was of a noble family; he distinguished himself in the field and in the fleet, and was for some time governor of Spain. None of bis numerous works remain except his Natural History, in thirtyseven books, which is full of the learning of the times, accompanied with much that is useless, frivolous, or erroneous. It treats of every art and science, and of every subject that could be comprehended within the range of natural history. It may be considered as a compendium of all that had been said by preceding writers on the subject, with the fruits of his own extensive experience and observation.

Palladius, the last of the Roman writers on agriculture, is supposed by some to have lived in the second, and by others in the fourth, century. His work On Rural Affairs is a poem in fourteen books, and is little more than a compendium of the works of preceding writers. It has been characterized as too dull to be read as a poem, and too concise to be useful as a didactic work.

From the writings of these Roman authors, a judicious treatise has been composed by the Reverend Adam Dickson, and published in 1788, under the title of "The Husbandry of the Ancients," to which we are indebted for the greater part of what we are about to submit on the subject of Roman Agriculture. Of these writers Mr Dickson observes, that, "instead of schemes produced by a lively imagination, which we too often receive from authors of genius, unacquainted with the practice of agriculture, we have good reason to believe that they deliver in their writings, a genuine account of the most approved practices,-practices, too, the goodness of which they had themselves experienced."

As the subject is extensive and complicated, we shall arrange it under the following heads:-first, The Proprietorship and Occupancy of Land; secondly, The Surface, Soll, and Climate of Italy; Thirdly, Culture and Farm Management; and, fourthly, The Produce of Roman Agriculture.

I.-Of the Proprietorship and Occupancy of Landed Property.

The Roman nation originated, as is well known, from a company of robbers and runaway slaves, who placed themselves. under Romulus. This chief having founded the city, and conquered a small part of the adjoining territory, portioned it out

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among his followers, and, by what is called the Agrarian Law, allowed no citizen to hold more than two jugera, or one and a quarter English acre. A portion of land was thus put into the hands of each, which he was able completely to cultivate, and on which he depended for subsistence. When agriculture was in its infancy, and little or no enterprise could be directed to its improvement, no plan could have been more effectual for increasing the productiveness of the soil, by all the means which their limited knowledge could command. Then, too, and for some centuries afterwards, every citizen, both in town and country, was a soldier, and being therefore trained to regular and systematic habits of action, he would naturally carry these habits into whatever he undertook. A bolder and more active industry, as well as greater order and economy, would be directed to the operations of husbandry by such a military agriculturist, than could have been expected from an ordinary farmer. This is confirmed by an observation of Pliny, that, in early times, the Roman citizens" ploughed their fields with the same diligence that they pitched their camps, and sowed their corn with the same care that they formed their armies for battle." By the marches and journeys likewise, which, as a Roman soldier, he had often to take, he would become acquainted with the customs and practices of others, and would not only gain directly by adopting what he observed superior to his own, but, what is more important, he would be in some measure liberalized and emancipated from that invincible adhesion to established usages, which is usually strong in the cultivators of the soil, and has often retarded the progress of agriculture.

After the expulsion of the kings a second Agrarian law was passed, by which seven jugera, or about four and a half English acres were allotted to each citizen. This long continued to be the portion assigned to each in the division of conquered lands; and many of their most eminent generals, as Quintius Cincinnatus, Curius Dentatus, Fabricius, Regulus, and many others, strictly confined their farms to the legal size. Curius Dentatus, after the taking of Tarentum, as a reward for his great services during the war, was offered fifty jugera by the Senate, but he declined them, and accepted only the portion of a common soldier. It may be observed, that, under the operation of both these laws, their

lands must have been cultivated with the spade, since a whole farm would scarcely have been sufficient for the maintenance of a single yoke of oxen. And Regulus, in his letter from Africa to the Senate, mentions on his farm of seven jugera, a bailiff, a hired servant, and two labourers, but no oxen; and, had the plough been used, one labourer would certainly have been sufficient.

