[3.1] Merula began without hesitation: “In the first place, the owner ought to have so clear an idea of those creatures which can be reared or fed in the villa and around it that they may afford him both profit and pleasure. There are three divisions of this science: the aviary, the hare-warren, and the fish-pond. Under the head of aviary I include enclosures for all fowls which are usually reared within the walls of the villa. [2] Under the head of hare-warrens I wish you to understand, not those which our forefathers called by that name — places where there are only hares — but all enclosures which are attached to the villa and keep animals enclosed for feeding. Similarly, by the term fish-pond I mean ponds which keep fish enclosed near the villa, either in fresh or salt water. [3] Each of these divisions may be subdivided into at least two: thus, under the first head, those which are not content with the land only, but need water also, as geese, teal, and ducks. In the same way the second head — that of game — contains its two diverse classes, one under which come the boar, the roe, and the hare, and the second, those which are also outside the villa, such as bees, snails, and dormice. [4] There are likewise two divisions of the third class, the aquatic, inasmuch as fish are kept sometimes in fresh water, sometimes in sea-water. For the three classes formed of these six subdivisions must be secured three classes of craftsmen — fowlers, hunters, fishers — or else you must purchase from these those creatures which you are to preserve by the activity of your own servants during the period of gestation and up to the time of birth, and when they are born to rear and fatten so that they may reach the market. And there are, moreover, certain other creatures which are to be brought into the villa without the use of net by fowler or hunter or fisher, such as dormice, snails, and chickens. [5] The rearing of the last named, chickens, was the first to be attempted within the villa; for not only did Roman soothsayers raise chickens first for their auspices, but also the heads of families in the country. Next came the animals which are kept in an enclosure near the villa for hunting, and hard by it the bee-hives; for from the first bees took advantage of the roof of the villa under the eaves. Thirdly there began to be built fresh-water ponds, to which were carried fish which had been caught from the streams. [6] Each of these three classes has two stages: the earlier, which the frugality of the ancients observed, and the later, which modern luxury has now added. For instance, first came the ancient stage of our ancestors, in which there were simply two aviaries: the barn-yard on the ground in which the hens fed — and their returns were eggs and chickens — and the other above ground, in which were the pigeons, either in cotes or on the roof of the villa. [7] On the other hand, in these days, the aviaries have changed their name and have become ornithones; and those which the dainty palate of the owner has constructed have larger buildings for the sheltering of fieldfares and peafowl than whole villas used to have in those days. [8] So too in the second division, the warren, your father, Axius, never saw any better game from his hunting than a paltry hare. For in his day there was no great preserve, whereas nowadays people enclose many acres within walls, so as to keep numbers of wild boars and roes. When you bought your place near Tusculum from Marcus Piso,” he added, turning to me, “were there not many wild boars in the ‘hare-warren?’ [9] In the third division, who had a fish-pond, except a fresh-water pond, or kept any fish in it except squali or mugiles? On the other hand what young fop in these days will not tell you that he would as soon have his pond full of frogs as of such fish as these? You remember that Philippus once, when he had turned aside to visit his friend Ummidius at Casinum, was served with a fine pike from your river; he tasted it, spat it out, and exclaimed: ‘I’ll be hanged if I didn’t think it was fish!’ [10] So our generation, with the same extravagance with which it extended the boundaries of its warrens, has thrust its fish-ponds to the sea, and has brought into them whole schools of deep-sea fish. Was it not from these that Sergius Orata (‘Goldfish’) and Licinius Murena (‘Lamprey’) got their names? And, indeed, who does not know, on account of their fame, the fish-ponds of Philippus, Hortensius, and the Luculli? So, then, where do you wish me to begin, Axius?”
[4.1] “Personally,” he replied, “if I may use a military figure, I should like you to begin post principia, that is, with the present rather than the former times, as larger returns are had from peafowl than from chickens. And what is more, I will make no secret of the fact that I want to hear first about the ornithon, because those fieldfares have made the word mean ‘gain’; for those sixty thousand sesterces of Fircellia have set me on fire with greed.”
[2] “There are,” resumed Merula, “two kinds of ornithon; one merely for pleasure, such as our friend Varro has built near Casinum, which has found many admirers, and the other for profit. Of the latter class are the enclosures which those who supply fowl for the market keep, some in the city, others in the country; especially the leased enclosures in the Sabine district, as, because of the nature of the country, large flocks of fieldfares are found there. [3] Lucullus claimed that the aviary which he built on his place near Tusculum, formed by a combination of these two, constituted a third class. Under the same roof he had an aviary and a dining-room, where he could dine luxuriously, and see some birds lying cooked on the dish and others fluttering around the windows of their prison. But they found it unserviceable; for in it the birds fluttering around the windows do not give pleasure to the eyes to the same extent that the disagreeable odour which fills the nostrils gives offence.
