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and that the meals are nutritious and wholesome.
    I also teach new managers not to let anyone leave the estate unless I have personally authorised it. And if I am away, they should not authorise anyone unless there is a pressing need. I tell them not to carry out their own business on the side, as this will only distract them from doing your work. They must not invest your money in cattle or goods for trading purposes. Buying and selling purely for profit will just divert their attention from what really matters. What they must concentrate on is making sure your accounts are in good order. Otherwise you will end up owning a whole load of poor-quality goods that they have been unable to sell.
    Make sure your manager does not let soothsayers and magicians on to the estate. These people always get the slaves overexcited and wound up by spreading their false stories and superstitions and selling them ridiculous spells and potions. The manager himself should go to town only when he has to buy things that are necessary for him to carry out his duties. A trip to the weekly market should be more than sufficient. You don’t want a manager who likes to travel, but one who goes somewhere only when he will learn something by doing so. And even then only if the place is near enough that he can get back to the estate on the same day. Tell him not to allow new footpaths to be cut across the farm since it will only encourage outsiders to trespass on your land. Nor should he have guests round to stay unless it is one of your family or close friends.
    Above all, teach your new manager that he should not think that he knows what he does not know, and that he must be passionate about learning what he is ignorant of.Acquiring skills will make his work better. It will also cut out those needless mistakes that cause so much damage. Agriculture is not a difficult business. It requires your slaves to do the right thing repeatedly. If they learn this one guiding principle at the outset, they will not mess things up by causing harm through their ignorance. For one of the problems with farming is that it can take a long time and a lot of money to rectify mistakes.
    Here is a checklist of the manager’s duties to help you make sure he is doing what you need him to:
      Maintain strict discipline – but don’t be needlessly cruel.
      Keep the slaves hard at work so they don’t get involved in trouble.
      Observe the proper religious festivals (to keep the gods happy and the farm prosperous).
      Don’t steal your master’s possessions.
      Sort out arguments among the slaves: they are usually a quarrelsome bunch.
      Make sure the slaves get neither cold nor hungry.
      Remember: if you don’t want slaves to make trouble, they’re much less likely to.
      Reward good work and punish failure.
      Punish fairly those who have done wrong and in proportion to the damage caused by the crime.
      Stay on the estate.
      Be sober and don’t go out to dinner.
      Don’t think or act as if you’re cleverer than your master.
      Don’t treat your master’s friends as if they were your own.
      Listen to everything your master tells you, and to whomever your master tells you to listen.
      Don’t lend anyone money unless your master allows it.
      Insist on immediate repayment if your master does not permit a loan or its extension.
      Don’t lend anyone seed, fodder, barley, wine or oil.
      Be on friendly terms with two or three neighbouring estates so you can borrow people, goods and implements when you need them.
      Go through the accounts with the master regularly.
      Don’t use day labourers too much or for more than a day at a time.
      Don’t buy anything without your master’s approval.
      Don’t keep anything secret from your master.
      Don’t have any favourites among the slaves.
      Don’t consult diviners, fortune-tellers or astrologers.
      Don’t use seed corn sparingly – that way lies