52 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



a case in point, for owing to these family ties they 

 are of better repute and fetch a greater price than 



6 others. The goodwill of the overseers you should 

 win by an occasional mark of esteem, and you 

 ought to discuss, too, with the best of the labourers, 

 the farm-work that is to be done, for where this is 

 the case their sense of inferiority is lessened, and 

 they feel that they are held in some account by their 



7 master. Their enthusiasm for work is increased by 

 treatment more generous than usual, by better food 

 and clothing, by occasional exemption from work, 

 or the permission to graze a beast of their own on 

 the farm, and by other privileges of the same kind 

 — so that any who have been given too hard a task, 

 or too severe a punishment, may thus be consoled, 

 and their goodwill and kindly feeling towards the 

 master be restored. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



SIZE OF THE STAFF 



I As regards the farm-hands, Cato considers two 

 factors: the quantity of land and the kind of crop 

 grown. Taking olive plantations and vineyards, 

 he describes what I may call two typical cases. In 

 the one he gives directions for the management 

 of an olive plantation of 240 iugera (160 acres), 

 stating that on a plantation of this extent you should 



