14 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I, 



any superior power ; and passed to his successors, agreeably to testament, if he made one ; 

 or if not, by common law to his nearest relations. 



54. I7i the first ages of the commonwealth, the lands were occupied and cultivated by 

 the ^proprietors themselves ; and as this state of things continued for four or five centuries, 

 it was probably the chief cause of the agricultural eminence of the Romans. When a 

 person has only a small portion of land assigned to him, and the maintenance of liis 

 family depends entirely upon its productions, it is natural to suppose that the culture 

 of it employs his whole attention. A person who has been accustomed to regular end 

 systematic habits of action, such as those of a military life, will naturally carry those 

 habits into whatever he undertakes. Hence, it is probable, a degree of industrious appli- 

 cation, exactness, and order in performing operations, in a soldier-agriculturist, which 

 would not be displayed by men who had never been trained to any regular habits of 

 action. The observation of Pliny confirms tliis supposition : he asserts that the Roman 

 citizens, in early times, " ploughed their fields with the same diligence that they pitched 

 their camps, and sowed their com with the same care that they formed their armies 

 for battle." {Nat. iZwi.,lib. xviii. c. 3.) Corn, he says, was then both abundant and 

 cheap. 



55. Afterwards, when Rome exteyided her conquests, and acquired large territories, 

 rich individuals purchased large estates ; the culture of these fell into different hands, 

 and was carried on by bailiffs and farmers much in the same way as in modern times. 

 Columella informs us that it was so in his time, stating, that " the men employed 

 in agriculture are either farmers or servants ; the last being divided into free servants 

 and slaves." {Col., lib. i. cap. 7.) It was a common practice to cultivate land by slaves 

 during the time of the elder Pliny ; but his nephew and successor let his estates to 

 farmers. 



56. In the time of Cato the Censor, the author of The Husbandry of the Ancients observes, though the 

 operations of agriculture were generally performed by servants, yet the great men among the Romans 

 continued to give particular attention to it, studied its improvement, and were very careful and exact 

 in the management of all their country affairs. This appears from the directions given them by this 

 most attentive farmer. Those great men had both houses in town, and villas in the country ; and, as they 

 resided frequently in town, the management of their country affairs was committed to a bailiff or over- 

 seer. Now their attention to the culture of their lands and to every other branch of husbandry, appears, 

 from the directions given them how to behave upon their arrival from the city at their villas. " After the 

 landlord," says Cato, " has come to the villa, and performed his devotions, he ought that very day, if pos- 

 sible, to go through his farm ; if not that day, at least the next. When he has considered in what 

 manner his fields should be cultivated, what work should be done, and what not ; next day he ought to 

 call the bailiff, and enquire what of the work is done, and what remains ; whether the labouring is far 

 enough advanced for the season, and whether the things that remain might have been finished ; and 

 what is done about the wine, corn, and all other things. When he has made himself acquainted with all 

 these, he ought to take an account of the workmen and working days. If a sulficiency of work does not 

 appear, the bailiff will say that he was very diligent, but that the servants were not well ; that there 

 were violent storms ; that the slaves had run away ; and that they were employed in some public work. 

 When he has given these and many other excuses, call him again to the account of the work and the 

 workmen. When there have been storms, enquire for how many days, and consider what work might be 

 done in rain ; casks ought to have been washed and mended, the villa cleaned, corn carried away, dung 

 carried out, a dunghill made, seed cleaned, old ropes mended, new ones made, and the servant's clothes 

 mended. On holidays, old ditches may have been scoured, a highway repaired, briars cut, the garden 

 digged, meadows cleared from weeds, twigs bound up, thorns pulled, far (bread-corn, maize) pounded, all 

 things made clean. When the servants have been sick, the ordinary quantity of meat ought not to have 

 been given them. When he is fully satisfied in all these things, and has given orders that the work that 

 remains be finished, he should inspect the bailiff s accounts, his account of money, of corn, fodder, wine, 

 oil, what has been sold, what exacted, what remains, what of this may be sold, whether there is good 

 security for what is owing. He should inspect the things that remain, buy what is wanting for the year, 

 and let out what is necessary to be employed in this manner. He should give orders concerning the 

 works he would have executed, and the things he is inclined to let out, and leave his orders in writing. 

 He should inspect his flocks, make a sale, sell the superfluous oil, wine, and corn ; if they are giving a 

 proper price, sell the old oxen, the refuse of the cattle and sheep, wool, hides, the old carts, old iron tools, 

 and old and diseased slaves. Whatever is superfluous he ought to sell ; a farmer should be a seller, not a 

 buyer." {Cat., cap. ii.) 



57. The landlord is thm suirposed by Cato to be perfectly acquainted with every land of 

 work proper on his farm, and the seasons for performing it, and also to be a perfect judge 

 how much work, both without and within doors, ought to be perforaied by any number of 

 servants and cattle in a given time ; the knowledge of which is highly useful to a farmer, 

 and what very few perfectly acquire. It may be observed, likewise, that the landlord 

 is here supposed to enquire into all circumstances, with a minuteness of which there is 

 scarcely even an actual farmer in this age who has any conception. 



58. Varro complains that, in his time, the same attention to agriculture was not given 

 as in former times ; that the great men resided too much within the walls of the city, 

 and employed themselves more in the theatre and circus, than in the com fields and 

 vineyards. {Var. de R. R., lib. i. praef.) 



59. Columella complains that, in his time, agriculture was almost entirely neglected. 

 However, from the directions which he gives to the proprietors of land, it appears that 

 there were still a few who continued to pay a regard to it ; for, after mentioning some 

 things, which he says, by the justice and care of the landlord, contribute much to im- 

 prove his estate, he adds, But he should likewise remember, when he returns from tlic 

 city, immediately after paying his devotions, if he has time, if not, next day, to view his 



