aut insidiatorum animalium diripiantur. Mercari porro nisi fecundissimas aves non expedit. Eae sint rubicundae vel infuscae plumae nigrisque pinnis, ac si fieri poterit, omnes huius et ab hoc proximi coloris eligantur.

[7] The mode of provisioning is two hundred head, which stretch the care of a single shepherd, provided, however, that a diligent old woman or a boy be employed as a guardian of the wanderers, lest they be snatched away by the ambushes of men or of predatory animals. Moreover, it is not expedient to purchase any save the most fecund birds. Let them be ruddy or darkened in plumage and with black pinions, and, if it can be done, let all be chosen of this color and of the color nearest to this.

Sin aliter, vitentur albae, quae fere cum sint molles ac minus vivaces, tum ne fecundae quidem facile reperiuntur, atque etiam conspicuae propter insigne candoris ab accipitribus et aquilis saepius abripiuntur.

But if otherwise, let the white ones be avoided, which, since they are generally soft and less vivacious, are not even easily found to be fecund, and also, conspicuous on account of the insignia of whiteness, are more often snatched away by hawks and eagles.

[8] Sint ergo matrices robii coloris, quadratae, pectorosae, magnis capitibus, rectis rutilisque cristulis, albis auribus, et sub hac specie quam amplissimae, nec paribus unguibus; generosissimaeque creduntur quae quinos habent digitos, sed ita ne cruribus emineant transversa calcaria. Nam quae hoc virile gerit insigne, contumax ad concubitum dedignatur admittere marem, raroque fecunda etiam cum incubat, calcis aculeis ova perfringit.

[8] Let therefore the brood-mothers be of a ruddy color, square-built, deep-chested, with large heads, with straight and rutilous little crests, with white ears, and under this form as large as possible, and not with equal claws; and they are believed most high-bred which have five digits, but in such wise that transverse spurs do not project on the legs. For she who bears this virile emblem, being contumacious, disdains to admit the male to coupling, and is rarely fertile even when she broods; with the prickles of the heel she breaks the eggs.

[9] Gallinaceos mares nisi salacissimos habere non expedit. Atque in his quoque sicut feminis idem color, idem numerus unguium, status altior quaeritur; sublimes sanguineaeque nec obliquae cristae, ravidi vel nigrantes oculi, brevia et adunca rostra, maximae candidissimaeque aures, paleae ex rutilo albicantes, quae velut incanae barbae dependent; iubae deinde variae vel ex auro flavae, per colla cervicesque in umeros diffusae;

[9] As for the cock-birds, it is not expedient to have them unless most salacious. And in these too, just as in the females, the same color, the same number of claws, a taller stature are sought; crests lofty and blood-red and not oblique, tawny or blackish eyes, short and hooked beaks, very large and most gleaming-white ears, wattles whitening from ruddy-golden, which hang down like hoary beards; then manes variegated or golden-blond, diffused through the necks and napes onto the shoulders;

[10] tum lata et musculosa pectora, lacertosaeque similes brachiis alae; tum procerissimae caudae duplici ordine singulis utrimque prominentibus pinnis inflexae; quin etiam vasta femina et frequenter horrentibus plumis hirta, robusta crura nec longa sed infestis velut sudibus nocenter armata.

[10] then broad and muscular chests, and wings sinewy, like arms; then very long tails, curved, with a double row, the individual feathers on each side projecting; moreover, vast thighs, shaggy with feathers that frequently bristle, sturdy legs, not long, but hurtfully armed as if with hostile stakes.

[11] Mares autem, quamvis non ad pugnam neque ad victoriae laudem praeparentur, maxime tamen generosi probantur, ut sint elati, alacres, vigilaces et ad saepius canendum prompti, nec qui facile terreantur. Nam interdum resistere debent et protegere coniugalem gregem, quin et attollentem minas serpentem vel aliud noxium animal interficere.

[11] The males, however, although they are not prepared for combat nor for the praise of victory, are nevertheless especially approved as high-bred, such that they be exalted, alacritous, vigilant, and prompt for crowing more often, and not ones who are easily terrified. For at times they must stand their ground and protect the conjugal flock, indeed even kill a serpent lifting up threats, or some other noxious animal.

[12] Talibus autem maribus quinae singulis feminae comparantur. Nam Rhodii generis aut Medici propter gravitatem neque patres nimis salaces nec fecundae matres, quae tamen ternae singulis maritantur. Et cum pauca ova posuerunt, inertes ad incubandum multoque magis ad excludendum, raro fetus suos educant.

[12] To such males, moreover, five females each are matched. For of the Rhodian breed or the Median, on account of their gravity, neither are the sires overly salacious nor the mothers fecund; nevertheless, three are married to each male. And when they have laid few eggs, being inert for incubating and much more so for hatching out, they rarely rear their offspring.

Itaque quibus cordi est ea genera propter corporum speciem possidere, cum exceperunt ova generosarum, vulgaribus gallinis subiciunt, ut ab his excusi pulli nutriantur.

Therefore, for those who have it at heart to possess those kinds on account of the form of the bodies, when they have taken the eggs of the well-bred, they place them under common hens, so that the chicks hatched out by these may be nourished.

[13] Tanagrici plerumque Rhodiis et Medicis amplitudine pares non multum moribus a vernaculis distant, sicut et Chalcidici. Omnium tamen horum generum nothi sunt optimi pulli, quos conceptos ex peregrinis maribus nostrates ediderunt, et salacitatem fecunditatemque vernaculam retinent.

[13] The Tanagrians, for the most part equal in amplitude to the Rhodians and Medes, do not differ much in manners from the homebred, as likewise the Chalcidians. Yet of all these breeds, the bastards are the best chicks—those which, conceived from foreign males, our native hens have brought forth—and they retain the native salacity and fecundity.

[14] Pumileas aves, nisi quem humilitas earum delectat, nec propter fecunditatem nec propter alium reditum nimium probo, tam hercule quam nec pugnacem nec rixosae libidinis marem. Nam plerumque ceteros infestat, et non patitur inire feminas, cum ipse pluribus sufficere non queat.

[14] Dwarfish birds, unless their low stature delights someone, I do not excessively approve either on account of fecundity or on account of any other return, by Hercules, just as I do not [approve] a pugnacious male nor one of brawling libido. For he for the most part infests the others, and does not suffer them to go in to the females, when he himself is not able to suffice for many.

[15] Inpedienda est itaque procacitas eius anpullaceo corio, quod cum in orbiculum formatum est, media pars eius rescinditur, et per excisam partem galli pes inseritur, eaque quasi compede cohibentur feri mores. Sed, ut proposui, iam de tutela generis universi praecipiam.

[15] Therefore his procacity is to be impeded by ampullaceous leather, which, when it has been formed into a little ring, has its middle part cut away, and through the excised part the cock’s foot is inserted, and by it his savage manners are restrained as if by a fetter. But, as I have proposed, now I shall prescribe concerning the guardianship of the entire breed.

III. DE GALLINARIIS Gallinaria constitui debent parte villae quae hibernum spectat orientem. Iuncta sint ea furno vel culinae, ut ad avem perveniat fumus, qui est huic generi praecipue salutaris.

3. ON HEN-HOUSES Hen-houses ought to be set in that part of the villa which faces the winter sunrise. Let them be joined to the oven or to the kitchen, so that smoke may reach the bird, which is especially healthful for this kind.

Totius autem officinae, id est ornithonis, tres continuae exstruuntur cellae, quarum, sicuti dixi, perpetua frons orientem sit obversa.

Of the whole workshop, that is, the ornithon, three continuous cells are constructed, the entire front of which, as I said, should be turned toward the east.

[2] In ea deinde fronte exiguus detur unus omnino aditus mediae cellae, quae ips, e tribus minima, esse debet in altitudinem et quoqueversus pedes septem. In ea singuli dextro laevoque pariete aditus ad utramque cellam faciundi sunt, iuncti parieti qui est intrantibus adversus. Huic autem focus applicetur tam longus, ut nec inpediat praedictos aditus et ab eo fumus perveniat in utramque cellam; eaeque longitudinis et altitudinis duodenos pedes habeant, nec plus latitudinis quam media.

[2] In that front then let a single, tiny entrance be given to the middle cell, which it, the smallest of the three, ought to be seven feet in height and seven feet each way. In it, on the right and left wall, single entrances to each cell are to be made, adjoining the wall which faces those entering. Moreover, let a hearth be set against this, of such a length that it neither impedes the aforesaid entrances and that from it the smoke may reach into each cell; and let these be twelve feet in length and in height, and of no greater breadth than the middle one.

[3] Sublimitas dividatur tabulatis, quae super se quaternos et infra septenos liberos pedes habeant, quoniam ipsa singulos occupant. Vtraque tabulata gallinis servire debent, et ea parvis ab oriente singulis inluminari fenestellis, quae et ipsae matutinum exitum praebeant avibus ad cohortem, nec minus vespertinum introitum. Sed curandum erit ut semper noctibus claudantur, quo tutius aves maneant.

[3] Let the height be divided by stories, which shall have four free feet above themselves and seven below, since they themselves each occupy one. Both stories ought to serve the hens, and they should be illuminated by small windows from the east, one apiece, which likewise themselves should provide a morning exit for the birds into the court, and no less an evening entrance. But care must be taken that they are always closed at nights, whereby the birds may remain more safely.

[4] Infra tabulata maiores fenestellae aperiantur, et eae clatris muniantur, ne possint noxia inrepere animalia, sic tamen ut inlustria sint loca, quo commodius habitet aviarius, qui subinde debet speculari aut incubantis aut parturientis fetas. Nam etiam in his ipsis locis ita crassos parietes aedificare convenit, ut excisa per ordinem gallinarum cubilia recipiant, in quibus aut ova edantur aut excludantur pulli. Hoc enim et salubrius et elegantius est quam illud quod quidam faciunt, ut palis in parietis vehementer actis vimineos qualos superponant.

[4] Below the flooring let larger little-windows be opened, and let them be fortified with lattices, lest noxious animals be able to creep in—yet in such a way that the places are illuminated, whereby the aviary-keeper may more conveniently reside, who ought continually to inspect the breeding hens, whether brooding or laying. For even in these very places it is fitting to build walls so thick that, cut out in a row, they may receive the nesting-places of hens, in which either eggs may be laid or chicks hatched out. For this is both more salubrious and more elegant than that which certain people do, namely, that, with stakes driven forcefully into the wall, they set wicker baskets on top.

[5] Sive autem parietibus ita ut diximus cavatis aut qualis vimineis praeponenda erunt vestibula, per quae matrices ad cubilia vel pariendi vel incubandi causa perveniant. Neque enim debent ipsis nidis involare, ne dum adsiliunt pedibus ova confringant.

[5] Whether, however, with the walls hollowed as we have said, or with wicker baskets, vestibules must be set before them, through which the breeding females may reach the cubicles for the sake either of bearing (laying) or of incubating. For they ought not to fly into the nests themselves, lest, while they spring up, they crush the eggs with their feet.

[6] Ascensus deinde avibus ad tabulata per utramque cellam datur, iunctis parieti modicis asserculis, qui paulum formatis gradibus asperantur, ne sint advolantibus lubrici. Sed ab cohorte forinsecus praedictis fenestellis scandulae similiter iniungantur, quibus inrepant aves ad requiem nocturnam. Maxime autem curabimus ut et haec aviaria et cetera, de quibus mox dicturi sumus, intrinsecus et extrinsecus poliantur opere tectorio, ne quae ad aves feles habeant aut coluber adcessum, tum et aeque noxiae prohibeantur pestes.

[6] Access then for the birds to the stories is provided through each cell, by small little boards fastened to the wall, which are roughened a bit with formed steps, lest they be slippery for those flying up. But from the court, on the outside, to the aforesaid little windows, shingles are likewise attached, by which the birds may creep in to their nocturnal rest. Most of all we will take care that both these aviaries and the rest, of which we are soon to speak, be polished within and without with plaster-work, so that cats or a serpent may not have access to the birds, and that equally noxious pests be kept away.

[7] Tabulatis insistere dormientem avem non expedit, ne suo laedatur stercore, quod cum pedibus uncis adhaesit, podagram creat. Ea pernicies ut evitetur, perticae dolantur in quadrum, ne teres levitas earum supersilientem volucrem non recipiat conquadratae deinde foratis duobus adversis parietibus induuntur, ita ut a tabulato pedalis altitudinis et inter se bipedali latitudinis spatio distent.

[7] It is not expedient for the sleeping bird to stand on the platforms, lest it be harmed by its own dung, which, when it has adhered to the hooked feet, produces podagra. That destruction may be avoided, perches are hewn into a quadrate, lest the rounded smoothness of them fail to receive a bird springing up; then the squared perches are inserted into two opposite walls that have been bored, such that they are at a foot’s height from the platform and are separated from one another by a space of two feet in breadth.

[8] Haec erit cohortalis officinae dispositio. Ceterum cohors ipsa, per quam vagantur, non tam stercore quam uligine careat. Nam plurimum refert aquam non esse in ea nisi in uno loco quam bibant, eaque mundissima; stercorosa pituitam concitat.

[8] This will be the disposition of the courtyard workshop. Moreover, the enclosure itself, through which they wander, should be kept free not so much of dung as of dampness. For it matters very much that there be no water in it except in a single place from which they drink, and that be most clean; filthy water stirs up phlegm.

Puram tamen servare non possis nisi clausam vasis in hunc usum fabricatis. Sunt autem qui aut aqua replentur aut cibo plumbei canales, quos magis utiles esse ligneis aut fictilibus conpertum est.

Yet you cannot keep it pure unless it is enclosed in vessels fabricated for this use. Moreover, there are leaden troughs which are filled either with water or with food, which have been ascertained to be more useful than wooden or earthen ones.

[9] Hi superpositis operculis clauduntur, et a lateribus super mediam partem altitudinis per spatia palmaria modicis forantur cavis, ita ut avium capita possint admittere. Nam nisi operculis muniantur, quantulumcumque aquae vel ciborum inest pedibus everritur. Sunt qui a superiore parte foramina ipsis operculis inponant, quod fieri non oportet.

[9] These are closed with opercula (lids) placed on top, and along the sides, above the middle part of the height, they are bored with small cavities at palm-breadth intervals, so that the birds’ heads can be admitted. For unless they are protected by lids, whatever small amount of water or food is in them is overturned by the feet. There are some who put openings from the upper side into the lids themselves, which ought not to be done.

Nam supersiliens avis proluvie ventris cibos et aquam conspurcat.

For the bird, over-leaping, pollutes the foods and the water with the discharge of the belly.

IV. DE CIBARIIS GALLINARUM Cibaria gallinis praebentur optima pinsitum hordeum et vicia, nec minus cicercula, tum etiam milium aut panicum. Sed haec ubi vilitas annonae permittit; ubi vero ea est carior, excreta tritici minuta commode dantur. Nam per se id frumentum, etiam quibus locis vilissimum est, non utiliter praebetur, quia obest avibus.

