[10] “In fact, it is claimed that barbers first came to Italy from Sicily 453 years after the founding of the city of Rome (as is recorded still on a public monument at Ardea), and that they were introduced by Publius Titinius Mena. That there were no barbers in early days is evident from the statues of the ancients, many of which have long hair and a large beard.”
[11] Cossinius resumed: “As the sheep affords a profit from its wool to be used for clothing, so the goat from her hair is of service for nautical purposes, as well as for military engines and for workmen’s equipment. Some barbarous people, too, use their skins for clothing, as, for instance, in Gaetulia and Sardinia. That this usage obtained among the ancient Greeks also is evident from the fact that the old men who appear in the tragedies get their name of diphtheriae from the goat skin, and in comedies those who are engaged in rustic labour, such as the young man in Caecilius’s Hypobolimaeus, and the old man in Terence’s Heautontimorumenos. [12] Because they have long hair, goats are clipped over a large part of Phrygia; and it is from this that hair-cloth (cilicia) and other fabrics of the kind are made. But it is said that the Cilicians gave the name to it from the fact that this clipping was first practised in Cilicia.”
This was their contribution, and Cossinius found nothing to alter in it. At the same time a freedman of Vitulus, on his way to the city from the park, turned aside to us and said: “I was sent to you, and was on my way to your house to ask you not to make the holiday shorter but to come early.” And so Scrofa and I set out to Vitulus’s place, and the others, my dear Turranius Niger, some for their homes and some to Menates.
BOOK III
I.
Cum duae vitae traditae sint hominum, rustica et urbana, quidni, Pinni, dubium non est quin hae non solum loco discretae sint, sed etiam tempore diversam originem habeant. Antiquior enim multo rustica, quod fuit tempus, cum rura colerent homines neque urbem haberent. Etenim vetustissimum oppidum cum sit traditum Graecum Boeotiae Thebae, quod rex Ogyges aedificarit, in agro Romano Roma, quam Romulus rex; nam in hoc nunc denique est ut dici possit, non cum Ennius scripsit:
septingenti sunt paulo plus aut minus anni,
augusto augurio postquam inclita condita Roma est.
[1.1] Though there are traditionally two ways in which men live — one in the country, the other in the city — there is clearly no doubt, Pinnius, that these differ not merely in the matter of place but also in the time at which each had its beginning. Country life is much more ancient — I mean the time when people lived on the land and had no cities. [2] For tradition has it that the oldest of all cities is a Greek one, Thebes in Boeotia, founded by King Ogygus; while the oldest on Roman territory is Rome, founded by King Romulus. For we may now say, with regard to this, with more accuracy than when Ennius wrote:
Seven hundred years are there, a little more or less,
Since glorious Rome was founded, with augury august.”
Thebae, quae ante cataclysmon Ogygi conditae dicuntur, eae tamen circiter duo milia annorum et centum sunt. Quod tempus si referas ad illud principium, quo agri coli sunt coepti atque in casis et tuguriis habitabant nec murus et porta quid esset sciebant, immani numero annorum urbanos agricolae praestant. Nec mirum, quod divina natura dedit agros, ars humana aedificavit urbes, cum artes omnes dicantur in Graecia intra mille annorum reperte, agri numquam non fuerint in terris qui coli possint. Neque solum antiquior cultura agri, sed etiam melior. Itaque non sine causa maiores nostri ex urbe in agros redigebant suos cives, quod et in pace a rusticis Romanis alebantur et in bello ab his allevabantur. Nec sine causa terram eandem appellabant matrem et Cererem, et qui eam colerent, piam et utilem agere vitam credebant atque eos solos reliquos esse ex stirpe Saturni regis. Cui consentaneum est, quod initia vocantur potissimum ea quae Cereri fiunt sacra. Nec minus oppidi quoque nomen Thebae indicat antiquiorem esse agrum, quod ab agri genere, non a conditore nomen ei est impositum. Nam lingua prisca et in Graecia Aeolis Boeoti sine afflatu vocant collis tebas, et in Sabinis, quo e Graecia venerunt Pelasgi, etiam nunc ita dicunt, cuius vestigium in agro Sabino via Salaria non longe a Reate miliarius clivus cum appellatur tebae. Agri culturam primo propter paupertatem maxime indiscretam habebant, quod a pastoribus qui erant orti in eodem agro et serebant et pascebant; quae postea creverunt peculia diviserunt, ac factum ut dicerentur alii agricolae, alii pastores. Quae ipsa pars duplex est, tametsi ab nullo satis discreta, quod altera est villatica pastio, altera agrestis. Haec nota et nobilis, quod et pecuaria appellatur, et multum homines locupletes ob eam rem aut conductos aut emptos habent saltus; altera villatica, quod humilis videtur, a quibusdam adiecta ad agri culturam, cum esset pastio, neque explicata tota separatim, quod sicam, ab ullo. Itaque cum putarem esse rerum rusticarum, quae constituta sunt fructus causa, tria genera, unum de agri cultura, alterum de re pecuaria, tertium de villaticis pastionibus, tres libros institui, e quis duo scripsi, primum ad Fundaniam uxorem de agri cultura, secundum de pecuaria ad Turranium Nigrum; qui reliquus est tertius de villaticis fructibus, in hoc ad te mitto, quod visus sum debere pro nostra vicinitate et amore scribere potissimum ad te. Cum enim villam haberes opere tectorio et intestino ac pavimentis nobilibus lithostrotis spectandam et parum putasses esse, ni tuis quoque litteris exornati parietes essent, ego quoque, quo ornatior ea esse posset fructu, quod facere possem, haec ad te misi, recordatus de ea re sermones, quos de villa perfecta habuissemus. De quibus exponendis initium capiam hinc.
