§86.11Quantae nunc aliqui rusticitatis damnant Scipionem, quod non in caldarium suum latis specularibus diem admiserat, quod non in multa luce decoquebatur et expectabat, ut in balneo concoqueret.
With what great rusticity do some now condemn Scipio, because he had not admitted daylight into his warm room through wide mica windows, because he was not stewed in much light and did not wait to digest in his bath.
O hominem calamitosum! Nesciit vivere.
O wretched man! He did not know how to live.
Non saccata aqua lavabatur, sed saepe turbida et, cum plueret vehementius, paene lutulenta.
He did not wash with filtered water, but with water that was often turbid and, when it rained more heavily, almost muddy.
Nec multum eius intererat, an sic lavaretur; veniebat enim ut sudorem illic ablueret, non ut unguentum.
Nor was it of much importance to him whether he was washed in this way; for he came there to wash away his sweat, not his perfume.
§86.12Quas nunc quorundam voces futuras credis? "Non invideo Scipioni;
What voices of certain people do you think there will be now?
vere in exilio vixit, qui sic lavabatur. "Immo, si scias, non cotidie lavabatur.
"I do not envy Scipio; he truly lived in exile who washed in this way." On the contrary, if you but knew, he did not wash every day.
Nam, ut aiunt, qui priscos mores urbis tradiderunt, brachia et crura cotidie abluebant, quae scilicet sordes opere collegerant, ceterum toti nundinis lavabantur.
For, as they say who have handed down the ancient customs of the city, they washed their arms and legs daily, which of course had gathered dirt from labor, but otherwise they were washed completely only on market days.
Hoc loco dicet aliquis: "olim liquet mihi inmundissimos fuisse.
At this point someone will say: "It is clear to me that they were extremely filthy in the old days.
Quid putas illos oluisse?" Militiam, laborem, virum.
What do you think they smelled of?" Of military service, of labor, of man.
Postquam munda balnea inventa sunt, spurciores sunt.
Since clean baths were invented, people are more defiled.
§86.13Descripturus infamem et nimiis notabilem deliciis Horatius Flaccus quid ait?
"
Pastillos Buccillus olet.
What does Horatius Flaccus say when about to describe an infamous man, notable for excessive luxury? "Buccillus smells of lozenges.
"
Dares nunc Buccillum; proinde esset ac si hircum oleret, Gargonii loco esset, quem idem Horatius Buccillo opposuit.
"If you were to produce Buccillus now, it would be just as if he smelled of a goat; he would be in the place of Gargonius, whom the same Horace opposed to Buccillus.
Parum est sumere unguentum, nisi bis die terque renovatur, ne evanescat in corpore.
It is not enough to apply perfume unless it is renewed twice or thrice a day, lest it vanish on the body.
Quid, quod hoc odore tamquam suo gloriantur?
What of the fact that they boast of this smell as if it were their own?
§86.14Haec si tibi nimium tristia videbuntur, villae inputabis, in qua didici ab Aegialo, diligentissime patre familiae, is enim nunc huius agri possessor est, quamvis vetus arbustum posse transferri.
If these things seem to you too stern, you will impute it to the villa, in which I learned from Aegialus, a most diligent master of a household—for he is now the possessor of this land—that an old shrubbery can be transplanted.
Hoc nobis senibus discere necessarium est, quorum nemo non olivetum alteri ponit.
This is necessary for us old men to learn, of whom there is none who does not plant an olive grove for another.
Quod vidi illud arborum trimum et quadrimum fastidiendi fructus aut deponere.
I saw this, that he planted trees of three and four years old, of tedious fruit.
§86.15Te quoque proteget illa, quae
"
Tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram,
"
ut ait Vergilius noster, qui non quid verissime, sed quid decentissime diceretur aspexit nec agricolas docere voluit, sed legentes delectare.
That tree also will protect you, which "Comes slow, about to make shade for late descendants, "as our Vergil says, who looked not to what was most true, but to what was most beautifully said, and did not wish to teach farmers, but to delight readers.
§86.16Nam, ut alia omnia transeam, hoc quod mihi hodie necesse fuit deprehendere, adscribam:
"
Vere fabis satio est: tunc te quoque, medica, putres
Accipiunt sulci, et milio venit annua cura.
