[11] “As we have completed what we promised,” he said, “let us leave.” “Yes,” said I, “but not until you have added, as was promised, something about supplementary profit from the flock, including under it the milk and the shearing.” (Cossinius continues) “Of all the liquids which we take for sustenance, milk is the most nourishing — first sheep’s milk, and next goat’s milk. Mare’s milk, however, has the greatest purgative effect, secondly ass’s milk, then cow’s milk, and lastly goat’s milk. [2] But there are certain differences among these which arise from a difference of pasturage, a difference in the nature of the animal, and a difference in the milking. As affected by pasturage, milk is best for nourishment which comes from animals fed on barley and straw, and, in general, on solid dry food; while that from animals fed on green food is best for purging, and especially if the green food such as purges us when we eat it ourselves. As affected by the nature of the animal, milk from healthy animals and those not yet old is better than if it is the reverse. As affected by milking and birth, the best milk is that which has not been kept too long after milking and which has not been milked immediately after parturition. [3] Of the cheeses which are made from this milk, those made of cow’s milk have the most nutriment, but when eaten are discharged with most difficulty; next come those made of sheep’s milk, while those made of goat’s milk have the least nutriment and are most easily voided. There is also a difference depending on whether the cheeses are soft and fresh or dry and old, as the soft cheeses are more nutritious and less constipating, while the old, dry cheeses are just the opposite. [4] The period for making cheese extends from the rising of the Pleiades in spring until the Pleiades in summer. In spring the milk for cheese making is drawn in the morning, while at other seasons the milking takes place toward midday; but the practice is not entirely uniform because of differences in locality and food. To two congii of milk is added a bit of rennet the size of an olive, to make it coagulate; this is better when made from a hare or a kid than when made from a lamb. Others use, instead of rennet, the milk from the stem of a fig, and vinegar; they also curdle with various other substances — a thing which, in Greek, is sometimes called ὀπός, and sometimes δάκρυον.” [5] “I should not be surprised,” I remarked, “if that is the reason that a fig tree was planted by shepherds near the shrine of the goddess Rumina; you know at that place sacrifice is offered with milk instead of with wine and sucklings. For people used to call the udder rumis, and even to-day we have lambs called subrumi from this word, just as they are called lactantes (sucklings) from lac (milk). Those who sprinkle salt prefer mineral salt to sea salt.
[6] “As to the shearing of sheep, I first am careful to see, before beginning it, whether the sheep have the scab or sores, so that they may be treated if necessary before being sheared. The proper time for shearing is the period from the spring equinox to the solstice, after the sheep have begun to sweat; it is because of this sweat (sudor) that freshly shorn wool is called ‘juicy’ (sucida). [7] Freshly clipped sheep are rubbed down on the same day with wine and oil, to which some add a mixture of white chalk and hog lard; and if they have been accustomed to wear a jacket, the skin with which they were covered is greased on the inside with the same mixture and placed on them again. If a sheep has been cut during the shearing, the wound is smeared with soft pitch. Sheep with coarse fleece are shorn about the time of the barley harvest, or at other places before the cutting of the hay. [8] Some shear their sheep twice a year, as is done in Hither Spain, shearing every six months. They undergo the double work on the supposition that more wool is secured by this method — which is the same motive that leads some to mow their meadows twice a year. The more careful farmers spread out cloths and shear the sheep over them to prevent loss of the wool. [9] Calm days are chosen for this work, and on these the shearing is done from about the fourth to the ninth hour. The fleece from a sheep that is clipped when the sun is rather warm is rendered softer by the sweat, as well as heavier and of better colour. When the fleece has been removed and rolled up it is called by some vellus, by others vellimnum; and it may be seen from these words that in the case of wool, plucking was discovered earlier than shearing. Some people pluck the wool even to-day; and these keep the sheep without food for three days before, as the roots of the wool hold less tightly when the sheep are weak.”
[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
[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.”
[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 agriculture, a second of animal husbandry, and a third of the husbandry of the steading — I fixed on three books, of which I have written two: the first to my wife Fundania, on agriculture, and the second to Turranius Niger, on animal husbandry. The third book, that on the husbandry of the steading, which remains, I am herewith sending to you, thinking that in view of our nearness and our affection it is to you particularly that I should dedicate it. [10] For just as you had a villa noteworthy for its frescoing, inlaid work, and handsome mosaic floors, but thought it was not fine enough until its walls were adorned also by your writings, so I, that it might be farther adorned with fruit, so far as I could make it so, am sending this to you, recalling as I do the conversations which we held on the subject of the complete villa. And in discussing that subject we shall begin as follows.
[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.”
