The Best of the Worlds Classics, Restricted to prose | Page 2

The Melmoth
translation revised)
II To Tacitus on the Eruption of Vesuvius. (From the "Letters." The
Melmoth translation revised)
SUETONIUS--(Lived in the first half of the second century A.D.)
I The Last Days of Augustus. (From the "Lives of the Cæsars."
Translated by Alexander Thomson, revised by Forester)
II The Good Deeds of Nero. (From the "Lives of the Cæsars."
Translated by Thomson, revised by Forester)
III The Death of Nero. (From the "Lives of the Cæsars." Translated by
Thomson, revised by Forester)
MARCUS AURELIUS--(Born in 121 A.D., died in 180.)
His Debt to Others. (From the "Meditations." Translated by George
Long)
* * * * *

ROME
234 B.C.--180 A.D.
* * * * *

CATO, THE CENSOR
Born in Tusculum, Italy, in 234 B.C., died in 149; celebrated as
statesman, general, and writer; questor under Scipio in 204; Consul in
195; served in Spain in 194; censor in 184; ambassador to Carthage in
150; one of the chief instigators of the third Punic war; among his
writings are "De Re Rustica" and "Origines."[1]
OF WORK ON A ROMAN FARM[2]
When the owner of the farm and slaves visits his country villa, after
saluting the household god, he should the same day, if possible, go
round the farm; if not the same day, he should do so the day after. On
seeing how the farm is being cultivated, and what work has been done
or left undone, he should call for his steward and inquire for his
account of what work has been done and what remains to be done. He
should ask whether the work has been completed in good time and
whether what is left uncompleted can be finished. He should find what
wine has been made, and what wheat stored. When he has gone into
these particulars, he should ask for an account of the days spent in
accomplishing the work.
If the work does not seem satisfactory and the steward should excuse
himself by declaring that he has done his best, that the slaves were
good for nothing, that the weather was bad, that some slaves had run
away, that he himself had been called off on public service, and should
allege other such excuses, he should still be strictly called to account.
He should be asked if on rainy or tempestuous days he had seen that
indoor operations had been carried on. Had the wine-casks been

scoured and lined with pitch; had the house-cleaning been done; had
the grain been taken from the thrashing-floor to the granary; had
manure been thrown from the stables and cow-houses and piled into
heaps; had the seed been winnowed; had any rope been made; had the
old rope been repaired, and had he seen that the slaves mended their
coats and caps. He should be reminded that on religious festivals old
ditches might have been cleared out, the public road mended, briers cut
down, the garden dug over, the meadow cleared, the trees trimmed,
thorns pulled up by the roots, the grain ground and a general clearing
up carried through. He should also be told that when slaves were sick
their rations should be cut down.
When the matters have been settled to the master's satisfaction, he
should take measures to see that what has not been done be at once
accomplished. He should then proceed to consider the account of the
farm, and a consideration of the amount of grain which has been
prepared for fodder. He should have returns made of wine and olive-oil,
and learn how much has been consumed, how much sold, how much is
left over and may be put on sale. If there is a deficit any year, he should
order it to be made up from the outside, and whatever is above the
needs of the farm sold. If there is anything to let out on contract, he
should order this to be done, and concerning the work which he wishes
to be thus accomplished he should give his order in writing. As regards
the cattle he should order them to be sold by auction, and in the same
way should sell the oil, if the price of oil has risen; likewise the
superfluous wine and corn of the estate. He should also order to be sold
worn-out bulls, blemished cattle, blemished sheep, wool, hides, any
plow that is old, old tools, old slaves, slaves who are diseased, or
anything else which is useless, for the owner of a farm must be a seller
and not a purchaser.
The owner of a farm and of slaves must begin to study in early
manhood the cultivation and sowing of the land. He should, however,
think a long time before building his villa, but not about farming his
property, which he should set about