ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE. 145 



figure of Cato denouncing to the senate the extravagance of 

 Scipio's camp. " In parsimonia," says Livy, " in patientia 

 laboris, ferrei prope corporis animique : quern ne senectus 

 quidem, quae solvit omnia, fregerit." We are far, how- 

 ever, from insinuating that a future satirist will have oc- 

 casion to say 



" Narratur et prisci Joseph! 

 Ssepe mero caluisse virtus." 



Two Sasernas (father and son) lived between the time of 

 Cato and Varro, and wrote on agriculture. Their works 

 have not descended to us ; hut they are quoted as of ac- 

 knowledged authority by all the succeeding writers. 



Varro, " Romanorum doctissimus," lived through nearly 

 the whole century which immediately preceded the Christian 

 era. He was one of Pompey's generals and admirals, and 

 was subsequently librarian both to Julius and to Augustus 

 Caesar. His own very valuable library was wantonly de- 

 stroyed by Anthony. He was a very voluminous writer, but 

 a philological treatise, and his " De Re Rustica " are all 

 that remain to us. The latter work was written when he 

 was eighty years of age, and is in the form of a dialogue. It 

 is in three parts, and is dedicated to his wife. He was a 

 practical agriculturist, and frequently refers to the opera- 

 tions on his own farm, but he relies principally on the au- 

 thority of Mago, and some Greek writers. The work is by 

 no means servilely rustic, but diverges from time to time 

 into mythology and ethics. 



Some fascinating sentences in the " De Senectute "hardly 

 warrant our placing Cicero among the agricultural writers. 

 Though they display some practical knowledge, they relate 

 rather to the amenities than to the labours of husbandry. 

 In his opinion " vita rustica parsimoniae, diligentiae, justitiae, 

 magistra est" (Pro Rose.}} "aratores" are "id genus homi- 

 num quod optimum atque honestissimum est." (In Verr. 2.) 

 Agriculture, with him, is rather an honour to princes, and 

 the ornament and solace of declining age, than a painful 

 struggle with thorns and thistles brought forth by the 



