RURAL LIFE IN GREECE. 33 



of the Grecian heart, beyond the realm of Arcadia, real or 

 ideal.&quot; Through the whole compass of Greek literature the 

 sights and sounds of the country the murmuring of the bees, 

 the rising sun smiting the earth with his shafts, the rich mead 

 ows, the cattle feeding in the pastures furnish images on 

 which the city poets delight to dwell, and share with the sea 

 the thoughts that move harmonious numbers. The plains of 

 Attica were covered with rural homes; the country was full of 

 little sanctuaries for the rural deities, nymphs, and others who 

 frequented them. 



In the Greek classics we not only find how much they knew 

 of agriculture, but how little we have improved upon their 

 knowledge. They knew the virtues of guano, fish and sea-weed 

 in the corn fields; that land recovered its strength by lying fal 

 low; that hay ricks might become heated and burn up. Though 

 the grain was trodden out by cattle or horses on the threshing 

 floor, they had invented the flail, and a winnowing machine; 

 and well they knew the value of the potent juice of those 

 golden or purple clusters which grew on every tree and sunny 

 wall. They trained their grapes from tree to tree, making lofty 

 arches, beneath which the breezes could freely play, abundant 

 currents of pure air being regarded as no less essential to the 

 perfect maturing of the grape than constant sunshine. The 

 art of preserving the grape itself for the use of the table, either 

 in a fresh state, or as raisins, was everywhere practiced. 



The richest agricultural and horticultural contributions have 

 come down to us from the master minds of Greece. They 

 drew their inspiration directly from nature herself, and not from 

 what some earlier writer had said about nature. The pupil of 

 Socrates, the leader of the immortal retreat of the ten thou 

 sand, wrote from his farm at Elis: &quot;Agriculture, for an hon 

 orable and high-minded man, is the best of all occupations and 

 arts, by which men procure a living. For it is a pursuit that 

 is most easy to learn and most pleasant to practice; it puts the 

 bodies of men in the fairest and most vigorous condition, and 

 is far from giving such constant occupation to their minds, as 

 to prevent them from attending to the interests of their friends 

 or their country. A man s home and fireside are the sweetest 

 of all possessions.&quot; 



Hesiod s &quot; Works and Days&quot; are devoted to the rustic lore 

 which embodied the experience then attained. Nor can we fail 

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