4. ON THE FEED OF HENS The best feed is provided to hens as pounded barley and vetch, and no less chickling vetch, then also millet or panic. But these when the cheapness of the grain-supply permits; when indeed it is dearer, the small siftings of wheat are conveniently given. For that grain by itself, even in those places where it is cheapest, is not advantageously provided, because it is harmful to the birds.

Potest etiam lolium decoctum obici, nec minus furfures modice a farina excreti, qui si nihil habent farris, non sunt idonei, nec tamen appetuntur ieiunis.

Boiled darnel can also be offered, and no less bran moderately sifted off from the flour; which, if they have nothing of far (emmer), are not suitable, nor yet are they desired by those fasting.

[2] Cytisi folia seminaque maxime probantur et sunt huic generi gratissima, neque est ulla regio in qua non possit huius arbusculae copia esse vel maxima. Vinacea quamvis tolerabiliter pascant dari non debent, nisi quibus anni temporibus avis fetum non edit, nam et partus raros et ova faciunt exigua.

[2] The leaves and seeds of cytisus are most approved and are most pleasing to this kind, nor is there any region in which there cannot be a very great abundance of this little tree. Grape-pressings, although they feed tolerably, ought not to be given, except at those times of the year when the bird does not produce offspring; for they produce both rare broodings and small eggs.

[3] Sed cum plane post autumnum cessa[n]t a fetu, potest hoc cibo sustineri. Ac tamen quaecumque dabitur esca per cohortem vagantibus, die incipiente et iam in vesperum declinato, bis dividenda est, ut et mane non protinus a cubili latius evagentur, et ante crepusculum propter cibi spem temperius ad officinam redeant, possintque numerus capitum saepius recognosci. Nam volatile pecus facile custodiam pastoris decipit.

[3] But since plainly after autumn they cease from breeding, they can be sustained on this food. And yet whatever fodder will be given to those wandering through the yard, at the day’s beginning and when it has now declined toward evening, must be divided twice, so that in the morning they do not straightway wander more widely from the roost, and before twilight, on account of the hope of food, they may return earlier to the workshop, and the number of heads can be more often recognized. For the volatile herd easily deceives the shepherd’s guard.

[4] Siccus etiam pulvis et cinis, ubicumque cohortem porticus vel tectum protegit, iuxta parietem reponendus est, ut sit quo aves se perfundant. Nam his rebus plumam pinnasque emundant, si modo credimus Ephesio Heraclito, qui ait sues caeno, cohortales aves pulvere lavari.

[4] Dry dust and ash also, wherever a portico or a roof shelters the yard, are to be placed next to the wall, so that there may be something in which the birds may drench themselves. For with these things they cleanse their plume and pinions, if only we believe Heraclitus of Ephesus, who says that swine are washed in mud, courtyard birds in dust.

[5] Gallina post primam emitti et ante horam diei undecimam claudi debet, cuius vagae cultus hic quem diximus erit. Nec tamen alius clausae, nisi quod ea non emittetur, sed intra ornithonem ter die pascitur maiore mensura. Nam singulis capitibus quaterni cyathi diurna cibaria sunt, cum vagis [terni, vel] bini praebeantur.

[5] The hen ought to be sent out after the first hour and to be shut in before the eleventh hour of the day, whose care, when at large, will be this which we have spoken. Yet she, when shut in, shall have no other regimen, except that she is not sent out, but within the bird-house she is fed three times a day with a greater measure. For to each head four cyathi are the daily ration, whereas to the wanderers [three, or] two are supplied.

[6] Habeat tamen etiam clausa oportet amplum vestibulum quo prodeat et ubi apricetur, idque sit retibus munitum, ne aquila vel accipiter involet. Quas inpensas et curas, nisi locis quibus harum rerum vigent pretia, non expedit adhiberi. Antiquissima est autem cum omnibus pecoribus tum in hoc fides pastoris, qui nisi eam domino servat, nullius ornithonis quaestus vincit inpensas.

[6] Yet even the confined one ought to have a spacious vestibule, into which she may go forth and where she may bask in the sun, and let it be fortified with nets, lest an eagle or a hawk fly in. Such expenses and cares, unless in places where the prices of these things are strong, are not expedient to employ. But the most time-honored safeguard, with all herds and in this matter too, is the shepherd/keeper’s fidelity; and unless he preserves that for his master, no profit of any ornithon overcomes the expenses.

De tutela satis dictum est, nunc reliquum ordinem persequemur.

About protection enough has been said; now we shall pursue the remaining order.

V Confecta bruma parere fere id genus avium consuevit. Atque earum quae sunt fecundissimae locis tepidioribus circa Kalendas Ianuarias ova edere incipiunt, frigidis autem regionibus eodem mense post Idus.

5 When midwinter is completed, that kind of birds is generally accustomed to bring forth. And of them, those most fecund in more tepid places begin to lay eggs around the Kalends of January, but in colder regions in the same month after the Ides.

[2] Sed cibis idoneis fecunditas earum elicienda est, quo maturius partum edant. Optime praebetur ad satietatem hordeum semicoctum, nam et maius facit ovorum incrementum et frequentiores partus, et is cibus quasi condiendus est interiectis cytisi foliis ac semine eiusdem, quae maxime putantur augere fecunditatem avium. Modus cibariorum sit, ut dixi, vagis binorum cyathorum hordei.

[2] But by suitable foods their fecundity must be elicited, so that they may lay their clutch more promptly. Half-cooked barley is best supplied to satiety, for it both makes a greater increment of the eggs and more frequent layings; and this food is, as it were, to be seasoned by interposing cytisus leaves and the seed of the same, which are especially thought to augment the fecundity of birds. Let the measure of the rations be, as I said, for those at large, two cyathi of barley.

Aliquid tamen admiscendum erit cytisi, vel si id non fuerit, viciae aut milii.

Something, however, of cytisus must be mixed in, or, if that is not available, of vetch or of millet.

[3] Curae autem debebit esse custodi, cum parturient aves, ut habeant quam mundissimis paleis constrata cubilia, quae subinde converrat, et alia stramenta quam recentissima reponat. nam pulicibus atque aliis similibus replentur, quae secum affert avis, cum ad idem cubile revertitur. Adsiduus autem debet esse custos et speculari parientes, quod se facere gallinae testantur crebris singultibus interiecta voce acuta.

[3] It ought to be a care for the keeper, when the birds are parturient, that they have nests bedded with the cleanest chaff, which he should repeatedly sweep, and that he replace other litter as fresh as possible. For they become filled with fleas and other such things, which the bird brings with it when it returns to the same nest. Moreover, the keeper ought to be assiduous and to observe the laying birds, since the hens testify that they are doing this by frequent hiccup-like sobs, with an acute voice interposed.

[4] Observare itaque dum edant ova et confestim circumire oportebit cubilia, ut quae nata sunt recolligantur, notenturque quae quoque die sunt edita, et quam recentissima supponantur gluttientibus (sic enim rustici appellant avis eas quae volunt incubare), cetera vel reponantur vel aere mutentur. Aptissima porro sunt ad excludendum recentissima quaeque. Possunt tamen etiam requieta subponi, dum ne vetustiora sint quam dierum decem.

[4] Therefore it will be necessary to observe while they lay eggs and immediately to go around the nests, so that what have been born may be collected back, and that those which have been laid on each day be noted, and that the freshest be put under the “gluttientes” (thus the rustics call the birds that want to incubate), while the rest either be put away or be changed by the air (aired). Moreover, the very freshest are most suitable for hatching. Yet rested ones too can be put under, provided they are not older than 10 days.

[5] Fere autem cum primum partum consummaverunt gallinae, incubare cupiunt ab Idibus Ianuariis. Quod facere non omnibus permittendum est, quoniam quidem novellae magis edendis quam excudendis ovis utiliores sunt, inhibeturque cupiditas incubandi pinnula per nares traiecta.

[5] Generally, however, when hens have completed their first brood, they desire to incubate from the Ides of January. This is not to be permitted to all, since indeed the young hens are more useful for laying than for hatching out eggs; and the desire to incubate is checked by a little feather passed through the nostrils.

[6] Veteranas igitur avis ad hanc rem eligi oportebit, quae iam saepius id fecerint, moresque earum maxime pernosci, quoniam aliae melius excudant, aliae editos pullos commodius educent. At e contrario quaedam et sua et aliena ova comminuunt atque consumunt, quod facientem protinus summovere conveniet.

[6] Therefore veteran birds ought to be chosen for this task, those who have already done it more often, and their manners to be most thoroughly known, since some hatch out better, others more conveniently bring up the chicks once produced. But conversely, certain ones break up and consume both their own and others’ eggs, and the one doing that should be removed at once.

[7] Pulli autem duarum aut trium avium excusi, dum adhuc teneri sunt, ad unam quae est melior nutrix transferri debent, sed primo quoque die, dum mater suos et alienos propter similitudinem dinoscere non potest. Verumtamen servari oportet modum, neque enim debet maior esse quam triginta capitum. Negant enim hoc ampliorem gregem posse ab una nutriri.

[7] But the chicks of two or three birds, once hatched, while they are still tender, ought to be transferred to one that is the better nurse, yet on the very first day, while the mother cannot distinguish her own from others on account of their similarity. Nevertheless, a limit ought to be observed, for it ought not to be greater than thirty heads; for they deny that a flock larger than this can be nursed by one.

[8] Numerus ovorum quae subiciuntur inpar observatur nec semper idem. Nam primo tempore, id est mense Ianuario, quindecim nec umquam plura subici debent, Maio novem nec his pauciora, undecim Aprili, tota deinde aestate usque in Kalendas Octobris tredecim. Postea supervacua est huius rei cura, quod frigoribus exclusi pulli plerumque intereunt.

[8] The number of eggs that are put under is kept odd and is not always the same. For at the first season, that is, in the month of January, fifteen, and never more, ought to be set; in March nine, and not fewer than these; eleven in April; then for the whole summer up to the Kalends of October, thirteen. Afterwards, care for this matter is superfluous, because chicks hatched in cold weather for the most part perish.

[9] Plerique tamen etiam ab aestivo solstitio non putant bonam pullationem, quod ab eo tempore, etiam si facile educationem habent, iustum tamen non capiunt incrementum. Verum suburbanis locis, ubi a matre pulli non exiguis pretiis veneunt, probanda est aestiva educatio. Semper autem cum supponuntur ova, considerari debebit ut luna crescente ab decima usque ad quintam decimam id fiat.

[9] Most, however, do not consider the hatching to be good even from the summer solstice, because from that time, even if they have easy rearing, nevertheless they do not take on proper increment. But in suburban places, where chicks from the mother are sold for no mean prices, estival rearing is to be approved. Always, however, when eggs are put under, it ought to be considered that this be done with the moon waxing from the 10th up to the 15th.

Nam et ipsa suppositio per hos fere dies est commodissima, et sic administrandum est ut rursus cum excluduntur pulli luna crescat.

For even the very subposition during roughly these days is most commodious, and it must be administered thus, that again, when the chicks are hatched, the moon is waxing.

[10] Diebus quibus animantur ova et in speciem volucrum conformantur, ter septenis opus est gallinaceo generi, at pavonino et anserino paulo amplius ter novenis. Quae si quando fuerint supponenda gallinis, prius eas incubare decem diebus fetibus alienigenis patiemur. Tum demum sui generis quattuor ova, nec plura quam quinque fovenda recipient, sed et haec quam maxima, nam ex pusillis aves minutae nascuntur.

[10] On the days during which the eggs are animated and are conformed into the form of birds, the gallinaceous kind needs 21, but the peacock and goose kind a little more than 27. If such are ever to be put under hens, we will first allow them to incubate for 10 days with foreign embryos. Then at length they will receive to be fostered four eggs of their own kind, and not more than five—and these as very large as possible—for from very small ones minute birds are born.

[11] Cum deinde quis volet quam plurimos mares excudi, longissima quaeque et acutissima ova subiciet, et rursus cum feminas quam rutundissima. Subponendi autem consuetudo tradita est ab his qui religiosius haec administrant eiusmodi: primum quam secretissima cubilia legunt, ne incubantes matrices ab aliis avibus inquietentur; deinde antequam consternant ea, diligenter emundant, paleasque, quas substraturi sunt, sulpure et bitumine atque ardente teda perlustrant et expiatas cubilibus iniciunt, ita factis concavatis nidis, ne advolantibus aut etiam desilientibus decidant ova.

[11] Then, when someone will wish that as many males as possible be hatched out, he will place underneath the longest and sharpest eggs, and, in turn, when he wants females, the most rotund. Moreover, the custom of putting eggs under, handed down by those who administer these matters more scrupulously, is of this sort: first they choose the most secluded nesting-places, lest the brooding dams be disturbed by other birds; then, before they strew them, they thoroughly cleanse them, and the straw which they are going to place beneath they purify by passing it through sulfur and bitumen and a burning torch, and, thus expiated, they cast it into the nests; with the nests made concave in such a way that the eggs do not fall as the birds fly to them or even when they spring down.

[12] Plurimi etiam infra cubilium stramenta graminis aliquid et ramulos lauri nec minus alii capita cum clavis ferreis subiciunt. Quae cuncta remedio creduntur esse adversus tonitrua, quibus vitiantur ova pullique semiformes interimuntur, antequam toti partibus suis consummentur.

[12] Very many also place beneath the litter of the nesting-places some grass and little branches of laurel, and, no less, others place heads together with iron nails. All these things are believed to be a remedy against thunderclaps, by which the eggs are vitiated and the semi-formed chicks are slain, before they are wholly consummated in their parts.

[13] Servat autem qui subicit ne singula in cubili manu conponat, sed totum ovorum numerum in alveolum ligneum conferat. Deinde universum leviter in praeparatum nidum transfundat.

[13] Moreover, the one who sets them takes care not to arrange them one by one by hand in the nesting-place, but to confer the whole number of eggs into a wooden tray. Then let him gently decant the whole into the prepared nest.

[14] Incubantibus autem gallinis iuxta ponendus est cibus, ut saturae studiosius nidis inmorentur, neve longius evagatae refrigerent ova. Quae quamvis pedibus ipsae convertant, aviarius tamen, cum desilierint matres, circumire debet ac manu versare, ut aequaliter calore concepto facile animentur, quin etiam, si qua unguibus laesa vel fracta sunt, ut removeat, idque cum fecerit duodeviginti diebus, undevicesimo animadvertat an pulli rostellis ova pertuderint, et auscultetur si pipant. Nam saepe propter crassitudinem putamina[rum] rumpere non queunt.

