Musonius 277 



seems to have kept himself clear of conspiracies and intrigues, recog- 

 nizing the necessity of the monarchy and devoting himself to his pro- 

 fession of moral guide to young men. But any great reputation was 

 dangerous in Nero^jater years, and a pretext was found ^rbani^j^g 

 the^hilosoprier in_65. Under Galba he returned to Rome, still con- 

 vincedTo? the efficacy of moral suasion, witnessed the bloody suc- 

 cessions of emperors in 69, and risked his life in an ill-timed effort to 

 stay the advance of Vespasian's soldiery by discoursing on the bless- i 

 ings of peace. Vespasian seems to have allowed him to remain in I 

 Rome, and he is said to have been tutor to Titus. Yet he had not f 

 shrunk from bringing to justice an informer guilty of the judicial 

 murder of a brother Stoic, and he was generally regarded as the 

 noblest of Roman teachers, both in principles arid in practice, he has 

 been~spoTcerT of lis~ a forerunner_q_pjctetus and Marcus Aurelius. 

 Evidently no timeserver, he seems to have made allowance tor human 

 needs and human weakness in the application of strict moral rules. It 

 is a great pity that we have no complete authentic works of his sur- 

 viving: but some of the reports by a pupil or pupils have come down 

 to us. One of these extracts 1 is so complete in itself, and so striking 

 in its view of agriculture and agricultural labour, that I have translated 

 it here. We are to bear in mind that _the_opjnions expressed in ft 

 belong to a time wh<*n a small number of great landlbr ds gwngd ji 

 large part (and that the most attractive) of Italy, and vast estates in 

 the provinces as well. It is the luxurious and slave-ridden world of 

 Petronius and Seneca that we must keep before us in considering the 

 advice of Musonius; advice which we cannot simply ignore, however 

 much we may see in this good man a voice crying in the wilderness. 



'There is also another resource 2 , nowise inferior to the above, one 

 that might reasonably be deemed superior to it, at least for a man of 

 strong body : I mean that derived from the land, whether the farmer 

 owns it or not. For we see that there are many who, though cultiva- 

 ting land owned by the state 8 or by other persons, are yet able to 

 support not only themselves but wives and children; while there are 

 some who by the devoted industry of their own hands 4 attain to great 

 abundance in this way of life. For the earth responds most fairly and 

 justly to the care bestowed upon her, returning manifold what she 

 receives and providing a plenty of all things necessary to life for him 

 that will labour; and she does it consistently with a man's self-respect 

 and dignity. For nobody, other than an effeminate weakling, would 

 describe any of the operations of husbandry as disgraceful or incom- 



1 Preserved by Stobaeusyfrr LVI 18. It is in Greek, the classic language of Philosophy, as 

 the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, etc. 



2 7r6pos, a means of livelihood. 3 rj d-rjfwfftav TJ 

 4 avrovpyiKol Kal (f>i\6irovoi oVres. 



