BOOK III

THE HUSBANDRY OF THE STEADING

_Introduction: the antiquity of country life_

I

There are two modes of human life, my dear Pinnius, which are
manifestly as different in the time of their origin as they are in
their habitat, that of the country and that of the town. Country life
is much the more ancient, for time was when men lived altogether in
the country and had no towns: indeed, the oldest town in Greece,
according to the tradition, is the Boeotian Thebes, which was founded
by King Ogyges, and in our own land that of Rome, founded by King
Romulus of which now it may be affirmed with confidence, as was not
possible when Ennius wrote:

"'Tis seven hundred years, or more or less,
Since first illustrious Rome began her sway,
With hallowed augury."

Now, if it is admitted that Thebes was founded before the deluge,
which is known by Ogyges' name, its age is not more than about
twenty-one hundred years: and if that period is compared with the
lapse of time since men began to cultivate the land and to live in
huts and hovels, knowing naught of city walls and gates, it is evident
that life in the country preceded life in town by a tale of immemorial
years. Nor is this to be wondered at since 'God made the country and
man made the town.'[157] While the tradition is that all the arts were
invented in Greece within a thousand years, there never was a time
when the earth could not be cultivated. And, as life in the country
is the more ancient, so it is the better life: for it was not without
good reason that our ancestors were wont to plant colonies of citizens
in the country, because by them they were both fed in times of peace
and protected in times of war: nor was it without significance that
they called both the Earth and Ceres by the common name of Mother and
esteemed that those who worshipped her lead a life at once pious and
useful and were the sole representatives left on earth of the race of
Saturn. A proof of this is that the mysteries peculiar to the cult of
Ceres were called _Initia_, the very name indicating that they related
to the beginning of things.

A further proof that country life was earlier than that of town is
found in the name of the town of Thebes, which was bestowed from the
character of its situation rather than from the name of its founder:
for in the ancient language, and among the Aeolians who had their
origin in Boeotia, a small hill is called _tebas_ without the