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Marcus Terentius Varro

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An imagined portrait of an elderly Varro, engraving fromAndré Thevet,"Les Vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens", 1584

Marcus Terentius Varro(116–27 BC) was a Romanpolymathand a prolific author. He is regarded asancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described byPetrarchas "the third great light of Rome" (afterVirgilandCicero).[1]He is sometimes calledVarro Reatinus( "Varro of Rieti" ) to distinguish him from his younger contemporaryVarro Atacinus.

Life[edit]

Varro was born in or near Reate (nowRietiin Lazio)[2]into a family thought to be ofequestrianrank. He always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in theReatine plain(reported as near Lago di Ripasottile,[3]) until his old age. He supportedPompey,reaching the office ofpraetor,after having served astribune of the people,quaestorandcurule aedile.[4]It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when theFirst Triumvirateformedc.60 BC, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulship.[5]He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled theThree-Headed Monster(Τρικάρανοςin the Greek ofAppian,The Civil Wars,II.ii.9).[5]He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme ofCaesarfor the resettlement ofCapuaandCampania(59 BC).[4][5]

Statue of Marcus Terentius Varro by local artist Dino Morsani inRieti

DuringCaesar's civil warof 49 to 45 he commanded one of Pompey's armies in theIlerda campaignof 49 BC.[6]He escaped the penalties of having backed the losing side in the civil war through twopardonsgranted byJulius Caesar,before and after the 48 BCBattle of Pharsalus.[7]Caesar appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's deathMark Antonyproscribedhim, resulting in his losing much of his property, including his library. As theRepublicgave way toEmpirec. 27 BC,Varro gained the favour ofAugustus,under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing.

Varro had studied under the RomanphilologistLucius Aelius Stilo(died 74 BC), and later atAthensunder theAcademicphilosopherAntiochus of Ascalon(died 68 BC). Varro proved a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74Latinworks on a variety of topics. Aside from his many lost works (known through fragments), two endeavors stand out for historians:Nine Books of Disciplinesand his compilation of theVarronian chronology.HisNine Books of Disciplinesbecame a model for laterencyclopedists,especially forPliny the Elder(c. 23to 79 AD). The most noteworthy portion of theNine Books of Disciplinesis its use of theliberal artsas organizing principles.[8]Varro decided to focus on identifying[citation needed]nine of these arts:grammar,rhetoric,logic,arithmetic,geometry,astronomy,musical theory, medicine, andarchitecture.Using Varro's list, mediated throughMartianus Capella's early-5th century allegory, subsequent writers defined the seven classical "liberal arts" of the medieval schools.[8]

Inc. 37BC,[9]in his old age, Varro wrote on agriculture for his wife Fundania, producing a "voluminous" workDe re rustica(also calledRes rusticae)—similar toCato the Elder's workDe agri cultura—on the management oflarge slave-run estates.[10][11]

Calendars[edit]

Fasti Antiates Maiores, an inscription containing theRoman calendar.This calendar predates the Julian reform of the calendar; it contains the monthsQuintilisandSextilis,and allows for the insertion of anintercalary month

The compilation of theVarronian chronologywas an attempt to determine an exact year-by-year timeline ofRoman historyup to his time. It is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of theRoman Republic—supplemented, where necessary, by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It has been demonstrated to be somewhat erroneous[12]but has become the widely accepted standard chronology, in large part because it was inscribed on thearch of Augustusin Rome; though that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology has survived under the name ofFasti Capitolini.

Works[edit]

Varro's literary output was prolific;Ritschlestimated it at 74 works in some 620 books, of which only one work survives complete, although we possess many fragments of the others, mostly in Gellius'Attic Nights.He was called "the most learned of the Romans" byQuintilian,[13]and also recognized byPlutarchas "a man deeply read in Roman history".[14]

Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among themCicero,Pliny the Elder,Virgilin theGeorgics,Columella,Aulus Gellius,Macrobius,Augustine,andVitruvius,who credits him(VII.Intr.14)with a book on architecture.

His only complete work extant,Rerum rusticarum libri tres( "Three Books on Agriculture" ), has been described as "the well digested system of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised all that he records."[15]

One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation ofmicrobiologyandepidemiology.Varro warned his readers to avoid swamps and marshland, since in such areas

...there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause serious diseases.[16][17][18]

A modern scholar, Bertha Tilly, assesses Varro's work as follows:

For the immense mass of work completed, for his patriotic fervour, his high moral sentiments, for versatility in forms of writing and in subjects, for the vast range of material, Varro towers above all his contemporaries and his successors: he was distinguished for learning as no other man had ever been or was to be.[19]

Extant works[edit]

Plan of the birdhouse at Casinum designed and built by Varro
  • De lingua latina libri XXV(orOn the Latin Language in 25 Books,of which six books (V–X) survive, partly mutilated)
  • Rerum rusticarum libri III(orThree Books of Rural Topics), also known as theDe re rustica( "On Agriculture" ) orRes rusticae( "Agriculture" )

