I] THE GLEANING 105 



or winnowing shovels' when there is a gentle breeze 

 blowing, so that the lighest part of them, called 

 acus or palea (chaff), may be blown away outside 

 the threshing-floor, while the heavy part, the grain, 

 comes clean of chaff to the basket. 



CHAPTER LHI 



THE GLEANING 



.\'hen the harvest is over, you should sell'* the 

 gleaning, or pull the stalks yourself; or else, if the 

 ears be few and labour dear, they should be eaten 

 down. For you must look to the main chance lest 

 in this matter the cost exceed the return. 



alltis) defines it as a cribrum areale = 2i sieve used on the 

 Lhreshing-flcx)r. It was used in the absence of wind (Colu- 

 mella, ii, 21). 



* Ventilabrum was a winnowing shovel {tttvov) by which 

 the corn was thrown up into the air across the wind. Win- 

 nowing seems to have been done in the same way in Homer's 

 as in Varro's time. Cf. Iliad, v, 499. 



' Venire. This is an instance of Varronlan ambiguity. It 

 may mean (i) to be sold, (2) to come. 