[14] For hens that are incubating, food must be placed nearby, so that, sated, they may linger more studiously in the nests, and not, having wandered farther, cool the eggs. Although they themselves turn them with their feet, nevertheless the aviary-keeper, when the mothers have hopped down, ought to go around and turn them by hand, so that, having conceived heat evenly, they may be easily animated; nay even, if any have been injured or broken by the claws, that he remove them; and when he has done this for eighteen days, on the nineteenth let him observe whether the chicks have pierced the eggs with their little beaks, and let him listen whether they cheep. For often, on account of the thickness of the shells, they are not able to break them.

[15] Itaque haerentis pullos manu eximere oportebit et matri fovendos subicere, idque non amplius triduo facere. Nam post unum et vicesimum diem silentia ova carent animalibus, eaque removenda sunt, ne incubans inani spe diutius retineatur effeta. Pullos autem non oportet singulos, ut quisque natus sit, tollere, sed uno die in cubili sinere cum matre et aqua ciboque abstinere, dum omnes excudantur. Postero die, cum grex fuerit effectus, hoc modo deponatur:

[15] And so it will be proper to take out by hand the chicks that are stuck and to place them under the mother to be warmed, and to do this for not more than three days. For after the 21st day the silent eggs are without living creatures, and they must be removed, lest the brooding hen, effete, be kept longer by empty hope. The chicks, however, ought not to be taken one by one as each is born, but to be left for one day in the nest with the mother and to abstain from water and food until all are hatched. On the following day, when the flock has been brought about, let it be set out in this way:

[16] cribro viciario vel etiam loliario, qui iam fuerit in usu, pulli superponantur, deinde pulei surculis fumigentur. Ea res videatur prohibere pituitam, quae celerrime teneros interficit.

[16] let the chicks be set upon a vetch-sieve or even a darnel-sieve, which has already been in use; then let them be fumigated with sprigs of pennyroyal. This thing seems to prevent phlegm, which most swiftly kills the tender young.

[17] Post hoc cavea cum matre cludendi sunt, et farre hordeaceo cum aqua incocto vel adoreo farre vino resperso modice alendi. Nam maxime cruditas vitanda est. Et ob hoc iam tertia die cavea cum matre continendi sunt, priusque quam emittantur ad recentem cibum, singuli temptandi ne quid hesterni habeant in gutture.

[17] After this they must be shut in a cage with the mother, and to be fed moderately with barley meal uncooked with water, or with emmer meal sprinkled with wine. For indigestion is most of all to be avoided. And on account of this, already on the third day they are to be kept in the cage with the mother, and before they are let out to fresh food, each one must be tested, lest they have anything of yesterday in the gullet.

Nam nisi vacua est ingluvies, cruditatem significat, abstinerique debent dum concoquant.

For unless the crop is empty, it signifies crudity (indigestion), and they ought to abstain until they digest.

[18] Longius autem non est permittendum teneris evagari, sed circa caveam continendi sunt et farina hordeacea pascendi, dum corroborentur; cavendumque ne a serpentibus adflentur, quarum odor tam pestilens est ut interimat universos. Id vitatur saepius incenso cornu cervino vel galbano vel muliebri capillo, quorum omnium fere nidoribus praedicta pestis summovetur.

[18] Moreover, the tender young are not to be permitted to wander farther, but are to be kept around the cage and fed on barley meal, until they are strengthened; and care must be taken that they not be breathed upon by serpents, whose odor is so pestilent that it kills them all. This is most often avoided by burning stag’s horn or galbanum or a woman’s hair, by the reek of almost all of which the aforesaid pestilence is driven off.

[19] Sed et curandum erit ut tepide habeantur, nam nec calorem nec frigus sustinent. Optimumque est intra officinam clausos haberi cum matre, et post quadragesimum diem potestatem vagandi fieri. Sed primis quasi infantiae diebus pertractandi sunt, plumulaeque sub cauda clunibus detrahendae, ne stercore coinquinatae durescant et naturalia praecludant.

[19] But care must also be taken that they be kept tepid, for they endure neither heat nor cold. And it is best that they be kept enclosed within the workshop with the mother, and after the fortieth day permission to wander be granted. But in the first days, as it were of infancy, they must be handled, and the little feathers under the tail at the buttocks must be drawn off, lest, befouled with dung, they harden and block the natural passages.

[20] Quod quamvis caveatur, saepe tamen evenit ut alvus exitum non habeat. Itaque pinna pertunditur, et iter digestis cibis praebetur. Saepe etiam validioribus factis atque ipsis matribus etiam vitanda pituitae pernicies erit.

[20] Although this is guarded against, yet it often happens that the belly has no exit. Accordingly a feather is used to pierce, and a passage is provided for the digested foods. Often also, when they have become stronger—and even the mothers themselves—the perniciousness of phlegm will have to be avoided.

Quae ne fiat, mundissimis vasis et quam purissimam praebebimus aquam. Nec minus gallinaria semper fumigabimus et emundata stercore liberabimus.

Lest this happen, we shall provide water as pure as possible in the cleanest vessels. And no less, we shall always fumigate the henhouses and, once cleaned, we shall free them from dung.

[21] Quod si tamen pestis permanserit, sunt qui micas alii tepido madefaciant oleo et faucibus inferant. Quidam hominis urina tepida rigant ora, et tamdiu conprimunt dum eas amaritudo cogat per nares emoliri pituitae nauseam. Vva quoque, quam Graeci agrian staphylen vocant, cum cibo mixta prodest, vel eadem pertrita et cum aqua potui data.

[21] But if nevertheless the pestilence persists, there are those who moisten crumbs with tepid oil and insert them into the throats. Certain persons irrigate the mouths with warm human urine, and they compress them so long until the bitterness compels the nausea of phlegm to be worked out through the nostrils. The Grape also, which the Greeks call agrian staphylen, mixed with food is beneficial, or the same pounded and given to drink with water.

[22] Atque haec remedia mediocriter laborantibus adhibentur. Nam si pituita circumvenit oculos et iam cibos avis respuit, ferro rescinduntur genae, et coacta sub oculis sanies omnis exprimitur. Atque ita paulum triti salis vulneribus infria[n]tur.

[22] And these remedies are applied to those moderately ailing. For if phlegm surrounds the eyes and the bird now rejects food, the cheeks are cut with iron (a blade), and all the sanies collected under the eyes is pressed out. And thus a little ground salt is rubbed into the wounds.

[23] Id porro vitium maxime nascitur cum frigore et penuria cibi laborant aves, item cum per aestatem consistens in cohortibus fuit aqua, item cum ficus aut uva inmatura nec ad satietatem permissa est, quibus scilicet cibis abstinendae sunt aves. Eosque ut fastidiant efficit uva labrusca de vepribus inmatura lecta, quae cum hordeo triticeo minuto cocta obicitur esurientibus, eiusque sapore offensae aves omnem spernantur uvam. Similis ratio est etiam caprifici, quae decocta cum cibo praebetur avibus, et ita fici fastidium creat.

[23] That malady, moreover, chiefly arises when the birds labor under cold and a penury of food; likewise when through the summer water has stood stagnant in the courtyards; likewise when the fig or the grape is unripe and has not been permitted to be eaten to satiety—foods from which, of course, the birds must abstain. And to make them feel disgust, a labrusca grape, gathered unripe from the brambles, is cooked with finely ground barley-wheat and offered to the hungry; and, offended by its savor, the birds spurn every grape. A similar method holds also for the caprifig, which, when boiled and offered with food to the birds, thus creates a distaste for the fig.

[24] Mos quoque, sicut in ceteris pecudibus, eligendi quamque optimam et deteriorem vendendi servetur etiam in hoc genere, ut per autumni tempus omnibus annis, cum fructus earum cessat, numerus quoque minuatur. Summovebimus autem veteres, id est quae trimatum excesserunt, item quae aut parum fecundae aut parum bonae nutrices sunt, praecipue quae ova vel sua vel aliena consumunt, nec minus quae velut mares cantare coeperunt, item serotini pulli, qui a solstitio nati capere iustum incrementum non potuerunt. In masculis non eadem ratio servabitur, sed tamdiu custodiemus generosos quamdiu feminas inplere potuerunt.

[24] The custom also, as in the other cattle, of choosing the best and selling the worse is to be observed even in this kind, so that in the autumn season every year, when their produce ceases, the number likewise be diminished. We shall remove the old ones, that is, those which have passed three years, likewise those that are either too little fecund or rather poor nurses, especially those that consume eggs, either their own or others’, and no less those that have begun to sing as if males; likewise the late (serotine) chicks, who, born after the solstice, have not been able to take on proper increment. In the males the same rule will not be observed, but we shall keep the well-bred (generous) as long as they have been able to impregnate the females.

Nam rarior est in his avibus mariti bonitas.

For the goodness of the husband is rarer among these birds.

[25] Eodem quoque tempore cum parere desinent aves, id est ab Idibus Novembribus, pretiosiores cibi subtrahendi sunt et vinacea praebenda, quae satis commode pascunt, adiectis interdum tritici excrementis.

[25] At the same time also, when the birds cease to lay, that is, from the Ides of November, the more precious foods are to be withdrawn, and wine-pressings (vinacea) provided, which quite suitably nourish, with the excrements of wheat (bran) added from time to time.

VI. DE SERVANDIS OVIS Ovorum quoque longioris temporis custodia non aliena est huic curae; quae commode servantur per hiemem, si paleis obruas, aestate, si furfuribus. Quidam prius trito sale sex horis adoperiunt, deinde eluunt, atque ita paleis ac furfuribus obruunt. Nonnulli solida, multi etiam fresa faba coaggerant, alii salibus integris adoperiunt, alii muria tepefacta durant.

6. ON PRESERVING EGGS The custody of eggs for a longer time is not alien to this care; they are conveniently preserved through winter, if you cover them with chaff, in summer, if with bran. Some first cover them with ground salt for six hours, then wash them out, and thus cover them over with chaff and bran. Some heap them up with whole beans, many also with crushed beans; others cover with intact salts (rock salt), others harden them with warmed brine.

[2] Sed omnis sal, quemadmodum non patitur putrescere, ita minuit ova, nec sinit plena permanere, quae res ementem deterret. Itaque ne in muriam quidem qui demittunt, integritatem ovorum conservant.

[2] But all salt, just as it does not allow things to putrefy, so it diminishes eggs and does not permit them to remain full, which circumstance deters the purchaser. And so not even those who immerse them in brine preserve the integrity of the eggs.

VII. DE FARTURIS Pinguem quoque facere gallinam, quamvis fartoris, non rustici sit officium, tamen quia non aegre contingit, praecipiendum putavi. Locus ad hanc rem desideratur maxime calidus et minimi luminis, in quo singulae caveis angustioribus vel sportis inclusae pendeant aves, sed ita coartatae ne versari possint.

7. ON FORCE-FEEDING To make a hen fat—although it is the office of the crammer, not of the rustic—yet, because it is not hard to attain, I have thought it should be prescribed. A place is required for this matter that is very warm and of the least light, in which the birds, each singly, may hang enclosed in narrower cages or in baskets, but so constrained that they cannot turn about.

[2] Verum habeant ex utraque parte foramina, unum quo caput exseratur, alterum quo cauda clunesque, ut et cibos capere possint et eos digestos sic edere ne stercore coinquinentur. Substernantur autem mundissimae paleae vel molle foenum, id est cordum. Nam si dure cubant, non facile pinguescunt.

[2] But let them have openings on each side, one through which the head may be thrust out, the other through which the tail and the rump, so that they may both be able to take food and to void the digested matter thus, lest they be contaminated with dung. Let the cleanest chaff or soft hay be spread beneath, that is, cordum. For if they lie hard, they do not easily grow fat.

Pluma omnis e capite et sub alis atque clunibus detergetur, illic ne peduculum creet, hic ne stercore loca naturalia exulceret.

All the down is wiped off from the head and from beneath the wings and the rump—there, lest it breed lice; here, lest, with dung, it ulcerate the natural parts.

[3] Cibus autem praebetur hordeacea farina, quae cum est aqua consparsa et subacta, formantur offae, quibus avis salivatur. Hae tamen primis diebus dari parcius debent, dum plus concoquere consuescant. Nam cruditas maxime vitanda est, tantumque praebendum quantum digerere possint.

[3] But the food is provided as barley meal which, when it has been sprinkled with water and kneaded, is formed into pellets, by which the bird is made to salivate. These, however, in the first days ought to be given more sparingly, until they become accustomed to digest more. For indigestion is especially to be avoided, and only so much ought to be provided as they can digest.

Neque ante recens admovenda est quam temptato gutture apparuerit nihil veteris escae remansisse.

Nor should fresh feed be offered before, after the throat has been tested, it has appeared that nothing of the old food remains.

[4] Cum deinde satiata est avis, paululum deposita cavea dimittitur, et ita ne evagetur, sed potius, si quid est quod eam stimulet aut mordeat, rostro persequatur. Haec fere communis est cura farcientium. Nam illi qui volunt non solum opimas sed etiam teneras avis efficere, mulsea recenti aqua praedicti generis farinam conspargunt, et ita farciunt.

[4] When then the bird is satiated, the cage having been set down for a little while, it is let out, and thus so that it not wander, but rather, if there is anything that stimulates or bites it, it may pursue it with its beak. This is generally the common care of the stuffers. For those who wish to make birds not only fat but also tender moisten the farina of the aforesaid kind with mulse and fresh water, and thus they stuff.

nonnulli tribus aquae partibus, unam boni vini miscent, madefactoque triticeo pane obesant avem, quae prima luna (quoniam id quoque custodiendum est) saginari coepta vicensima pergliscit.

Some mix one part of good wine with three parts of water, and with wheaten bread moistened they make the bird obese, which, begun to be fattened at the first moon (since this too must be observed), by the twentieth becomes thoroughly fat.

[5] Sed si fastidiet cibum, totidem diebus minuere oportebit quot iam farturae processerint, ita tamen ne tempus omne opimandi quintam et vicesimam lunam superveniat. Antiquissimum est autem maximam quamque avem lautioribus epulis destinare. Sic enim digna merces sequitur operam et inpensam.

[5] But if it will take disgust at the food, it will be necessary to lessen it for just as many days as the fattening has already progressed, yet in such a way that the whole period of fattening be not overtaken by the twenty-fifth moon. Moreover, the most ancient practice is to assign each largest bird to more sumptuous banquets; for thus a worthy recompense follows the work and the expense.

VIII. DE PALUMBIS ET COLUMBIS FARCIENDIS Hac eadem ratione palumbos columbosque cellares pinguissimos facere contingit. Neque est tamen in columbis farciendis tantus reditus quantus in educandis.

8. ON WOOD-PIGEONS AND DOVES FOR FATTENING By this same method it happens that wood-pigeons and dovecote doves can be made most plump. Yet in doves for fattening there is not so great a return as in rearing (educating) them.

