Res Rustica
Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus
Columella. On agriculture, Volume 1-2. Ash, Harrison Boyd; Foster, Edward Seymour; Heffner, Edward H., editors. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1941.
Sed huic operi exigendo quasi quandam machinam commenti maiores nostri regulam fabricaverunt, in cuius latere virgula prominens ad eam altitudinem, qua deprimi sulcum oportet, contingit summam ripae partem. Id genus mensurae ciconiam vocant rustici. Sed ea quoque fraudem recipit, quoniam plurimum interest utrum eam pronam an rectam ponas. Nos itaque huic machinae quasdam partes adiecimus, quae contendentium litem disputationemque dirimerent.
Nam duas regulas eius latitudinis, qua [*]()pastinator sulcum facturus est, in speciem Graecae litterae X [*]()decussavimus, [*]()atque ita mediae parti, qua regulae committuntur, antiquam illam ciconiam infiximus, ut tamquam suppositae basi ad perpendiculum normata insisteret; deinde transversae, quae est in [*](priore codd., superiore edd. ) [*](monendo om. SA, vett. edd.: movendo ac. ) [*](qua om. SAac. ) [*](greeae ehi littere (X in marg.) S: X om. AacM. ) [*](decusabimus SAac: densavimus M. a II. 2. 25, 4. 3. b "Middle " as the meaning here of latus (side) is defended by Gesner and accepted generally by other commentators. c This measuring device is not mentioned by other writers, though Isidore (Orig. XX. 15. 3) says that the Spaniards gave the name ciconia to a well sweep (tolleno) because the motion of the sweep, in drawing water, resembled the actions of the stork. Palladius (II. 10. 4) speaks of the use of the virga alone as a measure of the depth of trenched ground. It appears that the ancient ciconia here mentioned was in the form of the letter T, standing, like a stork, on one leg; though )
Nam stella, quam diximus Graecae litterae faciem obtinere, pariter imae fossae solum metitur atque perlibrat, quia sive pronum seu resupinum est, positione machinae deprehenditur; quippe praedictae virgulae superposita libella alterutrum ostendit nec patitur exactorem operis decipi. Sic permensum et perlibratum opus in similitudinem vervacti semper procedit; tantumque spatii linea promota occupatur quantum effosus [*]()sulcus longitudinis ac latitudinis obtinet. Atque id genus praeparandi soli probatissimum est.