Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella
Liber XII
Praefatio
Xenophon Atheniensis eo libro, P. Silvine, qui Oeconomicus inscribitur, prodidit maritale coniugium sic comparatum esse natura, ut non solum iucundissima, verum, etiam utilissima vitae societas iniretur: nam primum,1 quod etiam Cicero ait, ne genus humanum temporis longinquitate occideret, propter hoc marem cum femina esse coniunctum: deinde ut ex hac eadem societate mortalibus adiutoria senectutis, nec minus propugnacula, praeparentur. 2Tum etiam, cum victus et cultus humanus non uti feris in propatulo ac silvestribus locis, sed domi sub tecto accurandus erat, necessarium fuit alterutrum foris et sub dio esse, qui labore et industria compararet, quae tectis reconderentur. Siquidem vel rusticari, vel navigare, vel etiam genere alio negotiari necesse erat, ut aliquas facultates acquireremus. Cum vero paratae res sub tectum essent congestae, alium esse oportuit, qui et illatas custodiret, et ea conficeret opera, quae domi deberent administrari. 3Nam et fruges ceteraque alimenta terrestria indigebant
Book XII
Book XII
Preface
Xenophon, the Athenian, in the book, Publius Preface. Silvinus, which is entitled Economicus,a declared that the married state was instituted by nature so that man might enter what was not only the most pleasant but also the most profitable partnership in life. For in the first place, as Cicerob also says, man and woman were associated to prevent the human race from perishing in the passage of time; and, secondly, in order that, as a result of the same association, mortals might be provided with help and likewise with defence in their old age. Furthermore, since2 man’s food and clothing had to be prepared for him, not in the open air and in woods and forests, as for the wild animals, but at home and beneath a roof, it became necessary that one of the two sexes should lead an outdoor life in the open air, in order that by his toil and industry he might procure provisions which might be stored indoors, since indeed it was necessary to till the soil or to sail the sea or to carry on some other form of business in order that we acquire some worldly substance. When, however, the goods thus secured had been stored under cover, there had to be someone else to guard them after they had been brought in and to carry on the operations which ought to be performed at home. For3 corn and the other forms of food provided by the