ml OF BIRDS IN GENERAL 263 



CHAPTER IV 



OF BIRDS IN GENERAL 



1 I, REPLIED Axius, should like you to begin with 

 the ' post-principia," ' as they say in camp — with 

 modern times, I mean, rather than with remoter 

 ages, for more profit is made out of peacocks than 

 out of hens. And what is more, I will not conceal 

 my wish to hear first about the ''ornithon," since 

 fieldfares have made it a term synonymous with 

 **gain," for the 60,000 sesterces (;£'48o) of Fir- 

 cellia^ kave wonderfully stimulated my desire. 



2 Said Merula: There are two kinds of aviary. 

 One (and it has many admirers) made for pleasure, 



' A posiprincipiis. Cf. Plautus (Persa, iv, 1,4): 



Atqie edepol ferme ut quisque rem accural suam 



Sic li procedunt postprincipia denique 



Si valus aut nequamst male res vortunt quas agit 



And Geiliis (xvi, 18): Sed haecy inquit M. Varro, aut omnino 

 non discimts autprius desistemus quam intelligemus curdiscenda 

 sint. Volubtas autem inquit vel utilitas talium disciplinatum in 

 postprincip'is exsistit cum perfectae absolutaeque sunt, in prin- 

 cipiis vero psis ineptae et insuaves videntur. 



Barn-do»r fowls were the principia, peacocks the postprin- 

 cipia. Th» word, used metaphorically, is fairly common. Cf. 

 Cicero (Pr* Sestio, 55) : posiprincipia vitiosae vitae ; but of its 

 use in the literal sense I can find no trace. It is not noticed 

 in Kempf; Sermonis Castrensis Reliquiae. 



^ Fircelina. Cf. iii, 2, 15. Varro's maternal aunt must 

 therefore lave been called Fircellia. 



