DULLNESS OF COUNTRY LIFE. 265 



the " Georgics " were written at the instance of 

 a wise emperor to tempt the Roman people 

 from the bread and circus games of the city to 

 the bread and rustic dances of the country-side. 

 The Italian people continued to flow to the 

 cities, and the Roman Power in time fell, as 

 other Powers had fallen, from the same root 

 cause — the divorce of the people from the soil, 

 with, as the result of that divorce, a loss of 

 national energy and national courage. 



M. Delalande, the President of the French 

 Agricultural Union, in a recent fine speech, 

 said : ' In every agriculturist there slumbers 

 a soldier — and a good soldier, since he fights 

 in defence of the soil that he loves so well." 

 He might with truth have added that, in the 

 light of human experience, a nation which 

 ceases to have good agriculturists, in time ceases 

 to have good soldiers. Recognizing that the 

 drift from the land is a symptom of decay, most 

 nations take means to combat it. Withal, it 

 continues. Pessimists see therein a sign of in- 

 evitable doom for our civilization. Optimists 

 prefer to think that, as education progresses 

 from its present stage of giving a disturbing 



