BOOK I. VIII. 12-15 



food than is provided for the rest ; for in so doing he 

 Avill see to it that the bread is cai-efully made and that 

 other things are wholesomely prepared. He shall 

 permit no one to pass beyond the boundaries unless 

 sent by himself, and he shall send no one except 

 there is great and pressing need. He shall carry on 13 

 no business on his own account, nor invest his 

 master's funds in livestock and other goods for 

 purchase and sale ; for such trafficking wdll divert the 

 attention of the overseer and will never alloAv him to 

 balance his accounts with his master, but, when an 

 accounting is demanded, he has goods to show instead 

 of cash. But, generally speaking, this above all else 

 is to be required of him — that he shall not think that 

 he knows what he does not know, and that he shall 

 always be eager to learn what he is ignorant of; 

 for not only is it very helpful to do a thing skilfully, 14 

 but even more so is it hurtful to have done it in- 

 correctly. For there is one and only one controlling 

 principle in agriculture, namely, to do once and for 

 all the thing which the method of cultivation re- 

 quires ; since when ignorance or carelessness has to 

 be rectified, the matter at stake has already suffered 

 impairment and never recovers thereafter to such an 

 extent as to regain what it has lost and to restore the 

 profit of time that has passed. 



In the case of the other slaves, the followinff are, 15 

 in general, the precepts to be observed, and I do 

 not regret having held to them myself: to talk 

 rather familiarly with the country slaves, provided 

 only that they have not conducted themselves un- 

 becomingly, more frequently than I would with the 

 towTi slaves ; and when I perceived that their un- 

 ending toil was lightened hj such friendliness on the 



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