Excerpt from Rome's Fall Reconsidered Let us therefore go and see how the great agricultural scholars of the time analyzed the situation. Let us read thoughtfully the writings of Columella. He was writing under the Princi pate, about 60 A. D. How does he begin his work? The preface begins: I frequently hear the most illustrious men of our country complaining that the sterility of our soil and intemperate weather have now for many ages past been diminishing the productivity of the land. Others give a rational background to their complaints, claiming that the land became tired and exhausted from its productivity in the former ages, and hence the soil is no longer able to furnish sustenance to mortals with its former liberality.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.