BOOK I. vr. 17-20 



occasion demands it, to remove the damaged portion 

 and use the sound grain underneath. But these 

 latter remarks, though brought in extraneously, I 

 nevertheless seem to have introduced not imseason- 

 ably at this point. 



The press-rooms especially and the store-rooms for 18 

 oil '^ should be warm, because every liquid is thinned 

 ^^•ith heat and thickened by great cold ; and if oil 

 freezes, which seldom happens, it becomes rancid. 

 But as it is natural heat that is wanted, arising from 

 the climate and the exposure, there is no need of fire 

 or flame, as the taste of oil is spoiled by smoke and 

 soot. For this reason the pressing-room should be 

 lighted from the southern side, so that we may not 

 find it necessary to employ fires and lamps when the 

 olives are being pressed. 



The cauldron-room, in which boiled wine is made, 19 

 should be neither narrow nor dark, so that the atten- 

 dant who is boiling down the must may move around 

 ^\^thout inconvenience. The smoke-room, too, in 

 which timber not long cut may be seasoned quickly 

 can be built in a section of the rural establishment 1 

 adjoining the baths for the countr}'folk ; for it is | 

 important also that there be such places in which 

 the household may bathe — but only on holidays ; for 20 

 the frequent use of baths is not conducive to physical 

 vigour. Storerooms for wine ^vill be situated to 

 advantage over these places from which smoke is 

 usually rising, for wines age more rapidly when 

 they are brought to an early maturity by a certain 

 kind of smoke. For this reason there should be 

 another loft to which they may be removed, to keep 



« Cf. Vitruvius, YL. 6. 3 ; Palladius, I. 20. 



75 



