Works and Days (440-455)

and then leave the work undone. Let a brisk fellow of forty years follow them, with a loaf of four quarters[*] and eight slices[*] for his dinner, one who will attend to his work and drive a straight furrow and is past the age for gaping after his fellows,

but will keep his mind on his work. No younger man will be better than he at scattering the seed and avoiding double-sowing; for a man less staid gets disturbed, hankering after his fellows. Mark, when you hear the voice of the crane[*] who cries year by year from the clouds above,

for she gives the signal for ploughing and shows the season of rainy winter; but she vexes the heart of the man who has no oxen. Then is the time to feed up your horned oxen in the byre; for it is easy to say: “Give me a yoke of oxen and a wagon,” and it is easy to refuse: “I have work for my oxen.”

The man who is rich in fancy thinks his wagon as good as built already—the fool! he does not know that there are a hundred timbers to a wagon. Take care to lay these up beforehand at home. So soon as the time for ploughing is proclaimed to men, then make haste, you and your slaves alike,