manual on running a farm (De agri cultura or "On Agriculture") (c. 160) is his only work that survives complete. It is a miscellaneous collection of rules of husbandry and management, including sidelights on country life in the 2nd century BC. Adopted by many as a textbook at a time when Romans were expanding their agricultural activities into larger scale and more specialized business ventures geared towards profitability, De agri cultura assumes a farm run and staffed by slaves. Cato advises on hiring gangs for the olive harvest, and was noted for his chilling advice on keeping slaves continually at work, on reducing rations for slaves when sick, and on selling slaves that are old or sickly. Intended for reading aloud and discussing with farm workers, De agri cultura was widely read and much quoted (sometimes inaccurately) by later Latin authors. Cato the Elder ranked the vineyard as the most important aspect when judging a farm. This was because of the profitability of the wine trade during that time. Grain pastures were ranked sixth due to the grain crisis. The Origines in seven books (BC) -- of which several fragments still survive -- related the history of the Italian towns with special attention to Rome, from their legendary or historical foundation to his own day. Written to teach Romans what it means to be Roman and used to teach his own son how to read, Cato the Elder wrote ab urbe condita (from the founding of the city), and the early history is filled with legends illustrating Roman virtues. The Origines also spoke of how not only Rome, but the other Italian towns were venerable, and claimed the Romans were indeed superior to the Greeks. As it avoided using consular dating, it was not cited much by other historians. It was a source for Virgil's Aeneid and is referenced by other writers including Cicero. Under the Roman Empire a collection of about 150 political speeches by Cato existed. In these he pursued his political policies, fought verbal vendettas, and opposed what he saw as Rome's moral decline. Not even the titles of all of these speeches are now known, but fragments of some of them are preserved. Cato included parts of at least two of his speeches, On Behalf of the Rhodians and Against Galba, in his historical work the Origines. The first to which we can give a date