“It is the practice to shear goats in the greater part of Phrygia because there the goats have heavy coats, of which cilicia (so called because the practice of shearing goats began in the city of that name) and other hair cloth materials of that kind are made.”

With this Cossinius stopped, and, while he was waiting for criticism of what he had said, Vitulus’ freedman, coming into town from the gardens [of his master] turned to us and said, “I was on my way to your house to invite you to come early so as not to shorten the holiday.”

And so, my dear Turranius Niger, we separated:  Scrofa and I going to the gardens of Vitulus; the others, some home and some to see Menas.

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.