124 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



house, for from this latter also considerable profits 

 can be made. I mean from poultry-yards, hare- 

 6 warrens, and fish-ponds. And seeing that I have 

 written a book on the first of these, ^ namely, agri- 

 culture, for the benefit of my wife Fundania who 

 has bought a farm, I write this short treatise on 

 the essentials of cattle raising for you, my friend 

 Turranius Niger,^ since you take so keen a delight 

 in cattle, if one may judge from the frequency with 

 which your feet bear you, on cattle-buying bent, to 

 the market at Campi Macri, with the object of thus 

 helping to provide for expenses which make many 

 demands on your purse. This I shall be able to do 

 without difficulty, having myself kept large flocks 

 of sheep in Apulia, and of horses in the country 

 about Reate. What I write will be drawn from 

 conversations that I had with the owners of large 

 flocks in Epirus, when I was in command of the 



^ E quis quoniam. The whole three books were written for 

 Fundania (cf. i, i, 4), so that it is curious that this book is 

 dedicated to Turranius Niger, and the third to Q. Pinnius (iii, 

 I, 10). It may be that the first book was published some time 

 before the others, and that Varro forgot when he dedicated the 

 latter to the two men mentioned that he had already promised 

 the three to his wife. Nonius Marcellus quotes forty-two pass- 

 ages from the first book, none from the second or third. 



2 Turranius Niger. Nothing is known of him. Cicero 

 mentions a D. Turranius (Ad Att., i, 6) whom he calls hom- 

 inem xpr\(STo\iaBr\. 



The name Turranius (spelt also Turannius) seems connected 

 with taurus [turn = taurus in Umbrian), and cattle are the 

 subject of this book. 



