Ill] OF FIELDFARES 275 



out like a tambourine, two-and-a-half feet wide and 

 four inches deep. It can be turned by a single 

 serving-man, and on it all the things to eat and 

 drink can be set at the same time and moved round 



16 to each guest. From the side of the quay where the 

 coverlets ^ are usually found the ducks walk into the 

 pond and swim about in it. The pond is connected 

 with the two fish-ponds I mentioned by a stream, 

 and little fishes swim constantly backwards and 

 forwards, while from the circular board forming the 

 table, which, as I said, is at the ends of the spokes, 

 hot and cold water is made to flow to each guest by 



17 the turning of different taps. Inside, under the 

 dome, the morning star ^ by day, the evening star 



^ Uhi Solent esse peripetasmata. This Is said in precisely the 

 same way as the ubi orbile solet esse above, and does not mean 

 that peripetasmata were actually allowed to hang down. The 

 falere evidently served as the lectus of the guests, and the sug- 

 gestum faleris , the side facing the pond, corresponded with the 

 space under the seat of the lectus "where the peripetasmata 

 usually hang." These were the same as the better known 

 vestes stragulae — richly embroidered coverlets which were 

 spread over the couches and hung down from them to the 

 floor. 



The rotating table was, I imagine, a foot or so above the 

 level of the falere not interrupting the view of the pond, so 

 that Varro's guests might sit or recline in comfort while en- 

 joying the bird concert, watching the ducks and fishes in the 

 pond, and eating their luncheon. 



* Lucifer interdiu. Lucifer and Hesperus, as of course 

 Varro knew, were different names for the same star Venus. 

 Cf. Pliny (ii, 8) : Infra solem ambit ingens sidus, appellatum 

 Veneris. . . . Praeveniens quippe et ante matutinum exoriens, 



