De Agricultura

Marcus Porcius Cato (236 BC - 149 BC)

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Summary

Noted for being the most extensive piece of early Latin prose, it abounds in archaic imperatives and shows an almost total lack of subordinate clauses. Its subject matter is the pedestrian business of managing a Roman farm in the second century BC. The simplicity, however, may be only partially genuine. For Cato had a strong political and social agenda, based on the rejection of foreign, i.e., Greek, influences and the fostering of traditional Roman values, for which the persona of the plain rustic speaker may have proved useful.