I] THE SITE OF THE FARM HOUSE 39 



ace the healthiest winds which blow in the district. 

 The farmhouse which faces the equinoctial East 

 has the best aspect, for it has shade in summer, and 

 in winter gets sunshine. If you should be obliged 

 to build close to a river, you must be careful not to 

 build your farmhouse to face it, for in winter it will 

 become exceedingly cold, and in summer unwhole- 



2 some. Note also if there be any swampy ground, 

 both for the reasons given above, and because certain 

 minute animals, invisible to the eye, breed there, 

 and, borne by the air, reach the inside of the body 

 by way of the mouth and nose, and cause diseases 

 which are difficult to be rid of.^ Said Fundanius:^ 

 What shall I do to escape malaria, if I am left an 

 estate of such a kind? Why, said Agrius, even 

 I can answer that question. You must sell it for 

 as many pence as you can get, or if you can't sell 

 it you must quit it. 



3 Scrofa went on: You must not allow your 

 farmhouse to face a quarter from which an un- 

 wholesome wind commonly blows, nor must you 

 place it in a basin surrounded by hills, but its 

 situation should rather be lofty than low. Such a 

 place being wind-swept, if any evil thing should be 



* Difficilis morhos. Columella, i, 5, 6, speaks of marshes 

 breeding infestis aculeis armata animalia^ i.e., mosquitoes. 

 Schneider's comment on this passage is amusing. "Am, I to 

 believe that Varro attributed lingering diseases to these small 

 gnats? Never did any doctor ancient or modern make such 

 an assertion." Varro, however, though he may appear to 

 speak of malarial microbes, does not connect them with 

 •* small gnats " as their carrier. 