[7] To which Appius replied, with a smile: “As I don’t know what a villa is, I should like you to enlighten me, so that I shall not go wrong from lack of foresight; since I want to buy a villa from Marcus Seius near Ostia. For if buildings are not villas unless they contain the ass which you showed me at your place, for which you paid 40,000 sesterces, I’m afraid I shall be buying a ‘Seian’ house instead of a seaside villa. [8] My friend here, Lucius Merula, made me eager to own this house when he told me, after spending several days with Seius, that he had never been entertained in a villa which he liked more; and this in spite of the fact that he saw there no picture or statue of bronze or marble, nor, on the other hand, apparatus for pressing wine, jars for olive oil, or mills.” [9] Axius turned to Merula and asked: “How can that be a villa, if it has neither the furnishings of the city nor the appurtenances of the country?” “Why,” he replied, “you don’t think that place of yours on the bend of the Velinus, which never a painter or fresco-worker has seen, is less a villa than the one in the Rosea which is adorned with all the art of the stucco-worker, and of which you and your ass are joint owners?” [10] When Axius had indicated by a nod that a building which was for farm use only was as much a villa as one that served both purposes, that of farm-house and city residence, and asked what inference he drew from that admission. “Why,” he replied, “if your place in the Rosea is to be commended for its pasturage, and is rightly called a villa because cattle are fed and stabled there, for a like reason that also should have the name in which a large revenue is derived from pasturing. [11] For if you get a revenue from flocks, what does it matter whether they are flocks of sheep or of birds? Why, is the revenue sweeter on your place from oxen which give birth to bees than it is from the bees which are busy at their task in the hives of Seius’s villa? And do you get more from the butcher for boars born on your place there than Seius does from the market-man for the wild boars from his place?” [12] “Well,” replied Axius, “what is there to prevent me from keeping these at my villa at Reate? You don’t think that honey is Sicilian if it is produced on Seius’s place, and Corsican if it is produced at Reate? And that if mast which has to be bought feeds a boar on his place it makes him fat, while that which is had for nothing on my place makes him thin?” Whereupon Appius remarked: “Merula did not say that you could not have husbandry like Seius’s on your place; but I have, with my own eyes, seen that you have not. [13] For there are two kinds of pasturing: one in the fields, which includes cattle-raising, and the other around the farmstead, which includes chickens, pigeons, bees, and the like, which usually feed in the steading; the Carthaginian Mago, Cassius Dionysius, and other writers have left in their books remarks on them, but scattered and unsystematic. These Seius seems to have read, and as a result he gets more revenue from such pasturing out of one villa than others receive from a whole farm.” [14] “You are quite right,” said Merula; “I have seen there large flocks of geese, chickens, pigeons, cranes, and peafowl, not to speak of numbers of dormice, fish, boars, and other game. His book-keeper, a freedman who waited on Varro and used to entertain me when his
patron was away from home, told me that he received, because of such husbandry, more than 50,000 sesterces from the villa every year.” When Axius expressed his surprise, I remarked to him: “Doubtless you know my maternal aunt’s place in the Sabine country, at the twenty-fourth milestone from Rome on the Via Salaria?” [15] “Of course,” he replied; “it is my custom to break the journey there at noon in summer, when I am on my way to Reate from the city, and to camp there at night in winter when I am on my way from there to town.” “Well, from the aviary alone which is in that villa, I happen to know that there were sold 5,000 fieldfares, for three denarii apiece, so that that department of the villa in that year brought in sixty thousand sesterces — twice as much as your farm of 200 iugera at Reate brings in.” “What? Sixty?” exclaimed Axius, “Sixty? Sixty? You are joking!” [16] “Sixty,” I repeated. “But to reach such a haul as that you will need a public banquet or somebody’s triumph, such as that of Metellus Scipio at that time, or the club dinners which are now so countless that they make the price of provisions go soaring. If you can’t look for this sum in all other years, your aviary, I hope, will not go bankrupt on you; and if fashions continue as they now are, it will happen only rarely that you miss your reckoning. For how rarely is there a year in which you do not see a banquet or a triumph, or when the clubs do not feast?” “Why,” said he, “in this time of luxury it may fairly be said that there is a banquet every day within the gates of Rome. [17] Was it not Lucius Abuccius, who is, as you know, an unusually learned man (his writings are quite in the manner of Lucilius), who used to remark likewise that his estate near Alba was always beaten in feeding by his steading? for his land brought in less than 10,000, and his steading more than 20,000 sesterces. He also claimed that if he had got a villa near the sea, where he wanted one, he would take in more than 100,000 from the villa. Come, did not Marcus Cato, when he took over the guardianship of Lucullus recently, sell the fish from his ponds for 40,000 sesterces?” [18] “My dear Merula,” said Axius, “take me, I beg, as your pupil in this villa-feeding.” “Certainly,” he replied; “I will begin as soon as you promise the minerval.” “That is satisfactory to me; you may have it to-day, or I’ll pay it time and again from that feeding.” “Humph,” replied Appius, “the first time some geese or peacocks out of your flock die!” “Well,” retorted Axius, “what does it matter if you eat fowls or fish that have died, seeing that you never eat them unless they are dead? But, I pray you,” said he, “lead me into the way of the science of villa-husbandry, and set forth its scope and method.”
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 12