[5.1] “I shall, however, as I suppose you prefer, Axius, discuss the aviary which is built for profit — the place from which fat fieldfares are taken, and not the place where they are taken. Well, there is built a large domed building, or a peristyle covered with tiles or netting, in which several thousand fieldfares and blackbirds can be enclosed; [2] though some breeders add besides other birds which, when fattened, bring a high price, such as ortolans and quails. Into this building water should be conducted through a pipe and allowed to spread preferably through narrow channels which can easily be cleaned (for if the water spreads there in pools, it more easily becomes foul and is not good for drinking), and the superfluous drip-water from these should run out through a pipe, so that the birds may not be troubled by mud. [3] It should have a low, narrow door, and preferably of the kind which they call coclia, such as usually are seen in the pit where bullfights are held. The windows should be few, and so arranged that trees and birds outside cannot be seen; for the sight of these, and the longing for them, makes the imprisoned birds grow thin. It should have only enough openings for light to enable the birds to see where to perch, and where the food and water is. It should be faced around the doors and windows with smooth plaster, so that no mice or other vermin can enter anywhere. [4] Around the walls of this building on the inside there should be a number of poles for the birds to perch on; and, in addition, rods sloping from ground to wall, with transverse rods fastened to them in steps at moderate intervals, after the fashion of the balustrades of the theatre or the arena. At the bottom, on the ground, there should be water for them to drink, and here should be placed cakes for their food. These are usually made by kneading a mixture of figs and spelt. Twenty days before the breeder desires to remove fieldfares, he feeds them more liberally, giving larger quantities and beginning to feed them on spelt ground finer. In this building there should be recesses, equipped with several shelves, as a supplement to the perches; [5] it is here, facing the perches, that the caretaker usually keeps on hand the birds which have died in the place, so as to render account to his master. When it become necessary to remove from this aviary birds which are fit for market, they should be taken out and put into a smaller aviary, called the seclusorium (coop), which is connected by a door with the larger aviary and better lighted. When he has the number which he desires to take shut up here, he kills them all. [6] The reason for doing this privately in a separate room is to prevent the others, if they should see it, from moping and dying at a time which would be inopportune for the seller. Fieldfares d
o not rear their young here and there as do the other migratory birds, storks in the field, swallows under the roof [and though their name (turdi) is masculine, there are in fact females too; nor is the case otherwise as regards blackbirds (merulae) — though they have a feminine name, there are also males]. [7] Again, birds being partly migratory, as swallows and cranes, and partly indigenous, as hens and doves, fieldfares belong to the former class, the migratory, and fly yearly across the sea into Italy about the time of the autumnal equinox, and back again whence they came about the spring equinox, as do turtle-doves and quail at another season in vast numbers. The proof of this is seen in the near-by islands of Pontiae, Palmaria, and Pandateria; for when they arrive in these at the first migration, they remain there for a few days to rest, and do the same when they leave Italy for their return across the sea.
[8] “If you put 5,000 birds into this aviary,” said Appius to Axius, “and there comes a banquet and a triumph, you may at once put at high interest that 60,000 sesterces which you want.” Then, turning to me, he said: “Do you now describe that other kind of aviary which I am told you built for your amusement near Casinum, in the construction of which you are reputed to have far surpassed not only the archetype left by its inventor, our friend Marcus Laenius Strabo, our host at Brundisium, who was the first to keep birds penned up in a recess in his peristyle, feeding them through a net covering, but also Lucullus’ huge buildings on his place at Tusculum.” [9] I replied: “I own, near the town of Casinum, a stream which runs through my villa, clear and deep, with a stone facing, 57 feet wide, and requiring bridges for passage from one side of the villa to the other; it is 950 feet in a straight line from the island in the lowest part of the stream, where another stream runs into it, to the upper part of the stream, where the Museum is situated. [10] Along the banks of this stream there runs an uncovered walk 10 feet broad; off this walk and facing the open country is the place in which the aviary stands, shut in on two sides, right and left, by high walls. Between these lies the site of the aviary, shaped in the form of a writing-tablet with a top-piece, the quadrangular part being 48 feet in width and 72 feet in length, while at the rounded top-piece it is 27 feet. [11] Facing this, as it were a space marked off on the lower margin of the tablet, is an uncovered walk with a plumula extending from the aviary, in the middle of which are cages; and here is the entrance to the courtyard. At the entrance, on the right side and the left, are colonnades, arranged with stone columns in the outside rows and, instead of columns in the middle, with dwarf trees; while from the top of the wall to the archway the colonnade is covered with a net of hemp, which also continues from the archway to the base. These colonnades are filled with all manner of birds, to which food is supplied through the netting, while water flows to them in a tiny rivulet. [12] Along the inner side of the base of the columns, on the right side and on the left, and extending from the middle to the upper end of the open quadrangle, are two oblong fish-basins, not very wide, facing the colonnades. Between these basins is merely a path giving access to the tholos, which is a round domed building outside the quadrangle, faced