264 



VARRO ON FARMING 



[rk. 



such as that of our friend Varro here, who has built 

 one close to Casinum ; the other for profit, to which 

 kind belong the enclosures which certain people 

 who supply the market possess in Rome and in the 

 country — the latter being generally let to tenants in 

 the Sabine district, as there, owing to the nature of 

 the soil,^ fieldfares are to be found in large num- 

 3 bers. Lucullus claimed that the aviary on hisTus- 

 culan estate made by combining these two kinds, 

 formed a third kind. It was built so as to hsve in 

 the same building — in the *'ornithon," thst is — 

 a dining-room, where he could dine delicate.y and 

 see fieldfares, some lying cooked in the dish, whilst 

 others fluttered about the windows of their prison. 

 But the experiment failed because the sight of birds 

 fluttering on the inside of windows does na please 

 the eye as much as the disagreeable smel which 

 fills one's nostrils offends the nose. 



CHAPTER V 



OF FIELDFARES 



I However, Axius, as I think you prefer it so, I 

 will first discuss the aviary built for profit, whence, 

 not where,^ fatted fieldfares are taken. Wel|, a large 



^ Agri naturam. The country about Casinum atounded in 

 olive plantations, and fieldfares are very fond of oli\es. 



^ Unde non uhi. I have translated Varro's play u3on words 

 literally. He means, of course, that he will descrite the kind 



