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When the harvest was gathered in, the Greek husbandman presented offerings to Ceres, crowned her with a spiky garland, and by many solemn rites expressed his superstitious gratitude. He and his household gave way to the joyousness of the season, and revelled in its newest bounties. Seated in a shady grot, enjoying the zephyr and the cool fountain, with his feast of milk and goats' flesh spread before him, and quaffing the dark Byblian wine, mixed with water, he solaced himself after his harvest toils with these the simpler luxuries of Nature,* while, by his libations and offerings, he set an example of gratitude to the God of the seasons, which more enlightened tillers of the soil would do well to imitate. In the most primitive times, and among the rudest tribes, we find man giving way to the gratitude of his heart for the rich supplies of Autumn. Shall we then receive the annual stores of the teeming earth without acknowledging, and gratefully rejoicing in the unceasing bounty of Him who is the Giver of them all?

J. D

* Op. et Dies, 589–596. There is a severe beauty in Hesiod's description of the husbandman's after-harvest feast, which can only be appreciated in the original. Yet I gladly subjoin Elton's translation, which, on the whole, is vigorous and faithful.

"Oh then be thine

To sit in shade of rocks; with Byblian wine,
And goats' milk, stinted from the kid, to slake
Thy thirst, and eat the shepherd's creamy cake;
The flesh of new-dropt kids, and youngling cows,
That, never-teeming, cropp'd the forest browse :
With dainty food to saturate thy soul,

And drink the wine, dark-mantling in the bowl:
While, in the cool and breezy gloom, reclined,
Thy face is turned to catch the breathing wind;
And feel the freshening brook, whose living stream
Glides at thy foot, with clear and sparkling gleam :
Three parts, its waters in thy cup should flow,

The fourth, with brimming wine may mingled glow."

The Byblian wine, so named from a district of Thrace, was thin, and not intoxicating. This, with some other points, gives an air of frugality and temperance to this finely-painted scene of rustic enjoy

ment.

SIXTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS.-THEIR HARVEST.

If the Romans were distinguished by their passion for war, and by the military cast of their institutions, they were no less remarkable for the attention they paid to agriculture, and for the respect in which they held the husbandman. In the early and best days of their republic, the plough was venerated; and often was it followed by consuls and laurelled commanders.*

While

commerce, with its subsidiary arts, was despised, the cultivation of the soil was thought in every respect worthy of Roman dignity; and hands, that one day, swayed the rod of empire, on the next, were guiding the plough, in some suburban farm. We see a Cincinnatus, and a Fabricius, notwithstanding their warlike glory, devoted to agriculture, as if it were the great business of their lives; and a Cato, testifying his love of that noblest of the arts, by writing an elaborate treatise on rustic affairs.† "From husbandmen," says that last-mentioned true Roman, "spring our strongest men and bravest soldiers; theirs is the most certain, the most honest, and the least invidious gain; and they are also the best affected members of the state." He also says that, in the early times of Rome, to be pronounced a good husbandman, was reckoned the highest praise of a citizen. According to Pliny, to cultivate his farm ill, was a crime for which the Roman was answerable to the censor.§ Agriculture, says Columella, is nearly related, and, as it were, akin to wisdom. Thus not only the civil and political

* Ipsorum tunc manibus imperatorum colebantur agri; ut fas est credere, gaudente terra vomere laureato et triumphali aratore. [Then were the fields cultivated by the hands of commanders themselves; the earth rejoicing, as we may well believe, in the laurelled plough, and the victor ploughman.]—Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. 4.

The only book extant of Cato's work, is enough to make us regret the loss of the rest.

De Re Rus. lib. i. c. 1.

§ Nat. Hist. xviii. 3.

effects of agriculture were thought highly of by the ancient Romans; but, as was most becoming, its moral influence was duly prized and cherished. The very name of husbandman, or colonist, was by them associated with all the simple and rustic virtues; while they considered a city life equally unfavorable to the moral and physical powers.

I do not here introduce any sketch of ancient Roman agriculture, though abundant and very interesting materials exist, in the works of Cato, Columella, Varro, and other writers on rural subjects, not omitting the elegant Virgil, of whom it has been said, that he tosses about even his dung, with dignity. A brief account of their harvest, however, will not be deemed out of place, at this

season.

