REVIEWS. 275 
had been a slave, but who was subsequently made free), C. Furius 
Chresimus, was envied by his neighbours because he raised more 
corn from a small farm than they or some of them could from 
large farms.” He became an object of jealousy to the bad far- 
mers of those days, who, like some in our times, had more land 
than capital. “They accused him of magic or sorcery, by which 
he enticed away the crops of others.” Let those who wish to 
cast stones at Pliny or at the men of his age, first read Dalzell 
on the darker superstitions of Scotland, or even some of the witch- 
trialsin England. “ Apprehensive of being condemned when the 
question was about to be submitted to the tribes, he had all his 
agricultural implements, his farm-servants, and family brought 
into the Forum. The iron tools were of first-rate quality, the 
mattocks were stout and strong, the ploughshares ponderous and 
substantial, the oxen sleek and in prime condition, the domestic 
servants robust, well-conditioned, and well clad. When all these 
had been exhibited, he cried aloud, ‘Here, Roman citizens, are 
my implements of magic; but it is impossible for me to exhibit 
to your view by bringing into this Forum those midnight toils of 
mine, those early watchings, those sweats, and those fatigues!’ ” 
This good story is a sequel and illustration of certain maxims 
current long before Pliny’s age. The following is a specimen of the 
wisdom of these ancients :—“ He is a bad farmer who has to buy 
what his own farm would have supplied him with ;” for example, 
to buy guano when he suffers the soakage of his farmyard to be 
wasted and evaporated in the sun, or to run into the nearest pond 
or brook; in the one case tainting the pure air, in the other poi- 
soning the good water. “ He is a bad manager who does im the 
day what might be done at night; he is a worse manager who 
does on a workday what he might have done on a holiday; but 
he is the very worst of all who works under cover in fine weather 
instead of labouring in the fields.” 
We beg leave to repeat, in recommending this work, that we 
are much obliged to Mr. Bohn for giving us a cheap edition of a 
curious book, and we are obliged to the translators for presenting 
it in a concise, clear, and readable style. 

