1 86 Labour-estimate. Preference of slaves 



as for growing 1 vines. This meant wholesale digging, and the slave 

 was in effect a navvy without pay or respite. No wonder thatfossor 

 became a proverbial term for mere animal strength and dull unadapta- 

 bility. An interesting estimate of the capability of an average digger 

 is quoted 2 from Saserna. One man can dig over 8 iugera in 45 days. 

 But 4 day's work is enough for one iugerum (about ^ of an acre). The 

 13 spare days allowed are set to the account 8 of sickness, bad weather, 

 awkwardness, and slackness. Truly a liberal margin to allow for waste. 

 It cannot have been easy to farm at a profit with slave-labour on 

 such terms; for the slave's necessary upkeep was, however meagre, a 

 continual charge. 



And yet we do not find Varro suggesting that free wage-earning 

 labour might in the long run prove more economical than slave-labour 

 even for rough work. Nay more, he does not refer to the employment 

 of contractors with their several gangs, each interested in getting his 

 particular job done quickly and the price paid. He only refers to 

 mercennarii in general terms, as we saw above. Nor does he speak 4 of 

 politic as a special process, as Cato does. It may be that he did not 

 think it worth while to enter into these topics. But it is more probable 

 that the results of agrarian legislation and civil warfare in the revolu- 

 tionary period had affected the problems of rustic labour. The attempt 

 to revive by law the class of small cultivating owners had been a failure. 

 Military service as a career had competed with rustic wage-earning. 

 Men waiting to be hired as farm hands were probably scarce. Otherwise, 

 how can we account for the great armies raised in those days? To refer 

 once more to a point mentioned above, Varro does not suggest that 

 the charge of an estate might with advantage be entrusted to a freemai 

 as vilicus. That we can discover all the reasons for the preference 

 slaves as stewards is too much to hope for. That it seemed to be 

 guarantee of honesty and devotion to duty, the manager being wholb 

 in his master's power, is a fairly certain guess. And yet Varro like 

 others saw the advisability of employing free labour for occasion* 

 work of importance. Perhaps the permanent nature of a steward's 

 responsibilities had something to do with the preference. It may w( 

 have been difficult to keep a hold on a free manager. In managemenl 

 of a slave staff no small tact and intelligence were needed as well as 

 thorough knowledge of farming. General experience needed to 

 supplemented by an intimate knowledge 5 of the conditions of the neigh- 

 bourhood and the capacities of the particular estate. And a free citizen, 



1 Cf Cato 56, Columella I 9 4. 2 KR r r g 2 , 6. 



3 valetudini tempest ati inertiae indiligentiae. 



4 In RR in 2 5 cum villa non sit sine fun do magno et eo polito cultura the reference is 

 quite general. 



5 This is well illustrated by the words of Cicero de refubl v 5. 



