Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 15 



marches, inspect every part of his farm, and observe whether in his absence any part 

 of discipline or watchfulness has been dispensed with ; and whether any vine, any otiier 

 tree, or any fruits are missing. Then likewise he ought to review the cattle and servants, 

 all the instruments of husbandry, and the household furniture. If he continue to do all 

 these things for some years, he will find a habit of discipline established when he is old ; 

 and at no age will he be so much impaired with years as to be despised by his servants." 

 (Co/., lib. i. cap. 9.) 



60. The earliest farmers among the Romans seem not to have been upon the same 

 footing as in Britain. The stock, on the farm belonged to the landlord, and the farmer 

 received a certain proportion of the produce for his labour. The farmer, who possessed 

 a farm upon these terms, was called politor or polintor, from his business, being the 

 dresser of the land ; and partuarius, from his being in a kind of copartnership with his 

 landlord, and his receiving a part of the produce of the farm for his labour. Cato takes 

 notice of this kind of farmers only, and it is probable that there were no others in his time. 

 " The terms," says he, " upon which land ought to be let to a politor : in the good land 

 of Casinum and Venafrum, he receives the eighdi basket ; in the second kind of land he 

 receives the seventh ; in the tliird kind he receives the sixth. In this last kind, when die 

 grain is divided by the modius, he receives die fifth part ; in the very best kind of land 

 about Venafrum, when divided by the basket, he receives only the ninth. ...If the land- 

 lord and politor husk the far in common, the politor receives the same proportion after 

 as before; of barley and beans divided by the modius, he receives a fifth." (Ch. xl. 

 xli.) The small proportion of the produce that the politor received, makes it evident 

 diat he was at no expense in cultivating the land, and that he received his proportion 

 clear of all deductions. 



61. The coloni or farmers mentioned by Columella, seem to have paid rent for their 

 farms in the same manner as is done by the farmers in Britain. The directions given by 

 this author to landlords, concerning the mode of treating them, are curious as well as 

 important. A landlord, he says, " ought to treat his tenants with gentleness, should show 

 himself not difficult to please, and be more vigorous in exacting cidture than rent, because 

 this is less severe, and upon the whole more advantageous. For, where a field is care- 

 fullv cultivated, it for the most part brings profit, never loss, except when assaulted by a 

 storm or pillagers ; and therefore the farmer cannot have the assurance to ask any ease of 

 his rent. Neither should the landlord be very tenacious of his right in every tiling to 

 which the fanner is bound, particularly as to days of payment, and demanding the wood 

 and other small things which he is obliged to, besides paying his rent, the care of which 

 is a greater trouble than expense to the rustics. Nor is every penalty in our power to' 

 be exacted, for our ancestors were of opinion, that the rigour of the law is the greatest 

 oppression. On the other, the landlord ought not to be entirely negligent in this matter; 

 because it is certainly true, what Alpheus the usurer used to say, tiiat good debts become 

 bad ones, by being not called for," &c. {Col., lib. i. cap. 7.) 



62. These dircctitjns are valuable even with reference to the present times ; and they 

 instruct us respecting the general management of landed property among the Romans. 

 It appears that the landlord was considered as understanding every thing respecting the 

 husbandry of his estate himself; and that there was no agent, or intermediate person, 

 between him and the farmer. The farmers paid rent for the use of their farms, and were 

 bound to a particular kind of culture, according to die conditions of their lease ; but tiiey 

 were perfectly free and independent of their landlords ; so much so, as sometimes to 

 enter into lawsuits widi diem. On the whole, they seem to have been upon the same 

 footing as the farmers of Britain in modern times. 



Sect. III. Of the Surface, Soil, Climate, and other Agricultural Circumstances of Italy, 



during the Time of the Romans. 



63. The agriculture of any country must necessarily take its character from the nature 

 of that country. The extent and manner of cultivating the soil, and the kind of plants 

 cultivated, or animals reared, must necessarily be regulated by the surface of the soil, the 

 natural productions, the climate, the artificial state, and the habits of the people. 



64. Tlie climate of Italy is regular, dry, clear, and considerably warmer than that of 

 Britain. At the bottoms of the mountains, it is subject to severe storms of hail in 

 summer, and snow in winter, which often do considerable damage ; but these are only 

 accidental disadvantages ; and in the champaign lands and gentle declivities, the vine, 

 the fig, and the olive, ripened anciently, as now, in open plantations, from one extremity 

 of Italy to die other. 



65. The surface of Italy is very irregular. A ridge of hills, and mountains passes 

 tlu-ough its whole length, forming numerous valleys of different degrees of extent ; 

 some elevated and narrow, others low and watered by a river, a stream, or by lakes. 

 The immense plain of the Po constitutes a capital feature towards the north-east ; the 

 -andy plain of Calabria towards the south ; and die marshy plain of Terracino, and 



