[14]
Think of the
aqueducts, canals, irrigation works, breakwaters,
artificial harbours; how should we have these
without the work of man? From these and many
other illustrations it is obvious that we could not in
any way, without the work of man's hands, have received the profits and the benefits accruing from
inanimate things.
Finally, of what profit or service could animals be,
without the co-operation of man? For it was men
who were the foremost in discovering what use could
be made of each beast; and to-day, if it were not
for man's labour, we could neither feed them nor
break them in nor take care of them nor yet secure
the profits from them in due season. By man, too,
noxious beasts are destroyed, and those that can be
of use are captured.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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