BOOK I. V. 5-8 



yet never on the shore but not a Uttle distance 

 removed from the edge of the Avater. For it is 6 

 better to move back a considerable distance from the 

 sea rather than a short way, since the intermediate 

 space is filled vith a heavier air. And neither 

 should there be any marsh-land near the buildings, 

 and no militarA' highway adjoining: for the former 

 throws off a baneful stench in hot weather and breeds 

 insects armed v>'ith annoying stings, which attack us 

 in dense swarms ; then too it sends forth plagues of 

 swimming and crawling things deprived of their 

 winter moisture and infected with poison by the 

 mud and decaying filth, from which are often 

 contracted mysterious diseases whose causes are 

 even beyond the understanding of physicians ; " and 

 at every season of the year rust and dampness play 

 havoc \nth faiTn implements and equipment, and 

 with unstored and stored produce ; the highway, more- 7 

 over, impairs an estate through the depredations of 

 passing travellers and the constant entertainment 

 of those who turn in for lodging. For these reasons 

 my advice is to avoid disadvantages of this sort and 

 to place the villa neither on a highway nor far from 

 a highway, at a greater height, and to build it in 

 such a way that it faces the point where the sun 

 rises at the time of the equinox.* For a situation of 8 

 this kind maintains an even and steady balance 

 between the winds of winter and those of summer ; 

 and the more the site of the building slopes toward 

 the east the more freely can it catch the passing 

 breezes in summer and the less be molested by 

 the storms of winter, and it can be warmed by the 

 morning sun so that the frosts ^^^ll melt — since ground 

 is regarded as well-nigh pestilential when it is in- 



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