with columns, such as is seen in the hall of Catulus, if you put columns instead of walls. Outside these columns is a wood planted by hand with large trees, so that the light enters only at the lower part, and the whole is enclosed with high walls. [13] Between the outer columns of the rotunda, which are of stone, and the equal number of slender inner columns, which are of fir, is a space five feet wide. Between the exterior columns, instead of a wall there is a netting of gut, so that there is a view into the wood and the objects in it, while not a bird can get out into it. In the spaces between the interior columns the aviary is enclosed with a net instead of a wall. Between these and the exterior columns there is built up step by step a sort of little bird-theatre, with brackets fastened at frequent intervals to all the columns as bird-seats. [14] Within the nettings are all manner of birds, chiefly songsters, such as nightingales and blackbirds, to which water is supplied by means of a small trench, while food is passed to them under the netting. Below the base of the columns is stone-work rising a foot and nine inches above the platform; the platform itself rises about two feet above a pond, and is about five feet wide, so that the guests can walk in among the benches and the small columns. At the foot of the platform inside, is the pond, with a border a foot wide, and a little island in the middle. Along the platform also docks have been hollowed out as shelters for ducks. [15] On the island is a small column, and on the inside of it is a post, which holds up, instead of a table, a wheel with spokes, in such fashion that on the outer rim, where the felloe usually stands, there is a curved board with raised edges like a tambourine, two and a half feet in width and a palm in height. This is revolved by a single manservant in such a way that everything to drink and eat is placed on it at once and moved around to all the guests. [16] From the side of the platform, on which there are usually coverlets, the ducks come out into the pond and swim about; from this pond a stream runs into the two fish-basins which I have described, and the minnows dart back and forth, while it is so arranged that cold and warm water flows for each guest from the wooden wheel and the table which, as I have said is at the ends of the spokes, by the turning of cocks. [17] Inside, under the dome of the rotunda, the morning-star by day and the evening-star at night circle around near the lower part of the hemisphere, and move in such a manner as to show what the hour is. In the middle of the same hemisphere, running around the axis, is a compass of the eight winds, as in the horologium at Athens, which was built by the Cyrrestrian; and there a pointer, projecting from the axis, runs about the compass in such a way that it touches the wind which is blowing, so that you can tell on the inside which it is.”
[18] While we were thus conversing, a shouting arose in the Campus. We old hands at politics were not surprised at this occurrence, as we knew how excited an election crowd could become, but still we wanted to know what it meant; thereupon Pantuleius Parra comes to us, and tells us that a man had been caught, while they were sorting the ballots in the office, in the act of casting ballots into the ballot-box; and that he had been dragged off to the consul by the supporters of the other candidates. Pavo arose, as it was the watcher for his candidate who was reported to have been arrested.
[6.1] “You may speak freely about peafowl,” said Axius, “since Fircellius has gone; if you should say anything out of the way about them, he would perhaps have a bone to pick with you for the credit of the family.” To whom Merula said: “As to pea-fowl, it is within our memory that flocks of them began to be kept and sold at a high price. From them Marcus Aufidius Lurco is said to receive an income of more than 60,000 sesterces a year. There should be somewhat fewer males than females if you have an eye to the financial returns; but the opposite if you look at the pleasure, for the male is handsomer. [2] They should be pastured in flocks in the fields. Across the water they are said to be reared in the islands — on Samos, in the grove of Juno, and likewise in Marcus Piso’s island of Planasia. For the forming of a flock they are to be secured when they are young and of good appearance; for nature has awarded the palm of beauty to this fowl over all winged things. The hens are not suited for breeding under two years, and are no longer suited when they get rather old. [3] They eat any kind of grain placed before them, and especially barley; so Seius issues a modius of barley a month per head, with the exception that he feeds more freely during the breeding season, before they begin to tread. He requires of his breeder three chicks for each hen, and these, when they are grown, he sells for fifty denarii each, so that no other fowl brings in so high a revenue. [4] He buys eggs, too, and places them under hens, and the chicks which are hatched from these he places in that domed building in which he keeps his peafowl. This building should be made of a size proportioned to the number of peafowl, and should have separate sleeping quarters, coated with smooth plaster, so that no serpent or animal can get in; [5] it should also have an open place in front of it, to which they may go out to feed on sunny days.
These birds require that both places be clean; and so their keeper should go around with a shovel and pick up the droppings and keep them, as they are useful for fertilizer and as litter for chicks. [6] It is said that Quintus Hortensius was the first to serve these fowl; it was on the occasion of his inauguration as aedile, and the innovation was praised at that time rather by the luxurious than by those who were strict and virtuous. As his example was quickly followed by many, the price has risen to such a point that the eggs sell for five denarii each, the birds themselves sell readily for 50 each, and a flock of 100 easily brings 40,000 sesterces — in fact, Abuccius used to say that if one required three chicks to every hen, the total might amount to 60,000.
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 13