Columella: On Agriculture (Books I-IV) [1] 0674993985, 9780674993983

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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB,

LL.D.

EDITED BY tT. E. PAGE,

tE. CAPPS, L. A.

POST,

L.H.D.

E. H.

C.H., LITT.D.

fW. H.

PH.D., ix.D.

D.

WARMINGTON,

ROUSE,

litt.d.

m.a., f.r.hist.soc.

LUCIUS JUNIUS MODERATUS

COLUMELLA ON AGRICULTURE 1

LUCIUS JUNIUS

MODERATUS COLUMELLA ON AGRICULTURE IN

THREE VOLUMES I

RES RUSTICA

I-IV

WITH A RECENSION OF THE TEXT AND AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY

HARRISON BOYD

ASH, Ph.D.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OP LATIN, UNI\'ERSITT OF PENNSTLVAKIA

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD MCMLX

Pa

First printed 1941 Reprinted 1948, 1960

Printed in Great Britain

—

CONTENTS

.......

Prefaces

PAGE vii

Introduction -

Life and Works of Columella

Manuscripts and Editions Bibliography

.

..... .

.......

SiGLA

Book

.

I

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

xiii

xx xxvii xxxiii

.2

— Writers on Husbandry— Rules for the Husbandman — Situation and Quality of Land Water— Farm Buildings—Master and Tenant Preface

Farm

Book

Overseer, Herdsmen, Shepherds.

II

—Ditching and Draining—Tests of Soil — Ploughing — Care of Oxen in Ploughing for Seasons Cultivation —Manuring — Grains Seasons for Sowing— Quantity of Seed Required Sowing of Legumes, Flax, Hemp, Turnips — Fodder Crops— Cultivation of Grains and Legumes—Number of Labourers Required — Quahties of Various Manures —Times for Manuring — Care of Meadows — Hay—Reaping and Threshing—Precepts for the Kinds of Land

Husbandman on Hohdays.

104

—

CONTENTS Book

226

III

—Varieties of the Vine Advantages of the Vineyard to Husbandmen — Vine of Nurseries —Cuttings — Fruitfulness Vines Choice of Shoots and Cuttings— Qualities of Soil Required for Vineyards— Preparation of the Soil —Methods of Planting the Vine —Seasons for Planting the Vine— Length of Cuttings — Number Soils Suitable for

Vines

of Varieties to be Planted.

Book IV

352

Depth of Trenches the Vine

—Training — —

for Vine-plants

the

—Supports

Young Vine

—

for

—Cultivation — —

and Pruning of the Vine Pruning of Quicksets and Cuttings Methods of Propping Layering Transplanting Vine Frames of Reeds Pruning

—

of Young Vineyards Restoration of Old Vineyards General Precepts for the Vineyardist The Pruning-knife Training the Vine to the Frame Duties of the Vine-dresser Leaf-pruning Grafting Willow Plantations Broom Reeds

—

—

—

—

Chestnut-trees.

VI

—

— —

—

THE ORIGINAL PREFACE TO VOL. The

I

text here translated, for Books I-II, VI-VII, De Arboribus, is based on that of

X-XI, and

Lundstrom, with some changes in orthography, punctuation, and capitalization to conform more For the nearly to English and American usage. remaining six books the translator has attempted to construct a reasonably comparable text by the collation of five important manuscripts with the latest printed edition, that of Schneider (1794). The translator is greatly indebted to the Faculty Research Fund of the University of Pennsylvania for a grant which made it possible for him to examine a number of Columella manuscripts abroad and to purchase photostatic copies of the four major codices. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the permission of the Trustees of the Pierpont Morgan Library to include the readings of the Morgan manuscript of Columella. The thanks of the writer are due also to his colleague Axel Johan Uppvall, Professor of Scandinavian Languages at the University of Pennsylvania, for the translation of numerous Swedish works. A full index to this work of Columella will be supplied at the end of the third volimne when issued.

