BOOK IV. HI. 2-5 



undo the kindnesses that they have done to their 

 friends. And that we may not wonder at these 

 statements, Silvinus, some men are niggardly in 

 the nurture of their children — objects of their 

 marriage ties and solemn prayers^ — and do not 

 look to their improvement through the training of 

 the mind or through the general furnishings of 

 the body. What is the inference from all this ? 

 Obviously that errors of like nature are commonly 

 made by husbandmen also, who for various reasons 

 abandon their most beautifully planted vineyards 

 before they reach the age of bearing, some shrinking 3 

 from the yearly expense and thinking it the first and 

 surest income to have no outgo at all ; as if they were 

 under an absolute necessity of making vineyards, 

 only to quit them presently because of their greed. 

 Some consider it a fine thing to have extensive rather 

 than well-tended vineyards. I have known a very 

 great number also who were convinced that their land 

 must be cultivated, whether by good methods or bad. 

 But my judgment would be, not only that every kind 4 

 of land cannot be pi'ofitable unless it is worked skil- 

 fully and ■with painstaking care, but that this is especi- 

 ally true of vineyards. For the vine is a tender thing, 

 weak, and exceedingly intolerant of ill treatment, 

 and it commonly suffers from over-productiveness ; 

 for, unless you place a limit upon it, it is exhausted 

 by its own fertility. And yet when it has strength- 

 ened itself somcAvhat and has, as it were, taken on 

 the vigour of youth, it endures neglect. But a newly 5 

 planted vine, unless it receives every proper care 

 while it is growing up, is reduced to extreme emacia- 

 tion, and it pines away to such a degree that it 

 can never be restored by any expenditure thereafter. 



361 



