at no age will he be so much impaired with years as to be despised by his servants." (Cal. lib. i. cap. 9.) 60. The earliest farmers among the Romans seem not to have been upon the same footing as in Britain. The stock on the farm belonged to the landlord, and the farmer received a certain proportion of the produce for his labor. The farmer, who possessed a farm upon these terms, was called politor or polinter, from his business, being the dresser of the land; and partuarius, from his being in a kind of co-partnership with his landlord, and his receiving a part of the produce of the farm for his labor. Cato takes notice of this kind of farmers only, and it is probable that there were no others in his time. "The terms," says he, "upon which land ought to be let to a politor; in the good land of Casinum and Venafrum, he receives the eighth basket; in the second kind of land he receives the seventh; in the third kind he receives the sixth. In this last kind, when the grain is divided by the modius, he receives the fifth part; in the very best kind of land about Venafrum, when divided by the basket, he receives only the ninth. If the landlord and politor husk the far in common, the politor receives the same proportion after as before; of barley and beans divided by the modius, he receives a fifth." (Ch. xl. xli. The small proportion of the produce that the politor received, makes it evident that he was at no expence in cultivating the land, and that he received his proportion clear of all deductions. 61. The coloni, or farmers mentioned by Columella, seem to have paid rent for their farms in the same manner as is done by the farmers in Britain. The directions given by this author to landlords concerning the mode of treating them, are curious as well as important. A landlord, he says, ought to treat his tenants with gentleness, should show himself not difficult to please, and be more vigorous in exacting culture than rent, because this is less severe, and upon the whole more advantageous. For, where a field is carefully cultivated, it for the most part brings profit, never loss, except when assaulted by a storm or pillagers; and therefore the farmer cannot have the assurance to ask any ease of his rent. Neither should the landlord be very tenacious of his right in every thing to which the farmer is bound, particularly as to days of payment, and demanding the wood and other small things which he is obliged to, besides paying his rent, the care of which is a greater trouble than expense to the rustics. Nor is every penalty in our power to be exacted, for our ancestors were of opinion, that the rigor of the law is the greatest oppression. On the other, the landlord ought not to be entirely negligent in this matter; because it is certainly true, what Alpheus the usurer used to say, that good debts become bad ones, by being not called for. I remember to have heard it asserted by L. Volusius, an old rich man, who had been consul, that an estate was most advantageous to the landlord, which was cultivated by farmers, natives of the country, and born upon the lands, for these are attached to it by a strong habit from their cradles. So, indeed, it is my opinion, that the frequent letting of a farm is a bad thing; however, it is still worse to let one to a farmer who lives in town, and chooses rather to cultivate it by servants than by himself. Saserna used to say, that from such a farm a lawsuit was got in place of rent. For which reason, we ought to be careful to retain in our farms the same industrious farmers that have been bred in the country, when it is not in our power to cultivate them ourselves, or convenient to do it by domestics; which, however, cannot happen except in those countries that are laid waste by the severity of the climate, or barrenness of the soil. For wherever the climate is moderately healthful, and the soil moderately good, lands never produce so much under the care of a farmer, as under the care of a landlord, or even of a bailiff, unless his very great negligence or rapaciousness prevent it, both of which are, for the most part, owing to the fault of the landlord; for it is in his power to prevent such a person from having the management of his affairs, or to remove him if placed in that office. However, in farms that lie at a distance, to which the landlord has not easy access, as all kinds of them are better under the management of free farmers than under bailiffs, so particularly corn farms, which a farmer cannot destroy, as he can a vineyard and other plantations; for when such farms are cultivated by distant landlords, the oxen are greatly harassed, these and the other cattle ill fed, the land ill ploughed, and much more seed charged than sown. Besides these things, the produce of the land is not managed in such a manner as to turn out to any account; for, when the corn is brought to the threshing-floor, during the threshing it is daily lessened by fraud or negligence; the servants themselves carry it off, and they allow it to be carried off by thieves; nor even after it is laid up, is it faithfully accounted for ; so that, when the manager and servants are in the fault, the land is rendered infamous. Wherefore a farm of this kind, if, as I have said, the landlord cannot be on the spot, in my opinion ought to be let. (Col. lib. i. cap. 7.) 62. These directions are valuable even with reference to the present times; and they instruct us respecting the general management of landed property among the Romans. It appears that the landlord was considered as understanding every thing respecting the husbandry of his estate himself; and that there was no agent, or intermediate person, between him and the farmer. The farmers paid rent for the use of their farms, and were bound to a particular kind of culture, according to the conditions of their lease; but they were perfectly free and independent of their landlords; so much so, as sometimes to enter into lawsuits with them. On the whole they seem to have been upon the same footing as the farmers of Britain in modern times. SECT. III. Of the Surface, Soil, Climate, and other Agricultural Circumstances of Italy, during the time of the Romans. 