Harrison Bovd Ash. University of Pennsylvania April 10, 1940

PREFATORY NOTE to the death of Dr. Harrison Boyd Ash of the University of Pennsylvania shortly after the publication of the first volume (Books I-IV) of the De Re Rustica of Columella, the Editors entrusted me with the remainder of the work. There has been no complete modern edition of the text since J. G. Schneider's (Leipzig 1794), but the principles laid down by Dr. Ash appear to me to be entirely satisfactory. He describes them as follows: "The text and manuscript readings of the present edition, for Books I-H, VI-VH, X-XI and the De Arboribus, rest substantially on the work of Lundstrom. For Books ni-\^, \Tn-IX and XH, the translator has attempted to construct a critical text in some approximation to that of Lundstrom by the collation of four major manuscripts with the text of Schneider." It was natural to conclude from these words that a text constructed by Dr. Ash would be available for the rest of the work, but no traces of the existence of such a text have been found in America. It has, therefore, been necessary to undertake the construction of a new text, and I have tried to conform as far as possible with Dr. Ash's system, using Lundstrom 's edition for those books which he has edited and attempting a new text for Books V, VIII, IX and XII. For this purpose I have been fortunate, through the good offices of Professor L. A. Post, in obtaining from America photostats of the four most

Owing

•

PREFATORY NOTE important MSS. (see

two

classes, (a) the

p. xx of Vol. I), which fall into two 9th-10th century MSS. and

the two best of the 15th-century MSS. The photowhich were used by Dr. Ash for his collation of Books III and IV, were purchased with a grant provided by the Faculty Research Fund of the University of Pennsylvania. The only point in which my text of these books differs from that of Dr. Ash is that I have not had an opportunity, which Dr. Ash had, of comparing my text wth that of the MS. known as Morganeiisis 138, formerly Hamiltonensis 184 in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New (6)

stats,

York. For some unexplained reason the text of Book V, especially Chapter VIII to the end, is in a worse condition than in any other part of the work, and there is the further complication that, from Chapter X to the end, the text, though slightly longer, is closely identical with that of De Arboribus, Chapter XVIII to the end. It seems certain that the De Arboribus is part of an earlier and shorter treatise which was afterwards superseded by the De Re Rustica. It is a question how far the text of these similar chapters in the De Rusiica and the De Arboribus should be corrected from one another. There are numerous places in which the text of Book V is deficient or careless, and these can be corrected from the De Arboribus, but it also appears that the author made a good many verbal changesi as well as inserting new matter. I have, therefore, refrained from making the two slightly different versions correspond exactly and have kept the MS. reading in both treatises where it makes sense very often the same sense in slightly different

—

PREFATORY NOTE

—

words but the fact that there are these two versions has necessitated a larger apparatus criticus in these chapters of Book \ than for any other part of the work.

have to thank His Grace the Duke of Devonshire me [M. C. Curtius], L. Junius Moderatus Columella on Husbandry in Twelve Books and his Book concerning Trees (London 1745) (a very rare work) from the Chatsworth Library, and Mademoiselle Helfene Rousseau for obtaining for me in Paris a copy of M. Nisard, Les Agronomes Latins (Paris, 1844), for which I had been searching for many months. I

for lending

Edward

S.

Forster.

Upon the death of Professor Forster, the Editors of this Library entrusted to me the responsibility of completing the unfinished project. In the circumstances this assignment naturally extended to the making of a thoi'ough examination of every aspect of the work. The photostats mentioned by my predecessor in the above lines were in due time returned to America and were fully utilized in the process of examination and study. In the checking between these manuscripts, as well as in the verification of references to important earlier editions of Columella, very substantial assistance was furnished to me by my wife, which I desire gratefully to acknowledge here. It is to be hoped that the process of restudying and reviewing has resulted in an improved product. It is always a serious thing to find yourself differing with another person on matters of a scholarly nature to handle such materials when left ;

PREFATORY NOTE by the hand of one who is no longer able to speak in defence of his interpretation imposes many a delicate task. Naturally there are numerous passages in the text of Columella, and also in the Enghsh version, which I would have handled somewhat differently from the manner in which they were treated by my predecessor if I had been free to shape things de novo. However, this statement applies rather to materials involving the factors of taste and judgment than to those where the essential thought was an issue. The reader might be reminded of the Bibliography prepared by the late Professor Ash and included in \o\. I of this Library. The works pertaining to Columella that are there cited were obviously made use of by Professor Forster, as they were

also utilized

by me.

Edward H. Heffner.

xu

INTRODUCTION

i

Life and Works of Columella

Our knowledge of the personal history of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, and of the dates of his writings, has been derived almost entirely by conjecture from those incidental references which he makes, at various places in his works, to himself and his contemporaries.^ From these sources we learn that he was a native of Gades (Cadiz),^ a Roman municipium of the province of Baetica in southern Spain and although the date of his birth is unknown, it is obvious that he was born near the beginning of the first century of our era. Columella defines his period loosely by his mention of Marcus Varro (circa 116-27 b.c.) as a contemporary of his grandfather.* His time is more clearly indicated in a reference to Seneca ^ as living in his day so, too, he speaks of Cornelius Celsus ^ (Jl. 1st cent. A.D.) as a contemporary. He also quotes as ;

;

1 Taken in part from H. B. Ash, L. luni Moderali Coinmellae Eei Rusticae Liber Decimus : De Cultu Hortorum, Philadelphia, 1930. 2 Biographers have added but little to the facts first deduced by FiUppo Beroaldo (1453-150.5), In Libros XIII Columellae Annotationes, and printed in several of the early editions. Cf. Barbaret, De Columellae Vita et Scriptis (Nancy, 1887),

p. 9.

