One of the most important missions at Dos Cuerpos is to understand the background of all our products, from who crafts them, why and how, but also the historical, social, and artistic aspects that our products have had. That's why we want to share artworks from various disciplines that allude to the products we handle. On this occasion, we're sharing excerpts from the text by Benito Jerónimo Feijoo titled "Honra y provecho de la agricultura" ("Honor and Benefits of Agriculture"). This ancient text from the 17th century contains many modern considerations about agriculture and everything it entails. Primarily, Feijoo writes about the intrinsic relationship between the happiness of a nation and the care taken for its land. He explains how a good ruler should first understand the land of the region they govern in order to preserve peace, justice, and social order. He also suggests the creation of unions to protect the interests of workers. The main reason we're sharing this text is that at Dos Cuerpos, we emphasize one of the most important aspects of the text: education. Feijoo says: "Reason, clearly, dictates that the application of teaching arts must be measured by their necessity; that is, the more necessary the art, the more care must be taken to have many and good teachers of it."
"What art can compete in antiquity with agriculture? Without a doubt, none, for this is as ancient as humankind itself. As soon as God created Adam, He placed him in paradise to cultivate and guard it: 'Ut operaretur et custodiret illum.' Tilling the land was the first occupation and the first task of humankind. Two glorious circumstances lend great distinction to this incontestable antiquity. The first is that agriculture was the only art that originated in a state of innocence; all others were born when the earth was defiled by sin. The second is that while men were the authors of all other arts, God was the author of agriculture. It is evident from sacred text, for Adam did not dedicate himself to cultivating the land by his own design but by destiny and the order of the Most High: 'Tulit ergo Dominus Deus hominem, et posuit eum in Paradiso voluptatis, ut operaretur et custodiret illum.'"
"Among the Romans, we find another notable chapter in the honor of agriculture: the naming of various illustrious families based on the fruits of the field, which are the object of this art, or on things related to them. The Fabii took their name from beans; the Lentuli, from lentils; the Cicerones, from chickpeas. These names were related (says Pliny) to this or that ancestor who had perfected agriculture concerning such or such fruit. Similarly, the Pisos derived their name from the verb 'piso,' which means cleaning the grain from the husk, and the Pilumni from the invention of the 'pilum,' which was an instrument used for grinding wheat."
"Declaring to the entire nation the special obligation it holds in esteeming and promoting agriculture, which is our glory not owing such great benefit to any foreigner, but to a prince of our own nation: Therefore, by our own invention, we are glorified, not having begged from elsewhere."
"The Greeks deified Ceres because she taught agriculture. The Egyptians exceeded them all, for they worshipped the Nile as a deity, owing its fertility to their fields. Plutarch, Heliodorus, and many others say that the Egyptian god Osiris is none other than the Nile. Heliodorus himself attests that the Egyptians not only revered the Nile as a deity but as the supreme of deities. And in Athenaeus, Parmenion Byzantine gives the Nile the name of Egyptian Jupiter. So much honor they bestowed upon that river for its irrigation that brought happiness to their fields through agriculture."
"Similar to this, the Egyptians' worship of the ox as a symbol of Apis or Serapis (indistinct deities of Osiris), because the ox was a principal instrument of agriculture."
"It is the constant practice of that nation (China), continued to this day, that every year at the beginning of spring, a day is designated on which the emperor, accompanied by twelve individuals, the most distinguished in the court, goes to work in the fields. He takes the plow in his hand, and, directing it, sows five species of grains, the most useful or necessary ones: wheat, rice, beans, common millet, and another species of millet called 'cao leang.' The twelve individuals accompanying the emperor work with him, and in every government of the empire, the mandarins do the same."
"Micha celebrates as a great happiness for nations, in the peaceful dominion of the law of grace, the conversion of instruments of war into instruments of agriculture; that is, swords into plowshares and lance shafts into hoes."
"The same origin had the greatness of Rome. Numa Pompilius, its second king, a man of great insight and profound politician, after dividing the territory of Rome into different terms, arranged for an accurate account of how well or poorly they were cultivated. He brought farmers before him, praised and corrected them according to the care or omission they exhibited. This prince's exceptional attention to agriculture is inferred from his having invented a deity, the god 'Terminus,' to preside over the division of possessions."
"Religion, he says, is the soul; the prince, the head; the council, the heart; the viceroys, the eyes; the military, the arms; the administrators, the stomach and intestines, and the farmers, the feet; adding immediately that the head must, with very special vigilance, attend to the latter, either because they encounter many stumbling blocks that hurt them or because they sustain and provide movement to the whole body... When farmers are afflicted with their misery and destitution, it can be said that the prince or the republic suffers from gout, which is the disease of the feet... The poor feet of this kingdom suffer great pains, wretched, weakened, and afflicted, they cannot sustain themselves or support the body. I do not know if this ailment comes from a cause that the same author points out above, who says that when the stomach and intestines of this political body (the administrators) consume or gulp too much, incurable and innumerable diseases follow, putting the whole body at risk of its ultimate ruin... Doctors commonly say that gout arises from poorly cooked stomach contents. If it consumes excessively, it is clear that it cannot cook it well. The pity is that the bad humors resulting from these faulty cooking processes burden the poor feet, which pay the penalty without fault. However, ultimately, the ailment of the feet becomes an ailment of the whole body, since when those are in pain and languid, this cannot help but be immobilized, without movement and strength, and eventually the ailment penetrates into the very entrails, sparing not even the parts called 'princes,' leading to the ruin of the whole."
"But the farmers are subject to the force of the winds, the blows of the waters, the inconvenience of heat, and the severity of the cold all year and throughout their lives. I can see that this work is inseparable from the profession; tolerable, though, when the toil of cultivation yields them fruits to nourish themselves, clothing to cover themselves, a dwelling to shelter them, and a bed to rest on... they scarcely enjoy more than the fruits of the land they cultivate... Consider that a farmer, who does not extract from his labor what is necessary for reasonable sustenance and shelter, works not even half as much as another who is well supported and covered."
"The only provision that seems possible to establish for this purpose is to form a council at the court, composed of some prosperous and intelligent farmers."
"The distribution of land, so that no one enjoys more than what they themselves or their colonists can work, and for the remainder of each territory, poor colonists should be brought in who do not have to work in their homeland. This disintegration of possessions can be carried out with such fairness that the natives are always better off. Even within a region, not all portions of land are equally fertile; the natives can choose the most fruitful for themselves, leaving the others to newcomers, so that the former, without greater effort, achieve better and more abundant fruit. This is not a mere Platonic idea, as we see that the Romans, very prudent in all aspects of their governance, took care to limit the holdings of individuals to prevent the harm of leaving lands uncultivated. Thus, Columela says that it was an offense for a senator to possess more than fifty measures of land, each corresponding to what a pair of oxen could plow in a day."
"The good tiller of the land is the one who can understand humanity through nature, the one who finds virtue, strength, with an understanding of prudence, skill, and patience."
"May heaven ensure that such beautiful principles correspond to happy progress in everything that can improve agriculture."
We hope this has been to your liking, and if you have any suggestions or comments, we are attentive.
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