De Plantatione

And with this assertion, this oracle delivered by one of the prophets is consistent, "Fruit from me has been found by you. What wise man will understand this? Will any intelligent person comprehend it?" [*](Hosea xiv. 9. ) For it does not belong to every one, but only to the wise man, to understand whose the fruit of the mind is.

Therefore, concerning that most ancient and sacred husbandry, which the Cause of all things uses with reference to the world, that most productive of trees, and concerning that other kind in imitation of it which the virtuous man studies, and concerning the ordinary quaternion of prizes, and the laws and precepts which all tend to the same point, we have now spoken to the best of our power.