Quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia silvas;
Vernula qua vario carmine ludit avis. Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. ver. III.
The poet lived at the time of the Gothic invasion. A moderate palace would have covered Cincinnatus's farm of four acres (Val. Max. iv. 4, 7). In laxitatem ruris excurrunt, says Seneca, Epist. 114. See a judicious note of Mr. Hume, Essays, vol. i. p. 562, last 8vo edition.