[3] Thebes, however, which is said to have been founded before the deluge which takes its name from Ogygus, is some 2,100 years old. If, now, you compare this span of time with that early day when fields were first tilled, and men lived in huts and dugouts, and did not know what a wall or a gate was, farmers antedate city people by an enormous number of years. [4] And no marvel, since it was divine nature which gave us the country, and man’s skill that built the cities; since all arts are said to have been discovered in Greece within a thousand years, while there never was a time when there were not fields on earth that could be tilled. And not only is the tilling of the fields more ancient — it is more noble. It was therefore not without reason that our ancestors tried to entice their citizens back from city to the country; for in time of peace they were fed by the country Romans, and in time of war aided by them. [5] It was also not without reason that they called the same earth “mother” and “Ceres,” and thought that those who tilled her lived a pious and useful life, and that they were the only survivors of the stock of King Saturnus. And it is in accordance with this that the sacred rites in honour of Ceres are beyond all others called “Initiations.” [6] The name of Thebes, too, no less clearly shows that the country is more ancient, in that the name given it comes from a type of land, and not from the name of the founder. For the old language, and the Aeolians of Boeotia in Greece as well, use the word teba for hill, leaving out the aspirate; and among the Sabines, a country which was settled by the Pelasgians from Greece, up to this day they use the same word; there is a trace of it in the Sabine country on the Via Salaria, not far from Reate, where a slope of a mile in length is called tebae. [7] At first, because of their poverty, people practised agriculture, as a rule, without distinction, the descendants of the shepherds both planting and grazing on the same land; later, as this flocks grew, they made a division, with the result that some were called farmers, and others herdsmen. [8] This matter of herding has a twofold division (though no writer has made the distinction clearly), as the feeding around the steading is one thing, and that on the land is another. The latter is well known and highly esteemed, being also called pecuaria, and wealthy men frequently have ranches devoted to it, which they have either leased or bought; while the other, that of the steading, as it seems insignificant, has, by some writers, been brought under the head of agriculture, though it is a matter of feeding; and the subject as a whole has not, so far as I know, been treated as a separate topic by anyone. [9] Hence, as I suggested that there are three divisions of rural economy which are instituted for gainful ends — one of agr
iculture, a second of animal husbandry, and a third of the husbandry of the steading — I fixed on three books, of which I have written two: the first to my wife Fundania, on agriculture, and the second to Turranius Niger, on animal husbandry. The third book, that on the husbandry of the steading, which remains, I am herewith sending to you, thinking that in view of our nearness and our affection it is to you particularly that I should dedicate it. [10] For just as you had a villa noteworthy for its frescoing, inlaid work, and handsome mosaic floors, but thought it was not fine enough until its walls were adorned also by your writings, so I, that it might be farther adorned with fruit, so far as I could make it so, am sending this to you, recalling as I do the conversations which we held on the subject of the complete villa. And in discussing that subject we shall begin as follows.
II.
