[5] See Thuc. ii. 81: "The Hellenic troops maintained order on the march and kept a look-out until . . ."--Jowett.
[6] See "Cyrop." I. vi. 43.
[7] Lit. "it would be hard to find the man who did not know."
[8] Or, "to seize advantageous positions in advance." Cf. "Hiero," x. 5.
Similarly, every one will tell you that manure is the best thing in the world for agriculture, and every one can see how naturally it is produced. Still, though the method of production is accurately known, though there is every facility to get it in abundance, the fact remains that, while one man takes pains to have manure collected, another is entirely neglectful. And yet God sends us rain from heaven, and every hollow place becomes a standing pool, while earth supplies materials of every kind; the sower, too, about to sow must cleanse the soil, and what he takes as refuse from it needs only to be thrown into water and time itself will do the rest, shaping all to gladden earth.[9] For matter in every shape, nay earth itself,[10] in stagnant water turns to fine manure.
[9] Lit. "Time itself will make that wherein Earth rejoices."
[10] i.e. "each fallen leaf, each sprig or spray of undergrowth, the very weeds, each clod." Lit. "what kind of material, what kind of soil does not become manure when thrown into stagnant water?"
So, again, as touching the various ways in which the earth itself needs treatment, either as being too moist for sowing, or too salt[11] for planting, these and the processes of cure are known to all men: how in one case the superfluous water is drawn off by trenches, and in the other the salt corrected by being mixed with various non-salt bodies, moist or dry. Yet here again, in spite of knowledge, some are careful of these matters, others negligent.
[11] See Anatol. "Geop." ii. 10. 9; Theophr. "de Caus." ii. 5. 4, 16. 8, ap. Holden. Cf. Virg. "Georg." ii. 238:
salsa autem tellus, et quae perhibetur amara frugibus infelix.
But even if a man were altogether ignorant what earth can yield, were he debarred from seeing any fruit or plant, prevented hearing from the lips of any one the truth about this earth: even so, I put it to you, it would be easier far for any living soul to make experiments on a piece of land,[12] than on a horse, for instance, or on his fellow- man. For there is nought which earth displays with intent to deceive, but in clear and simple language stamped with the seal of truth she informs us what she can and cannot do.[13] Thus it has ever seemed to me that earth is the best discoverer of true honesty,[14] in that she offers all her stores of knowledge in a shape accessible to the learner, so that he who runs may read. Here it is not open to the sluggard, as in other arts, to put forward the plea of ignorance or lack of knowledge, for all men know that earth, if kindly treated, will repay in kind. No! there is no witness[15] against a coward soul so clear as that of husbandry;[16] since no man ever yet persuaded himself that he could live without the staff of life. He therefore that is unskilled in other money-making arts and will not dig, shows plainly he is minded to make his living by picking and stealing, or by begging alms, or else he writes himself down a very fool.[17]
[12] Or, "this fair earth herself."
[13] Or, "earth our mother reveals her powers and her impotence."
[14] Lit. "of the good and the bad." Cf. Dem. "adv. Phorm." 918. 18.
[15] Lit. "no accuser of." Cf. Aesch. "Theb." 439.
[16] Reading, with Sauppe, {all' e georgia}, or if, with Jacobs, {e en georgia argia}, transl. "as that of idleness in husbandry."
[17] Or, "if not, he must be entirely irrational." Cf. Plat. "Apol." 37 C.
Presently, Ischomachus proceeded: Now it is of prime importance,[18] in reference to the profitableness or unprofitableness of agriculture, even on a large estate where there are numerous[19] workfolk,[20] whether a man takes any pains at all to see that his labourers are devoted to the work on hand during the appointed time,[21] or whether he neglects that duty. Since one man will fairly distance ten[22] simply by working at the time, and another may as easily fall short by leaving off before the hour.[23] In fact, to let the fellows take things easily the whole day through will make a difference easily of half in the whole work.[24]
[18] Lit. "it made a great difference, he said, with regard to profit and loss in agriculture."
[19] Or if, after Hertlein, adding {kai meionon}, transl. "workmen now more, now less, in number."
[20] {ergasteron}, "poet." L. S. cf. "Orph. H." 65. 4. See above, v. 15; xiii. 10.
[21] Cf. Herod. II. ii. 2.
[22] Or, "Why! one man in ten makes all the difference by . . ." {para} = "by comparison with."
[23] Reading as vulg., or if {to me pro k.t.l.} transl. "by not leaving off, etc."
[24] i.e. "is a difference of fifty per cent on the whole work."
As, on a walking-expedition, it may happen, of two wayfarers, the one will gain in pace upon the other half the distance say in every five- and-twenty miles,[25] though both alike are young and hale of body. The one, in fact, is bent on compassing the work on which he started, he steps out gaily and unflinchingly; the other, more slack in spirit, stops to recruit himself and contemplate the view by fountain side and shady nook, as though his object were to court each gentle zephyr. So in farm work; there is a vast difference as regards performance between those who do it not, but seek excuse for idleness and are suffered to be listless. Thus, between good honest work and base neglect there is as great a difference as there is between--what shall I say?--why, work and idleness.[26] The gardeners, look, are hoeing vines to keep them clean and free of weeds; but they hoe so sorrily that the loose stuff grows ranker and more plentiful. Can you call that[27] anything but idleness?
[25] Lit. "per 200 stades."
[26] Or, "wholly to work and wholly to be idle." Reading as Sauppe, etc., or if with Holden, etc., {to de de kalos kai to kakos ergazesthai e epimeleisthai}, transl. "between toil and carefulness well or ill expended there lies all the difference; the two things are sundered as wide apart as are the poles of work and play," etc. A. Jacobs' emend. ap. Hartm. "An. Xen." p. 211, {to de de kakos ergazesthai e kakos epimeleisthai kei to kalos}, seems happy.
[27] Or, "such a hoer aught but an idle loon."
Such, Socrates, are the ills which cause a house to crumble far more than lack of scientific knowledge, however rude it be.[28] For if you will consider; on the one hand, there is a steady outflow[29] of expenses from the house, and, on the other, a lack of profitable works outside to meet expenses; need you longer wonder if the field-works create a deficit and not a surplus? In proof, however, that the man who can give the requisite heed, while straining every nerve in the pursuit of agriculture, has speedy[30] and effective means of making money, I may cite the instance of my father, who had practised what he preached.[31]
[28] Cf. Thuc. v. 7; Plat. "Rep." 350 A; "Theaet." 200 B.
[29] Or, "the expenses from the house are going on at the full rate," {enteleis}. Holden cf. Aristoph. "Knights," 1367: {ton misthon apodoso 'ntele}, "I'll have the arrears of seamen's wages paid to a penny" (Frere).