M. TERENTIUS VARRO n 



M. T. Varro, the most learned of the Romans, historian, philosopher, M.TEREN- 

 naturalist, grammarian and poet, was entrusted by Ccesar to purchase the books TIUS 

 for, and to manage all the Greek and Latin Libraries at Rome. Later, VA ** K ^' 

 Augustus made him superintendent of the Library founded by Asinius Pollio: 

 he was a friend of Cicero, to ivhom he dedicated ( De Lingua Latina, ' his only 

 extant work besides ' De Re RustictiJ written at the age of eighty. His Villa 

 at Casinum was destroyed by Antony. 



Y^OU know that I have in my villa of Casinum a deep and clear 

 * stream, which threads its way between two stone margins. 

 Its breadth is 57 feet, and bridges must be crossed to com- 

 municate from one part of my property to the other. My study 

 (Museum) is situated at the spot where the stream springs ; and 

 from this point as far as an island formed by its junction with 

 another water-course, is a distance of 850 feet. Along its banks 

 a walk is laid out 10 feet broad, open to the sky; between this 

 walk and the country my aviary is placed, closed in left and 

 right by high walls. The external lines of the building give it 

 some resemblance to writing tablets, surmounted by a Capitol. 

 On the rectangular side its breadth is 48 feet, and its length 72, 

 not including the semi-circular Capitol, which is of a diameter of 

 27 feet. Between the aviary and the walk which marks the lower 

 margin of the tablets, opens a vaulted passage leading to an 

 esplanade (ambulatio). On each side is a regular portico upheld 

 by stone columns, the intervals between which are occupied by 

 dwarf shrubs. A network of hemp stretches from the top of the 

 outside walk to the architrave, and a similar trellis joins the 

 architrave to the pedestal. The interior is filled with birds of 

 every species, which receive their food through the net. A little 

 stream supplies them with its water. Beyond the pedestal run 

 to left and right along the porticos two rather narrow fish-ponds, 

 which, separated by a small path, extend to the extremity of the 

 esplanade. This path leads to a tholus, a kind of Rotunda, 

 surrounded by two rows of isolated columns. There is a similar 

 one in the house of Catulus, except that complete walls replace 

 the colonnade. Beyond is a grove of tall brushwood encompassed 

 with walls, of which the thick growth only allows the light to 

 penetrate below. ' Of Agriculture] Book III. 



