Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-02-20

In the progress of the plough, we next
come to Rome; and here history is more
clear upon the facts which bear on this dis
course. Here, upon the Tiber, was the
third stand Of civilization in its march to
the north. Here, for 500 years, was the
war between savage and civilized man
maintained; or, more properly, the war
between the plough and the war-club.-
Here agriculture had a full and fair chance
upon grand scale, both in time and space.
1t was here upheld by every circumstance
Of advantage, the laws, the government,
the religion, the manners, and habits, of all
the classes of the people all combined, in
the support of agriculture. The original
constitution of the Roman State was an
chored on this basis. Romulus divided the
lands among the citizens in absolute own
ership. The proceeds Of industry was
secured to the laborer. Neat -husbandry
was required by law, under vigiIant seen
sorship." Patricians, plebians, the greatest
generals and the common soldiers, were all
alike employed in agriculture. The Roman
senators resided on their estates, and work
ed with their own hands. The Romans
were all soldiers and all husbandmon.-
Such was the happy effect Of this state Of
things, that after the deposition of their
kings, more than three hundred years
elapsed before civil strife caused blood to
flow in Rome. The first magistrates and
greatest generals were engaged in the la
bOrs of the field; and the same hands which
guided the plough directed the helm of
State, and welded the truncheon Of the
armies. Quintius Cincinnatus was in his
iald when his appointment to the Dictator
sn,r was announced to him. M. Curious,
after having conquered the Sabincs and the
Samnitos, and after having driven Pyrrhus
out of Italy, returned TO the cultivation Of
his farm. Cato followed his example.
Scipio Africanus, after having conqured
to Rome, retired to the cultivation Of his
garden. Their first scholars, statesmen
and poets, occupied their leisure time il
composing books for the purpose of honor
ing and extending the knowledge of the
best modes of cultivating the earth. Such
was the manners and virtues of domestic
society growing out of their happy agricul-
tural condition., that the horrors Of civil
war were unknown in Rome, until their
pristine attachment to their rustic homes
and labors were superseded by new ocCu-
pations and new desires.
The civil wars of CESAR and Pompey
and those Of Augustus and Anthony, had
laid waste the fields usually appropriated tC
cultivation. Desolation, famine and insur.
rcction were the consequences. After the
fall Of Anthony, and Augustus found him
self in the undsputcd possession Of impe
rial power, his sagacity enabled him quick
ly to discover the cause Of the paralyses o
the public prosperity; he therefore used
every means in the reach Of his vast au
thority, TO restore agriculture. He employ
ed Virgil to recommend it TO his country
men in the charms of poetry. This great
genius, to whom agriculture is 50 much
| indebted, employed seven years Of the
prime of his life in retirement al Naples, in
| the composition Of his inestimabie poems
on hunsbandry, which revived the noble
art in his native land. and which have been
the admiration Of the world for eighteen
hundred years.
! The conquest Of savage countries by
! Roman armies were trivial events; but the
conquests of the Roman plough which fol.
! lowed. changed the climates and seasons
and face of the earth, and converted the
cold forests, the dismal swamps and icy
regions of the north, into sunny fields
teeming with abundance. For 500 year:
the Roman plough extended the conquest.
of civilization in savage lands, until, from
the suburbs Of the seven hills, the empire
reached from the wall of Antoninus, an,
the northern limits of Decia, to Mount At
. |. Al, g 4 -
above 1000 miles in breadth and in lengtl
more than 5000 miles from the Western
Ocean to the Euphrates, containing siXtee
hundred thousand square miles. and for IN
most part fertile and well cultivated lGnc
Here is view Of Roman civilization
whether measured by its extent on tn
globe, or its duration in time, or its intly
ence on our race, is the greatest achieve
ment of man since his creation.
The principles at the bottom of tn
structure Of human greatness are what "
; are now convened to look at. A free pl0ug
in the hands of all classes OF mon-land
absolute ownership, transmitted by a Ia
of desccnts from father to son--land vii
which the sweat Of their faces had bee
mingled from generation to generation
/, which had been defended by the blood
. their ancestors, and which contained the
Q bones, was the anchor to which the vess
of the Roman state was fastened, and viii,
held it firm for SO many ages against ;
2 adverse winds.
Q Q But the Roman is no more-in progre
> of time he laid by his rustic dress
2 wrapped his body in robes Of silk-he la
9 by his plough, and the sound of his a