Chap. 7.] aubangemeitts foe a rAEii-HousE. 13 



fond of selling. The same, too, with his remark, that in his 

 youth a landowner should begin to plant without delay, but 

 that he ought not k) build until the land is fully brought into 

 cultivation, and then only a little at a time : and that the best 

 plan is, as the common proverb has it, " To profit by the folly 

 of others ;*' ^ taking due care, however, that the keeping up of 

 a farm-house does not entail too much expense. Still, how- 

 ever, those persons are guilty of no falsehood who are in the 

 habit of saying that a proprietor who is well housed comes all 

 the oftener to his fields, and that " the master's forehead is 

 Df more use than his back."^ 



:HAP. 7. (6.) THE PEOPER AEEANGEMENTS FOR A FAEM-HOUSE. 



^he proper plan to be pursued is this :^'' the farm-house must 

 aot be unsuitable for the farm, nor the farm for the house ; and 

 we must be on our guard against following the examples of L. 

 LucuUus and Q. Scsevola, who, though living in the same age, 

 fell into the two opposite extremes ; for whereas the farm-house 

 Df Scaevola was not large enough for the produce of his farm, 

 the farm of Lucullus was not sufficiently large for the house he 

 Duilt upon it ; an error which gave occasion to the reproof of 

 the censors, that on his farm there was less of ground for 

 ploughing than of floor for sweeping. The proper arrange- 

 uents for a farm-house are not to be made without a certain 

 iegree of skill. C. Marius, who was seven times consul, was 

 :he last person who had one built at Misenum;*^ but he erected 

 t with such a degree of that artistic skill which he had dis- 

 )layed in castrametation, that Sylla Felix^ even made the 

 emark, that in comparison with Marius, all the others had 

 jeen no better than blind. ^ 



It is generally agreed, that a farm-house ought neither to 

 36 built near a marsh, nor with a river in front of it ; for, as 



5^ " Aliena insania ftnii." We have a saying to a similar effect : " Fools 

 ^uild houses, and wise men buy them." 



^ '* Frons domini plus prodest quam occipitiura." See Cato, De Re 

 Rust. c. 4 ; also Phaedrus, B. iv. Fab. 19. 



='' Cato, c. 3. Varro and Columella give the same advice. 



58 See B. iii. c. 9. 



^^ Sylla the Fortunate, the implacable enemy of Marius. 



^" Because, though the last comer, he had obtained the best site in the 

 ocality. 



