Cbap. 7.] MAXIMS ON AGEICULTUBE. 17 



it ; that he is a worse manager still, who does on a work-day 

 what he might have done on a feast-day ; 78 but that he is the 

 very worst of all, who works under cover in fine weather, in- 

 stead of labouring in the fields. 



I cannot refrain from taking the present opportunity of 

 quoting one illustration afforded us by ancient times, from 

 which it will be found that it was the usage in those days to 

 bring before the people even questions connected with the 

 various methods employed in agriculture, and will be seen in 

 what way men were accustomed to speak out in their own 

 defence. C. Furius Chresimus, a freedman, having found him- 

 self able, from a very small piece of land, to raise far more 

 abundant harvests than his neighbours could from the largest 

 farms, became the object of very considerable jealousy among 

 them, and was accordingly accused of enticing away the crops 

 of others by the practice of sorcery. Upon this, a day was 

 named by Spurius Calvinus, the curule aedile, for his appear- 

 ance. Apprehensive of being condemned, when the question 

 came to be put to the vote among the tribes, he had all his 

 implements of husbandry brought into the Forum, together 

 with his farm servants, robust, well-conditioned, and well- clad 

 people, Piso says. The iron tools were of first-rate quality, 

 the mattocks were stout and strong, the plough-shares ponde- 

 rous and substantial, and the oxen sleek and in prime condi- 

 tion. When all this had been done, " Here, Koman citi- 

 zens," said he, " are my implements of magic ; but it is impos- 

 sible for me to exhibit to your view, or to bring into this 

 Forum, those midnight toils of mine, those early watchings, 

 those sweats, and those fatigues." Upon this, by the unani- 

 mous voice of the people, he was immediately acquitted. 

 Agriculture, in fact, depends upon the expenditure of labour 

 and exertion ; and hence it is that the ancients were in the 

 habit of saying, that it is the eye of the master that does more 

 towards fertilizing a field than anything else. 



We shall give the rest of these precepts in their appropriate 

 places, according as we find them adapted to each variety of 

 cultivation ; but in the meantime we must not omit some of a 

 general nature, which here recur to our recollection, and more 



78 Virgil, Georg. I. 268, et seq., speaks of the work that mieht be done 

 on feast days making hedges, for instance, irrigating land, catching 

 birds, washing sheep, and burning weeds. 



VOL. IV. C 



