of a shoot in order that it may take root before being separated from the
parent stem. The context, however, is against this interpretation. --
IRRIGATIONES etc.: the plurals denote more prominently than singulars would
the repetition of the actions expressed by these words. -- REPASTINATIONES:
'repeated hoeings'. The _pastinum_ was a kind of pitchfork, used for
turning over the ground round about the vines, particularly when the young
plants were being put in. -- MULTO TERRA FECUNDIOR: see n. on 3 _parum ...
auctoritatis_.

54. IN EO LIBRO: see Introd. -- DOCTUS: often used of poets, not only by
Cicero but by most other Latin writers, more particularly by the elegiac
poets; see also n. on 13. -- HESIODUS: the oldest Greek poet after Homer.
The poem referred to here is the Εργα και ‛Ημεραι which we still possess,
along with the Theogony and the Shield of Heracles. -- CUM: concessive. --
SAECULIS: 'generations', as in 24. -- FUIT: = _vixit_. -- LAERTEN: the
passage referred to is no doubt the touching scene in Odyss. 24, 226, where
Odysseus, after killing the suitors, finds his unhappy old father toiling
in his garden. In that passage nothing is said of _manuring_. -- LENIENTEM:
see n. on 11 _dividenti_. -- COLENTEM etc.: the introduction of another
participle to explain _lenientem_ is far from elegant. _Cultione agri_ or
something of the kind might have been expected. The collocation of
_appetentem_ with _occupatum_ in 56 is no less awkward. -- FACIT: n. on 3
_facimus_. -- RES RUSTICAE LAETAE SUNT: 'the farmer's life is gladdened'.
-- APIUM: this form is oftener found in the best MSS., of prose writers at
least, than the other form _apum_, which probably was not used by Cic. --
OMNIUM: = _omnis generis_. -- CONSITIONES ... INSITIONES: 'planting ...
grafting'. On the varieties of grafting and the skill required for it see
Verg. Georg. 2, 73 _seq._

55. POSSUM: see n. on 24. -- IGNOSCETIS: 'you will excuse (me)'. --