knowledge
of them, and most of all if highly useful to the learner, worse than
shame, a scandal.

[12] Or, "the prelude to the piece."

XVI

Isch. First then, Socrates, I wish to demonstrate to you that what
is called [1] "the intricate variety in husbandry" [2] presents no
difficulty. I use a phrase of those who, whatever the nicety with
which they treat the art in theory, [3] have but the faintest practical
experience of tillage. What they assert is, that "he who would rightly
till the soil must first be made acquainted with the nature of the
earth."

[1] "They term"; in reference to the author of some treatise.

[2] Or, "the riddling subtlety of tillage." See "Mem." II. iii. 10;
Plat. "Symp." 182 B; "Phileb." 53 E.

[3] Theophr. "De Caus." ii. 4, 12, mentions Leophanes amongst other
writers on agriculture preceding himself.

And they are surely right in their assertion (I replied); for he who
does not know what the soil is capable of bearing, can hardly know, I
fancy, what he has to plant or what to sow.

But he has only to look at his neighbour's land (he answered), at his
crops and trees, in order to learn what the soil can bear and what
it cannot. [4] After which discovery, it is ill work fighting against
heaven. Certainly not by dint of sowing and planting what he himself
desires will he meet the needs of life more fully than by planting and
sowing what the earth herself rejoices to bear and nourish on her bosom.
Or if, as well may be the case, through the idleness of those who occupy
it, the land itself cannot display its native faculty, [5] it is often
possible to derive a truer notion from some neighbouring district that
ever you will learn about it from your neighbour's lips. [6] Nay, even
though the earth lie waste and barren, it may still declare its nature;
since a soil productive of beautiful wild fruits can by careful tending
be made to yield fruits of the cultivated kind as beautiful. And on
this wise, he who has the barest knowledge [7] of the art of tillage can
still discern the nature of the soil.

[4] Holden cf. Virg. "Georg." i. 53; iv. 109. According to the
commentator Servius, the poet drew largely upon Xenophon's
treatise.

[5] Or, "cannot prove its natural aptitude."

[6] Or, "from a neighbouring mortal."

[7] Or, "a mere empiric in the art of husbandry."

Thank you (I said), Ischomachus, my courage needs no further fanning
upon that score. I am bol