mountain brooks, which often overflowed their banks in the rainy season and threatened destruction to the fields, had to be regulated by means of dykes. Descriptions of such structures have come down to us, and many traces of them may still be found in Greece, some of them even pointing to very considerable technical knowledge; the State, too, sometimes undertook work of this kind, as is proved by the office of water-superintendent, who, in many places, had the control of the natural and artificial watercourses, and whose duty it was to prevent undue use, and to inflict fines in such cases. We know very little about the management of farms and the arrangements for dividing land among large landowners or small cultivators, in the separate districts of Greece. Greek antiquity shows no traces of _latifundia_, such as gradually made way in Italy; there were some large estates with numerous slave-workers, but small farms were commonest. In some districts, as for instance in Arcadia, a small peasantry were the chief part of the population, and it is not surprising, therefore, that even the leaders of the State did not shrink from taking part in agricultural labour, though the larger landowners left this to their slaves and overseers. The Athenians, however, regarded the rough manners of these smaller farmers as coarse, and the citizens of the larger towns, accustomed to the refinements of ordinary life, mocked at their rustic manners; we scarcely ever find any recognition of the fact that a strong and healthy race of peasants together with an industrious middle-class is the best means for maintaining the life of a state.