Poles of laurel or elm are most free from worms, and a share-beam of oak and a plough-tree of holm-oak. Get two oxen, bulls of nine years; for their strength is unspent and they are in the prime of their age: they are best for work. They will not fight in the furrow and break the ploughand then leave the work undone. Let a brisk fellow of forty years follow them, with a loaf of four quartersThe loaf is a flattish cake with two intersecting lines scored on its upper surface which divide it into four equal parts. and eight slicesThe meaning is obscure. A scholiast renders “giving eight mouthfuls”; but the elder Philostratus uses the word in contrast to “leavened.” for his dinner, one who will attend to his work and drive a straight furrow and is past the age for gaping after his fellows,but will keep his mind on his work. No younger man will be better than he at scattering the seed and avoiding double-sowing; for a man less staid gets disturbed, hankering after his fellows.
Mark, when you hear the voice of the craneAbout the middle of November. who cries year by year from the clouds above,