Agricola: Agriculture and Rustic Life in the Greco-Roman World

Agricola

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, Manager
LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4

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AGRICOLA

A STUDY OF AGRICULTURE AND RUSTIC LIFE
IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD FROM THE
POINT OF VIEW OF LABOUR

BY
W E HEITLAND MA
FELLOW OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE

  ‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:
Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental power
And genuine virtue they possess who live
By bodily toil, labour exceeding far
Their due proportion, under all the weight
Of that injustice which upon ourselves
Ourselves entail.’ Such estimate to frame
I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)
Among the natural abodes of men,
Fields with their rural works; recalled to mind
My earliest notices; with these compared
The observations made in later youth,
And to that day continued—For, the time
Had never been when throes of mighty Nations
And the world’s tumult unto me could yield,
How far soe’er transported and possessed,
Full measure of content; but still I craved
An intermingling of distinct regards
And truths of individual sympathy
Nearer ourselves.

Wordsworth, Prelude, book XIII.