Sprinkling with flour the broiling cates whose savour fills the air.
In these remote and unsettled times it behoved the rustic to keep a sharp look-out on the sheaves left behind him on the field, as there were usually prowlers,[[1741]] lurking amid the neighbouring woods and thickets, ready to pounce upon and carry off whatever they saw unguarded.
The implement used in cutting wheat seems always to have been the sickle, while in the case of barley and other inferior grains, the scythe was commonly employed. In some parts of ancient Gaul, where no value was set upon the straw, corn was reaped by a sort of cart,[[1742]] armed in front with scythes, having the edges inclined upwards, which, as it was driven along by an ox, harnessed behind, cut off the ears of corn, which were received into the tumbril. In this manner the produce of a whole field might be got in easily in a day. Reaping among the ancient inhabitants of Italy[[1743]] was performed in three ways: first they reaped close, as in Umbria, and laid the handfuls carefully on the ground, after which the ears were separated from the straw, and borne in baskets to the threshing-floor. Elsewhere, as in Picenum, they made use of a ripple or serrated hook, having a long handle with which the ears only were cut off, leaving the straw standing to be afterwards collected and raked up into mows.
In the neighbourhood of Rome they reaped with the common sickle, holding the upper part of the straw in their left hand, and cutting it off in the middle. This tall stubble was afterwards mown and carried off to be used as fodder or bedding for cattle. In Upper Egypt and Nubia, the dhoura stalks are left about two feet in height to support the crop of kidney-beans which succeeds next in order. Among the Athenians[[1744]] when the corn grew tall the stubble was suffered to remain to be burned for manure; but, when short, the value of the straw led them to reap close.
In separating the grain from the straw the ancients made use of horses, oxen, and mules, which, passing round and round over the threshing-floor, trod out the corn. All the labourer had to do was to guide the movements of the cattle, and take care that no part of the sheaf remained untrodden.[[1745]] From a very humane law in the Old Testament we learn, that among some nations it was customary to tie up the mouths of such animals as they employed in this labour, which was forbidden the Israelites: “Thou shalt not,” says the Scripture, “muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.” Nor was it practised among the Greeks in the age of Homer,[[1746]] whom we find describing the oxen bellowing as they made their unwearied round. The threshing-floor, which was of a circular form,[[1747]] stood on a breezy eminence, in the open field, where, as at present, in modern Greece, and in the Crimea,[[1748]] a high pole was set up in the centre, to which the cattle were tied by a cord determining the extent of the circle they had to describe.[[1749]] The end being nailed, every turn made by the cattle coiled the rope about the pole and diminished their range, until, at length, they were brought quite close to the centre, after which, their heads were turned about, and by moving in an opposite direction the cord was unwound. Great pains were taken in the construction of this threshing-floor, which was somewhat elevated about the centre, in order, as Varro observes, that what rain fell might speedily run off. It was sometimes paved with stone, or pitched with flints, but more commonly coated with stucco, made level by a roller, and well soaked with the lees of oil which at once prevented the growth of weeds and grass, preserved it from cracking, and repelled the approach of mice, ants, and moles, to which oil-lees are destructive.[[1750]] Though some authorities advise that it should be situated under the master’s, or at least the steward’s, eye, it was generally thought advisable to keep it at a distance from the house and gardens, since the finer particles of chaff, borne thickly through the air, caused ophthalmia, and often blindness,[[1751]] and proved exceedingly injurious to all plants and pulpy fruits, more particularly grapes. In some parts of the ancient world, exposed to the chances of summer rains, the threshing-floor was covered; and, even in Italy, an umbracula,[[1752]] or shed, was always constructed close at hand, into which the corn could be removed in case of bad weather. But this in the sunnier climate of Greece was judged unnecessary. In obedience to a notion prevalent among Hellenic farmers, the sheaves were piled up with the straw towards the south, by which means they believed the grain was enlarged and loosened from the hose. When the farmer happened to be scant of cattle he made use of a threshing-machine,[[1753]] which consisted of a kind of heavy sledge, toothed below with sharp stones or iron. Occasionally, too, the flail[[1754]] was used, especially in the case of such corn as was laid up in the barn and threshed during winter.
In winnowing,[[1755]] when the breeze served, they simply threw the grain up into the air with a scoop, until the wind had completely cleared away the chaff. In serene days they had recourse to a winnowing machine, which, though turned by the hand, was of great power, as we may judge from its being employed in cleansing vetches, and even beans.[[1756]] To receive the chaff, which was too valuable to be lost, pits appear to have been sunk all round the threshing-floor, which, for the passage of the men and cattle, would appear to have been covered, save in the direction of the wind.[[1757]] When the corn was designed for immediate use, one winnowing was deemed sufficient; but that which was intended to be laid up in the granary[[1758]] underwent the operation a second time.