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Although, in the division of lands, an equal portion was assigned to each, it soon came to be in the power of the wealthier citizens to increase it by purchasing more. When each soldier had received his share of a conquered territory, the remainder was divided into lots, usually of fifty jugera, and sold by the quæstors. The spirit of the Agrarian law, therefore, which was to preserve a kind of equality, soon came to be, in a great measure, set aside; and the estates of the richer citizens, by the frequent additions they received, soon increased to a size that awakened the resentment of the people and their tribunes. law was, in consequence, passed, at the instance of Licinius Stolo, that no one should possess more than 500 jugera. Its execution commenced with impartial rigour, as Stolo himself was condemned for transgressing its limits, though the excess was held in the name of his son. It continued, likewise, long to be strictly enforced, as appears from a remark of Pliny, who, when mentioning the prices of corn in ancient times, observes, that, in the time of Metellus, a modius of far was sold for an as, and that this low price could not be accounted for by the largeness of estates, since, by the law of Stolo, no one could possess more than 500 jugera. Each estate, whatever was its size, was held by the proprietor as an absolute right, with no acknowledgment to any superior power, and passed to his successors by testament, if he made one, or, if not, to his nearest relations, by common law.

It was anciently the pride of Roman virtue, that each proprietor should cultivate his own land, except when employed in the service of the state, but on the increase of wealth, and the gradual widening of different ranks, agriculture was committed to different hands, and managed by farmers or servants as in modern times. Those who retained the management of their own grounds, employed villici, or overseers, to superintend their

cultivation, who were usually either freedmen, or a kind of confidential slaves. Such proprietors had commonly both houses in the town and villas in the country. Though their farming operations were committed to others, they did not neglect, in the time of Cato at least, the interests and improvement of the country. The minute acquaintance which he requires of them respecting the whole management and productions of the farm, could we consider it as at all like a description of the degree of information usually current among proprietors, shows the extraordinary degree of care and attention bestowed by the higher classes of the Romans on agricultural affairs. The passage is so good in itself, and so characteristic, that we shall extract a part of it." After the landlord," says Cato, "has come to the villa, and performed his devotions, he ought to go through his farm, that very day if possible, or at least on the next. When he has considered in what manner his fields should be cultivated, what work should be done, and what not done, next day he should call the bailiff, and inquire what of the work is done, and what remains; whether the labour is sufficiently advanced for the season, and whether any thing remains that might have been finished; and what is done about the wine, corn, and all other things. When he has made himself acquainted with all these, he should take an account of the workmen and working days. If a sufficiency of work does not appear, the bailiff will say that he was very diligent, but that the servants were not well, that there were violent storms, that the slaves had run away, or that they were employed in some public work. When he has given these and other excuses, call him again to account on the same subject. When there have been storms, inquire for how many days, and consider what work might have been done in rain; casks ought to have been washed and mended, the villa cleaned, corn carried away, dung carried out, a dunghill made, seed cleaned, old ropes mended, new ones made, and the servants' clothes mended. On holidays, old ditches may have been scoured, a highway repaired, briars cut, the garden digged, meadows cleared of weeds, twigs bound up, thorns pulled, far (bread-corn) pounded; all things made clean. When the servants have been sick, the ordinary quantity of meat should not have been given them. When he is fully satisfied respect

ing all these things, and has given orders that the work that remains be finished, he should inspect the bailiff's accounts of money, corn, fodder, wine, oil; what has been sold, what remains, what of this may be sold, and whether there is good security for what is owing. He should buy what is wanting for the year, give orders concerning the works he wishes executed, and leave his directions in writing. He should inspect his flocks, make a sale, sell the superfluous oil, wine, and corn, if they are giving a proper price, sell the old oxen, the refuse of the cattle and sheep, wool, hides, old carts, old iron tools, and old and diseased slaves. Whatever is superfluous he ought to sell; a farmer should be a seller not a buyer.”

The influence and example of men so high in rank and authority, form another cause which tends to account, for the progress which agriculture made among the Romans. When they engaged themselves in its operations, they would heighten the character and respectability of the profession, and of all who engaged in it. And every improvement which they made or introduced, would speedily descend among all classes of husbandmen. In the time of Varro, however, it appears that they had considerably relaxed in the application which they bestowed on agriculture, as he complains that they resided too much within the walls of the city, and spent more of their time in the theatre and circus than in their cornfields and vineyards.

Many of the proprietors, requiring frequently to be in Rome, or at a distance from their estates, and being unable to exercise the necessary control over their stewards, would find it advantageous to give them an interest in the prosperity of the farm, by allowing them to share in its profits. This, therefore, was the next step in the division of agricultural labour. The stock on the farm was the property of the landlord, and the farmer received a certain proportion of the produce. A farmer of this description was called Politor, or Partiarius, the one implying that he was a dresser of the land, the other, that he shared in its produce. The portion assigned to the politor varied with the productiveness of the soil. On the rich lands of Venafrum and Casinum, he received only one-eighth or one-ninth; on inferior soils one-sixth, and sometimes even one-fifth. From the small share of the politor, it is evident that he defrayed no part of the