Nam etiam horum possessio non abhorret a cura boni rustici. Sed id genus minore tutela pascitur longinquis regionibus, ubi liber egressus avibus permittitur, quoniam vel summis turribus vel editissimis aedificiis adsignatas sedes frequentant patentibus fenestris, per quas ad requirendos cibos evolitant.

For the possession of these too is not alien to the care of a good farmer. But that kind is fed under lesser tutelage in far-off regions, where free egress is permitted to the birds, since in the highest towers or the loftiest buildings they frequent the assigned perches with the windows standing open, through which they fly out to seek food.

[2] Duobus tamen aut tribus mensibus adceptant conditiva cibaria, ceteris se ipsas pascunt seminibus agrestibus. Sed hoc suburbanis locis facere non possunt, quoniam intercipiuntur variis aucupum insidiis. Itaque clausae intra tectum pasci debent, nec in plano villae loco, nec in frigido, sed in edito fieri tabulatum oportet, quod aspiciat hibernum meridiem.

[2] Nevertheless for two or three months they take in preserved victuals, for the rest they feed themselves on wild seeds. But they cannot do this in suburban places, because they are intercepted by various snares of fowlers. And so, shut within the roof they must be fed, neither in a level place of the villa nor in a cold one, but it is proper that a platform be made in an elevated spot, which looks toward the winter south.

[3] Eiusque parietes, ne iam dicta iteremus, ut in ornithone praecepimus, continuis cubilibus excaventur, vel si non ita conpetit, paxillis adactis tabulae superponantur, quae vel loculamenta quibus nidificent aves, vel fictilia columbaria recipient, praepositis vestibulis per quae ad cubilia perveniant. Totus autem locus et ipsae columbarum cellae poliri debent albo tectorio, quoniam eo colore praecipue delectantur hoc genus avium;

[3] And its walls, so that we do not iterate what has already been said, as we prescribed in the ornithon, should be hollowed out with continuous cubicles, or, if that does not so comport, with little pegs driven in let boards be superposed, which will receive either little compartments in which the birds may nest, or fictile columbaria, with vestibules set in front through which they may reach the cubicles. But the whole place and the dove-cells themselves ought to be polished with white plaster, since this kind of birds is especially delighted by that color;

[4] nec minus extrinsecus levigari parietes, maxime circa fenestram. Ea sit ita posita ut maiorem partem hiberni diei solis admittat, habeatque adpositam satis amplam caveam retibus emunitam, quae excludat accipitres et recipiat egredientis ad apricationem columbas, nec minus in agros emittat matrices quae ovis vel pullis incubant, ne quasi gravi perpetuae custodiae servitio contristatae senescant.

[4] no less should the walls be smoothed on the outside, especially around the window. Let this be so placed as to admit the greater part of the winter day’s sun, and let it have set beside it a sufficiently ample cage, fortified with nets, which excludes accipiters (hawks) and receives the doves going out for sunning, and no less lets out into the fields the matrons that brood eggs or chicks, lest, saddened by the, as it were, heavy servitude of perpetual custody, they grow old.

[5] Nam cum paulum circa aedificia volitaverunt, exhilaratae recreantur, et ad foetus suos vegetiores redeunt, propter quos ne longius quidem evagari aut fugere conantur. Vasa quibus aqua praebetur similia esse debent gallinariis, quae colla bibentium admittant et cupientis lavari propter angustias non recipiant. Nam id facere eas nec ovis nec pullis, quibus plerumque incubant, expedit.

[5] For when they have fluttered a little around the buildings, they are exhilarated and refreshed, and return more vigorous to their offspring, on account of whom they do not even try to wander farther or to flee. The vessels by which water is provided ought to be similar to those for poultry, which admit the necks of the drinkers and, because of their narrowness, do not receive one desiring to wash. For for them to do this is not expedient, neither for the eggs nor for the chicks, upon which they most often incubate.

[6] Ceterum cibos iuxta parietem conveniet spargi, quoniam fere partes eae columbarii carent stercore. Commodissima cibaria putantur vicia vel ervum, tum etiam lenticula, milium, lolium, nec minus excreta tritici, et si qua sunt alia legumina, quibus etiam gallinae aluntur. Locus autem subinde converri et emundari debet.

[6] Moreover, it will be fitting to scatter the foods next to the wall, since for the most part those parts of the columbary lack dung. The most commodious provender is thought to be vetch or ervil, then also lentil, millet, darnel, and no less the siftings of wheat; and if there are any other legumes, with which hens also are nourished. The place, moreover, ought from time to time to be swept and cleansed.

Nam quanto est cultior, tanto laetior avis conspicitur, eaque tam fastidiosa est ut saepe sedes suas perosa, si detur avolandi potestas, relinquat, quod frequenter in his regionibus ubi liberos habent egressus accidere solet.

For the more cultivated it is, the more joyful the bird is observed; and it is so fastidious that, often loathing its seats, if the power of flying away is given, it abandons them, which frequently is wont to occur in those regions where they have free egress.

[7] Id ne fiat vetus est Democriti praeceptum. Genus accipitris tinnunculum vocant rustici; fere in aedificiis nidos facit. Eius pulli singuli fictilibus ollis conduntur, spirantibusque opercula superponuntur, et gypso lita vasa in angulis columbarii sup[er]ponuntur.

[7] That this may not come to pass, there is an ancient precept of Democritus. The rustics call a kind of hawk the tinnunculus; it commonly makes nests in buildings. Its chicks are enclosed one apiece in earthenware pots, and lids with breathing-holes are set over them; and the vessels, smeared with gypsum, are placed in the corners of the dovecote.

quae res avibus amorem loci sic conciliat ne umquam deserant. Eligendae vero sunt ad educationem neque vetulae nec nimium novellae sed corporis maximi, curandumque, si fieri possit, ut pulli, quemadmodum exclusi sunt, numquam separentur. nam fere si sic maritatae sunt, plures educant fetus.

which thing so conciliates in the birds a love of the place that they never desert it. In truth, for rearing, those to be chosen should be neither little-old nor too new, but of the greatest body; and it must be cared for, if it can be done, that the chicks, just as they have been hatched out, are never separated. for generally, if they are thus married, they bring up more broods.

[8] Sin aliter, certe ne alieni generis coniungantur, ut Alexandrina Campanae. Minus enim pares suos diligunt, et ideo nec multum ineunt nec saepius fetant. Plumae color non semper nec omnibus idem probatus est, atque ideo qui sit optimus non facile dictu est.

[8] But if otherwise, at least let them not be conjoined with alien stock, as an Alexandrian with a Campanian. For they love their consorts less, and therefore they neither mate much nor do they breed very often. The color of the plumage has not always, nor for everyone, been approved the same; and so which is best is not easy to say.

[9] Albus, qui ubique vulgo conspicitur, a quibusdam non nimium laudatus est, nec tamen vitari debet in his quae cluso continentur. Nam in vagis maxime est inprobandus, quod eum facillime speculatur accipiter. Fecunditas autem, quamvis longe minor sit quam est gallinarum, maiorem tamen refert quaestum.

[9] The white one, which is commonly seen everywhere, is by some not overly praised; yet it ought not to be avoided among those that are kept enclosed. For in free-ranging birds it is especially to be disapproved, because a hawk most easily spies it out. The fecundity, however, although far less than that of hens, nevertheless brings back greater profit.

Nam et octies anno pullos educat, si est bona matrix, et pretiis eorum dominicam conplet arcam, sicut eximius auctor M. Varro nobis adfirmat, qui prodidit etiam illis severioribus temporibus paria singula milibus singulis sestertiorum solita venire.

For she even rears chicks eight times in a year, if she is a good breeder, and with their prices she fills the master’s coffer, as the distinguished author M. Varro assures us, who has recorded that even in those more austere times single pairs were accustomed to sell for 1,000 sesterces apiece.

[10] Nam nostri pudet saeculi, si credere volumus inveniri qui quaternis milibus nummorum binas aves mercentur. Quamquam vel hos magis tolerabiles pute qui oblectamenta deliciarum possidendi habendique causa gravi aere et argento pensent, quam illos qui Ponticum Phasim et Scythicae stagna Maeotis helluati iam nunc Gangeticas et Aegyptias avis temulenter eructant.

[10] For we are ashamed of our age, if we are willing to believe that there are found those who purchase two birds for 4,000 coins. Although I would even deem these more tolerable, who, for the sake of possessing and having, weigh out heavy bronze and silver for the amusements of luxury, than those who, glutted with the Pontic Phasis and the Scythian pools of the Maeotis, now drunkenly eructate Gangetic and Egyptian birds.

[11] Potest tamen in hoc aviario, sicuti dictum est, sagina exerceri. Nam si quae steriles aut sordidi coloris interveniunt, similiter ut gallinae farciuntur. Pulli vero facilius sub matribus pinguescunt, si iam firmis, priusquam subvolent, paucas detrahas pinnas et obteras crura, ut uno loco quiescant, praebeasque copiosum cibum parentibus, quo et se et eos abundantius alant.

[11] Yet in this aviary, as has been said, fattening can be practiced. For if any that are barren or of a sordid color turn up, they are stuffed in the same way as hens. The chicks, however, grow fat more easily under their mothers, if, when they are already sturdy, before they take wing, you pull off a few feathers and bruise their legs, so that they keep still in one place, and you supply abundant food to the parents, whereby they may feed both themselves and them more plentifully.

[12] Quidam leviter obligant crura, quoniam si frangantur, dolorem et ex eo maciem fieri putent. Sed nihil ista res pinguitudinis efficit. Nam dum vincula exedere conantur, non quiescunt, et hac quasi exercitatione corpori nihil adiciunt.

[12] Some lightly bind the legs, because they suppose that, if they were to be broken, pain and from it leanness would result. But this practice effects nothing toward fatness. For while they try to gnaw through the bonds, they do not rest, and by this quasi-exercise they add nothing to the body.

Fracta crura non plus quam bidui aut summum tridui dolorem adferunt, et spem tollunt evagandi.

Fractured legs bring pain for no more than two days, or at the utmost three, and they remove the hope of wandering.

IX. DE TURTURIBUS Turturum educatio supervacua est, quoniam id genus in ornithone nec parit nec excudit. Volatura ita ut capitur farturae destinatur, eaque leviore cura quam ceterae aves saginatur, verum non omnibus temporibus. Nam per hiemem, quamvis adhibeatur opera, difficulter crescit, et tamen, quia maior est turdi copia, pretium turturis minuitur.

9. ON TURTLEDOVES The rearing of turtledoves is superfluous, since that kind in the aviary neither lays nor hatches. A bird taken on the wing is, just as it is captured, assigned to fattening, and it is fattened with lighter care than other birds, yet not at all seasons. For in winter, although effort be applied, it increases with difficulty; and nevertheless, because the supply of thrushes is greater, the price of the turtledove is diminished.

[2] Rursus aestate vel sua sponte, dummodo sit facultas cibi, pinguescit. Nihil enim aliud quam obicitur esca, sed praecipue milium, nec quia tritico vel aliis frumentis minus crassescat, verum quod semine huius maxime delectatur. Hieme tamen offae panis vino madefactae, sicut etiam palumbos, celerius opimant quam ceteri cibi.

[2] Again in summer, even of its own accord, provided there is a provision of food, it grows fat. For nothing other than food is set before it, but especially millet—not because it grows less thick on wheat or other grains, but because it takes the greatest delight in the seed of this. In winter, however, morsels of bread soaked in wine, as also for wood pigeons, fatten it more quickly than other foods.

[3] Receptacula non tamquam columbis loculamenta vel cellulae cavatae fiunt, sed ad lineam mutuli per parietem fixi tegeticulas cannabinas adcipiunt, praetentis retibus quibus prohibeantur volare, quoniam si id faciant, corpori detrahunt. In his adsidue pascantur milio aut tritico, sed ea semina dari nisi sicca non oportet, satiatque semodius cibi in diebus singulis vicenos et centenos turtures.

[3] The receptacles are not made, as for doves, as compartments or hollowed cellules, but along a line of corbels fastened along the wall they receive little hempen mats, with nets stretched in front by which they are prevented from flying, since if they do that, they take away from the body. In these they are fed continually with millet or wheat, but those seeds ought not to be given unless dry; and a semodius (half-modius) of food in single days satisfies one hundred and twenty turtledoves.

[4] Aqua semper recens et quam mundissima vasculis, qualibus columbis atque gallinis, praebetur, tegeticulaeque emundantur, ne stercus urat pedes, quod tamen et [id] ipsum diligenter reponi debet ad cultus agrorum arborumque, sicut et omnium avium praeterquam nantium. Huius avis aetas ad saginam non tam vetus est idonea quam novella. Itaque circa messem, cum iam confirmata est pullities, eligitur.

[4] Water, always fresh and as clean as possible, is provided in little vessels, such as for pigeons and hens, and the little mats are cleaned, lest the dung burn the feet, which, however, this very [thing] itself ought to be carefully stored for the cultivation of fields and trees, as also that of all birds except the swimming ones. For this bird, the age suited to fattening is not the old but the young. Therefore around harvest-time, when the young have now become sturdy, it is selected.

X. DE TURDIS Turdis maior opera et inpensa praebetur, qui omni quidem rure, sed salubrius in eo pascuntur in quo capti sunt. Nam difficulter in aliam regionem transferuntur, quia caveis clausi plurimi despondent, quod faciunt etiam cum eodem momento temporis a rete in aviaria coniecti sunt. Itaque ne id accidat, veterani debent intermisceri, qui ab aucupibus in hunc usum nutriti quasi allectores sint captivorum, maestitiamque eorum mitigent intervolando.

10. ON THRUSHES For thrushes a greater labor and expense is provided, who indeed are pastured in any countryside, but more healthfully in that in which they were captured. For they are with difficulty transferred into another region, because, shut in cages, very many despond, which they also do when at the same moment of time they have been cast from the net into the aviaries. Therefore, lest that happen, veterans ought to be intermixed, who, reared by bird-catchers for this use, may be as it were allurers of the captives, and may mitigate their sadness by flying among them.

Sic enim consuescent et aquam et cibos adpetere feri, si mansuetos id facere viderint.

For thus the wild will grow accustomed to seek both water and food, if they see the tame do this.

[2] Locum aeque munitum et apricum quam columbae desiderant, sed in eo transversae perticae perforatis parietibus adversis aptantur, quibus insidant cum satiati cibo requiescere volunt. Hae perticae non altius a terra debent sublevari quam hominis statura patitur, ut a stante contingi possint.

[2] A place as well secured and sunny as pigeons desire, but in it crosswise perches are fitted to the facing walls, perforated, on which they may perch when, sated with food, they wish to rest. These perches ought not to be raised higher from the ground than a man’s stature permits, so that they can be touched by one standing.

[3] Cibi ponuntur fere partibus his ornithonis quae super perticas non habent, quo mundiores permaneant. Semper autem arida ficus diligenter pinsita et permixta polline praeberi debet, tam large quidem ut supersit.

