Agricola

Agricola is a searching study of agriculture and rural labor in the Greco-Roman world, tracing how handwork, landownership, slavery, and civic life shaped ancient civilization. From Homer and Hesiod through Greek philosophers, Roman writers, jurists, inscriptions, Christian authors, and later Byzantine and imperial sources, the book builds a wide historical argument about the human cost of production and the social meaning of farming. It asks how ancient societies valued workers, especially those who labored with their hands, and why agriculture carried such moral, military, and political prestige even as it often depended on coercion and enslaved labor. Because the laborer's own voice is rarely preserved, the author reconstructs rural life from fragmentary evidence, weighing literature, law, and historical testimony with caution. He defends a method of grouping sources by context rather than isolating every writer, and he uses selected modern parallels and appendices to sharpen comparison. Along the way, the book challenges simple claims that slavery alone sustained classical civilization, showing instead a more complex economy in which free labor, trade, luxury, and shifting social conditions all played major roles. It also offers a sober vision of Rome's later decline, as Italy's centrality faded and the empire's vitality gave way to administrative exhaustion. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.