54 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



ard set up by Cato, 240 iugera^ is neither a received 



5 unit of measurement nor convenient (a convenient 

 one would have been the centuria of 200 iugerd)^ 

 though, seeing that the 40 iugera subtracted from the 

 240 to make the centuria are their sixth part, I do 

 not see how, on his system, I am to subtract a sixth 

 from the thirteen slaves as well, nor is it any more 

 clear to me how, after deducting the bailiff and his 

 wife, I am to take away a sixth of the remaining 

 eleven slaves. 



Again, as to the statement that fifteen slaves are 

 needed in the case of a vineyard consisting of 

 100 iugera-. suppose a man has a centuria — half 

 vineyard, half olive plantation — it will follow that 

 he must have two bailiffs with their wives, which is 

 absurd. So we must find by some other way a 



6 general rule to determine the number of slaves 

 required, and on this head Saserna is better and 

 clearer than Cato when he states that one labourer 

 can get through a iugerum in four days' work. 

 Still, if one labourer was enough on Saserna's farm 

 in Gaul, it does not at all follow that such is the 

 case on mountainous land in Liguria. 



I conclude then that your best way to settle the 

 question of the size of your staff of slaves and the 

 rest of the farm equipment, will be to note with care 



7 three points: the size and nature of the neighbour- 

 ing farms, the number of hands with which each is 

 cultivated, and the number of labourers you find 

 may be added to or deducted from your staff, with 

 better or worse results in the cultivation of your own. 



