[40] “Prata Quintia.” Hardouin says that in his time this spot was still called I Prati: it lay beyond the Tiber, between the vineyard of the Medici and the castle of Sant Angelo.
[41] He alludes to the twofold meaning of the word “coli,” “to be tilled,” or “to receive homage from.”
[42] “Ergastulorum.” The “Ergastula” were places of punishment attached to the country houses of the wealthy, for the chastisement of refractory slaves, who were usually made to work in chains.
[43] In the First Book, as originally written. This list of writers is appended in the present Translation to each respective Book.
[44] This is probably written in humble imitation of the splendid exordium of the Georgics of Virgil.
[45] De Re Rust. Preface.
[46] Fée remarks, that we still recruit our armies mostly from the agricultural class.
[47] De Re Rust. c. 1.
[48] Quoted by Columella, De Re Rust. B. i. 4. The sad fate of Regulus is known to all readers of Roman history.
[49] From Columella, B. i. c. 3.