XXX INTRODUCTION 



the fleets between Delos and Sicily during the wars 

 of the pirates (67-66 B.C.). That the supposed occa- 

 sion was the Parilia (20th April) I hope I have 

 established conclusively in the note to ch. viii, § i. 

 But the place is not certain. In the note to 5, i, 

 I suggested Sicily and proposed '* Palicis," as an 

 alternative to Keil's emendation *'Laribus," for 

 the ^'Palibus," of the archetype {dum asses solvo 

 Palihus ^ si postea a me repetant ut testimonium per- 

 hibere possis). I now think that it was somewhere 

 in Epirus, for Varro (Introduction, § 6) says that 

 he is giving the substance of conversations which 

 he had had with people who possessed large cattle 

 farms in Epiro^ and Epirus was celebrated for its 

 cattle. 



The conversations of the third book took place, 

 as is said above, at the Villa Publica in the Campus 

 during the election of aediles in 54 B.C. 



The sources consulted by Varro are many. In the 

 introduction to book i he recommends to his wife 

 as a reference library the works of fifty Greek 

 authors! The authorities mostly used by him for 



^ For the impossible "Palibus" of the archetype I would 

 suggest Pali bis, with repetat instead of repetant, when the 

 translation would run "Come along, Murrius, and support 

 me with your presence while I pay my pence to Pales, so that 

 if she (or he) tries to make me pay them twice over (his) you 

 can give evidence." 



