BOOK IV. II. i-in. 2 



sort or not sufficiently productive, the fruit falls 

 short, not on one prop alone, but on more than one. 

 And men of more than ordinary insight into agri- 

 cultural affairs think that even a vine of noble stock, 

 when it is so divided upon two stakes, will be less 

 fruitful because it is sure to form a mat of inter- 

 twined roots. For this reason the very same Atticus 2 

 directs us to propagate old vineyards by layers 

 rather than by spreading the whole vines flat, 

 because layers soon and easily strike root so that 

 each vine rests upon its own roots as though upon 

 proper foundations. But a vine that has its whole 

 body laid flat, by making a sort of lattice-work and 

 entanglement of roots in the soil beneath, forms a 

 mat and is choked by the intertwining of over-many 

 roots, and it fails just as if it were burdened with 

 many branches. Therefore I should prefer, on every 3 

 account, to risk the setting of tAvo plants rather 

 than one, and not to pursue as gain a course which, 

 considered from either side," may bring far greater 

 loss. But now the argument of the previous book 

 demands of us the beginning of the next as pro- 

 mised. 



III. In every sort of costly enterprise, just as Grae- 

 cinus says, most men enter upon new works with more 

 vigour than they maintain them when finished. 

 Some, he remarks, erect houses from the very founda- 

 tion, and then fail to bestow care upon the finished 

 buildings. Some are active in the building of ships, 

 but do not fit them out accordingly with gear and 

 crews when they are completed. Some have a fond- 

 ness for the buying of cattle, and some for acquiring 

 slaves ; but they are moved by no concern over the 

 keeping of them. Many also, by their inconstancy, 2 



359 