For, to pass over all other things, I will add this which it was necessary for me to discover today: ¦p.v2.p.320 "In spring is the sowing for beans; then thee too, clover, the crumbling Furrows receive, and for millet comes the yearly care.
"
An uno tempore ista ponenda sint et an utriusque verna sit satio, hinc aestimes licet: Iunius mensis est, quo tibi scribo, iam proclivis in Iulium; eodem die vidi fabam metentes, milium serentes.
"Whether those things are to be planted at one time, and whether the sowing of both is in spring, you may judge from this: it is the month of June in which I write to you, already inclining toward July; on the same day I saw people reaping beans and sowing millet.
§86.17Ad olivetum revertar, quod vidi duobus modis depositum: magnarum arborum truncos circumcisis ramis et ad unum redactis pedem cum rapo suo transtulit amputatis radicibus, relicto tantum capite ipso, ex quo illae pependerant.
I shall return to the olive grove, which I saw planted in two ways: he transplanted the trunks of large trees with their branches cut around and reduced to one foot, along with their root-bulbs, their roots having been cut away, leaving only the very head from which they had hung.
Hoc fimo tinctum in scrobem demisit, deinde terram non adgessit tantum, sed calcavit et pressit.
This, dipped in dung, he lowered into a trench, then he not only heaped up earth, but trod and pressed it down.
§86.18Negat quicquam esse hac, ut ait, pisatione efficacius; videlicet frigus excludit et ventum.
He denies that anything is more effective than this, as he calls it, "treading"; namely, it shuts out cold and wind.
Minus praeterea movetur et ob hoc nascentes radices prodire patitur ac solum adprendere, quas necesse est cereas adhuc et precario haerentes levis quoque revellat agitatio.
Besides, it is moved less, and for this reason it allows the growing roots to go forth and grasp the soil, which a slight agitation must tear away while they are still waxen and clinging precariously.
Rapum autem arboris, antequam obruat, radit.
Moreover, he scrapes the root-bulb of the tree before he buries it.
Ex omni enim materia, quae nudata est, ut ait, radices exeunt novae.
For from all the wood that has been bared, as he says, new roots go forth.
Non plures autem super terram eminere debet truncus quam tres aut quattuor pedes.
But the trunk ought not to project more than three or four feet above the ground.
Statim enim ab imo vestietur nec magna pars quemadmodum in olivetis veteribus arida et retorrida erit.
For it will immediately be clothed from the bottom, nor will a large part of it be dry and withered as in old olive groves.
§86.19Alter ponendi modus hic fuit: ramos fortes nec corticis duri, quales esse novellarum arborum solent, eodem genere deposuit.
The other way of planting was this: he planted strong branches, not of hard bark, such as are accustomed to be on young trees, in the same manner.
Hi paulo tardius surgunt, sed cum tamquam a planta processerint, nihil habent in se abhorridum aut triste.
These rise a little more slowly, but when they have proceeded as if from a shoot, they have nothing rough or dismal about them.
§86.20Illud etiamnunc vidi, vitem ex arbusto suo annosam transferri; huius capillamenta quoque, si fieri potest, colligenda sunt, deinde liberalius sternenda vitis, ut etiam ex corpore radicescat.
I also saw this: an old vine being transplanted from its tree; its fine roots also, if possible, must be gathered, and then the vine must be spread out more generously, so that it may take root from its body as well.
Et vidi non tantum mense Februario positas, sed etiam Martio exacto; tenent et conplexae sunt non suas ulmos.
And I saw them planted not only in the month of February, but even when March was passed; they hold and have embraced elms not their own.
§86.21Omnes autem istas arbores, quae, ut ita dicam, grandiscapiae sunt, ait aqua adiuvandas cisternina, quae si prodest, habemus pluviam in nostra potestate.
Moreover, he says that all those trees which are, so to speak, large-stemmed, must be assisted with cistern water; if this is beneficial, we have rain in our power.
Plura te docere non cogito, ne quemadmodum Aegialus me sibi adversarium paravit, sic ego parem te mihi.
I do not intend to teach you more, lest just as Aegialus made me his rival, so I might make you mine.
VALE.
FAREWELL.