Wishing to forestall an inquiry from Quinctius about the produce of his farm, Horace says that he will describe its forma et situs. What follows is not an impersonal description, but an account directed at Quinctius who is thought of as passing judgement on the farm. This involvement of Quinctius in the description must be extended to the protasis of the opening sentence of the description: continui montes si dissocientur opaca/valle…, temperiem laudes where the sense is something like ‘if you (...) were to find yourself in a place where the mountains, which crowd close to one another, are parted…, you would praise its temperate climate. (shrink)