C 3'7 ] 



bours of agriculture: and it was a maxim of the 

 Zendavcfta, that he who fows the ground with 

 care and diligence, acquires a greater degree of 

 religious merit, than he could have gained by the 

 repetition of ten thoufand prayers. 



The Phenicians, fo well known in fcripture by 

 the name of Pbili/h'nes, were alfo remarkable for 

 their attention to, and (kill in agriculture. But 

 finding themfelves too much difturbed and con- 

 fined by the incurfions and conqueih of the 

 Ifraclitcs, they fpread themfelves throughout the 

 greatefr part of the Mediterranean iflands, and 

 carried with them their knowledge in the arts of 

 cultivation. 



Mago, a famous General of the Carthaginians, 

 is faid to have written no lefs than twenty-eight 

 books on the fubjccl-; which Columella tells us 

 were tranflated into Latin by the exprefs order of 

 the Roman Senate. 



Servius confirms this account, and adds, that 

 \vhen Virgil compofed his celebrated Georgics, 

 he ufed thefe books as a model. 



We arc informed by the ancient writers, that 

 Ceres was born in Sicily, where flie firft invented 



the 



