Agricultural Statistics 



set apart for the household of the dominus. There are no 

 mediaeval Manors, no theories of the mark^ nor of the 

 120 acre system ; there is nothing (ut uidetur mihi) to be 

 adduced in demonstration of 2 or 3 course shifts, nor (ut 

 credo] is there any decided negative of rotations ; there is 

 ample testimony (4, 14, 15-17, 22, 26, 45) of a general 

 aversion to labour, wastefulness of Agriculture, and abund- 

 ance of land (agri). Section 26 particularly relates to 

 Husbandry ; in it I understand Tacitus to remark that the 

 arable, meadow, and grass fields of the Germans are occu- 

 pied (or put to profit) by all, in their respective villages to an 

 extent regulated by the number of actual cultivators (agri pro 

 numero cultorum ab universis in vicis occupantur)^ supposing 

 that all signifies each free household, and that a husband- 

 man, free or the contrary, is indicated by cultor, rather than 

 an inhabitant, and that should in vices be the true reading,* 

 the sense turns on alternate periods of labour for individuals : 

 the conclusion of the sentence (quos max inter se secundum 

 dignationem partiuntur) which fields they (the heads of each 

 free household) soon (suppose in April or May) divide 

 amongst themselves according to their dignity (sc. a lord 

 with many servi would naturally need a share much more 

 ample than an ingenuus with a few, or a liber tus with none). 

 Facilitatem partiendi camporum spatia prcestant follows, indi- 

 cating that the abundance of land renders partition easy, 

 there being therefore ample sustenance for each individual : 

 this is succeeded by the lines Arva per annos mutant et 

 superest ager, which (lit videtur mihi} implies that the Ger- 

 mans change their arable lands (or some of them) yearly 

 (by ploughing land out of grass), and (nevertheless) land in 

 grass is left in plenty (owing to the already mentioned 

 abundance) : the section closes with further notice of the 

 supineness of the husbandmen, and the amplitude of the 

 soil (amplitudine soli\ and a remark that the arable is only 

 taxed with grain crops (sola terrce seges imperatur), indicating 

 that beans, peas, etc., were not cultivated. The entire 

 Chapter comprises less than twelve lines, including a thrice- 

 repeated statement as to excess of land beyond the imme- 

 diate requirements of the population : in spite of this par- 

 ticular assistance from Tacitus, the Roman writer has of 



* Cf. Cicsar (c. B.C. 50), in his a/c of the Suevi : a possible reading 

 would be frequent changes of pasture, by reason of its superfluity. 



