[Footnote 1: Cato was Rome's first thoroughly national author. He is
usually classed as the creator of Latin prose. Other Roman authors of
his time wrote in Greek. Cato bitterly opposed Greek learning,
declaring that, when Greece should give Rome her literature, she would
"corrupt everything." On Cato's mind no outside literary influence
ever prevailed. He has been called "the most original writer that Rome
ever produced."]
[Footnote 2: From "De Re Rustica." Translated for this work by Dr.
Epiphanius Wilson.]
[Footnote 3: The translation of this paragraph is taken from
Cruttwell's "History of Roman Literature."]