Comitiis aediliciis cum sole caldo ego et Q. Axius senator tribulis suffragium tulissemus et candidato, cui studebamus, vellemus esse praesto, cum domum rediret, Axius mihi, Dum diribentur, inquit, suffragia, vis potius villae publicae utamur umbra, quam privati candidati tabella dimidiata aedificemus nobis? Opinor, inquam, non solum, quod dicitur, “malum consilium consultori est pessimum”, sed etiam bonum consilium, qui consulit et qui consulitur, bonum habendum. Itaque imus, venimus in villam. Ibi Appium Claudium augurem sedentem invenimus in subselliis, ut consuli, siquid usus poposcisset, esset praesto. Sedebat ad sinistram ei Cornelius Merula consulari familia ortus et Fircellius Pavo Reatinus, ad dextram Minucius Pica et M. Petronius Passer. Ad quem cum accessissemus, Axius Appio subridens, Recipis nos, inquit, in tuum ornithona, ubi sedes inter aves? Ille, Ego vero, inquit, te praesertim, quoius aues hospitales etiam nunc ructor, quas mihi apposuisti paucis ante diebus in Villa Reatina ad lacum Velini eunti de controversiis Interamnatium et Reatinorum. Sed non haec, inquit, villa, quam aedificarunt maiores nostri, frugalior ac melior est quam tua illa perpolita in Reatino? Nuncubi hic vides citrum aut aurum? Num minium aut armenium? Num quod emblema aut lithostrotum? Quae illic omnia contra. Et cum haec sit communis universi populi, illa solius tua; haec quo succedant e campo cives et reliqui homines, illa quo equae et asini; praeterea cum ad rem publicam administrandam haec sit utilis, ubi cohortes ad dilectum consuli adductae considant, ubi arma ostendant, ubi censores censu admittant populum. Tua scilicet, inquit Axius, haec in campo Martio extremo utilis et non deliciis sumptuosior quam omnes omnium universae Reatinae? Tua enim oblita tabulis pictis nec minus signis; at mea, vestigium ubi sit nullum Lysippi aut Antiphili, at crebra sartoris et pastoris. Et cum illa non sit sine fundo magno et eo polito cultura, tua ista neque agrum habeat ullum nec bovem nec equam. Denique quid tua habet simile villae illius, quam tuus avos ac proavos habebat? Nec enim, ut illa, faenisicia vidit arida in tabulato nec vindemiam in cella neque in granario messim. Nam quod extra urbem est aedificium, nihilo magis ideo est villa, quam eorum aedificia, qui habitant extra portam Flumentanam aut in Aemilianis.
[2.1] During the election of aediles, Quintus Axius, the senator, a member of my tribe, and I, after casting our ballots, wished, though the sun was hot, to be on hand to escort the candidate whom we were supporting when he returned home. Axius remarked to me: “While the votes are being sorted, shall we enjoy the shade of the Villa Publica, instead of building us one out of the half-plank of our own candidate?” “Well,” I replied, “I think that the proverb is correct, ‘bad advice is worst for the adviser,’ and also that good advice should be considered good both for the adviser and the advised. [2] So we go our way and come to the Villa. There we find Appius Claudius, the augur, sitting on a bench so that he might be on hand for consultation, if need should arise. There were sitting at his left Cornelius Merula (‘Blackbird’), member of a consular family, and Fircellius Pavo (‘Peacock’), of Reate; and on his right Minucius Pica (‘Magpie’) and Marcus Petronius Passer (‘Sparrow’). When we came up to him, Axius said to Appius, with a smile: “Will you let us come into your aviary, where you are sitting among the birds?” [3] “With pleasure,” he replied, “and especially you; I still ‘bring up’ those hospitable birds which you set before me a few days ago in your villa at Reate, when I was on my way to lake Velinus in the matter of the dispute between the people of Interamna and those of Reate. But,” he added, “isn’t this villa, which our ancestors built, simpler and better than that elaborate villa of yours at Reate? [4] Do you see anywhere here citrus wood or gold, or vermilion or azure, or any coloured or mosaic work? At your place everything is just the opposite. Also, while this villa is common property of the whole population, that one belongs to you alone; this one is for citizens and other people to come to from the Campus, and that one is for mares and asses; and furthermore, this one is serviceable for the transaction of public business — for the cohorts to assemble when summoned by the consul for a levy, for the inspection of arms, for the censors to convoke the people for the census.” [5] “Do you really mean, replied Axius, “that this villa of yours on the edge of the Campus Martius is merely serviceable, and isn’t more lavish in luxuries than all the villas owned by everybody in the whole of Reate? Why, your villa is plastered with paintings, not to speak of statues; while mine, though there is no trace of Lysippus or Antiphilus, has many a trace of the hoer and the shepherd. Further, while that villa is not without its large farm, and one which has been kept clean by tillage, this one of yours has never a field or ox or mare. [6] In short, what has your villa that is like that villa which your grandfather and great-grandfather had? For it has never, as that one did, seen a cured hay harvest in the loft, or a vintage in the cellar, or a grain-harvest in the bins. For the fact that a building is outside the city no more makes it a villa than the same fact makes villas of the houses of those who live outside the Porta Flumentana or in the Aemiliana.”
