Servius explains the meaning to be, that he should plough and sow “in fair weather, when it was so hot as to make clothing superfluous.” This seems to be very idle advice, and fixes on Virgil the imputation of a truism. An equally superfluous counsel is ascribed by Robinson and Grævius to Hesiod. We are correctly told that both γυμνος and _nudus_ applied to men who had laid aside their upper garment, whether the _pallia_ or _toga_, the Grecian cloak or the Roman gown; and thus is explained the passage in Matthew, xxiv. 18: “Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes:” but as no husbandman, whether Greek or Italian, unless insane, would dream of following the plough in a trailing cloak, Hesiod may safely be acquitted of so unnecessary a piece of advice. In the hot climates of Greece and Italy, it was probably the custom for active husbandmen to bare the upper part of their bodies. Virgil does not say “Plough in fine weather and not in winter;” but “Plough with your best diligence, for winter will soon be here:” equivalent to Hesiod’s “Summer will not last for ever.” [81] _The idler never shall his garners fill._] He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. PROVERBS, xxviii. 19. [82] _Trees bud no more._] The sap of the trees, which causes them to germinate, is then at rest. Trees when moist with sap are subject to worms, and the timber in consequence would be liable to putrefaction. Vitruvius also recommends that timber be felled in the autumn. [83] _A mortar of three feet._] The purposes to which ancient marbles are applied by the Turks may serve to explain the use of the mortar, which Hesiod mentions as part of the apparatus of the husbandman. “Capitals, when of large dimensions, are turned upside down, and being hollowed out are placed in the middle of the street, and used publicly for bruising wheat and rice, as in a mortar.” DALLAWAY’S CONSTANTINOPLE. [84] _Of bending figure._] So also Virgil, Georg. i. 169: Young elms, with early force, in copses bow, Fit for the figure of the crooked plough. DRYDEN. Dr. Martyn, in his comparison of Virgil’s plough with that of Hesiod, has fallen into the mistake of the old interpreters who render γοην _dentale_, the share-beam: whereas γυην is _burim_, the plough-tail, to which the share-beam joins. [85] _Thy artist join the whole._] In the original “the servant of Minerva,” that is, the carpenter. Minerva presided over all crafts, and was the patroness of works in iron and wood. [86] _with bread_ _Of four-squared loaf._] The loaf here mentioned is similar to the _quadra_ of the Romans: so denominated from its being marked four-square by incisions at equal distances. See Athenæus, iii. 29.