410 AGRICULTURE. 



Pliny mentions a freedman, who, having much larger crops 

 than his neighbors, was accused of witchcraft, and brought to 

 trial. He produced in the forum a stout daughter, and his 

 excellently constructed iron spades, shears, and other tools, 

 with his oxen, and said: "These, Romans, are my charms." 

 He was acquitted. 



Profuse culture was not less condemned than imperfect cul- 

 ture. "The ancients," says Pliny, "assert that nothing turns 

 to less account than to give land a great deal of culture. To 

 cultivate well is necessary ; to cultivate to an extraordinary 

 manner is hurtful." "In what manner then," he asks, "are 

 lands to be cultivated to the best advantage ? " To this he 

 answers : " In the cheapest manner, if it is good " ; or, " By 

 good bad things," which, he says, were the words in which the 

 ancients used to express this maxim. 



Industry is recommended by numerous maxims. "The an- 

 cients," says Pliny, "considered him a bad husbandman who 

 buys what his farm can produce to him ; a bad master of a 

 family who does in the day time what he may do at night, 

 except in the time of a storm ; or worse, who does on common 

 days what is lawful to do on holidays ; and worst of all, who on 

 a good day is employed more within doors than in the fields." 



Kindness and humanity to servants and slaves are strongly 

 recommended. "Slaves," says Varro, "must not be timid nor 

 petulant. They who preside must have some degree of learning 

 and education ; they must be frugal, older than the workmen, 

 for the latter are more attentive to the directions of these than 

 they are to those of younger men. Besides, it must be more 

 eligible that they should preside who are experienced in agri- 

 culture, for they ought not only to give orders, but to work, and 

 that they may consider that he presides over them with reason, 

 because he is superior in knowledge and experience. Nor is he 

 to be suffered to be so imperious as to use coercion with stripes 

 rather than words, if this can be done. Nor are many to be 

 procured of the same country, for domestic animosities often 

 arise from this source. You must encourage those who preside 

 by rewarding them, and you must endeavor to let them have 

 some privilege, and -maid servants wedded to them, by whom 

 they may have a family ; for by these means they become more 