[3] The foods are generally set down in those parts of the dovecote which do not have perches above them, so that they may remain cleaner. Always, moreover, dried fig, diligently pounded and mixed with fine flour, ought to be supplied, so abundantly indeed that there is a surplus.

[4] Hanc quidam mandunt et ita obiciunt. Sed istud in maiore numero facere vix expedit, quia nec parvo conducuntur qui mandant, et ab his ipsis aliquantum propter iucunditatem consumitur. Multi varietatem ciborum, ne unum fastidiant, praebendam putant.

[4] Some masticate this and thus throw it in. But to do that with a larger number is scarcely expedient, because those who masticate are not hired for a small sum, and by these very persons a certain amount is consumed on account of the pleasantness. Many think that a variety of foods should be provided, lest they become fastidious toward a single one.

Ea est cum obiciuntur myrti et lentisci semina, item oleastri et hederaceae baccae nec minus arbuti.

This is when the seeds of myrtle and lentisk are thrown in, likewise those of the oleaster and the ivy-berries, and no less those of the arbutus.

[5] Fere enim etiam in agris ab eiusmodi volucribus adpetuntur quae in aviariis quoque desidentium detergent fastidia, faciuntque avidiorem volaturam, quod maxime expedit, nam largiore cibo celerius pinguescit. Semper tamen etiam canaliculi milio repleti adponuntur, quae est firmissima esca, nam illa quae supra diximus pulmentariorum vice dantur.

[5] For generally even in the fields they are sought after by birds of this kind; the same things also in aviaries remove the fastidiousness of those settling to perch, and make the flying-stock more avid—which is most expedient, for with more ample food it fattens more quickly. Yet always little troughs filled with millet are set beside, which is the most firm, sustaining feed; for those things which we said above are given in the stead of relishes.

[6] Vasa quibus recens et munda praebeatur aqua non dissimilia sint gallinariis. Hac inpensa curaque M. Terentius ternis saepe denariis singulos emptitatos esse significat avorum temporibus, quibus qui triumphabant populo dabant epulum. At nunc aetatis nostrae luxuria cottidiana fecit haec pretia, propter quae ne rusticis quidem contemnendus sit hic reditus.

[6] The vessels by which fresh and clean water is supplied should not be unlike those for poultry-yards. By this expense and care M. Terentius signifies that in our grandfathers’ times single ones were often bought for 3 denarii apiece, at the times when those who triumphed used to give a banquet to the people. But now the quotidian luxury of our age has made these the prices, on account of which this return ought not to be despised even by rustics.

Atque ea genera quae intra septa villae cibantur fere persecuti sumus. Nunc de his dicendum est quibus etiam exitus ad agrestia pabula dantur.

And we have for the most part pursued the kinds that are fed within the villa’s enclosures. Now it must be said about those for whom an exit to agrestic pastures is also granted.

XI. DE PAVONIBUS Pavonum educatio magis urbani patrisfamiliae quam tetrici rustici curam poscit. Sed nec haec tamen aliena est agricolae, captantis undique voluptates adquirere, quibus solitudinem ruris eblandiatur. Harum autem decor avium etiam exteros, nedum dominos oblectat.

11. ON PEACOCKS The rearing of peacocks calls for the care more of an urban paterfamilias than of a dour rustic. Yet neither is this foreign to the agriculturist, who tries to acquire pleasures from every side, with which he may coax the solitude of the countryside. Moreover, the decor (beauty) of these birds delights even outsiders, not to mention their owners.

I<d>que genus alitum nemorosis et parvis insulis, quales obiacent Italiae, facillime continetur. Nam quoniam nec sublimiter potest nec per longa spatia volitare, tum etiam quia furis et noxiorum animalium rapinae metus non est, sine custode tuto vagatur, maioremque pabuli partem sibi adquirit.

And this kind of fowl is most easily contained on nemorous and small islands, such as lie off Italy. For since it can neither soar on high nor volitate through long stretches, and also because there is no fear of the rapine of thief and noxious animals, it roams safely without a guard, and acquires for itself the greater part of its fodder.

[2] Feminae quidem sua sponte tamquam servitio liberatae studiosius pullos enutriunt. Nec curator aliud facere debet quam ut diei certo tempore signo dato iuxta villam gregem convocet, et exiguum hordei concurrentibus obiciat, ut nec avis esuriat et numerus advenientium recognoscatur.

[2] The females indeed, of their own accord, as if freed from servitude, more studiously foster the chicks. Nor ought the curator to do anything other than, at a set time of day, a signal having been given, to convoke the flock near the villa and to cast a small amount of barley to those running together, so that neither bird goes hungry and the number of those arriving may be recognized.

[3] Sed huius possessionis rara condicio est. Quare mediterraneis maior adhibenda cura est, eaque sic administretur: herbidus silvestrisque ager planus sublimi cluditur maceria, cuius tribus lateribus porticus adplicantur et in quarto duae cellae, ut sit altera custodis habitatio atque altera stabulum pavonum. Sub porticibus deinde per ordinem fiunt harundinea septa in modum cavearum, quales columbaria[e] tectis superponuntur.

[3] But the condition of this possession is rare. Wherefore for inland properties greater care must be applied, and it should be administered thus: a grassy and woodland level field is enclosed by a lofty wall, to three of whose sides porticoes are attached, and on the fourth two cells, so that one may be the dwelling of the custodian and the other the stable of peacocks. Under the porticoes then, in order, reed enclosures are made in the manner of cages, such as columbaria[e] are set upon roofs.

Ea septa distinguuntur velut clatris intercurrentibus calamis, ita ut ab utroque latere singulos aditus habeant.

Those enclosures are partitioned, as if by gratings, with intercurrent reeds, so that from either side they have single entrances.

[4] Stabulum autem carere debet uligine, cuius in solo per ordinem figuntur breves paxilli, eorumque partes summae lingulas dolatas habent, quae transversis foratis perticis induantur. Hae porro quadratae perticae [esse debent, quae] paxillis superponuntur, ut avem recipiant adsilientem. Sed idcirco sunt exemptiles, ut cum res exigit paxillis eductae liberum aditum converrentibus stabulum praebeant.

[4] The stable, moreover, ought to be free of dampness, in whose floor short pegs are fixed in a row, and the top parts of these have planed little tongues, to be fitted onto transverse, perforated poles. These, moreover, the poles should be squared [ought to be, which] are set upon the pegs, so that they may receive the bird leaping up. But for that reason they are removable, so that, when the need requires, drawn off the pegs, they may provide the stable with free access for those coming in.

[5] Hoc genus avium cum trimatum explevit optime progenerat. Siquidem tenerior aetas aut sterilis aut parum fecunda est. Masculus pavo gallinaceam salacitatem habet, atque ideo quinque feminas desiderat.

[5] This kind of birds, when it has completed three years, procreates very well. For indeed a more tender age is either sterile or not very fecund. The male peacock has a gallinaceous salacity, and therefore desires five females.

Nam si unam vel alteram fetam saepius compressit, vixdum concepta in alvo vitiat ova, nec partum sinit perduci, quoniam inmatura genitalibus locis excidunt.

For if he more often covers one or another impregnated female, he vitiates the eggs scarcely conceived in the belly, nor does he allow the birth to be carried through, since, being immature, they fall out from the genital parts.

[6] Vltima parte hiemis concitantibus libidinem cibis utriusque sexus accendenda venus est. Maxime facit ad hanc rem si favilla levi torreas fabam tepidamque des ieiunis quinto quoque die. Nec tamen excedas modum sex cyathorum in singulas avis.

[6] In the last part of winter, with foods that rouse libido, Venus must be kindled for both sexes. Most conducive to this is if you roast bean in light cinders and give it warm to them fasting every fifth day. Yet do not exceed the measure of six cyathi for each bird.

Haec cibaria non omnibus promisce spargenda sunt, sed in singulis septis, quae harundinibus contexi oportere proposueram, portione servata quinque feminarum et unius maris, ponenda sunt cibaria, nec minus aqua quae sit idonea potui.

These provisions are not to be scattered to all indiscriminately, but in the individual enclosures, which I had proposed ought to be woven with reeds, the provisions are to be placed, with the proportion kept of five females and one male, and no less water that is suitable for potable use.

[7] Quod ubi factum est, mares diducuntur in sua quisque septa cum feminis, et aequaliter universus grex pascitur. Nam etiam in hoc genere pugnaces inveniuntur masculi qui et a cibo et a coitu prohibent minus validos, nisi sint hac ratione separati. Fere autem locis apricis ineundi cupiditas exercet marem cum Favonii spirare coeperunt, id est tempus ab Idibus Februariis ante Martium mensem.

[7] When this has been done, the males are led apart, each into his own pen with the females, and the whole flock is pastured equally. For even in this kind males are found to be pugnacious, who keep the less sturdy away both from food and from coitus, unless they are separated by this arrangement. Generally, moreover, in sunny places the desire for mating stirs the male when the Favonius winds have begun to blow, that is, the time from the Ides of February before the month of March.

[8] Signa sunt exstimulatae cupidinis cum semet ipsum velut emirantem caudae gemmantibus pinnis protegit, idque cum facit rotari dicitur. Post admissurae tempus matrices custodiendae sunt, ne alibi quam in stabulo fetus edant, saepiusque digitis loca feminarum temptanda sunt, nam in promptu gerunt ova quibus iam partus adpropinquat. Itaque includendae sunt inci[pi]entes, ne extra clausum fetum edant.

[8] The signs of stimulated desire are when he, as if admiring himself, covers himself with the tail’s gemmed feathers; and when he does this he is said to wheel. After the time of admission (mating), the dams must be guarded, lest they bring forth their young anywhere other than in the stall; and rather often the parts of the females should be tested with the fingers, for they carry eggs at the ready, with which parturition now approaches. Therefore those beginning must be shut in, lest they bring forth the offspring outside the enclosure.

[9] Maximeque temporibus his quibus parturiunt pluribus stramentis exaggerandum est aviarium, quo tutius integri fetus excipiantur. nam fere pavones cum ad nocturnam requiem venerunt, praedictis perticis insistentes enituntur ova, quae quo prop[r]ius ac mollius deciderunt, inlibatam servant integritatem. Cottidie ergo diligenter mane temporibus feturae stabula circumeunda erunt, et iacentia ova colligenda, quae quanto recentiora gallinis subiecta sunt, tanto commodius excuduntur, idque fieri maxime patrisfamiliae ration conducit.

[9] And most of all at those times when they are bringing forth, the aviary ought to be heaped up with more layers of straw, so that intact broods may be received more safely. For generally peacocks, when they have come to their nocturnal rest, standing upon the aforesaid perches, bring forth the eggs, which, the nearer and the more softly they have fallen, preserve their unblemished integrity. Therefore every day, diligently in the morning during the breeding season, the stables must be gone around, and the eggs lying about must be collected; the fresher they are when placed under hens, the more readily they are hatched; and for this to be done very greatly conduces to the account of the paterfamilias.

[10] Nam feminae pavones quae non incubant ter anno fere partus edunt, at quae fovent ova totum tempus fecunditatis aut excudendis aut etiam educandis pullis consumunt. Primus est partus quinque fere ovorum, secundus quattuor, tertius aut trium aut duorum.

[10] For the peahens that do not sit to incubate bring forth broods nearly three times in a year, but those that keep the eggs warm spend the whole season of fecundity either in hatching out or even in rearing the chicks. The first brood is of about five eggs, the second of four, the third of either three or two.

[11] Neque est quod committatur ut Rhodiacae aves pavoninis incubent, quae ne suos quidem fetus commode nutriunt. Sed veteres maximae quaeque gallinae vernaculi generis eligantur, eaeque novem diebus a primo lunae incremento novenis ovis incubent, sintque ex his quinque pavonina et cetera gallinacei generis.

[11] Nor is there any ground to allow that Rhodian birds brood on peafowl eggs, since they do not even suitably nourish their own offspring. But let each of the largest, older hens of the native breed be chosen, and let them brood for nine days from the first increase of the moon upon nine eggs apiece, and of these let five be peafowl and the rest of the chicken kind.

[12] Decimo deinceps die omnia gallinacea subtrahantur, et totidem recentia eiusdem generis supponantur, ut tricensima luna, quae est fere nova, cum pavoninis excudantur. Sed custodis curam non effugiat observare desilientem matricem, saepius ad cubile pervenire et pavonina ova, quae propter magnitudinem difficilius a gallina moventur, versare manu; idque quo diligentius faciat, una pars ovorum notanda est atramento, quod signum habebit aviarius an a gallina conversa sint.

[12] On the tenth day thereafter let all the hen’s eggs be withdrawn, and just as many fresh ones of the same kind be put under, so that on the thirtieth moon, which is nearly new, they may be hatched out together with the peafowl’s. But let it not escape the keeper’s care to observe the mother as she jumps down, to come more often to the nest and to turn by hand the peafowl eggs, which, on account of their size, are moved with greater difficulty by the hen; and, that he may do this more diligently, one part of the eggs is to be marked with ink, which mark the bird-keeper will have, as to whether they have been turned by the hen.

[13] Sed, ut dixi, meminerimus cohortales quam maximas ad hanc rem praeparari. Quae si mediocris habitus sint, non debent amplius quam terna pavonina et sena generis sui fovere. Cum deinde fecerint pullos, ad aliam nutricem gallinacei debebunt transferri, et subinde qui nati fuerint pavonini ad unam congregari, donec quinque et viginti capitum grex efficiatur.

[13] But, as I said, let us remember that farmyard hens as large as possible be prepared for this purpose. If they are of moderate build, they ought not to brood more than three pavonine and six of their own kind. Then, when they have produced chicks, the gallinaceous ones should be transferred to another nurse, and in due course the pavonine that have been born should be gathered to one, until a flock of 25 heads is made.

[14] Sed cum erunt editi pulli, similiter ut gallinacei primo die non moveantur, postero deinde cum educatrice transferantur in caveam. Primisque diebus alantur hordeaceo farre vino resperso, nec minus ex quolibet frumento cocta pulticula et refrigerata. post paucos deinde dies huic cibo adiciendum erit concisum porrum Tarentinum et caseus mollis vehementer expressus.

[14] But when the chicks have been brought forth, similarly as the chicken-chicks, let them not be moved on the first day; then on the next, let them be transferred with the educatrix into a cage. And for the first days let them be fed on barley meal sprinkled with wine, and likewise on a little porridge cooked from whatever grain and cooled. Then after a few days, to this food there must be added chopped Tarentine leek and soft cheese, very strongly pressed out.

nam serum nocere pullis manifestum est.

for it is manifest that whey harms the chicks.

[15] Lucustae quoque pedibus ademptis utiles cibandis pullis habentur. Atque his pasci debent usque ad sextum mensem, postmodum satis est hordeum de manu praebere. Possunt autem post quintum et tricensimum diem quam nati sunt etiam in agrum satis tuto educi, sequiturque grex velut matrem gallinam singultientem.