On the building and preparation of granaries[[1759]] the ancients bestowed great pains. Every means which could communicate to grain firmness and durability appears to have been tried by them; and their success was answerable to their diligence, for, in their granaries, wheat was preserved in perfection fifty, and millet a hundred years.[[1760]] Their methods, however, were various; some laid up their grain in hollow rocks and caves, as in Thrace and Cappadocia; others sank deep pits in the earth[[1761]] where they found it to be perfectly free from humidity, as in Farther Spain, while others, as in Hither Spain, Apulia, and Greece,[[1762]] erected their granaries on lofty basements fronting the East, and with openings towards the north and west winds.[[1763]] There was usually a range of numerous diminutive windows near the roof, to supply free vent for the heated air, while the floor, in many cases, contained small apertures for the admission of the cool breezes beneath. The walls were built with suitable solidity, and having, together with the floor, been plastered with rough mortar,[[1764]] made commonly with hair, for which chaff was sometimes substituted, received a coat of fine stucco, on the preparation of which much care was bestowed. It was generally composed of lime, sand, and powdered marble, moistened with the lees of oil, the peculiar flavour and odour of which were supposed effectually to repel the approaches of mice,[[1765]] weevils, and ants. Instead of this a common stucco, formed of clay, was often used. Occasionally the grain was packed up in baskets or large jars,[[1766]] such, it may be presumed, as those still employed for the purpose in Africa, where they are commonly kept in a corner outside the door. Beans and other pulse were preserved in oil-jars rubbed with ashes.[[1767]]
Before the produce of the new year was carried in, the granaries, having been carefully swept, were smeared all over with oil-lees. Various other precautions were, likewise, taken to protect the sacred gifts of Demeter from depredation, such as drawing on the floor broad lines of chalk,[[1768]] or strewing handfuls of wild origany round the heaps, or sprinkling them with the ashes of oaken twigs or dry cow’s dung, or sprigs of wormwood and southernwood, or, in greater quantity, the leaves of the everlasting. Instead of these, in some cases, they made use of powdered clay[[1769]] or dry pomegranate leaves, rubbed small, and passed through a sieve, a chœnix of which was sprinkled over a bushel of corn. The favourite plan, however, seems to have been, to spread a layer of half-withered fleabane over the floor, on which were poured about ten bushels of wheat, then a layer of fleabane, and so on, until the granary was full.[[1770]] Wheat thus layed up was supposed not only to last many years, but also to preserve its weight in breadmaking. To render barley durable, they strewed over it laurel leaves, or the ashes of laurel wood, as, likewise, everlasting, calaminth, and gypsum, or placed a tightly-corked bottle of vinegar,[[1771]] in the middle of the heap. To communicate greater plumpness to all kinds of grain, they sprinkled over the piles a mixture composed of nitre,[[1772]] spume of nitre, and fine earth, which, likewise, acted as a preservative. To render flour more durable, they thrust into it small maple branches, stripped of their leaves, or little cakes of salt and cumin.[[1773]]
The fruits of the earth having been thus safely lodged within doors, the grateful husbandmen celebrated in honour of their rural gods, Demeter and Dionysos, a festival which may, perhaps, be denominated that of the Harvest Home. In Attica it took place in the great temple at Eleusis, and continued during several days. No bloody sacrifices were on this occasion offered up; but, in lieu of them, oblations of cakes and fruit with other rustic offerings, designed at once to express their gratitude for past blessings, and to render the gods propitious to them in future. The first loaf made from the new corn was probably eaten or offered up on this day, since it received the name of Thargelos, or Thalusios, from Thalusia, the denomination of the festival.[[1774]]
Before we quit the farm, it may be observed, that the ancients kept a number of slaves, constituting a kind of rural police, whose occupation wholly consisted in guarding the boundaries of estates.[[1775]] These, among the Romans, were denominated rangers, or foresters. There were others to whom the care of the fruit was entrusted; and both these classes of persons were probably elderly men, remarkable for their diligence and fidelity, who were rewarded, by appointment to this more easy duty, for their honest discharge in youth of such as were more painful and laborious. Boys were sometimes set to keep watch over vineyards,[[1776]] as we may see in the first Eidyll of Theocritus, where he gives us a lively sketch of such a guardian plotted against by two foxes.