De Herediolo

1. ON THE LITTLE INHERITANCE. When, after many years, he had returned from the palace to his homeland, most highly honoured, being now indeed consul, he entered the little farm which his father had left, and made sport in these verses, in the Lucilian style:

Hail, little inheritance, the realm of my forefathers, which my great-grandfather, which my grandfather, which my father tilled, which my father, now an old man, left to me by a hastened death: alas, I had not wished to be able to enjoy it so soon! A just succession, indeed, it is that the father be succeeded; but it is a more pleasing order for the dutiful to be lords together. Now toil and cares are mine; before, pleasure alone was on our part, the rest was my father's. A small inheritance, I confess; but nothing was ever small to the even-minded — add, too, to the like-minded. From the spirit, I think it right, the estate stands firm, not the spirit from the estate. Croesus craves all things, Diogenes nothing: Aristippus scatters his gold in the midst of the Syrtes; all golden Lydia is not enough for Midas. He for whom there is no end of craving, has none of possessing: that is the measure of wealth which you set in your spirit. But know how great this field of mine is, that you may know me too, and may know yourself as well, if you can. Though it is difficult to know oneself: "Know thyself" — how readily we read it, so quickly we neglect it. I cultivate two hundred acres of arable land; the vineyard is tilled over a hundred acres, and the meadows over half as much; the woodland is above double the meadow and vineyard and ploughland together. A cultivator of the land is for us neither too many nor lacking; nearby a spring and a shallow well, then a clear stream too; this navigable river, ebbing back, carries me up and bears me down again. The crops are stored for me always against a twofold year: for him whose store is not long, there is also famine ready. This is set for me neither far from the city, nor right at the city, that I may not suffer the crowds, and yet may enjoy its goods. And as often as weariness compels me to change my place, I pass over and enjoy in turn the country or the city.