VIII. 16. 9; X. 185. * I. Praef. 15. ^ III. 3. 3. I. 1. 14; III. 1. 8; III. 2. 31; III. 17. 4; IV. 1. 1. Celsus is thought by Cichorius {Bum. Stud., 1922, pp. 411417) to have written his agricultural treatise a.d. 25-26. 3

»

INTRODUCTION authorities of his time several others of whom we have definite knowledge, as Trebellius,^ Graecinus,^ From these Julius Atticus,^ Volusius,* and Gallio.^ and other references ® it is clear that Columella was

during the time of Lucius Annaeus Seneca 4 b.c.-a.d. 65) and Pliny the Elder (23-79), by whom he is quoted, and that he was of about the same age as the former and several years older than have reason to believe, from the the latter. conclusion of Book XII,' that his work was completed when he was well advanced in years.* living {circa

We

M. Trebellius, legatus of was governor of Syria a.d. 36.

1 V, 1. 2.

41. 1),

Vitellius (Tac.

Ann. VI.

"1.1.14; IV. 3. 6. Julius Graecinus was put to death under Caligula (Tac. Agr. 4) in 39 or 40. * IV. 1. 1; IV. 8. 1. Nothing more is known of Julius Atticus than is found in Columella's scattered references to him as a contemporary of Celsus. Reitzenstein {De ScTiptorum Rei Rusticae Libris Deperditis, p. 27) concludes from this evidence that he was somewhat older than Celsus and that he wrote in the time of Tiberius. * I. 7. 3. The Lucius Volusius mentioned by Pliny {N.H. VII. 49), who died a.d. 56 at the age of ninetv-three; cf. XIII. Ann. Tac. 30, XIV. 56. ' IX. 16. 2. Gallic, brother of the younger Seneca, died A.D. 65. ' XII. 59. 5. Collected by Reitzenstein op. cit., pp. 62f. Reitzenstein (op. cit., p. 31; c/. Becher, op. cit., p. II) inclines to the view that the works of Columella appeared in the year 64, and certain)}^ not before 61, basing his argument on the late date of Seneca's ownership of the Nomentan farm (III. 3. 3), which, as PUny writes (N.H. XIV. 45, 49) in a.d. 77, was bought by Remmius Palaemon in hisce viginti annis and sold to Seneca within ten years. Haussner (Die luindColumella, p. 7), carrying schriftliche Ueberliefcrung dcs the question further, places the date of Seneca's purchase of Columella's third book between the composition in 62 or 63, that date and the year of Seneca's death (65), and the publication of the whole work after 65.

* *

.

.

.

;

INTRODUCTION The parents of Columella

are

named nowhere

iii

but he speaks often and with the greatest respect of an uncle, Marcus Columella, ^ an expert farmer of the Baetic province, in whose company much of his youth appears to have been spent. The Pythagorean philosopher, Moderatus of Gades, mentioned by Plutarch, ^ may have been a relative. It is likewise uncertain at what time Columella left his native Spain to take up residence in the neighbourhood of Rome. But here, in hoc Latio et Salurnia ierra^ he seems to have spent the greater part of his life, owning at various times farms at Carseoli, Ardea, and Albanum, in Latium,^ and a farm which he called Ceretanum,^ located perhaps We have evidence ^ that he at Caere in Etruria. his works,

and Cilicia at some period and from an inscription ' visited Syria

L.

IVNIO

L. F.

in his life

GAL.

MODERATO COLVMELLAE TRIB. MIL. LEG. VI. found at Tarentum we

FERRATAE

may assume

that he was then town of Gades

in military service, since his native 1

II. 15.

4; VII.

2.

4; XII. 21. 4; XII. 40. 2; XII. 43. 5;

et al.

VIII.

2

Qtiuest.

*

III. 9. 2.

7. 1.

3

1.

Praef. 20.

" Das Caeretanum des L. ^ III. 3. 3. Cf. Willielm Becher, lunius Moderatus Columella," Philologisch-historiscke Beitrdge, Kurt Wachsmuth (1897), pp. 186-191. * II. Perhaps in a.d. 36, under Trebelliua; 10. 18. Cichorius, op. cit., pp. 417-422. ' C.I.L. IX. 235 (= Dessau 2923).

cf.

