De Agricultura

Latest revision as of 21:38, 12 May 2010

 Home| Latíné | Deutsch | Español | Français | Italiano | Magyar | Português | Română | Русский | English

The information in Cato's manual is presented in a very haphazard order, like the jottings of an ordinary farmer, and his prose is usually abrupt and archaic. This is partly the product of the age in which it was written, when Latin prose was very much in its infancy. However, we must bear in mind when reading it that Cato was not just a simple farmer, but was also an extremely well-educated general and orator, capable of producing eloquent and persuasive legal speeches.

Although Cato himself claimed to hold literary composition in contempt, we must remember that his education meant that the rustic appearance of the language in the De Agricultura is to an extent a literary artifice in itself. It is an expression on Cato's behalf of the belief that true virtue and morality came with simple rustic living. We must not be seduced into thinking that Cato was really the country bumpkin he presents himself as.

Cato's descriptions of farming rituals are usually very simple, but his prayers are often written in a more elevated style. In particular, the prayer for the purification of land found at chapter 141 is almost poetic in its use of metre, alliteration and word-order. Both rituals and prayers tend to include a limited range of vocabulary, and a number of repeated stock phrases. These are not signs of any lack of imagination of Cato's part, but an indication of the oral culture from which they are drawn. When recited by heart, these devices would make the formulas and the prayers easier to remember.

Although the prayers which Cato preserves are intended for use on a farm, they deal with universal concerns, such as the success of enterprises, the protection of the family and the proper harmony between men and gods, and can thus be readily adapted for a number of modern uses. The wording of Cato's prayers is usually very general, and could easily fit almost any situation, but in some cases, modern adaptation might require slight changes in vocabulary — for instance, where Cato refers to a farm, the modern worshiper might wish to substitute words such as "house" or "business".

As long as it is kept to a necessary minimum, substitution can be carried out quite happily without changing the essentially Roman character of the prayers. In fact, we can catch Cato himself at it in chapter 140 of his work, where he advises that the same ritual may be used before digging the land as is used before clearing a grove by replacing the words "for the pruning of this sacred place" in the first ritual with the words "for the cause of carrying out the work" in the second.

On the issue of offerings to accompany the prayers, Cato is always very specific as to the correct offerings to make, even giving exact quantities in one case (chapter 83). In many cases, offerings such as wine, incense or offering-cakes are used, but in a few rituals, animal sacrifice is recommended. Given that most of us in the modern world would probably prefer not to slaughter animals ourselves, and that many of us are vegetarians, this is an issue which may cause problems for modern worshipers. However, a number of options are available for getting round the problem without significantly altering the nature of the rituals. Pieces of meat bought in an ordinary butcher's or supermarket and offered in sacrifice still preserve the essential act of giving something valuable up to the deity. Meanwhile, for those who prefer not to offer meat, I would suggest that figurines of the appropriate animals may be symbolically substituted for them. This type of offering could be made especially potent if the figurines are hand-made by the worshiper, thus representing an expenditure of time and effort for the sake of the deity.

I have tried as far as possible to preserve the original character of Cato's Latin in my translations, whilst also translating very literally. My intention is to give my fellow Nova Romans access to both Cato's prose and the fine details of the religious practices he describes, without the intervention of editors who may be unsympathetic to the religious aspects of the text.

De Agricultura 75 - 76

Cato's recipes for libum and placenta are particularly important historical sources, since both of these cakes were recommended for use in religious rituals. If you are hoping to make either of them, please note that I have not tried these recipes out myself, but simply translated them as clearly and as literally as I can. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has tried the recipes, however.

The Roman pounds which Cato uses were equivalent to 327.45g, and thus significantly less than our modern pounds, which are equivalent to 453.6g. Nevertheless, Cato was clearly planning cake-making on an industrial scale — a modius was a measure of volume slightly less than two gallons (9.092 litres), so his half-modius placenta cake must have been pretty substantial. Whether either recipe could be considered edible by mortals, even with the addition of honey, is of course a matter of taste.

Libum

Placenta

From Cato's, De Agricultura, 76

De Agricultura 83

An offering to Mars Silvanus for the health of cattle

This description of a ritual to be performed for the health of cattle does not include an suggestions for appropriate words to be spoken, but simply describes the offering itself. However, since Cato states in his last sentence that his reader may vow or pray (vovere) the vow or prayer every year, some kind of spoken dedication does seem to be assumed.

