Ancient Latin Writers on Agriculture, Vol. II: Columella

...the lowest class of slaves, as if to an executioner, whereas every best man among our ancestors treated it in the best way. Yet I cannot cease to wonder why those who are eager for speaking select an orator whose eloquence they might imitate, or, scrutinizing the measure of numbers, pursue a master of a pleasing discipline. Those who are students of dance and musical theory most scrupulously seek out a teacher of voice and song, and no less a teacher of bodily gesture. Those who wish to build summon builders and architects; those who wish to entrust ships to the sea, experts in steering; those who prepare for war, men knowledgeable in arms and military service. And, not to pursue each thing individually, for the study that anyone wishes to pursue, they employ the most knowledgeable director. Finally, everyone summons for themselves a trainer of the mind and a teacher of virtue from the assembly of the wise. Only agriculture, which is without doubt next to and as if blood-related to wisdom, is in as much need of students as it is of masters. For until now, I have not only heard but have myself seen schools of rhetoricians, and, as I said, of geometers and musicians—or, what is more to be wondered at, workshops for the most despised vices: for seasoning foods more greedily, for arranging dishes more luxuriously, and for the stylists of heads and hair. But I have known neither teachers who profess to be masters of agriculture, nor students. Even if the state were in need of the professors of the aforementioned arts, the Republic could still flourish, just as it did among the ancients. For without the arts of entertainment, and even without lawyers, cities have been quite happy in the past and will be in the future. But without farmers, mortals can neither stand...