BOOK I. IX. 1-4 



IX. Something should be said, too, as to what tasks 

 we think each kind of body or mind should be 

 assigned. As keepers of the flocks it is proper to 

 place in charge men who are diligent and very 

 thrifty. These two qualities are more important for 

 this task than stature and strength of body, since this 

 is a responsibility requiring unremitting watchfulness 

 and skill. Inthecaseof the ploughman," intelligence, 2 

 though necessary, is still not sufficient unless bigness 

 of voice and in bearing makes him formidable to the 

 cattle. Yet he should temper his strength with 

 gentleness, since he should be more terrifying than 

 cruel, so that the oxen may obey his commands and at 

 the same time last longer because they are not worn 

 out with the hardship of the work combined with 

 the torment of the lash. But what the duties of 

 shepherds and herdsmen are, I shall treat again in 

 their proper places ; * for the present it is sufficient 3 

 to have called to mind that strength and height are 

 of no importance in the one, but of the greatest im- 

 portance in the other. For, as I have said, we shall 

 make all the taller ones ploughmen, both for the 

 reason I have just given and because in the work of 

 the farm there is no task less tiring to a tall man ; 

 for in ploughing he stands almost erect and rests his 

 weight on the plough-handle.'^ The common labourer 

 may be of any height at all, if only he is capable of 

 enduring hard work. Vineyards require not so much 4 

 tall men as those who are broad-shouldered and 

 brawny, for this type is better suited to digging and 

 pruning and other forms of viticulture. In this de- 

 partment husbandry is less exacting in the matter of 



« Pliny {N.H. XVIII. 179) says that the ploughman does 

 not steer a straight course unless he stoops to his work. 



97 