Among the Romans, the reaping of wheat and barley began in June. The stalks of the ripe corn were cut by the middle, as among the Greeks, or pulled up by the roots; or the ears only were cut off, and the entire straw left standing. A sickle was the instrument usually employed. The grain was either immediately carried to the barn or threshing-floor, in baskets, or was left, fully to ripen and grow plump, as was thought, in the sheaf. Pliny, and Palladius, have each described a sort of reaping car, used in Gaul, which was mounted on two wheels, and set thickly round with rows of iron teeth, elevated according to the height of the corn. When steadily pushed along the field, by an ox trained to the work, the ears were caught by the projecting teeth, and fell into the middle of the machine. This instrument, however, does not appear to have ever come into very general use, and the account of it is chiefly curious, as showing that the mechanical genius of the ancients, as well as of the moderns, was turned in that direction.

In most of the Italian provinces, reaping with the hand appears to have been exclusively practised; but the modes were greatly diversified. The Umbrian reaper, cut the corn close by the ground, deposited his handfuls on the stubble, and afterwards, at his leisure, severed the ears from the straw; but the Picenian, with his saw-like sickle, contented himself with cutting off the ears, leav

ing the stalks standing on the field.* In the neighborhood of Rome, again, the mode of reaping, closely resembled our own.

The operation of threshing was an awkward and laborious one, as indeed it always was, even in the most civilized countries, before the invention of the threshing machine. A kind of heavy vehicle was repeatedly rolled or dragged over the corn, when spread out on the area; or cattle were driven over it, to crush out the grain with their hoofs; or, lastly, sticks were used to beat it out, after the fashion of our flails. The threshed grain was carried out to an exposed hill, where the wind might perform the office of fanners; or, failing the expected breeze, large fans were employed to disperse the chaff. But anxiously did the husbandman wait for the west wind, whose gentle and agreeable blast was highly favorable for his winnowing operation.†

On the consummation of the farmer's hopes and labors at the end of harvest, a general joy reigned in the fields, sacrifices of corn and fruits were offered to Ceres, and garlands of ripened ears were heaped upon her statue, or shrine. Superstition even owned a Vacuna,-a goddess of leisure,—who was not forgotten at this period of abundance and repose. The rural lord now collected his slaves and hired laborers, and held his harvest-home. Saturnalian license was, for at least one night, allowed the wearied reapers, and they were made to feel the rich plenty of the season. Hospinian thinks, that the celebration of the finished harvest, almost universal among the heathen, was borrowed from the Jewish feast of in-gathering; but, however this may be, we may safely affirm, that the gifts of autumn naturally produce in the heart emotions of gratitude and gladness, which always tend to manifest themselves outwardly, in offerings or thanksgivings to some superior power. Such natural emotions we ought to cherish, and turn to practical account; for, if the heathen, in their superstition, devoutly thanked an imaginary Ceres, or Flora, or Pomona, for the fruits and flowers of the earth, how

* Varro, lib. i. cap. 49.

† Colum. lib. ii. cap. 21.

ungrateful are we, if, at this joyous season of the year, we thank not the God of harvests, for his overflowing bounty, and if the measure of our gratitude exceed not that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, as much as our light is superior to theirs.

We may justly reckon, among the adaptations of the material world to man's moral nature, its capacity to call forth sentiments of joy and gratitude. The exuberance with which Nature for him pours forth her stores, at the period immediately preceding the privations and sterility of winter, is sufficiently remarkable; but independent of this, the arrangement by which one season excels all the rest, is calculated to produce a salutary influence over his heart. This laborious cultivation of the ground is not only useful in rousing him to industry, and crowning him with all its blessings, but its annual results, so rich and so abundant, are well fitted, we may say benevolently designed, to raise his thoughts from autumn, and its bountiful stores, to the God of seasons, who in his goodness feedeth man and beast, and sendeth his rain upon the just and the unjust.

J. D.

SIXTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

PROGRESS OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

So much has already been said, in a previous volume, on the present state of British agriculture, that I shall not recur to particulars, and shall content myself with a hasty sketch of its progressive improvement, and the circumstances by which it was affected.

When the Romans first invaded that distant island, about half a century before the birth of our Saviour, the inhabitants had made but small advances beyond the pastoral state. Their conquerors gave them the knowledge of agriculture, and of other arts of civilized life; but the calamities of internal warfare and foreign aggression, long retarded their progress. Though slow, however, their

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