[15] Locusts also, with the feet removed, are held useful for feeding chicks. And on these they ought to be nourished up to the sixth month; afterwards it is sufficient to proffer barley from the hand. They can, moreover, after the thirty-fifth day since they were born, be led out even into the field quite safely, and the flock follows as though a mother hen clucking.

Ea cavea clausa fertur in agrum a pastore et missa ligato pede longa linea [gallina] custoditur, ad quam circumvolant pulli; qui cum ad satietatem pasti sunt, reducuntur in villam, persequentes, ut dixi, nutricis singultus.

She, with the cage closed, is carried into the field by the herdsman, and, when sent out, with her foot tied by a long line, the [hen] is kept under guard, around whom the chicks fly; and when they have fed to satiety, they are led back into the villa, following, as I said, the nurse’s cluckings.

[16] Satis autem convenit inter auctores non debere alias gallinas, quae pullos sui generis educant, in eodem loco pasci. Nam cum conspexerunt pavoninam prolem, suos pullos diligere desinunt et inmaturos relinquunt, perosae videlicet quod nec magnitudine nec specie pavoninis pares sint. Vitia quae gallinaceo generi nocere solent, eadem has aves infestant, sed nec remedia traduntur alia quam quae gallinaceis adhibentur.

[16] Moreover, it is sufficiently agreed among the authors that other hens, which rear chicks of their own kind, ought not to be fed in the same place. For when they have caught sight of the peacock progeny, they cease to love their own chicks and leave them immature, manifestly detesting that they are neither equal in magnitude nor in appearance to the peacocks’. The ailments which are wont to harm the gallinaceous kind likewise infest these birds; but no other remedies are transmitted than those which are applied to gallinaceous fowl.

Nam et pituita et cruditas et si quae aliae sunt pestes, isdem remediis quae proposuimus prohibentur.

For both phlegm and crudity (indigestion), and whatever other plagues there are, are prevented by the same remedies which we have proposed.

[17] Septimum deinde mensem cum excesserunt, in stabulo cum ceteris ad nocturnam requiem debent includi. Et erit curandum ne humi maneant, nam qui sic cubitant tollendi sunt et supra perticas inponendi, ne frigore laborent.

[17] Then, when they have passed the seventh month, they ought to be enclosed in the stall with the others for nocturnal repose. And care must be taken that they do not remain on the ground, for those who bed down thus must be lifted and placed upon perches, lest they suffer from cold.

XII. DE NUMIDICIS ET RUSTICIS GALLINIS Numidicarum eadem est fere quae pavonum educatio. Ceterum silvestres gallinae, quae rusticae appellantur, in servitute non fetant, et ideo nihil de his praecepimus, nisi ut cibus ad satietatem praebeatur, quo sint conviviorum epulis aptiores.

12. ON NUMIDIAN AND RUSTIC HENS The rearing of Numidian hens is almost the same as that of peacocks. Moreover, the sylvan hens, which are called rustic, do not breed in servitude, and therefore we have prescribed nothing about them, except that food be furnished to satiety, so that they may be more apt for the banquet-feasts.

XIII. DE ANSERIBUS Venio nunc ad eas aves quas Graeci vocant amphibious, quia non tantum terrestria sed aquatilia quoque desiderant pabula, nec magis humo quam stagno consuerunt. Eiusque generis anser praecipue rusticis gratus est, quod nec maximam curam poscit, et sollertiorem custodiam quam canis praebet.

13. ON GEESE I come now to those birds which the Greeks call amphibious, because they desire not only terrestrial but also aquatic fodders, and are accustomed no more to the ground than to the pool. And of this kind the goose is especially pleasing to rustics, because it neither demands the greatest care, and provides a more skillful guardianship than a dog.

[2] Nam clangore prodit insidiantem, sicut etiam memoria tradidit in obsidione Capitoli, cum adventum Gallorum vociferatus est, canibus silentibus. Is autem non ubique haberi potest, ut existimat verissime Celsus, qui sic ait: anser neque sine aqua nec sine multa herba facile sustinetur, neque utilis est locis consitis, quia quicquid tenerum contingere potest carpit.

[2] For by its clangor it betrays the one lying in wait, just as tradition has also handed down in the siege of the Capitol, when it shouted the arrival of the Gauls, the dogs being silent. Moreover, it cannot be kept everywhere, as Celsus most truly judges, who thus says: the goose is not easily sustained without water nor without abundant herbage, nor is it useful in planted places, because it nips whatever tender thing it can touch.

[3] Sicubi vero flumen aut lacus est herbaeque copia neque nimis iuxta satae fruges, id quoque genus nutriendum est. Quod etiam nos facere censemus, non quia magni sit fructus, sed quia minimi oneris. At tamen praestat ex se pullos atque plumam, quam non, ut in ovibus lanam, semel demetere, sed bis anno, vere et autumno, vellere licet.

[3] But if anywhere in fact there is a river or a lake and an abundance of herbage, and the sown crops are not too near, that kind too is to be nourished. This we also judge should be done, not because the profit is great, but because the onus is very small. And yet it furnishes from itself chicks and plumage, which it is permitted not, as in sheep the wool, to cut off once, but to pluck twice in the year, in spring and in autumn.

Atque ob has quidem causas, si permittit locorum conditio, vel paucos utique oportet educare singulisque maribus ternas feminas destinare - nam propter gravitatem pluris inire non possunt - quin etiam in <f>rutectis circa cohortem secretis angulis haras facere, in quibus cubitent et fetus ubi edant.

And for these causes indeed, if the condition of the place permits, one ought at any rate to rear even a few, and to assign three females to each male—for, on account of their gravity, they cannot mount more—and even to make pens in the thickets around the courtyard in secluded corners, in which they may roost and where they may bring forth their brood.

XIV Qui vero greges nantium possidere student, chenoboskia constituunt, quae tum demum vigebunt, si fuerint ordinata ratione tali: cohors ab omni cetero pecore secreta clauditur, alta novem pedum maceria porticibusque circumdata, ita ut in aliqua parte sit cella custodis. Sub porticibus deinde quadratae harae caementis vel etiam laterculis exstruuntur, quas singulas satis est habere quoquoversus pedes ternos et aditus singulos firmis ostiolis munitos, quia per feturam diligenter claudi debent.

14 Those who, moreover, are eager to possess flocks of waterfowl establish chenoboskia, which will truly thrive only if they are arranged on such a plan: the yard, shut off from all the other livestock, is enclosed, with a wall nine feet high and surrounded with porticoes, such that in some part there is a cell for the keeper. Under the porticoes then square pens are constructed of rubble-work or even small bricks, each of which is sufficient to have three feet on every side and a single entrance fortified with sturdy little doors, because during the breeding season they ought to be carefully shut.

[2] Extra villam deinde non longe ab aedificio si est stagnum vel flumen, ala non quaeritur aqua, sin aliter, lacus piscinaque manu fiunt, ut sint quibus inurinari possint aves. Nam sine isto primordio non magis quam sine terreno recte vivere nequeunt. palustris quoque sed herbidus ager destinetur, atque alia pabula conserantur, ut vicia, trifolium, fenum Graecum, sed praecipue genus intibi, quod serin Graeci appellant.

[2] Then outside the villa, not far from the edifice, if there is a pond or a river, no other water is sought; but if otherwise, lakes and pools (piscinae) are made by hand, so that there may be places in which the birds can immerse themselves. For without this primordium they are no more able to live rightly than without terrain. A marshy yet grassy field too should be assigned, and other fodders should be sown, such as vetch, clover (trifolium), Greek hay (fenugreek), but especially a kind of endive (intybus), which the Greeks call serin.

Lactucae quoque in hunc usum semina vel maxime serenda sunt, quoniam et mollissimum est olus et libentissime ab his avibus appetitur, tum etiam pullis utilissima est esca.

Lettuce seeds too should most of all be sown for this purpose, since the vegetable is very soft and is most eagerly relished by these birds, and moreover it is the most useful food for the chicks.

[3] Haec cum praeparata sunt, curandum est ut mares feminaeque quam amplissimi corporis et albi coloris eligantur. Nam est aliud genus varium, quod a fero mitigatum domesticum factum est. Id neque aeque fecundum est nec tam pretiosum, propter quod minime nutriendum est.

[3] When these things have been prepared, care must be taken that males and females of the most ample body and of white color be chosen. For there is another variegated breed, which, mitigated from the wild, has been made domestic. It is neither equally fecund nor so precious, on account of which it is least to be nourished.

[4] Anseribus ad admittendum tempus aptissimum est a bruma, mox ad pariendum et ad incubandum a Kalendis Februariis vel Martiis usque ad solstitium, quod fit ultima parte mensis Iunii. Ineunt autem non, ut priores aves de quibus diximus, insistentes humi, nam fere in flumine aut piscinis id faciunt; singulaeque ter anno pariunt, si prohibeantur fetus suos excudere, quod magis expedit quam cum ipsae suos fovent.

[4] For geese the most suitable time for admitting the male is from the winter solstice; then for laying and for incubating from the Kalends of February or March up to the solstice, which happens in the last part of the month of June. They mate, however, not, like the earlier birds of which we have spoken, standing on the ground, for they do it for the most part in the river or in fishponds; and each one lays three times in the year, if they are prevented from hatching out their offspring, which is more expedient than when they themselves brood their own.

[5] Nam et a gallinis melius enutriuntur et longe maior grex efficitur. Pariunt autem singulis fetibus ova primo quina, sequenti quaterna, novissimo terna. Quem partum nonnulli permittunt ipsis matribus educare, quia reliquo tempore anni vacaturae sunt a fetu.

[5] For they are better nourished by hens, and by far a larger flock is produced. Moreover, in single clutches they lay eggs—at first five, in the second four, in the last three. Some allow this brood to be reared by the mothers themselves, because for the remainder of the year they will be free from breeding.

Minime autem concedendum est feminis extra septum parere, sed cum videbuntur sedem quaerere, comprimendae sunt atque temptandae. Nam si adpropinquat partus, digito tanguntur ova, quae sunt in prima parte locorum genitalium.

By no means, however, is it to be allowed that the females lay outside the enclosure; but when they seem to be seeking a nesting-place, they must be restrained and examined. For if parturition is approaching, the eggs are touched with a finger, which are in the foremost part of the genital passages.

[6] Quamobrem perduci ad haram debent includique ut fetum edant, idque singulis semel fecisse satis est, quoniam unaquaeque recurrit eodem ubi primo peperit. Sed novissimo fetu cum volumus ipsas incubare, notandi erunt uniuscuiusque partus, ut suis matribus subiciantur, quoniam negatur anser aliena excudere ova, nisi subiecta sua quoque habuerit. Supponuntur autem gallinis huius generis sicut pavonina plurima quinque, paucissima tria, ipsis deinde anseribus paucissima septem, plurima quindecim.

[6] Wherefore they ought to be brought to the pen and enclosed so that they may bring forth their brood, and it is enough to have done this once for each individual, since each one returns to the same place where she first brought forth. But with the last brood, when we wish them to incubate themselves, the offspring of each must be marked, so that they may be put under their own mothers, since it is denied that a goose will hatch out another’s eggs, unless she has also had her own placed under her. However, under hens of this kind, as with peacock eggs, the most is five, the fewest three; then under the geese themselves, the fewest seven, the most fifteen.

[7] Sed custodiri debet ut ovis subiciantur herbae urticarum quo quasi remedio medicantur - , ne noceri possit excus[s]is anserculis, quos enecant urticae si teneros pupugerunt. Pullis autem formandis excludendisque triginta diebus opus est cum sunt frigora, nam tepidis quinque et viginti satis est. Saepius tamen anser tricensimo die nascitur.

[7] But care must be taken that nettle-herbs be placed under the eggs, by which, as by a kind of remedy, they are medicated - , lest harm be able to be done to the hatched goslings, whom nettles kill if they have pricked them while tender. For the young to be formed and hatched, thirty days are needed when it is cold; in mild weather five and twenty suffice. More often, however, the gosling is born on the thirtieth day.

[8] Atque is dum exiguus est decem primis diebus pascitur in hara clausus cum matre. Postea cum serenitas permittit, producitur in prata et ad piscinas. Cavendumque est ne aut aculeis urticae conpunga[n]tur aut esuriens mittatur in pascuum, sed ante concisis intubis vel lactucae foliis saturetur.

[8] And while it is small, for the first ten days it is pastured in the pen, shut in with the mother. Afterward, when serenity of weather permits, it is led out into the meadows and to the pools. And care must be taken that they are not pricked by the nettle’s stings, nor sent hungry into pasture, but first be sated with chopped endives or leaves of lettuce.

Nam si adhuc parum firmus indigens ciborum pervenit in pascuum, fruticibus aut solidioribus herbis obluctatur ita pertinaciter ut collum abrumpat. Milium quoque aut etiam triticum mixtum cum aqua recte praebetur. Atque ubi paulum se confirmavit, in gregem coaequalium conpellitur et hordeo alitur.

For if, still too little firm and indigent of food, he comes into the pasture, he struggles with shrubs or sturdier herbs so pertinaciously that he breaks his neck. Millet also, or even wheat mixed with water, is rightly provided. And when he has somewhat strengthened himself, he is driven into the flock of his coevals and is nourished on barley.

Quod et in matricibus praebere non inutile est.

Which also is not useless to provide to the brood-sows.

[9] Pullos autem non expedit plures in singulas haras quam vigenos adici, nec rursus omnino cum maribus includi, quoniam validior enecat infirmum. Cellas in quibus incubitant siccissimas esse oportet substratuique habere paleas vel, si eae non sunt, crassimum quoque foenum. Cetera eadem quae in aliis generibus pullorum servanda sunt, ne coluber, ne vipera faelesque aut etiam mustela possit aspirare, quae fere pernicies ad internecionem prosternunt teneros.

[9] However, it is not expedient to add more than twenty chicks to a single pen, nor, again, to shut them up at all with the males, since the stronger kills the weaker. The cells in which they incubate ought to be very dry and to have straw for bedding, or, if that is lacking, even very thick hay. The rest are the same as must be observed in other kinds of chicks, lest a snake, a viper, and a cat or even a weasel be able to get at them—pests which commonly, as a pernicious ruin, lay the tender ones low to extermination.

[10] Sunt qui hordeum maceratum incubantibus adponant, nec patiantur matrices saepius nidum relinquere. Deinde pullis exclusis primis quinque diebus polentam vel maceratum far sicut pavonibus obiciunt. Nonnulli etiam viride nasturcium consectum minutatim cum aqua praebent, eaque eis est esca iucundissima.

