Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 21 



the goodness of the bread and drink, and examining their clothes, mittens, and shoes." 

 {Col. lib. i. cap. 8.) In another place, he says, "That the bailiff' should have the 

 family dressed and clothed rather usefully than nicely, and carefully fortified against the 

 wind, cold, and rain ; all which they will be secured from, by sleeved leathern coats, 

 old centones (thick stuff' used as bed-quiltsj for defending their heads ; or cloaks with 

 hoods. If the laborers are clothed with these, no day is so stormy as to prevent them from 

 working without doors." [Col. lib. i. cap. 8.) Cato likewise makes particular mention 

 of the clothes of the slaves : "The vestments of the family," says he, "a coat and a 

 gown three and a half feet long should be given once in two years; whenever you give a 

 coat or a gown, first receive the old one ; of these make centones. Good shoes should 

 be given once in two years." (Cat. cap. 59.) 



91. Cato informs us what quality of bread and wtTie, and what other kinds qf meat were] given 

 to laborers. Of bread, he says, each laborer was allowed at the rate of three pounds avoirdupois, 

 or of three pounds twelve ounces avoirdupois in the day, according to the severity of their labor. " During 

 the winter," says he, " the bailiff' should have four modii of wheat each month, and during the summer 

 fourmodii and a half; and the housekeeper, or the bailiff's wife, and the shepherd, should have three. 

 During the winter, the slaves should have four pounds of bread each in the day ; from the time that they 

 begin to dig the vineyard, to the ripening of the figs, they should have five pounds each ; after which 

 they should return again to four." {Cat. cap. 56.) To this bread, there was a daily allowance of wine; 

 during the three months that immediately followed the vintage, the servants drank a weak kind of wine 

 called lora. The manner in which this liquor was made, is described both by Pliny and Columella ; and 

 from the description given by them, it may well be supposed to be as good as the small beer given to 

 servants in Britain. {Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xiv. cap. 10.) It does not appear that the Roman slaves were 

 much restricted in the quantity ; Cato mentions no measure ; he only says, that they have this to drink 

 for three months after the vintage ; he proceeds in this manner : " In the fourth month, each should get 

 a hemina of wine in the day, which is at the rate of two and a half coTi^ii in the month; in the fifth, 

 sixth, seventh, and eighth months, each a sextary in the day, which is five congii in the month ; in the 

 ninth, tenth, and eleventh, each three hemince in the day, which is an amphora in the month. More 

 than this, at the saturnalia and compitalia, to each man was given a congius. The quantity of wine for 

 each man in the year is eight quadrantals ; however, as addition must be made according to the work in 

 which the slaves are employed, itis not too much for each of them to drink ten quadrantals in the year." 

 This allowance of wine, it must be acknowledged, was not inconsiderable, being at least seventy-four 

 gallons in the year, or at an average 1.62 parts of a pint in the day. 



92. Besides bread and wine, the slaves got what was called pulmentarium, which 

 answers to what in some parts of the country is called kitchen dripping or fat. (Plin. 

 Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 8.) For this purpose Cato recommends the laying up as 

 many fallen olives as can be gathered ; afterwards the early olives from which the smallest 

 quantity of oil is expected j at the same time observing that these must be given sparingly, 

 that they may last the longer. When the olives are finished, he desires salt fish and 

 vinegar to be given, and besides, to each man a sextarius of oil in the month, and a 

 viodius of salt in the year. ( Cat. cap. 18.) Columella, for this purpose, directs apples, 

 pears, and figs, to be laid up : he adds, if there is a great quantity of these, the rustics 

 are secured in no small part of their meat during the winter, for they serve for dripping 

 or fat. {Col. lib. xii. cap. 14.) 



SuBSECT. 3. Of the Beasts of Labor used by the Romans. 



93. The laboring cattle used by the Romans, as well as all the ancient nations, were 

 chiefly the ox, the ass sometimes, the mule for burdens, and but very rarely the horse. 

 The horse, however, was reared ; but almost exclusively for the saddle, the chace, or 

 for war. The respect for the ox which existed among the Egyptians, Jews, and Greeks, 

 was continued among the Romans, so much so that Varro, and after him Columella and 

 Phny, adduces an instance of a man having been indicted and condemned for killing one 

 to please a boy who longed for a dish of tripe. 



94. The breeding, breaking, feeding, and working of the ox is very particularly treated 

 of by the ancient authors. 



95, Bulls, says Palladius, " should be tall, with huge members, of a middle age, rather young as old, 

 of a stern countenance, small horns, a brawny and vast neck, and a confined beUy." [pal. lib iv' 

 sect. 11.) 



96. The cows. Columella "most approves of, are of a tall make, long, with very large belly, very 

 broad forehead, eyes black and open, horns graceful, smooth and black, hairy ears, strait jaws, very 

 large dewlap and tail, and moderate hoofs and legs." (Col. lib. vi. cap. 21.) 



97, Breeders both of horses and cows, Virgil observes, should attend principally to the 

 make of the female. " If any one," says he, " fond of the prize at the Olympic games, 

 breeds horses; or if any one breeds stout bullocks for the plough, he chiefly attends to 

 the make of the mother, who ought to be large in all her parts." ( Georg. iii. v. 49. ) The 

 same maxim is attended to by the best breeders of the present day ; and the reasons have 

 been most satisfactorily and scientifically given by Cline. {Commun. to Board of Ag. 

 &c. vol. iv.) 



98. For breaking and training cattle to the yoke, Varro and Columella give very par- 

 ticular directions. " To break bullocks," says Varro, *put their necks between forked 

 stakes ; set up one for each bullock, and give them meat from the hand ; they will be- 

 come tractable in a few days : then in order that by degrees they may become accustomed 

 to the yoke, let an unbroken one be joined with a veteran, whom he will imitate ; then 



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