Ἐπὶ καλάμῃ ἀροῦν

There is a custom for farmers to leave the land idle for a year, so that the crops it nourishes are wholesome, and to prevent it becoming tired by annual effort on the seeds. Lysias in the speech In Reply to Tlepolemos, attacking one of the greedy farmers, who is exploiting the resources of his land and using up its strength every year, says: "this man here would sow cereals for straws".¹ That is, by constantly sowing he gives the land no respite.