Roman Farm Management: The Treatises of Cato and Varro

Cato the Elder and Varro

Translated by Fairfax Harrison

146 chapters · about 4 h

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The opening

CATO'S DE AGRICULTURA

The pursuits of commerce would be as admirable as they are profitable if they were not subject to so great risks: and so, likewise, of banking, if it was always honestly conducted. For our ancestors considered, and so ordained in their laws, that, while the thief should be cast in double damages, the usurer should make four-fold restitution. From this we may judge how much less desirable a citizen they esteemed the banker than the thief. When they sought to commend an honest man, they termed him good husbandman, good farmer. This they rated the superlative of praise. Personally, I think highly of a man actively and diligently engaged in commerce, who seeks thereby to make his fortune, yet, as I have said, his career is full of risks and pitfalls. But it is from the tillers of the soil that spring the best citizens, the stanchest soldiers; and theirs are the enduring rewards which are most grateful and least envied. Such as devote themselves to that pursuit are least of all men given to evil counsels.

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About this edition

The words
Fairfax Harrison's English translation, copied word for word.
Left out
  • The source library's header, footer and license, in 4 places
  • The title page and opening pages before chapter 1, in 3 places
  • A preface, foreword or afterword, in 6 places
  • The printed table of contents (the app makes its own)
  • Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 2 places
  • Other material that isn't the author's, in 23 places
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of the definition of agriculture'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('a. What it is not'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('b. What agriculture is'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of the different kinds of soil'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('a. Size'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('b. Water supply'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('d. Arrangement'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('a. Fences'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('b. Monuments'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of agricultural labourers'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of draught animals'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of watch dogs'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of farming implements'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of planting field crops'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of planting olives'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of planting vines'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of the solar measure of the year'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('1° February 7-March 24'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('2° March 24-May 7'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('3° May 7-June 24'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('4° June 24-July 21'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('5° July 21-September 26'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('6° September 26-October 28'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('7° October 28-December 24.'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('8° December 24-February 7'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of tillage'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of manuring'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('b. Transplanting'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('c. Cuttage'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('d. Graftage'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('e. A "new" method—inarching'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of seeding alfalfa'); listed so it can be restored
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  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of seeding grain'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of the hay harvest'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of the wheat harvest'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('The threshing floor'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Threshing and winnowing'); listed so it can be restored
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  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of storing olives'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of storing amurca'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of cleaning grain'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of condensing amurca'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of racking wine'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of preserved olives'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of nuts, dates and figs'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of stored fruits'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of marketing grain'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of sheep'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of goats'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of swine'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of neat cattle'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of asses'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of horses'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of mules'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of herd dogs'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of shepherds'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of milk and cheese and wool'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of aviaries'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('a. For profit'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('b. For pleasure'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of pea-cocks'); listed so it can be restored
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  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of rabbits'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of game preserves'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of snails'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of dormice'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of bees'); listed so it can be restored
  • Harrison's topic line in Varro, matching his SYNOPSIS ('Of fish ponds'); listed so it can be restored
  • The index