ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 391 



With respect to the wages of agricultural labor, among the 

 Romans, very little benefit can be derived from knowing the 

 absolute sum of money paid for any article, unless it be compared 

 with the price of other commodities. The price of a slave, in 

 Cato's time, was about $250. In the time of Columella, it had 

 risen to $300, or to the price of eight acres of good land. A 

 good vine-dresser cost $350, and a good plowman or laborer not 

 less than $300. The interest of money, at that time, was six 

 per cent per annum; therefore, in stating the expense of farm 

 labor, a slave must be rated at not less than 12 per cent, as be- 

 ing a perishable commodity ; so that one who cost $300 would 

 fall to be charged at the rate of $36 per annum, besides his 

 maintenance and clothing. This may give some idea of the 

 wages that would be paid to a free servant, who hired himself 

 by the year, of which, however, there appears to have been no 

 great number, their wages not being stated. All servants were 

 maintained and clothed by the farmer or proprietor, and, as may 

 be supposed, it was the interest of the latter that this should be 

 done in a good and sufficient manner. 



Columella mentions what he calls an old maxim concerning 

 the bailiff: "That he should not eat but in the sight of all the 

 servants, nor of anything but what was given to the rest." He 

 mentions the reason for this: "For thus," he says, "shall he 

 take care that the bread be well baked, and the other things be 

 prepared in a wholesome manner." The same author mentions 

 the treatment the masters ought to give their slaves : " So much 

 the more attentive," he says, " ought the master to be in his 

 enquiry concerning this kind of servants, that they may not be 

 injured in their clothes, and other things afforded them, inas- 

 much as they are subjects to many, such as bailiffs, masters of 

 works, and gaolers; and the more they are liable to receive 

 injuries, the more they are hurt through cruelty or avarice, the 

 more they are to be feared. Therefore a diligent master ought 

 to inquire, both of themselves and likewise the free servants, in 

 whom he may put greater confidence, whether they receive the 

 full of what is allowed them. He himself ought likewise to try, 

 by tasting, the goodness of the bread and drink, and examine 

 their clothes, mittens, and shoes." In another place he says 

 that, "The bailiff should have the family clothed rather usefully 