[10] There are those who set macerated barley before the brooding hens, and do not allow the matrices to leave the nest too often. Then, once the chicks are hatched, for the first five days they throw to them polenta or macerated far (spelt), as for peacocks. Some also provide green nasturtium, chopped very finely, with water, and this is for them a most delightful food.

Mox ubi quattuor mensum facti sunt, farturae maximus quisque destinatur, quoniam tenera aetas praecipue habetur ad hanc rem aptissima.

Soon, when they are four months old, each of the largest is designated for fattening, since a tender age is considered especially most apt for this matter.

[11] Et est facilis harum avium sagina, nam polentam et pollinem ter die, nihil sane aliud, dari necesse est, dummodo large bibendi potestas fiat, nec vagandi facultas detur; sintque calido et tenebricoso loco. Quae res ad creandas adipes multum conferunt. Hoc modo duobus mensibus pinguescunt etiam imi, nam pullities saepe quadraginta diebus op[t]ima redditur.

[11] And the fattening of these birds is easy, for it is necessary to give polenta and pollen (fine meal) three times a day, truly nothing else, provided that ample opportunity for drinking is afforded, and that no license for wandering is given; and that they be in a warm and tenebrous place. These things contribute much to creating adipose. In this way, in two months even the very largest grow fat, for the tenderness of the young is often rendered best in forty days.

XV. DE ANATIBUS Nessotrophi<i> cura similis, sed maior inpensa est. Nam clausae pascuntur anates, quercedulae, boscides, ph<a>le[g]rides similesque volucres, quae stagna et paludes rimantur. Locus planus eligitur, isque munitur sublimiter pedum quindecim maceria.

15. ON DUCKS The care of the nesotrophion is similar, but the expense is greater. For ducks, quercedulae (teal), boscides, phle[g]rides, and similar winged creatures, which probe pools and marshes, are fed in confinement. A level place is chosen, and it is fortified up high with a wall of 15 feet.

Deinde clatris superpositis grandi macula retibus contegitur, ne aut evolandi sit potestas domesticis avibus, aut aquilis et accipitribus involandi.

Then, with lattices placed above, it is covered with nets of large mesh, lest there be the power of flying out for the domestic birds, or of flying in for eagles and hawks.

[2] Sed ea tota maceries opere tectorio levigatur extra intraque, ne feles aut vierra perrepat. Media deinde parte nessotrophii lacus defoditur in duos pedes altitudinis, spatiumque longitudinis datur et latitudinis quantum loci conditio permittit.

[2] But that whole wall of masonry is smoothed with plasterwork on the outside and inside, lest cats or ferrets creep through. Then in the middle part of the duck-farm a pond is dug to a depth of two feet, and a space of length and of breadth is allotted as much as the condition of the place permits.

[3] Orae lacus ne corrumpantur violentia restagnatis undae, quae semper influere debet, opere signino consternuntur, easque non in gradus oportet erigi sed paulatim clivo subsidere, ut tamquam e litore descendatur in aquam. Solum autem stagni per circuitum, quod sit instar modi totius duarum partium, lapidibus inculcatis ac tectorio muniendum est, ne possit herbas evomere, praebeatque nantibus aquae puram superficiem.

[3] The shores of the pool, lest they be damaged by the violence of the back-ponding wave, which ought always to flow in, are laid with signine work; and these should not be raised into steps, but should subside little by little in a slope, so that one descends into the water as from a shore. The bottom of the pond, moreover, all around, to the amount of two parts of the whole measure, must be fortified with rammed stones and with plaster, lest it be able to spew out weeds, and so provide to the swimmers a pure surface of water.

[4] Media rursus terrena pars esse debet, ut colocasiis conseratur aliisque familiaribus a[t]quae viridibus quae inopacant avium receptacula. Sunt enim quibus cordi est vel insulis tamaricum aut scirporum frutectis immorari, nec ob hanc tamen causam totus lacus silvulis occupetur, sed, ut dixi, per circuitum vacet, ut sine inpedimento, cum apricitate diei gestiunt aves, nandi velocitate concertent.

[4] Again, there ought to be a central earthen portion, so that it may be planted with colocasias and other water-greens familiar to it, which cast shade upon the birds’ refuges. For there are some to whom it is dear to linger on islets with thickets of tamarisk or of rushes; yet not for this reason should the whole lake be occupied by little groves, but, as I said, let it be open around the circuit, so that without impediment, when the birds exult in the day’s apricity, they may vie in the speed of swimming.

[5] Nam quemadmodum desiderant esse quo inrepant et ubi delitiscentibus fluvialibus animalibus insidientur, ita offenduntur si non sunt libera spatia quae permeent. Extra lacum deinde per vigenos undique pedes gramine ripae vestiantur; sintque post hunc agri modum circa maceriam lapide fabricata et expolita tectoriis pedalia in quadratum cubilia quibus innidificent aves, eaque contegantur intersitis buxeis vel myrteis fruticibus, qui non excedant altitudinem parietum.

[5] For just as they desire that there be somewhere into which they may creep and where they may lie in ambush for fluvial animals that are hiding, so they are offended if there are not free spaces which they may pass through. Outside the lake then, for twenty feet on every side, let the banks be clothed with grass; and after this arrangement of the field, let there be, around the boundary-wall, nesting-cubicles one foot square, made of stone and polished with plasters, in which the birds may build their nests, and let these be covered with boxwood or myrtle shrubs set between, which do not exceed the height of the walls.

[6] Statim deinde perpetuus canaliculus humi depressus construatur, per quem cottidie mixti cum aqua cibi decurrant. Sic enim pabulatur id genus avium. Gratissima est esca terrestris leguminis panicum et milium, nec non et hordeum.

[6] Immediately then a continuous little channel, sunk in the ground, should be constructed, through which each day foods mixed with water may run down. For in this way that kind of birds feeds. Most welcome as food of terrestrial legume are panic and millet, and barley as well.

Sed ubi copia est, etiam glans ac vinacea praebentur. Aquatilis autem cibi si sit facultas, datur cammarus et rivalis hallecula vel si qua sunt incrementi parvi fluviorum animalia.

But where there is plenty, acorn and grape-pressings (vinacea) are offered as well. And if there is the means for aquatic food, shrimp and the little brook-fish are given, or whatever river creatures there are of small growth.

[7] Tempora concubitus eadem quae ceteri silvestres alites observant Martii sequentisque mensis, per quos festucae surculique in vivariis passim spargendi sunt, ut colligere possint aves quibus nidos construant. Sed antiquissimum est, cum quis nessotrophium constituere volet, ut praedictarum avium circa paludes, in quibus plerumque fetant, ova colligat et cohortalibus gallinis subiciat. Sic enim excusi educatique pulli deponunt ingenia silvestria, clausique vivariis haut dubitanter progenerant.

[7] The times of coupling are the same which the other woodland birds observe, of March and the following month, during which straw-stalks and little shoots are to be scattered everywhere in the vivaria, so that the birds may gather them with which to build nests. But the most ancient practice is, when someone wishes to establish a nessotrophium, to collect the eggs of the aforesaid birds around the marshes, in which they for the most part breed, and to place them under courtyard hens. Thus the chicks, hatched and reared, lay aside their wild dispositions, and, shut within vivaria, they breed without hesitation.

Nam si modo captas avis, quae consuevere libero victu, custodiae tradere velis, parere cunctantur in servitute. Sed de tutela nantium volucrum satis dictum est.

For if you should wish to hand over birds just now captured, which have been accustomed to a free diet, to custody, they hesitate to obey in servitude. But about the tutelage of swimming birds enough has been said.

XVI. DE PISCIUM CURA Verum opportune, dum meminimus aquatilium animalium, ad curam pervenimus piscium, quorum reditum quamvis alienissimum agricultoribus putem - quid enim tam contrarium est quam terrenum fluvido? - , Tamen non omittam.

16. ON THE CARE OF FISH But opportunely, while we remember aquatic animals, we come to the care of fish, whose revenue although I deem most alien to agriculturists — for what is so contrary as the earthly to the fluid? — , Nevertheless I shall not omit it.

Nam et harum studia rerum maiores nostri celebraverunt, adeo quidem ut etiam dulcibus aquis fluviatilis cluderent pisces, atque eadem cura mugilem squalumque nutrirent qua nunc muraena et lupus educatur.

For our ancestors too celebrated the pursuits of these matters, indeed to such a degree that they even enclosed river-fish in fresh waters, and with the same care they nurtured mullet and dogfish, with which now the moray and the sea-bass are reared.

[2] Magni enim aestimabat vetus illa Romuli et Numae rustica progenies, si urbanae vitae comparetur villatica, nulla parte copiarum defici; quamobrem non solum piscinas quas ipsi construxerant frequentabant, sed etiam quos rerum natura lacus fecerat convectis marinis seminibus replebant. Inde Velinus, inde etiam Sabatinus, item Volsiniensis et Ciminius lupos auratasque procreaverunt, ac si qua sunt alia piscium genera dulcis undae tolerantia.

[2] For that old rustic offspring of Romulus and Numa held in great esteem that, if villa-life be compared with urban life, it fails in no part of supplies; wherefore they not only frequented the fishponds which they themselves had constructed, but even the lakes which Nature had made they would fill with marine seed brought in. Thence the Velinus, thence also the Sabatinus, likewise the Volsiniensis and the Ciminius, produced sea-bass and gilt-bream, and whatever other kinds of fish there are with a tolerance for sweet water.

[3] Mox istam curam sequens aetas abolevit, et lautitiae locupletium maria ipsa Neptunumque clauserunt iam tum avorum memoria cum circumferretur Marcii Philippi velut urbanissimum, quod erat luxuriose factum atque dictum. Nam is forte Casini cum apud hospitem cenaret, appositumque e vicino flumine lupum degustasset atque exspuisset, inprobum factum dicto prosecutus, peream, inquit, nisi piscem putavi.

[3] Soon the age that followed abolished that concern, and the luxuries of the opulent enclosed the seas themselves and Neptune—already in the memory of our grandfathers—when there was being bandied about, as something most urbane, the saying of Marcius Philippus, which was luxuriously done and said. For he, by chance at Casinum, as he was dining at a host’s house, and had tasted and spat out a “wolf” set before him from a neighboring river, denouncing the improper deed with a witticism, said, “Let me perish unless I thought it was a fish.”

[4] Hoc igitur periurium multorum subtiliorem fecit gulam, doctaque et erudita palata fastidire docuit fluvialem lupum, nisi quem Tiberis adverso torrente defetigasset. Itaque Terentius Varro, "nullus est," inquit, "hoc saeculo nebulo ac +mintho qui non iam dicat nihil sua interesse, utrum eiusmodi piscibus an ranis frequens habeat vivarium."

[4] This perjury, therefore, made the gullets of many more subtle, and taught learned and erudite palates to disdain the fluvial wolf, unless it were one whom the Tiber had wearied with an adverse torrent. And so Terentius Varro says, "there is no scoundrel and +mintho in this age who does not already say that it makes no difference to him whether he have his vivarium well-stocked with fishes of this sort or with frogs."

[5] Ac tamen isdem temporibus quibus hanc memorabat Varro luxuriam maxime laudabatur severitas Catonis, qui nihilominus et ipse tutor Luculli grandi aere sestertium milium quadringentorum piscinas pupilli sui venditabat. Iam enim celebres erant deliciae popinales cum ad mare deferntur vivaria, quorum studiosissimi, velut ante devictarum gentium Numantinus et Isauricus, ita Sergius Orata et Licinius Murena captorum piscium laetabantur vocabulis.

[5] And yet, in the same times in which Varro was recounting this luxury, the severity of Cato was most praised; who nonetheless, he himself as the tutor of Lucullus, was selling his ward’s fishponds for a large sum of money—400,000 sesterces. For already the cookshop delicacies were celebrated, when vivaria were being carried down to the sea; and their most zealous devotees, just as earlier men gloried in epithets from conquered nations—“Numantine” and “Isaurican”—so Sergius Orata and Licinius Murena took delight in the appellations of captured fishes.

[6] Sed quoniam sic mores obcalluere, non ut haec usitata verum ut maxime laudabilia et honesta iudicarentur, nos quoque ne videamur tot saeculorum seri castigatores, hunc etiam quaestum villaticum patri familiae demonstra[re]mus. Qui sive insulas sive maritimos agros mercatur, propter exilitatem soli, quae plerumque litori vicina est, fructus terrae percipere non potuerit, ut ex mari reditum constituat.

[6] But since the mores have thus grown callous, so that these things are judged not as merely customary but as most laudable and honorable, we too—lest we seem belated censors of so many ages—would point out even this villatic profit to the paterfamilias. Whoever purchases either islands or maritime fields, because of the meagerness of the soil, which for the most part is adjacent to the shore, if he cannot take the fruits of the earth, should establish a return from the sea.

[7] Huius autem rei quasi primordium est naturam loci contemplari, quo piscinas facere constituerit. Non enim omnibus litoribus omne genus haberi potest. Limosa regio planum educat piscem, velut soleam, rhombum, passerem, eadem quoque maxime idonea est conchyliis, muricis et ostreis, purpurarumque tunc concharum pectunculi~~, balani ~~vel sphondyli.~~~~

[7] But, as it were, the first beginning of this matter is to contemplate the nature of the place where he has decided to make fishponds. For not on all shores can every kind be had. A muddy region brings forth flat fish, such as the sole, the rhombus (turbot), the flounder; the same is also most suitable for conchylia (shellfish), for muricis and oysters, and for the shells of the purples, for pectunculi~~, balani~~, or sphondyli.~~~~

[8] At harenosi gurgites planos quidem non pessime, sed pelagios melius pascunt, ut auratas ac dentices, Punicasque et indigenas umbras, verum conchyliis minus apti. Rursus optime saxosum mare nominis sui pisces nutrit, qui scilicet, quod in petris stabulentur, saxatiles dicti sunt, ut merulae turdique, nec minus melanuri[a].

[8] But sandy waters feed flatfish not badly, yet pelagic ones better, such as gilt-heads and dentexes, and Punic and indigenous umbrines; however, they are less apt for shellfish. In turn, a rocky sea very excellently nourishes fishes of its own name—who, of course, since they stable themselves among the rocks, are called rock-dwellers—such as merulae and turdi, and no less the melanuri[a].

[9] Atque ut litorum sic et fretorum differentias nosse oportet, ne nos alienigenae pisces decipiant. Non enim omni mari potest omnis esse, ut helops, qui Pamphylio profundo nec alio pascitur, ut Atlantico faber, qui generosissimis piscibus adnumeratur in nostro Gadium municipio - eumque prisca consuetudine zaeum appellamus - , ut scarus, qui totius Asiae Graeciaeque litore Sicilia tenus frequentissimus exit, numquam in Ligusticum nec per Gallias enavit ad Hibericum mare.

