ROMAN AGRICULTURE. 409 



with a peacock. If very pretty, they were higher in price, some- 

 times selling for $41.60. Anius, a Roman knight, refused to sell 

 a pair under $60. Some kinds of fish were very highly valued 

 among the Romans, in the time of Varro. Hortensius, whom 

 Varro used frequently to visit, would sooner have parted with a 

 pair of his best coach-mules than with a bearded mullet. Her- 

 rius' fish-ponds, on account of the quality of fish, were sold for 

 $166,666. 



In every art which has long been practised, there are maxims 

 of management which have been handed down from one genera- 

 tion to another, and in no art are there more of these than in 

 agriculture. Maxims of this sort were held among the Romans 

 in the greatest estimation, and their writers have recorded a 

 number from the lost Greek writers, and from their own tradi- 

 tionary or experimental knowledge. 



A few of these will be noticed, as characteristic of Roman 

 economy, and not without their use in modern times. "To 

 sow less and plow better," was a maxim indicating that farms 

 ought to be kept within proper bounds. Pliny and Virgil con- 

 sider large farms as prejudicial, and Columella says one of the 

 seven wise men had pronounced that there should be limits and 

 measures to all things. "You may admire a large farm, but 

 cultivate a small one " ; and the Carthaginian saying that, "The 

 land ought to be weaker than the husbandman," were maxims 

 to the same effect. 



The importance of- the master's presence, in every operation 

 of farming, was inculcated by many maxims. " Whosoever 

 would buy a field ought to sell his house, lest he delight more 

 in the town than in the country," was a saying of Mago. 

 " Wherever the eyes of the master most frequently approach," 

 says Columella, "there is the greatest increase." 



That more is to be gained by cultivating a small spot well 

 than a large space indifferently, is illustrated by many sayings 

 and stories. "A vine dresser had two daughters and a vineyard. 

 When his elder daughter was married, he gave her a third of his 

 vineyard for a portion, notwithstanding which, he had the same 

 quantity of fruit as formerly. When his younger daughter was 

 married he gave her half of what remained, and still the produce 

 of his vineyard was not diminished." 



