7 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. 8 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. 9 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 Rosia quae est polita opere tectorio eleganter, quam dominus habes communem cum asino? 10 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 Rosia 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. 11 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? 12 Qui minus ego, inquit Axius, istas habere possum in Reatina villa? Nisi si apud Seium Siculum fit mel, Corsicum in Reatino; et hic aprum glas cum pascit empticia, facit pinguem, illic gratuita exilem. Appius: Posse ad te fieri, inquit, Seianas pastiones non negavit Merula; ego non esse ipse vidi. 13 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. 14 Certe, inquit Merula; nam ibi vidi greges magnos anserum, gallinarum, columbarum, gruum, pavonum, p436 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.

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." Translation: W. D. Hooper - H. B. Ash.

2 Ad admissuram haec minores bimae non idoneae nec iam maiores natu. 3 Pascuntur omne genus obiecto frumento, maxime hordeo. Itaque Seius iis dat in menses singulos hordei singulos modios, ita ut in fetura det uberius, antequam salire incipiant. In​ has a procuratore ternos pullos exigit eosque, cum creverunt, quinquagenis denariis vendit, ut nulla avis hunc assequatur fructum. 4 Praeterea ova emit ac supponit gallinis, ex quibus excusos pullos refert in testudinem eam, in qua pavones habet. Quod tectum pro multitudine pavonum fieri debet et habere cubilia discreta, tectorio levata, quo neque serpens neque bestia accedere ulla possit; 5 praeterea habere locum ante se, quo pastum exeant diebus apricis. Utrumque locum purum esse volunt hae volucres. Itaque pastorem earum cum vatillo circumire oportet ac stercus tollere ac conservare, quod et ad agri culturam idoneum est et ad substramen pullorum.

2 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. Translation: W. D. Hooper - H. B. Ash.