Georgics

I'm afraid both the passing of the ages and the distortions of the popular imagination have lost to us the actual nature of the Romans of the Empire. So what were they, inbred tyrants, untrammeled militarists, a species as domineering as they were craven in their appetites? At least, that seems to be the impression you get at times, even from 'highbrow' entertainment and literature.

In truth, go back to the era of Rome in its full bloom, anywhere from the beginning of the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD and what do we find? From the palatial estates to the beggars at the Colosseum, we find farmers. As my old teacher once said, "scratch any Roman and you'll find a farmer!"

A man whose whole worth, whose honor, whose dignity and whose legacy was tied to the land he owned, the seasons, what crops came to bear. The heritage of cultivating the richness of the earth, of truly investing wealth in that and what labor came with it, is the heritage the Romans bequeathed to all their cultural heirs, including ourselves. The legacy of cultivating the land, exploiting it as opposed to merely conquering and claiming it, meant that the barbarians who took over after them not merely had a basis in organizing their cities and countries to come, but the habits needed to feed them as well. 

There is no higher regard I can think of for this constant labor of growing from the willing and furtive earth. What greater pleasure than feeding your family from your own plot, of providing for them from one's own efforts? Perhaps I should take up a garden myself, sometime.