An alluvial field (alluvius ager) is that which a river little by little restores to the land. An arcifinial field (arcifinius ager) is so called which is not bounded by fixed measures of lines, but its boundaries are fended off (arcentur) by the interposition of rivers, mountains, trees; whence too in these fields no leftover parcels (subsiciva) come in between. A newly-broken field (novalis ager) is one first cut through, or one which lies fallow in alternate years for the sake of renewing (novandarum) its own strength. For 'novalia' will be once with fruit and once empty. A squalid field (squalidus ager) is as it were 'exculidus,' because it has already gone out from cultivation (cultura); just as an ex-consul (exconsul), because he has departed from the consulship. An oozing field (uliginosus ager) is always moist. For that is called 'humid' (humidus) which is at some time dried out. For 'uligo' is the natural moisture of the earth, never receding from it.
Offcuts (subseciva) are properly those things which the cobbler, cutting off from his material, casts away as though superfluous. Hence also 'subsiciva' are the fields which, when divided by the surveyor's rod (pertica), are rejected as though barren or marshy. Likewise 'subseciva' are those which, in the division of a field, do not make up a 'centuria,' that is, two hundred jugera. A threshing-floor (area) is so called from the levelness of the boards (tabularum). Now 'area' is named from flatness and levelness (planitie atque aequalitate); whence too 'ara' (altar). Others say the threshing-floor (area) is so called because it is scraped clear (eradatur) for threshing the crops, or because nothing is threshed in it unless it is dry (arida). A meadow (pratum) is one by whose abundance of hay the herds are maintained, to which the ancient Romans gave the name from the fact that it is at once ready (paratum) and does not require great labour of cultivation. And 'prata' are those which can be mown.
邊角料（subseciva）本義是指鞋匠從其材料切下、當作多餘而丟棄之物。因此，以測量桿（pertica）分田時被當作貧瘠或沼澤而剔除的田地，也稱為「subsiciva」。同樣，在分田時湊不足一「百畝地」（centuria），即二百尤格拉的田地，也稱為「subseciva」。打穀場（area）之名得自板面（tabularum）的平齊。「area」得名於平坦與平齊（planitie atque aequalitate）；因此「祭壇」（ara）之名亦由此而來。另有人說打穀場（area）之所以如此稱呼，是因為它為打穀而被刮淨（eradatur），或因在其上只打乾燥（arida）之物。草地（pratum）是以其豐富的乾草維持畜群之地，古羅馬人依其「即刻備妥」（paratum）、不需大量耕作之勞而給予此名。「prata」即可供刈割之地。
Marshes (paludes) are named from Pales, the pastoral goddess, because they nourish 'palea,' that is, the fodder (pabula) of the draught-animals. XIV. ON THE BOUNDARIES OF FIELDS. Boundaries (fines) are so called because the fields are divided by cords (funiculis). For lines of measurement are stretched out in the partition of lands, so that equality of measurement may be maintained. 'Limites' (boundary-paths) are called by an old word 'transverse,' for the ancients called all transverse things 'lima'; from which too come the 'limina' (thresholds) of doorways, through which one goes out or in, and the 'limites,' because through them one goes out into the fields. Hence too 'limus' received its name, the girdle with a slanting purple stripe with which the public slaves were girded. Boundary-stones (termini) are so called because they distinguish and declare the measures of the land (terrae). For by these the testimonies of the boundaries are understood, and the litigation and contention over fields is removed.
There are two greatest boundary-lines in fields: the 'cardo' and the 'decumanus.' The 'cardo' is that which is directed from the north from the pivot (cardine) of the sky; for without doubt the sky turns in the northern region. The 'decumanus' is that which is directed crosswise from east to west, which, because it makes the shape of an X, is called 'decumanus.' For a field twice divided produces the figure of the number ten (denarii). A boundary-marker (arca) is named from fending off (arcendo): for it guards the boundaries of a field and forbids access to them. A three-boundary point (trifinium) is so called because it binds together the boundaries of three properties. Hence too a four-boundary point (quadrifinium), because it does so for four. The remaining boundary-lines are narrower and stand apart from one another at unequal intervals and with designated names. XV. ON THE MEASURES OF FIELDS.
田地中有兩條最大的界線：「cardo」（南北軸線）與「decumanus」（東西軸線）。「cardo」是從天樞（cardine）自北向定出的；因為天無疑在北方旋轉。「decumanus」是自東向西橫向定出的，因為它形成 X 之形，故稱「decumanus」。因為田地兩度分割便形成十（denarii）這數字之形。界標（arca）得名於阻擋（arcendo）：因為它守護田地的界限，禁止人進入。三界點（trifinium）之所以如此稱呼，是因為它把三塊地產的界限連結在一起。因此也有四界點（quadrifinium），因它對四塊地如此。其餘的界線較窄，彼此以不等的間距分開，並有指定的名稱。第十五章 論田地的度量。
A measure (mensura) is whatever is bounded by weight, capacity, length, height, breadth, and by the mind. Our forefathers accordingly divided the globe into parts, the parts into provinces, the provinces into regions, the regions into places, the places into territories, the territories into fields, the fields into centuriae, the centuriae into jugera, the jugera into 'climata,' then the 'climata' into 'actus,' rods (perticae), paces (passus), steps (gradus), cubits (cubiti), feet (pedes), palms (palmi), inches (unciae), and finger-breadths (digiti); so great was their ingenuity. The finger-breadth (digitus) is the smallest part of rustic measures. Thence the inch (uncia), having three finger-breadths. But the palm (palmus) has four finger-breadths, the foot (pes) sixteen, the pace (passus) five feet, the rod (pertica) two paces, that is, ten feet. Now the rod (pertica) is named from carrying (portando), as it were 'portica.'
