No. 4. J EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURE. 241 



returned from pleading the cases of his clients to till his be- 

 loved acres. But these were in the days before Rome became 

 depraved. Pliny says: "In those happy times, the earth, 

 glorious in seeing herself cultivated by the hands of trium- 

 phant victors, seemed to make new efforts to produce her 

 fruits with greater abundance ; that is, no doubt, because those 

 great men, equally capable of handling the plough and their 

 arms, of sowing and conquering lands, applied themselves 

 Avith more attention to their labor, and were of course more 

 successful in it. And, indeed, when a person of condition, 

 with a superior genius, applies himself to arts, experience 

 shows us, that he does it with greater ability, force of mind, 

 industry, taste and with more inventions, new discoveries 

 and various experiments ; whereas an ordinary man confines 

 himself within the common road and to his ancient customs ; 

 nothing opens his eyes, nothing raises him above the old 

 habitudes, and after many years of labor he continues still 

 the same, without making any progress in the profession he 

 follows." 



It is also interesting to note the fact that numerous great 

 men of ancient times not only wrought on the farm, but they 

 gave the world the benefit of their experience in voluminous 

 treatises on agriculture. It is surprising that Mago, the 

 great Carthaginian general, wrote twenty-eight volumes on 

 agriculture, which were deemed of such importance that they 

 were translated into Greek and Latin. There were fifty 

 Greek authors who wrote upon agricultural subjects, accord- 

 ing to Yarro. Among the Latin authors, the most noted 

 were Cato, Varro and Columella, who treat with much detail 

 the various departments of agriculture. 



The foregoing account covers the palmy days of the re- 

 public, when the proudest claim a man could make was that 

 he was a Roman citizen. Then followed the empire which 

 became burdened with the evils of luxury, effeminacy and 

 vice, when all that was noblest under stern republican rule 

 faded from the minds of men, who scorned to be known as 

 farmers, who relegated such menial service to slaves ; and, 

 as a result, husbandry declined, while Rome hastened to its 

 final disruption by the barbarian hordes, and into the gloom 

 of the mediaeval night, which blasted Europe with its miasma 