INTRODUCTION belonged to the for the

time

tribus

Galena, which furnished troops

LEGIO VI FERRATA,

in Syria. ^

believed that

stationed at that Fi'om this inscription it is generally Columella died and was buried at

Tarentum. Columella is known to us by the twelve books of Res Rustica and the book De Arboribtis. Cassiodorus,2 however, mentions sixteen books of his authorship, a number thought by some ^ to have been due to an error of transcription, but defended by others,* who hold the opinion that the larger work is an expansion of an earlier manual of three or four books on the same subject, of which only the second,^ De Arboribus, has survived. This view is supported by the fact that the book on trees deals with the same subjects that are discussed at greater length in Books III-V of the Res Rustica. The De Arboribus appears in the manuscripts and first printed editions as the third book of the whole work, so that the book now properly marked as the third stands in the his

^ The legion was stationed in Syria in a.d. 23 and remained there during the rule of Tiberius; cf. H. M. D. Parlier, The Roman Legions (Oxford, 1928), pp. 119, 129, 267. ^ Div. Led. 28, sad Columella xvi libris per diversas agriculturae species eloquens ac facundus ilJabitur, disertis potius quam imperitis accommodus, ut operis eius studiosi non solum communi fructu, sed etiam gratissimis epulis expleantur. 3 Cf. Becher, De Col. Vit. et Scr., p. 58 ; M. L. W. Laistner in Am. Jour. Phil. LIX. 116. * Cf. Gesner, Script. Rei Rust., Introd., p. 9; Hiiussner, Becher, op. cit., p. 29. op. cit., p. 7 * That one book preceded is evident from De. Arb. I. 1, Quoniam de cultu agrorum abunde primo volumine praecepisse videmur, non intempestiva erit arborum virgultorumque cura. ;

INTRODUCTION earliest editions as the fourth,

and so on.^

Mention

made

of a work Adversus Astrologos ^ and to a treatise proposed, but possibly not written, on the religious ceremonies connected with agriculture.^ The Res Rustica, addressed to a certain Publius Silvinus,* is the most comprehensive and systematic of all treatises of Roman writers on agricultural The first book contains general directions affairs. regarding the choice of land, the water supply, the arrangement of farm buildings, and the distribution of various tasks among the farm staff. The second deals with agriculture proper, the ploughing and enrichment of the soil, and the care of various crops. The third, fourth, and fifth books are devoted to the cultivation, grafting, and pruning of fruit trees and The sixth contains shrubs, the vine, and the olive. instructions for selecting, breeding, and rearing cattle, horses, and mules, together with a discourse on veterinary medicine. The seventh continues the subject with reference to smaller domestic animals, sheep, goats, swine, and dogs. The eighth has to do with the management of poultry and fishponds. The ninth treats similarly of bees. The tenth, an experiment in hexameters to satisfy the request of Gallio and of Silvinus for " a taste of is

1 That the book on trees does not belong to the larger work evident from the fact that it is not addressed to Silvinus, as are the other twelve, and from statements in later books of the Res Rustica giving an exact accounting of the number of books preceding, e.g. X. Praef. 1 ; VIII. 1. 1 ; XI. 1. 2; XII. lucundus, editor of the first Aldino edition (1514), was 13. I. the first to set the misplaced De Arboribus at the end, as a thirteenth book, and all late*- editors have followed his example. 2 XI. 1. 31. 3 II. 21. 5-6. * Known only from Columella's numerous references to him, but obviously a countryman and a neighbour of the author.

is

INTRODUCTION metrical composition,"

^

deals with gardening, as a

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 sort of

;

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. » IX. 16. 2. Praef. 25-28.

I, 3.

* X. Praef. 1. XI. 1. 2. from has resulted a colophon in the supposition This manuscripts, found after a long table of contents following Praeter hos duodecim lihros singulnris eiu.vith pro;

10

11

,

LUCIUS JUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA cum

ignorantiae detrimentis multa pensaret, nee

commodum

quorum

imprudentes 12 cupidiores ipsi

tota

ageretur,

negotii

agricolationem

vita

eoque

conspici

sui

vellent

diseendi

Nunc

pernoscerent.

et

praedia nostra colere dedignamur et nuUius

momenti ducimus peritissimum quemque vilicum facere vel,

nescium, carte vigoris experrecti, quo

si

celerius,

quod

locuples'

mercatus

ignoret,^ addiscat. est, e

Sed

sive

fundum

turba pedisequorum

lecti-

cariorumque defectissimum annis et viribus in agrum relegat,

cum

istud opus

viridem aetatem

cum

sufFerendos desideret

non solum scientiam, sed sive

;

dominus, ex mercenariis

cotidianum possit,^ fieri

13

et

robore corporis ad labores

^

mediarum facultatum

^

aliquem iam recusantem

non magistrum

illud tributum, quia vectigali ^ esse

ignarum

rei, cui

praefuturus

est,

iubet.