Omnesenimpraecedentesmensuraeincorporesunt, utpalmus, pes, passus, etreliqua; solaperticaportatur. EstenimdecempedumadinstarcalamiinEzechielotemplummensurantis. Actusminimusest, latitudinepedumquattuor, longitudinecentumviginti. Climataquoqueundiqueversumpedeshabentsexaginta, ita (sequiturfigura). Actusquadratusundiquefiniturpedibuscentumviginti, ita (seq. fig.). HuncBaeticiarapennemdicunt, abarandoscilicet. Actusduplicatusiugerumfacit; abeoquodestiunctumiugerinomenaccepit. Iugerumautemconstatlongitudinepedumducentorumquadraginta, latitudinecentumviginti, ita (seq. fig.). ActumprovinciaeBaeticaerusticiacnuamvocant.
For all the preceding measures are taken from the body, such as the palm, the foot, the pace, and the rest; only the measuring-rod (pertica) is carried in the hand. It is ten feet long, after the manner of the reed with which the temple is measured in Ezekiel. The smallest 'actus' is four feet in width and one hundred and twenty feet in length. The 'climata' likewise have sixty feet on every side, thus (a figure follows). The square 'actus' is bounded on every side by one hundred and twenty feet, thus (a figure follows). This the people of Baetica call an 'arapennis,' namely from ploughing (arare). The doubled 'actus' makes a 'iugerum'; it received the name 'iugerum' from being joined together (iunctum). Now the iugerum consists of two hundred and forty feet in length and one hundred and twenty in width, thus (a figure follows). The country folk of the province of Baetica call the 'actus' an 'acnua.'
The Baetici likewise define the 'porca' as thirty feet in width and eighty in length (a figure follows). But the 'porca' is that which stands raised up in ploughing; what is dug down is the 'lira' (furrow). The Gauls call a space of a hundred feet in city plots the 'candetum,' as it were 'centetum' (from a hundred). But in country fields they call the just 'candetum' a square of one hundred and fifty feet. Further, the 'stadial' field has one hundred and twenty-five paces, that is, six hundred and twenty-five feet; and its measure, reckoned eight times, makes a mile, which consists of five thousand feet. The 'centuria' is a field of two hundred iugera, which among the ancients was called after a hundred iugera, but afterwards it was doubled and yet retained its former name. For in number the centuriae were multiplied, but they could not change the name. On roads.
The measures of roads we call 'miliaria' (miles), the Greeks 'stadia,' the Gauls 'leugae' (leagues), the Egyptians 'schoeni,' the Persians 'parasangae.' And each of these has its own proper distance. The mile is bounded by a thousand paces, and it is called 'miliarium' as if 'mille adium' (a thousand of somethings), having five thousand feet. The league is bounded by one thousand five hundred paces. The stadium is the eighth part of a mile, consisting of one hundred and twenty-five paces. They say that Hercules first established this, and that he fixed it at that distance which he himself completed in a single breath, and accordingly named it 'stadium' because at the end he took breath (respirasset) and at the same time stood still (stetisset). A 'via' (road) is that along which a vehicle can go; and it is called 'via' from the passage (incursus) of vehicles. For it holds two 'actus,' on account of the meeting of vehicles coming and going.
Now every road is either public or private. A public road is one that lies on public ground, along which passage and traffic are open to the people. This either leads to the sea or to towns. A private road is one that is granted to a neighbouring township. It is called 'strata' (paved road) as if trodden (trita) by the feet of the common people. Lucretius (1.315): 'And the paved ways worn down by the feet of the crowd.' The same is also 'delapidata,' that is, paved with stones. The Carthaginians (Poeni) are said to have first paved roads with stones; afterwards the Romans laid them out through almost the whole world, on account of the straightness of the routes and lest the common people should be idle. The 'agger' is the raised middle of the paved road, laid down with heaped-up stones, and it is called from 'agger,' that is, a heaping together; and this the historians call the military road, as (Virgil, Aeneid 5.273):
'Like a serpent often caught on the causeway of a road.' 'Iter' or 'itus' is the way by which one may go on foot in any direction. But 'iter' and 'itiner' have different meanings. 'Iter' is a place easy for passage; whence we also call it 'itus.' But 'itiner' is the going of a long road, and the very labour of walking, so that you may reach where you wish. A 'semita' (path) is half of a road, so called from 'semi-itus' (half-way). A 'semita' is for men, while 'calles' (tracks) are for wild beasts and cattle. A 'callis' is a narrow and well-trodden path of cattle among the mountains, named from the callus of the feet, or from being hardened by the callus of the herds. 'Tramites' are cross-paths in the fields, or a straight road, so called because it lets one pass across (transmittat). 'Divortia' are the bends of roads, that is, roads tending in different directions.
Likewise 'diverticula' are diverse and divided roads, or cross-paths that branch off from the side of a road. A 'bivium' (fork) is so called because it is a double road. 'Compita' (crossroads) are so called because several roads meet (competunt) there, as it were 'triviae' (three-ways) and 'quadriviae' (four-ways). An 'ambitus' is the space between the buildings of neighbours, two and a half feet wide, left for the ability of going around, and named from walking around (ambulando). An 'orbita' is the track of a wagon, named from the circle (orbis) of the wheel. Further, an 'actus' is that by which cattle are wont to be driven (agi). A 'clivosum iter' is a winding road. 'Vestigia' are the marks of feet impressed by the soles, so called because by them the ways of those going before are tracked out (investigentur), that is, recognized.