Socrates makes this noble encomium up- 

 on agriculture : " It is/' says he, " an em- 

 ployment the most worthy of the applica- 

 tion of man, the most ancient, and the 

 most suitable to his nature; it is the com- 

 mon nurse of all persons, in every age and 

 condition of life ; it is the source of health, 

 strength, plenty, riches, and of a thousand 

 sober delights and honest pleasures ; it is the 

 mistress and school of sobriety, temperance, 

 justice, religion, and in short of all virtues, 

 both civil and military/' 



To prove in what estimation among the 

 ancients they were held who encouraged or 

 improved this art, it will be only necessary 

 to attend to what is stated by Plutarch, who 

 says that Ceres and Bacchus were mortals 

 that were deified for having given to men 

 immortal blessings, by bestowing on them 

 the knowledge of raising fruits. At Rome 

 especially, during the Commonwealth, the 

 greatest generals, consuls, and dictators, with 

 the same victorious hands that overthrew the 

 enemies of their state in war, turned up the 

 earth in time of peace. 



Pompey and Vespasian bore in their tri- 

 umphs trees which they had procured from 

 the conquered nations, as monuments more 

 durable and useful than those of brass or 



B 2 



