AGRICOLA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, MANAGER LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4 [Illustration] NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY } CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. MADRAS } TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED AGRICOLA A STUDY OF AGRICULTURE AND RUSTIC LIFE IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF LABOUR BY W E HEITLAND MA FELLOW OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1921 _‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:_ _Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental power_ _And genuine virtue they possess who live_ _By bodily toil, labour exceeding far_ _Their due proportion, under all the weight_ _Of that injustice which upon ourselves_ _Ourselves entail.’ Such estimate to frame_ _I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)_ _Among the natural abodes of men,_ _Fields with their rural works; recalled to mind_ _My earliest notices; with these compared_ _The observations made in later youth,_ _And to that day continued—For, the time_ _Had never been when throes of mighty Nations_ _And the world’s tumult unto me could yield,_ _How far soe’er transported and possessed,_ _Full measure of content; but still I craved_ _An intermingling of distinct regards_ _And truths of individual sympathy_ _Nearer ourselves._ WORDSWORTH, _Prelude_, book XIII. PREFACE Very few words are needed here, for the book is meant to explain its own scope. I have only to thank those to whose kindness I am deeply indebted. Professor Buckland was so good as to help me when I was striving to utilize the evidence of the Roman jurists. Chapter XLIX in particular owes much to his genial chastisement. On chapters II and LXI Mr G G Coulton has given me most valuable criticism. Yet I thank these gentlemen with some reluctance, fearing that I may seem to connect their names with errors of my own. Mr T R Glover kindly read chapter XXIX. Professor Housman called my attention to the ‘Farmer’s Law,’ and kindly lent me Mr Ashburner’s articles, to which I have referred in Appendix B. To all these, and to the Syndics of the University Press for undertaking the publication of this unconventional work, I hereby express my sincere gratitude. My reasons for adopting the method followed in this book are given on pages 5-6 and 468.