[9] And as with the shores, so also the differences of the straits it is needful to know, lest foreign-born fishes deceive us. For not in every sea can every kind exist, as the helops, which feeds in the Pamphylian deep and in no other, as in the Atlantic the faber, which is counted among the most noble fishes in our municipality of Gades - and by ancient custom we call it zaeus - , as the scarus, which along the whole shore of Asia and Greece as far as Sicily appears most frequently, has never swum into the Ligurian nor through the Gauls to the Iberian sea.

[10] Itaque ne si capti quidem perferantur in nostra vivaria, diuturni queant possideri. Sola ex pretiosis piscibus muraena, quamvis Tartesi pelagi, quod est ultimum, vernacula, quovis hospes freto peregrinum mare sustinet. Sed iam de situ piscinarum dicendum est.

[10] Therefore, not even if, when captured, they are carried into our vivaria can they be possessed for a long time. The moray alone among precious fishes, although native of the Tartessian deep, which is the farthest, as a guest in any strait endures an alien sea. But now the site of fishponds must be spoken of.

XVII. DE POSITIONE PISCINAE Stagnum censemus eximie optimum quod sic positum est ut insequens maris unda priorem summoveat, nec intra conseptum sinat remanere veterem. Namque id simillimum est pelago, quod agitatum ventis adsidue renovatur nec concalescere potest, quoniam gelidum ab imo fluctum revolvit in partem superiorem.

17. ON THE POSITION OF THE FISHPOND We deem the pond exceedingly excellent which is so positioned that the succeeding wave of the sea removes the former, and does not allow the old water to remain within the enclosure. For that is most similar to the pelagic sea, which, agitated by winds, is assiduously renewed and cannot grow warm, since it rolls a gelid wave from the bottom into the upper part.

Id autem stagnum vel exciditur in petra, cuius rarissima est occasio, vel in litore construitur opere signino.

That pool, however, is either hewn out in rock, an opportunity for which is most rare, or it is constructed on the shore with opus signinum.

[2] Sed utcumque fabricatum est, si semper influente gurgite riget, habere debet specus iuxta solum, eorumque alios simplices et rectos, quo secedant squamosi greges, alios in cocleam retortos nec nimis spatiosos, quibus muraenae delitiscant; quamquam nonnullis commisceri eas cum alterius notae piscibus non placet, quia si rabie vexantur, quod huic generi velut canino solet accidere, saepissime persequuntur squamosos plurimosque mandendo consumunt.

[2] But however it is fabricated, if it remains chilled by a continuously inflowing current, it ought to have caves next to the bottom—and of these some simple and straight, where the scaly shoals may withdraw; others twisted into a cochlear spiral and not too spacious, in which moray-eels may hide; although to some it is not pleasing that they be mixed with fishes of another kind, because if they are vexed by rabies, which is wont to happen to this genus as if canine, they very often pursue the scaly ones and consume very many by chewing.

[3] Itineraque, si loci natura permittit, omni lateri piscinae dari convenit. Facilius enim vetus summovetur unda, cum quacumque parte fluctus urget per adversa patet exitus. Hos autem meatus fieri censemus per imam consepti partem, si loci situs ita conpetit, ut in solo piscinae posita libella septem pedibus sublimius esse maris aequor ostendat.

[3] And it is fitting, if the nature of the place permits, that channels be given to every side of the piscina (fish-pond). For the old water is more easily removed, when, from whatever part the wave presses, an exit lies open through the opposite side. And we judge that these passages should be made through the lowest part of the enclosure, if the site of the place so suits, such that a level (libella) placed on the floor of the piscina shows the surface of the sea to be higher by seven feet.

Nam piscibus stagni haec in altitudinem gurgitis mensura abunde est; nec dubium quin quanto magis imo mari veniat unda, tanto sit frigidior, quod est aptissimum nantibus.

For the fish of the pond this measure for the depth of the water is abundantly sufficient; nor is there a doubt that the more the wave comes from the deepest sea, the colder it is, which is most apt for those swimming.

[4] Sin autem locus ubi vivarium constituere censemus pari libra cum aequore maris est, in pedes novem defodiatur piscina, et infra duos a summa parte cuniculis rivi perducantur, curandumque est ut largissime veniant, quoniam modus ille aquae iacentis infra libram maris non aliter exprimitur, quam si maior recentis freti vis incesserit.

[4] But if the place where we judge to establish the vivarium is on a level equal with the sea’s surface, let the pool be dug to a depth of nine feet, and, two feet below the top part, let rivulets be conducted in by tunnels; and care must be taken that they come in most abundantly, since that measure of water lying below the level of the sea is not pressed out otherwise than if a greater force of the fresh tide has set in.

[5] Multi putant in eiusmodi stagnis longos piscibus recessus et flexuosos in lateribus specus esse fabricandos, quo sint opaciores aestuantibus latebrae. Sed si recens mare non semper stagnum permeat, id facere contrarium est, nam eiusmodi receptacula nec facile novas admittunt aquas, et difficiliter veteres emittunt, plusque nocet putris unda quam prodest opacitas.

[5] Many think that in pools of this kind long retreats for the fish and winding caves in the sides ought to be constructed, so that the hiding-places for those that swelter may be more shaded. But if the fresh sea does not always permeate the pool, to do that is the contrary course; for receptacles of this kind do not readily admit new waters, and they emit the old with difficulty, and a putrid wave harms more than shadiness helps.

[6] Debent tamen similes velut cellae parietibus excavari, ut sint quae protegant refugientis ardorem solis, et nihilominus facile quam conceperint aquam remittant. Verum meminisse oportebit ut rius per quos exundat piscina praefigantur aenei foraminibus exiguis cancelli, quibus inpediatur fuga piscium. Si vero laxitas permittit, e litore scopulos, qui praecipue verbenis algae vestiuntur, non erit alienum per stagni spatia disponere, et quantum comminisci valet hominis ingenium repraesentare faciem maris, ut clausi quam minime custodiam sentiant.

[6] Yet similar, as it were, cells ought to be excavated in the walls, so that there may be those which protect those taking refuge from the sun’s ardor, and nonetheless they may as easily remit the water as they have taken it in. But it will be necessary to remember that on the rius by which the pool overflows there be set in front bronze lattices with tiny perforations, by which the flight of the fishes is impeded. If, however, spaciousness permits, from the shore rocks, which are especially clothed with garlands of algae, it will not be out of place to dispose through the spaces of the pool, and, as far as human ingenuity can devise, to represent the face of the sea, so that the enclosed feel the custody as little as possible.

[7] Hac ratione stabulis ordinatis aquatile pecus inducemus. Sitque nobis antiquissimum meminisse etiam in fluviatili negotio, quod in terreno praecipitur, et quid quaeque ferat regio. Neque enim si velimus, ut in mari nonnumquam conspeximus, in vivario multitudinem mullorum pascere queamus, cum sit mollissimum genus et servitutis indignantissimum.

[7] By this method, with the stalls arranged, we will introduce the aquatic herd. And let it be for us of the highest antiquity to remember, even in riverine business, what is prescribed for the terrestrial, and what each region bears. For not even if we were willing—just as we have sometimes observed in the sea—could we feed a multitude of mullets in a vivarium, since it is the most delicate kind and the most indignant of servitude.

[8] Raro itaque unus aut alter de multis milibus claustra patitur. At contra frequenter animadvertimus intra septa pelagios greges inertis mugilis et rapacis lupi. Quare, ut proposueram, qualitatem litoris nostri contemplemur, et si videmus scopulosam probemus.

[8] Rarely, then, does one or two out of many thousands submit to the enclosures. But on the contrary we have frequently observed within the pens pelagic shoals of the sluggish mullet and the rapacious wolf. Wherefore, as I had proposed, let us contemplate the quality of our shore, and if we see it rocky, let us approve it.

Turdi complura genera merulasque et avidas mustelas, tum etiam sine macula - nam sunt et varii - lupos includamus; item flutas, quae maxime probantur, muraenas et si quae sunt alia[e] saxatil<i>s notae qu<o>rum pretia vigent; nam vile ne captare quidem, nedum alere conducit.

Let us enclose many kinds of turdi, merulas, and greedy mustelae; then also sea-wolves (sea-bass) without blemish — for there are variegated ones too —; likewise flutae, which are most approved, moray eels, and whatever other rock-dwelling kinds there are whose prices are strong; for what is cheap it is not worth even catching, much less feeding.

[9] Possunt ista eadem genera etiam litoris harenosi stagnis contineri. Nam quae limo coenoque lita sunt, ut ante iam dixi, conchyliis magis et iacentibus apta sunt animalibus. Neque est eadem lacus positio quae recipit cubantis, que eadem praebentur cibaria prostratis piscibus et rectis.

[9] These same kinds can also be contained in pools of a sandy shore. For places smeared with silt and slime, as I have already said before, are more suited to shellfish and to animals lying at rest. Nor is the same position of a pool fit for those that recline, nor are the same victuals furnished to fishes that are prostrate and to those that are upright.

Namque soleis ac rhombis et similibus animalibus humilis in duos pedes piscina deprimitur ea parte litoris quae profundi recessu numquam destituitur.

For soles and turbots and similar animals, the pool is made low, sunk to two feet, in that part of the shore which is never abandoned by the recession of the deep.

[10] Spissi deinde clatri marginibus infiguntur, qui super aquam semper emineant, etiam cum maris aestus intumuerit. Mox praeiaciuntur in gyrum moles, ita ut conplectantur sinu suo et tamen excedant stagni modum. Sic enim et maris atrocitas obiectu crepidinis frangitur, et in tranquillo consistens piscis sedibus suis non exturbatur, neque ipsum vivarium repletur congerie, quam tempestatibus eructat pelagi violentia.

[10] Then thick lattices are fixed into the margins, which always stand out above the water, even when the sea’s tide has swollen. Next, moles are cast in a ring, so that they may embrace with their own curving bay and yet exceed the measure of the pool. For thus both the ferocity of the sea is broken by the interposition of the embankment, and the fish, abiding in calm, is not driven out from its seats, nor is the vivarium itself filled with the congeries which the violence of the deep belches forth in storms.

[11] Oportebit autem nonnullis locis moles intercidi more Maeandri parvis sed angustis itineribus, quae quantalibet hiemis saevitia mare sine fluctu transmittant. Esca iacentium mollior esse debet quam saxatilium. Nam quia dentibus carent, aut lambunt cibos aut integros hauriunt, mandere quidem non possunt.

[11] Moreover, it will be necessary that in some places the moles be cut through, in the manner of the Maeander, with small yet narrow passages, which, however great the savagery of winter, may transmit the sea without wave. The bait of the lying-bottom dwellers should be softer than that of the rock-dwellers; for since they lack teeth, they either lick their food or gulp it whole—they cannot, in fact, chew.

[12] Itaque praeberi convenit tabentis halleculas et salibus exesam chalcidem putremque sardinam nec minus saurorum branchiam, vel quicquid intestini pelamis aut lacertus gerit, tum scombri carcharique et elacatae ventriculos, et - ne per singula enumerem - salsamentorum omnium purgamenta, quae cetariorum officinis everruntur. Nos autem plura nominavimus genera, non quia cuncta cunctis litoribus exeunt, sed ut ex his aliqua quorum erit facultas praebeamus.

[12] And so it is fitting to provide oozing little hallec-fish, and chalcis eaten away by salts, and a rotten sardine, and no less the gill of sauri, or whatever of entrails the pelamis or the lacertus bears, then the stomachs of scomber, carcharias, and elacata, and - not to enumerate item by item - the sweepings of all salt-fish, which are swept out from the workshops of the fishmongers. We, however, have named more kinds, not because all of them come forth on all shores, but so that from these we may provide some for which there will be the means.

[13] Facit etiam ex pomis viridis adaperta ficus et mitis digitis infractus unedo, nec minus elisum molle sorbum, quique sunt cibi sorbilibus proximi, ut e mulctra recens caseus, si loci conditio vel lactis annona permittit. Nulla tamen aeque quam praedictae salsurae pabula commode dantur, quoniam odorata sunt.

[13] It is also effective, among fruits, to give an opened green fig and the mild arbutus (strawberry‑tree fruit) broken up with the fingers, and no less the soft sorb mashed; and whatever foods are nearest to things to be sipped, such as fresh cheese from the milk‑pail, if the condition of the place or the supply (annona) of milk permits. Nevertheless, no fodders are given as conveniently as the aforesaid salt‑cures, since they are odorous.

[14] Omnis enim iacens piscis magis naribus escam quam oculis vestigat, nam dum supinus semper cubat, sublimiora spectat, et ea quae in plano sunt dextra laevaque non facile pervidet. Itaque cum salsamenta obiecta sunt, eorum sequens odorem pervenit ad cibos. Ceteri autem saxatiles aut pelagi[c]i satis et his, sed et recentibus melius pascuntur.

[14] For every fish lying at rest tracks its bait more by the nostrils than by the eyes; for, since it always lies supine, it looks at the things higher up, and those which are on the level, to the right and to the left, it does not easily make out. Therefore, when salt-cured fish are thrown in, following their odor it comes to the food. The others, however, whether rock-dwelling or pelagic, are well fed by these too, but better by fresh ones as well.

Nam et hallecula modo capta et cammarus exiguusque gobio, quisquis denique est incrementi minuti piscis, maiorem alit.

For both the halecula just caught and the cammarus and the tiny goby—whatever fish, in fine, is of minute growth—nourish the larger.

[15] Si quando tamen hiemis saevitia non patitur eius generis escam dari, vel sordidi panis offae vel si qua sunt temporis poma concisa praebentur. Ficus quidem arida semper obicitur, eximia si sit, ut Baeticae Numidiaeque regionibus larga. Ceterum illud committi non debet, quod multi faciunt, ut nihil praebeant, quia semetipsos etiam clausi diu tolerare possint.

[15] If ever, however, the savagery of winter does not allow food of that kind to be given, either gobbets of sordid bread or, if there are any fruits of the season, cut up, are proffered. A dried fig, indeed, is always thrown in, if it be choice, abundant as in the regions of Baetica and Numidia. Moreover, this ought not to be committed, which many do: to provide nothing, because they themselves, even when shut in, are able to tolerate it for a long time.

Nam nisi piscis domini cibariis saginatur, cum ad piscatoris forum perlatus est, macies indicat eum non esse libero mari captum sed de custodia elatum, propter quod plurimum pretio detrahitur.

For unless the owner’s fish is fattened on victuals, when it has been brought to the fisherman’s forum, its emaciation indicates that it was not captured from the free sea but taken out of custody, on account of which a very great amount is deducted from the price.

[16] Atque haec villatica pastio finem praesenti disputationi faciat, ne inmodico volumine lector fatigetur. Redeamus autem sequenti exordio ad curam silvestrium pecorum cultumque apium.

[16] And let this villatic pasturage make an end to the present disputation, lest the reader be wearied by an immoderate volume. But let us return, with the following exordium, to the care of the woodland herds and the culture of bees.