Pond of Senex Caecilius

The Pond of Senex Caecilius

We enjoy a constant supply of cool, pure water from the mountain springs, and the runoff creates a pond where wild ducks and geese make their homes. (The ducks have been fed with kitchen scraps for so long that they are practically tame.) It is very peaceful here; only the croaking of frogs disturbs the quiet. Vigilax plans to stock the pond with fish in the very near future. Did you hear the frogs?

Here is some additional information about hunting, fishing, and wildlife.

Meat in the Roman diet was supplemented by hunting a variety of game: deer, hares, wild pigs, geese, ducks, pheasants, and smaller birds.

Both freshwater and marine varieties of fish were eaten extensively, with some types being cultivated in fishponds.

Shellfish of all sorts, oysters in particular, were traded widely and sometimes reared in artificial beds.

Some of the preceding information comes from Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, written by Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins and published in1994 by The Oxford University Press (New York).