I] AIM AND SCOPE OF AGRICULTURE 13 



cullus's, but store-houses stocked with fruit. There 

 is a picture of our friend's orchard, said I, at the 

 top of the Sacra Via/ where fruit is being sold for 

 gold. 



11 Meanwhile, the two of whom I was speaking 

 join us. We have not come too late for the 

 dinner, have we? said Stolo, for I don't see 

 L. Fundilius, who invited us to it. Don't be 

 uneasy, said Agrius, for the Qgg^ which marks 

 the last course in the four-horse chariot-races at the 

 games of the Circus has not yet been removed; we 

 have not even seen the egg which usually begins 



12 the solemn function of dinner.^ And so, until we 

 can see the latter together, and while the Aeditumus 

 is on his way, tell us what is the chief end of farm- 

 ing — utility, or pleasure, or both; for they tell me 



' Summa Sacra Via. The end of the first stage of the Sacra 

 Via, which went from the Sacellum Strenlae (where the 

 Colosseum now stands) to the Velia. There, where is now 

 the Arch of Titus, it was called Summa Sacra Via. From 

 here the Sacra Via proceeded by the Arch of Fabius, the 

 temple of Castor, and the Basilica lulia to the Capitol. 



* Ovum illud. An allusion to the egg-shaped objects (usually 

 seven) on the spina (a low wall which passed down the middle 

 of the course) of the circus which served to indicate to the 

 spectators how many heats remained to be run. As each heat 

 was concluded one of these " eggs " was removed. 



' Cenali pompa. A Roman dinner usually began with eggs, 

 salad, etc. Compare Horace's phrase ah ovo usque ad viala — 

 " from hors d'cBuvres to dessert." Martial (Epig., x, 31,4) calls 

 a mullet cenae pompa : 



Nee bene cenasti: mullus tibi quattuor emptus 

 Librarum cenae pompa caputque fuit. 