Appius subridens, Quoniam ego ignoro, inquit, quid sit villa, velim me doceas, ne labar imprudentia, quod volo emere a M. Seio in Ostiensi villam. Quod si ea aedificia villae non sunt, quae asinum tuum, quem mihi quadraginta milibus emptum ostendebas aput te, non habent, metuo ne pro villa emam in litore Seianas aedes. Quod aedificium hic me Lucius Merula impulit ut cuperem habere, cum diceret nullam se accepisse villam, qua magis delectatus esset, cum apud eum dies aliquot fuisset; nec tamen ibi se vidisse tabulam pictam neque signum aheneum aut marmoreum ullum, nihilo magis torcula vasa vindemiatoria aut serias olearias aut trapetas. Axius aspicit Merulam et, Quid igitur, inquit, est ista villa, si nec urbana habet ornamenta neque rustica membra? Quoi ille; Num minus villa tua erit ad angulum Velini, quam neque pictor neque tector vidit umquam, quam in Rosea quae est polita opere tectorio eleganter, quam dominus habes communem cum asino? Cum significasset nutu nihilo minus esse villam eam quae esset simplex rustica, quam eam quae esset utrumque, et ea et urbana, et rogasset, quid ex iis rebus colligeret, Quid? inquit, si propter pastiones tuus fundus in Rosea probandus sit, et quod ibi pascitur pecus ac stabulatur, recte villa appellatur, haec quoque simili de causa debet vocari villa, in qua propter pastiones fructus capiuntur magni. Quid enim refert, utrum propter oves, an propter aves fructus capias? Anne dulcior est fructus apud te ex bubulo pecore, unde apes nascuntur, quam ex apibus, quae ad villam Sei in alvariis opus faciunt? Et num pluris tu e villa illic natos verres lanio vendis, quam hinc apros macellario Seius? Qui minus ego, inquit Axius, istas habere possum in Reatina villa? Nisi si apud Seium Siculum fit mel, Corsicum in Reatino; et hic aprum glans cum pascit empticia, facit pinguem, illic gratuita exilem. Appius: Posse ad te fieri, inquit, Seianas pastiones non negauit Merula; ego non esse ipse vidi. Duo enim genera cum sint pastionum, unum agreste, in quo pecuariae sunt, alterum villaticum, in quo sunt gallinae ac columbae et apes et cetera, quae in villa solent pasci, de quibus et Poenus Mago et Cassius Dionysius et alii quaedam separatim ac dispersim in libris reliquerunt, quae Seius legisse videtur et ideo ex iis pastionibus ex una villa maioris fructus capere, quam alii faciunt ex toto fundo. Certe, inquit Merula; nam ibi vidi greges magnos anserum, gallinarum, columbarum, gruum, pavonum, nec non glirium, piscium, aprorum, ceterae venationis.
Ex quibus rebus scriba librarius, libertus eius, qui apparuit Varroni et me absente patrono hospitio accipiebat, in annos singulos plus quinquagena milia e villa capere dicebat. Axio admiranti, Certe nosti, inquam, materterae meae fundum, in Sabinis qui est ad quartum vicesimum lapidem via Salaria a Roma. Quidni? inquit, ubi aestate diem meridie dividere soleam, cum eo Reate ex urbe aut, cum inde venio hieme, noctu ponere castra. Atque in hac villa qui est ornithon, ex eo uno quinque milia scio venisse turdorum denariis ternis, ut sexaginta milia ea pars reddiderit eo anno villae, bis tantum quam tuus fundus ducentum iugerum Reate reddit. Quid? sexaginta, inquit Axius, sexaginta, sexaginta? derides. Sexaginta, inquam. Sed ad hunc bolum ut pervenias, opus erit tibi aut epulum aut triumphus alicuius, ut tunc fuit Scipionis Metelli, aut collegiorum cenae, quae nunc innumerabiles excandefaciunt annonam macelli. Reliquis annis omnibus si non hanc expectabis summam, spero, non tibi decoquet ornithon; neque hoc accidit his moribus nisi raro ut decipiaris. Quotus quisque enim est annus, quo non videas epulum aut triumphum aut collegia non epulari? Sed propter luxuriam, inquit, quodam modo epulum cotidianum est intra ianuas Romae. Nonne item L. Abucius, homo, ut scitis, apprime doctus, cuius Luciliano charactere sunt libelli, dicebat in Albano fundum suum pastionibus semper vinci a villa? Agrum enim minus decem milia reddere, villam plus vicena. Idem secundum mare, quo loco vellet, si parasset villam, se supra centum milia e villa recepturum. Age, non M. Cato nuper, cum Luculli accepit tutelam, e piscinis eius quadraginta milibus sestertiis vendidit piscis? Axius, Merula mi, inquit, recipe me quaeso discipulum villaticae pastionis. Ille: Quin simul ac promiseris minerval, incipiam, inquit. Ego vero non recuso, vel hodie vel ex ista pastione crebro. Appius: Credo simul ac primum ex isto villatico pecore mortui erunt anseres aut pavones. Cui ille: Quid enim interest, utrum morticinas editis volucres an pisces, quos nisi mortuos estis numquam? Sed oro te, inquit, induce me in viam disciplinae villaticae pastionis ac vim formamque eius expone.
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 109