Quae cum animadvertam, saepe mecum ac recogitans,

quam

retractans

turpi consensu deserta exole-

verit disciplina ruris, vereor

ne

flagitiosa et

raodo pudenda ingenuis aut inhonesta

cum complurimis ' monumentis apud antiques nostros

sit.*

quodam Verum

scriptorum admonear

fuisse gloriae

curam

rustica-

ignorat S, Schn. facultatium SA, Lundstrum. * mercennariis vel mercenariis i? mercedariis SA * quia vectigali S, Lundslrom : q vectigali A: qui [vel q) vectigalis R, et vulgo quia (qui) . possit incl. Oesn. et . Schn. veluti glossam. ^ posset SA, Lundslrom. ^

2

:

:

lo

.

BOOK

I,

PREFACE

11-13

would compensate in large measure the by lack of knowledge and men whose interests were at stake would not wish to appear forever ignorant of their own affairs, and for that reason more zealous to learn, they would gain a thorough knowledge of husbandry. As it is, we think it beneath us to till our lands with our OAvn hands, and we consider it of no importance to appoint as an overseer a man of very great experience or at least, if he is inexperienced, one who is wide-awake and active, that he may learn more quickly what he does not know. But if a rich man purchases a farm, out of his thi-ong of footmen and litter-bearers he sends off to the fields the one most bankrupt in years and strength, whereas such work requires, not only knowledge, but the age of vigour and physical strength as Avell, to endure its hardships or, if the OAVTier is of moderate means, out of the number of his hands for hire he orders someone who now refuses him the daily tribute money, since the man cannot be a source of income, to be made a foreman, though he may know nothing of the work which he is to superprietorship

losses occasioned

;

12

;

intend.

When I observe these things, reviewing in my mind and reflecting upon the shameful unanimity with which rural discipline has been abandoned and passed out of use, I am fearful lest it may be disgraceful and, in a sense, degrading or dishonourable But when I am reminded by to men of free birth. the records of many -writers that it was a matter of pride with our forefathers to give their attention

*

pudenda, aut inhonesta videatur ingenuis vulgo.

'

pluribiis, Gesn.,

Schn.

13

LUCIUS JUNIUS MODERATUS COLUMELLA tionis,

ex qua Quinctius Cincinnatus, obsessi consulis

et exercitus liberator, ab aratro vocatus ad dictaturam

venerit ac rursus fascibus depositis, quos festinantius

reddiderat

victor

eosdem 14

iuvencos

quam sumpserat et

quattuor

ad avitum

imperator,

iugerum

herediolum redierit, itemque C. Fabricius et Curius Dentatus, alter Pyrrho finibus Italiae pulso, domitis alter Sabinis, accepta, quae viritim dividebantur, captivl agri septem iugera non minus industrie coluerit, quam fortiter armis quaesierat et ne singulos intempestive nunc persequar, cum tot alios Romani generis intuear memorabiles duces hoc semper duplici studio floruisse vel defendendi vel ;

colendi patrios quaesitosve fines, intellego luxuriae et deliciis nostris pristinum moreni virilemque vitam

Omnes enim, sicut M. Varro iam temporibus avorum conquestus est, patres familiae falce et aratro relictis intra murum correpsimus et in circis potius ac theatris quam in segetibus ac

15 displicuisse.

vinetis

manus

^

movemus

;

^

sic codices rerentiores et fere

Praef. 3

:

vineis

miramur sexum viris

attonitique

gestus efFeminatorum, quod a natura

omnes ex Varrone, B.R.

II.

SA, Lundslrom.

" According to tradition, Cincinnatus was called from the plough to the dictatorship in 458 B.C., to save the Roman army besieged by the Aequians on Mt. Algidus. He delivered the consul Minucius and his army, resigned the dictatorship, and returned to his little farm after holding the office only

sixteen days.

Cf. Livy, III. 26-29. about three-fifths of

— an acre. Consul in 282 and 278 B.C., his noble conduct toward Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, led to the evacuation of Italy by '

One iugerum