De agri cultura[a] ([deːˈaɡriːkʊlˈtuːraː]), also known asOn Farming orOn Agriculture, is a treatise onRoman agriculture byCato the Elder. It is the oldest surviving work ofLatin prose. Alexander Hugh McDonald, in his article for theOxford Classical Dictionary, dated this essay's composition to about 160 BC and noted that "for all of its lack of form, its details of old custom and superstition, and its archaic tone, it was an up-to-date "treatise" constructed from his own knowledge and experience to the new capitalistic farming."[1] Cato was revered by many later authors for his practical attitudes, his naturalstoicism and his tight, lucid prose. He is much quoted byPliny the Elder, for example, in hisNaturalis Historia.
The work of Cato is often characterized as a "farmer's notebook" written in a "random fashion"; it is hard to think of it as literature. The book seems to be no more than amanual of husbandry intended for friends and neighbours. Its direct style, however, was noted by other ancient authors likeAulus Gellius as "forceful and vigorous", in a context of extreme simplicity. Perhaps the main achievement ofDe agri cultura is its depiction of rural life during theRoman Republic.[2]
Cato's introduction compares farming with other common activities of that time, specificallycommerce andusury. He criticizes both, the former on the basis of the dangers and uncertainty which it bears, the second because according to theTwelve Tables, the usurer is judged a worse criminal than a thief.[3] Cato makes a strong contrast with farming, which he praises as the source of good citizens and soldiers, of both wealth and high moral values.[4]
De agri cultura contains much information on the creation and caring of vineyards, including information on the slaves who helped maintain them. After numerous landowners in Rome read Cato's prose during this time, Rome began to produce wine on a large scale. Many of the new vineyards were sixty acres, and because of their large size, even more slaves were necessary to keep the production of wine running smoothly.[5]
One section consists of recipes for farm products. These include:
There is a short section of religious rituals such as theSuovetaurilia to be performed by farmers. The language of these is clearly traditional, somewhat more archaic than that of the remainder of the text, and has been studied byCalvert Watkins.
All of the manuscripts of Cato's treatise also include a copy ofVarro's essay of the same name.J.G. Schneider andHeinrich Keil showed that the existing manuscripts directly or indirectly descend from a long-lost manuscript called the Marcianus, which was once in theBiblioteca Marciana inVenice and described byPetrus Victorinus asliber antiquissimus et fidelissimus (lit. 'a book most ancient and faithful'). The oldest existing manuscript is the Codex Parisinus 6842, written in Italy at some point before the end of the 12th century. Theeditio princeps wasprinted at Venice in 1472;Angelo Politian's collation of the Marcianus against his copy of this first printing is considered an important witness for the text.[7]
De Agricultura public domain audiobook atLibriVox