63. The agriculture of any country must necessarily take its character from the nature of that country. The extent and manner of cultivating the soil, and the kind of plants cultivated, or animals reared, must necessarily be regulated by the surface of the soil, the natural productions, the climate, the artificial state, and the habits of the people. 64. The climate of Italy is regular, dry, clear, and, as every body knows, considerably warmer than that of Britain. At the bottoms of the mountains, it is subject to severe storms of hail in summer, and snow in winter, which often do considerable damage; but these are but accidental disadvantages; and in the champaign lands and gentle declivities, the vine, the fig, and the olive, ripened anciently, as now, in open plantations from one extremity of Italy to the other. 65. The surface of Italy, as every reader knows, is very irregular. A ridge of hills and mountains passes through its whole length, forming numerous valleys of different degrees of extent; some elevated and narrow, others low and watered by a river, a stream, or by lakes. The immense plain of the Po constitutes a capital feature towards the northeast; the sandy plain of Calabria towards the south; the marshy plain of Terracino, and the rocky coast of Genoa, towards the western shore. Columella and Palladius agree in stating, that the best situation of lands, is not so much on a level as to make the water stagnate, nor so steep as to make it run off with violence; nor so low as to be buried in the bottom of a valley; nor so exposed as to feel the violence of storms and heats; but that in all these a mediocrity is always best; champaign lands exposed, and whose declivity affords the rain a free passage, or a hill whose sides gently decline, or a valley not too much confined, and into which the air has easy access, or a mountain defended by a higher top, and thereby secured from the winds that are most pernicious, or if high and rugged, at the same time covered with trees and grass. (Col. lib. ii. cap. 2.; Pal. lib. i. cap. 5.) The situation of lands which Cato reckons the best, is at the foot of a mountain with a south exposure. Varro and Pliny concur in this opinion, and the latter states that the best lands in Italy are so situated. 66. The soil of Italy is as varied as the surface. About Genoa a yellow marly clay forms a base to schistous cliffs and hilly slopes; a blue clay containing sulphur and alum on the west coast, between Florence and Venice; volcanic earth about Rome and Naples; sand about Florence, and at the estuaries of most of the rivers; rich black loam in the central parts of Tuscany; rich, deep, soft, moist earth, and mild marly clay, in Lombardy. Columella divides the soils of Italy into six kinds; fat and lean, free and stiff, wet and dry: these mixed with one another, he says, make great varieties. In common with all the other writers, he prefers a free soil. 67. The native productions of Italy, in an agricultural point of view, are, timber on the mountains, pastures on the hill sides, and meadow or very luxuriant grass-lands in the alluvial plains. The rich, low, and yet dry lands do not produce a close pasture, but a rough herbage, unless they are covered with trees; the sandy soils produce little of any thing; and the fens and marshes reeds and other coarse aquatics. Such were the productions of Italy antecedent to culture. 68. The artificial state of the country, in respect to agriculture, during the time of the Romans, seems to have differed less from its present state than will be imagined. The cultivated lands were open, and enclosures only to be seen near the villas. These were of small size, and chiefly gardens and orchards, excepting in the case of parks for game, formed by the wealthy, which never were very numerous. With the exception of part of Tuscany and Lombardy, this is still the case; and the landscape, as Daniel Malthus has observed (Introd. to Girardin's Essay), which Pliny observes as seen from his villas, does not appear to have been different two thousand years ago, from what it is at this day. But the roads, canals, markets, and artificial water-courses for the irrigation both of arable and grass lands, are undoubtedly greatly increased since the time of the Romans though they also practised irrigation. 69. The habits of a people take their rise, in a great degree, from the climate in which they live, and the native or cultivated productions with which the country abounds. As respects agriculture, it may be sufficient to mention, that the great heat of the climate, by relaxing the frame, naturally produces indolence in many, and leads to a life of plunder in some. Hence then, as now, the danger from thieves and robbers in that country; and hence, also, the custom of performing field labors early in the morning, and in the evening, and resting during the mid-day heat. The general use of oil and wine as food and drink, and also of the fig as an article of nourishment, are habits which arise mediately from the circumstance of these articles being the artificial produce of the country; but are ultimately, like most other habits, to be referred to the climate. 70. These hints respecting the natural and agricultural geography of Italy, during the time of the Romans, are confessedly too scanty to be of more use than to recal to the reader's recollection the information on the same subject with which his mind is already stored; and by this means to enable him to form a due estimate of the nature and merits of the agriculture which we are about to describe. SECT. IV. Of the Culture and Farm Management of the Romans. 