INTRODUCTION 



metrical composition," ^ deals with gardening, as a 

 sort of supplement to Vergil's fourth Georgic. It is 

 evident from a statement in the preface to the whole 

 work,2 as well as from the conclusion of Book IX ^ 

 and the Preface of Book X,* that the tenth book was 

 intended to complete the work ; but at the still 

 insistent urgings of Silvinus ^ there was added an 

 eleventh book containing a discussion of the duties 

 of a farm overseer, a Calendarium Rustictim, in which 

 the times and seasons for various kinds of farm labour 

 are fixed in connection with the risings and settings 

 of the stars, and a long chapter on gardening to 

 supplement the treatise in verse. The twelfth book, 

 written for the overseer's wife and defining her 

 special duties, contains recipes for the manufacture 

 of various kinds of wine and for the pickling and 

 preserving of vegetables and fruits. That the 

 twelve books were sent to Silvinus one by one as 

 they were completed, and that they have been 

 transmitted to us in the order written, is indicated 

 by the fact that their opening or closing lines usually 

 contain some reference to comments on the book 

 just preceding or to the subject matter of the book 

 that is to follow. 



The De Arboribus, thought to have been addressed 

 to Eprius Marcellus,® deals with the cultivation and 



1 XL 1. 2; cf. IX. 16. 2; X. Praef. I, 3. 



« I. Praef. 25-28. » IX. 16. 2. * X. Praef. 1. 



« XI. 1. 2. 



* This supposition has resulted from a colophon in the 

 manuscripts, found after a long table of contents following 

 Bk. XI (XII) : Praeter hos duodecim lihros singulnris eiu.<; 

 liber ad Eprium Marcellum. P^prius Marcellus was appointed 

 to a vacant praetorship in 49 a.d., which expired at the end 

 of a few days or hours (Tac. Ann. XII. 4). He later became 

 an informer under Nero. 