Following the format of Cato's other prayers, it is likely that he would consider a fairly simple prayer to be appropriate, in which the god is called upon, the offering is verbally dedicated to the god, and the worshiper makes a humble request for the health of his cattle.

The ceremony can of course be adapted to a number of modern uses, such as a prayer for the health of employees, for the smooth running of machinery or for domestic pets.

As for Cato's statement that a woman may not see or take part in the ceremony, it is of course a matter for individual worshipers as to whether they interpret this as a religious rule, or simply a recommendation which reflects the beliefs of Cato's time, and can therefore be altered without causing offense to the gods (I personally fall into the latter camp).

De Agricultura 132

An offering to Iupiter Dapalis before ploughing

This ritual is recommended by Cato for farmers as a yearly offering for their oxen, to be made when the pear-trees bloom (i.e. in spring) before ploughing begins. The aim is to bring a divine blessing on the oxen as they undertake the ploughing of the fields, in order to ensure a healthy crop and a good yield. However, this ritual could equally be used on the occasion of any important enterprise or undertaking, e.g. opening a new business, buying a house, starting a new job, finalising an important deal, etc.

De Agricultura 134

An offering to Ceres, Ianus, Iupiter and Iuno before the harvest

This ritual is intended to be performed before the year's harvest is gathered, marking the beginning of the harvest season, and showing the appropriate gratitude to the gods for the crops about to be gathered. It appears somewhat convoluted in Cato's description, but the ritual centres around the offering of a sow, known as the porca praecidanea to Ceres, with offerings of cakes and wine to Ianus and Iupiter being made both before and after the main sacrifice. Cato suggests prayers only to accompany the offerings to Ianus and Iupiter, leaving his readers to supply their own wording for the offering to Ceres. Meanwhile, although Iuno is named by Cato, she does not seem to feature in the ritual at all; her role is probably mainly that of consort to Iupiter.

The cakes which Cato refers to for the offerings to Ianus and Iupiter are cakes made specifically for the purposes of religious offerings. To Ianus, he advises offering a strues, which means a pile of small offering-cakes, while to Iupiter, he uses a fertum, a particular type of cake. Unfortunately, a recipe for fertum does not survive, but Cato does provide us with recipes for two other cakes used for religious offerings; libum and placenta.

Although the focal point of this ritual is the sacrifice of a pig to Ceres, appropriate substitutions can be made for modern usage. At harvest time, we may choose to offer some other item of food to Ceres, in order to show our gratitude for her gifts. Something large, such as a pumpkin, could suitably fill the place of the pig, and also has the added bonus that it can be cut open and its seeds offered up to Ceres, where Cato asks us to offer the entrails of the pig.

De Agricultura 139 - 140

A ritual before clearing a grove or tilling land

Since the Romans believed that every piece of land had its own deities, or genii, and that each tree had its own guardian spirit which dwelt within it, it was not considered proper either to disturb land or to cut down trees without sacrificing first to the gods who lived within them.

Cato gives two versions of this ritual; one to be performed when pruning a grove, and one when digging land. The two rituals are exactly the same, except that Cato suggests adding the words "for the cause of carrying out the work" when digging the land. These words seem grammatically designed to replace the words "for the pruning of this sacred place" in the original prayer, and Cato probably intended a substitution of one phrase for the other, according to which was most suitable, rather than a simple addition of extra words onto the end of the prayer. This ritual could be used in a modern garden, before carrying out jobs such as pruning, mowing or planting.

De Agricultura 141

A ritual for purifying land

Cato unfortunately gives no indication as to when, how often or under what circumstances this ritual would be performed. However, the wording of the prayer suggests a very general application to all aspects of a farm, and refers in particular to the hope that the land will yield good crops.

• The word suovitaurilia which Cato uses is made up of sus (pig) + ovis (sheep) + taurus (bull). It is used frequently in Latin to describe a group consisting of one of each of these animals.

• The name Manius appears to be a generic name.

• The word fertum refers to a type of cake used for religious offerings. No recipe for it survives, but recipes given by Cato for two other types of offering-cakes may be found here.