71. The Roman authors are much more copious in describing farm culture and economy, than in relating the state of landed property as to extent and proprietorship. Their directions, being founded on experience, are in great part applicable at the present day : they are remarkable for their minuteness; but we can only give a very brief compendium, beginning with some account of the farm and the villa, or farmery, and taking in succession the servants, beasts of labor, implements, operations, crops cultivated, animals reared, and profit produced. SUBSECT. 1. Of the Choice of a Farm, and of the Villa or Farmery. 72. In the choice of a farm, Cato recommends a situation where there are plenty of artificers, and good water; which has a fortified town in its neighbourhood; is near the sea, or a navigable river, or where the roads are easy and good. (Cat. cap. 1.) To these requisites Varro adds, a proper market for buying and selling, security from thieves and robbers, and the boundaries planted with useful trees. The interior of the farm was nct subdivided by inclosures, which were seldom used but for their gardens, and in the villas of the wealthy, to form a park. 73. The soil preferred by Columella and all the Roman authors, is the fat and free, as producing the greatest crops, and requiring the least culture: next, fat, stiff soil; then, stiff and lean soil, that can be watered; and, last of all, lean, dry soil. 74. The state of a farm preferred by Cato and some other writers is that of pasture, meadow, and watered grass-lands, as yielding produce at least expence; and lands under vines and olives, as producing the greatest profit according to the expence. The opinions of the Roman agriculturists, however, seem to disagree on the subject of meadows, apparently from confounding a profitable way of management, with a capacity of yielding great profit with superior management, and none without. 75. The word Villa originally denoted a farm-house and its appurtenances. In the first age of the commonwealth, these were very plain and small, suitable to the plain manners of the people, and adapted to the small size of their farms: but, when the Romans had extended their empire, when they had become rich and luxurious, and particular persons were possessed of large landed estates, then the villas became large and magnificent. In the time of Valerius Maximus, there were villas that covered more ground than was in the estates of some of the ancient nobles. "Now," says he, "those think themselves very much confined whose houses are not more extensive than the fields of Cincinnatus." (Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. 4. sect. 7.) In the days of Cato, it is probable that they had begun to extend their villas considerably, which makes him give a caution to the proprietors of land not to be rash in building. He recommends to them to sow and plant in their youth, but not to build till somewhat advanced in years. His words are remarkable: “ A landholder,” says he, "should apply himself to the planting of his fields early in his youth; but he ought to think long before he builds. He ought not to think about planting; but he ought to do it. When he is about thirty-six years of age, he may build, provided his fields are planted." (Cat. cap. 3.) 76. Men should plant in their youth, and not build till their fields are planted; and even then ought not to be in a hurry, but take time to consider. It is best, according to the proverb, to profit by the folly of others." (Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 5.) The reason why these authors recommend greater attention to planting than building is, that the labouring oxen in Italy, in the time of the Romans, were fed, for several months in the year, with leaves and mast; and the vine, the fig, the olive, and other trees, were cultivated for their fruit. 77. Build in such a manner that your villa may not need a farm, nor your farm need a villa. (Cat. cap. 3.) Varro assigns proper reasons for this. "In not attending," says he, "to the measure of the farm, many have gone wrong. Some have made the villa much smaller, and others much larger than the farm required. One of these is contrary to a man's interest, and the other hurtful to the produce of his lands. For we both build and repair the larger buildings at a greater expense than is ecessary; and, when the buildings are less than what the farm requires, the fruits are a danger of being destroyed." (Var. de R. R. lib. i. cap. 11.) Columella expresses self to the same purpose, and mentions two persons in particular who had fallen into C each of the extremes. "I remember," says he, "that many have erred in this point, as these most excellent men did, L. Lucullus and Q. Scævola, one of whom built a villa much larger, and the other much less than the farm required." (Col. lib. i. cap. 4.) 78. Pliny, noticing this remark of Cato's, observes that Lucullus had thereby rendered himself liable to the chastisement of the censors, having less occasion to plough his lands than to clean his house. "In this case," says he, "to plough less than to sweep, was a foundation for the chastisement of the censors." (Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii, cap. 6.) 79. Proportion the expence of the building to the rent, or the profits arising from the farm. "An edifice should be built according to the value of the farm and fortune of the master, which, immoderately undertaken, it is commonly more difficult to support than to build. The largeness of it should be so estimated, that, if any thing shall happen to destroy it, it may be rebuilt by one, or at most by two years' rent or profits of the farm in which it is placed." (Pal. lib. i. tit. 8.) 