INTRODUCTION xxv 



sheep, etc. ; it is accordingly dedicated to Turranius 

 Niger — tunc being Umbrian for taurus — and the 

 speakers are Vaccius {vacca = Q,ow), whose subject 

 is cattle, Atticus who treats of sheep (the Attic 

 sheep was a celebrated kind), while Scrofa (sow) 

 discusses pigs. The place is possibly Epirus, where 

 the best cattle were bred, and the time the Palilia, 

 the great shepherd festival and the birthday of 

 Rome, which was founded by shepherds. 



The third book is concerned with what the 

 Romans called villatica pastiOy the feeding about 

 the villa of such stock as fieldfares, blackbirds, hens, 

 peacocks, guinea-fowls, hares, snails, dormice, fish, 

 and bees ; so it is dedicated to Quintus Pinnius {pinna 

 = wing-feather), and Merula (blackbird) discourses 

 on fieldfares and blackbirds, Appius (connected by 

 Varro with apis) on bees. Other names occurring 

 in the book are Fircellius Pavo (peacock), Minucius 

 Pica (jay), and Petronius Passer (sparrow). One 

 is tempted to believe also that the harsh style, as 

 well as a rustic vocabulary — with words like tabani 

 and diminutives such as satulli^ etc., was de- 

 liberately assumed in order to be in keeping with 

 the subject, and that Varro wished to represent in 

 a realistic fashion the ordinary speech of the Roman 

 gentleman-farmer. Unfortunately for this hypo- 

 thesis we find the same crudeness, confusion, and 



I 



