244 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



either rented or bought. The former kind, the 

 rearing of animals in the farm buildings, was con- 

 sidered by some, owing to its humble nature, as a 

 mere adjunct to agriculture, though in reality it 

 was a kind of stock-raising, and it has not, so far as 

 I know, been fully set forth as a distinct branch of 



9 farming by any one. So, as I considered farming 

 conducted for profit as having three chief divisions: 

 namely (i) the cultivation of the soil; (2) the rear- 

 ing of cattle ; and (3) the raising of animals within 

 the farm-buildings, I made up my mind to make 

 three books. Of these I have written two, the first 

 addressed to my wife Fundania on agriculture; the 

 second on cattle-farming, to Turranius Niger; the 

 remaining third book, which treats of the rearing 

 of animals within the precincts of the farm, I send 

 herewith to you, as I feel that to you more than to 

 any one else I owe this dedication, seeing that we 



[o are near neighbours and excellent friends. As 

 you who possess a country-house made beautiful 

 by plaster, inlaid-work, and fine mosaic^ floors, 

 would have felt that there was something^ lacking 

 unless its walls had been embellished by your own 

 literary ^ works, so I have done my best by means of 



^ Lithostrotis . For these pavements and the history of mosaic 

 in general cf. Pliny, xxxvi, 25. I find it generally stated that 

 lithosirota were made of bits of stone or marble of natural 

 colours (Seyffert, Diet, of Antiquities, etc.); but Isidore (xiv, 8) 

 is against this conclusion : Lithostrota parvulis crustis ac tessellis 

 tinctis in varios colores. 



^ Parum, supply spcdaiidam. 



^ Tuts quoque litteris. Nothing is known of this Pinnlus, or 