80. The position of the villa, and the situation of its different parts, are also noticed by some of these authors. "Some art," says Pliny, "is required in this. C. Marius, of a very mean family, seven times consul, placed a villa in the lands of Misenum, with such skill in the contrivance, that Sylla Felix said, that all others in this respect were blind, when compared to him.” (Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 7.) All of them advise that it shall not be placed near a marsh, nor fronting a river. Pliny cites the authority of Homer for this. Varro says, that such a situation is cold in winter and unhealthful in summer; that, in such a place, there are many small insects that, though invisible, enter the body at the mouth and nostrils, and occasion diseases. (Var. de R. R. lib. i. tit. 12.) Palladius gives reasons of the same kind. (Pal. lib. i. tit. 7.) Besides this, Varro directs, that, if possible, it shall be placed at the foot of a mountain covered with woods, in such a manner as to be exposed to the most healthful winds, and to enjoy the sun in winter and the shade in summer. An east exposure, he thinks, is the best for this purpose. (Var. de R. R. lib. i. cap. 12.) Palladius proposes, that for the same purpose, the villa shall front the south-east; that the prætorium, or master's house, shall be a little higher than the rest of the villa, both to secure the foundations, and to have a more agreeable prospect. (Pal. lib. i. tit. 8.) It is probable that both these authors have Italy particularly in view. But Pliny extends his views further; for he says, that the villa in warm climates ought to front the north, in cold climates the south, and in temperate climates the east. (Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 7.) Columella is more particular than any of the other authors, both in giving directions as to the situation of the villa, and giving reasons for the situation he recommends. (Col. lib. i. cap. 5.) 81. The villa is divided into three parts, the urbana, the rustica, and the fructuaria; all the particulars of these, Columella says, ought to be properly placed with respect to each other. The urbana contained the apartments of the landlord; the rustica contained the kitchen, the houses of the labouring servants, the stables, piggeries, and poultry houses, ponds for water, dunghills, on which, says Varro, some persons place necessary conveniencies for the family. (§ xii.) Adjoining the villa rustica, in the residence of opulent Romans, was placed the aviary, apiary, a place for dormice, a warren for hares and rabbits, a place for snails, and a large enclosure or park of fifty acres or more for retaining live deer and wild beasts taken in the chace. The fructuaria contained the oil and wine cellars, the places for the oil and wine presses, the corn-yards, barns, granaries, store-houses, repositories for roots and fruits, &c. 82. Both Columella and Palladius give directions how all these parts should be situated and constructed; but though minute, they are not so explicit as to enable any one to delineate their ground plan. The same may be said as to the directions given by these authors, and by Pliny (Nat. Hist. lib. xviii.), respecting the laying out of the villa urbana ; and the apartments for summer and winter. The subject of designing villas for the opulent belongs no doubt more to architecture than to agriculture; and therefore we shall refer for details to the plans given by Castel (fig. 10.), and other modern authors, who have attempted to embody the descriptions of the ancient writers. 83. Castel's general Arrangement of a Grand Roman Villa and its Environs, is as follows: (1) Prætorium. (2) Farm-house and offices. (3) Canal, parting the farm from the pretorium. (4) Stone-banks to the canal. (11) Ornithon of Varro. (12) Vivarium, or park for wild beasts. (17) Dormice. (18) Apiary. (19) Threshing floor and barn. (20) Mill driven by water. (23) Vineyards. 84. It is remarkable that no directions are given as to the materials of which the villa should be built. These would, in all probability, depend on local circumstances; rammed earth, timber, brick burned, or only dried in the sun, or stone, would be taken according to convenience. The remains of villas which have reached modern times, are chiefly of brick stuccoed over. Pliny mentions walls in Africa and Spain, called formacii, the formation of which, by cramming the earth between two boards, exactly agrees with the French mode of building mud walls, called en pise. He also mentions walls of unburnt brick, of mud, of turf, and frames filled up with bricks and mud. (Nat. Hist. lib. xxxv. cap. 14.) SUBSECT. 2. Of the Servants employed in Roman Agriculture. 85. The servants employed in Roman agriculture were of two sorts, freemen and slaves. When the proprietor or farmer lived on the farm and directed its culture, these were directly under his management; in other cases there was a bailiff or overseer, to whom all the other servants were subordinate. This was the case so early as Cato's time, who is very particular in his directions respecting the care a bailiff ought to take of the servants, the cattle, the laboring utensils, and in enacting his master's orders. 86. The bailiff was generally a person who had received some education, and could write and keep accounts; and it was expected that he should be careful, apt to learn, and capable to execute his master's orders with a proper attention to situations and circumstances. Columella, however, says, that "the bailiff may do his business very well, though he is illiterate." Cornelius Celsus says, that "such a bailiff will bring money to his master oftener than his book; because, being ignorant of letters, he is the less capable to |