Known lost works[edit]

  • Saturarum Menippearum libri CLorMenippean Satires in 150 books
  • Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI(Antiquities of Human and Divine Things)[20]
  • Logistoricon libri LXXVI
  • Hebdomades vel de imaginibus
  • Disciplinarum libri IX(An encyclopedia on the liberal arts, of which the first book dealt with grammar)
  • De rebus urbanis libri III(orOn Urban Topics in Three Books)
  • De gente populi Romani libri IIII(cf.Augustine,'De civitate dei' xxi. 8.)
  • De sua vita libri III(orOn His Own Life in Three Books)
  • De familiis troianis(orOn the Families of Troy)
  • De Antiquitate Litterarum libri II(addressed to the tragic poetLucius Accius;it is therefore one of his earliest writings)
  • De Origine Linguae Latinae libri III(addressed toPompey;cf. Augustine, 'De civitate dei' xxii. 28.)
  • Περί Χαρακτήρων(in at least three books, on the formation of words)
  • Quaestiones Plautinae libri V(containing interpretations of rare words found in the comedies ofPlautus)
  • De Similitudine Verborum libri III(on regularity in forms and words)
  • De Utilitate Sermonis libri IIII(on the principle of anomaly or irregularity)
  • De Sermone Latino[it]libri V (?)(addressed to Marcellus,[22]on orthography and the metres of poetry)
  • De philosophia(cf.Augustine,'De civitate dei' xix. 1.)
  • De Bibliothecis(in three books)[23]

Most of the extant fragments of these works (mostly the grammatical works) can be found in the Goetz–Schoell edition ofDe Lingua Latina,pp. 199–242; in the collection of Wilmanns, pp. 170–223; and in that of Funaioli, pp. 179–371.

References[edit]

  1. ^Oxford Classical Dictionary,"Terentius Varro, Marcus"
  2. ^"Marcus Terentius Varro | Roman author".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved12 January2017.
  3. ^"LacusCurtius • Varro On Agriculture – Book I".penelope.uchicago.edu.Retrieved12 January2017.
  4. ^abBaynes, Thomas Spencer (1891).The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature.C. Scribner's sons.
  5. ^abcReid, James Smith (1911)."Varro, Marcus Terentius".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 923–924.
  6. ^Caesar; Damon, Cynthia (2016).Civil War.Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0674997035.
  7. ^Prioreschi, Plinio (1996).A History of Medicine: Roman medicine.Horatius Press.ISBN978-1888456035.
  8. ^abLindberg, David (2007).The Beginnings of Western Science.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 137.ISBN978-0-226-48205-7.Retrieved6 March2010.
  9. ^Flower, Harriet I., ed. (23 June 2014) [2004].The Cambridge companion to the Roman Republic(2 ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 177.ISBN9781107032248.OCLC904729745.
  10. ^Flower, Harriet I., ed. (23 June 2014) [2004].The Cambridge companion to the Roman Republic(2 ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 193.ISBN9781107032248.OCLC904729745.
  11. ^ Miscellaneous Publication(900). Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station: 10. 1977https://books.google.com/books?id=vj-cUsLlD1gC.Retrieved22 October2023.The writer Varro, whose book on agriculture was published in 37 B.C., makes it clear that such latifundia existed in those days. Varro discussed some of the problems of latifundia management.{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)
  12. ^Lendering, Jona (2020),"Varronian Chronology",Official site,Amsterdam: Livius.
  13. ^Quintilian."Chapter 1".Institutio Oratoria.Vol. Book X. Verse 95.
  14. ^Plutarch.Life of Romulus.New York: Modern Library. p. 31.
  15. ^Harrison, Fairfax (1918)."Note Upon the Roman Agronomists".Roman Farm Management.New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 1–14 [10].
  16. ^Varro, Marcus Terentius (2014) [1934].De Re Rustica.Loeb Classical Library. I.12.2 – via Bill Thayer's Website.
  17. ^Thompson, Sue (March 2014)."From Ground to Tap"(PDF).The Mole:3 (sidebar). Archived fromthe originalon 12 October 2014.Retrieved21 August2017.
  18. ^Hempelmann, Ernst; Krafts, Kristine (October 2013)."Bad Air, Amulets and Mosquitoes: 2,000 Years of Changing Perspectives on Malaria".Malaria Journal.12:232.doi:10.1186/1475-2875-12-232.ISSN1475-2875.PMC3723432.PMID23835014.
  19. ^Tilly, Bertha (1973).Varro the Farmer,p. 13.
  20. ^"Marcus Terentius Varro | Roman author".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved4 January2019.
  21. ^Wilmanns, Augustus(1864)."II:97".De M. Terenti Varronis Libris Grammaticis.Berlin:Weidmann– viaGutenberg.Marcellus autem ad quem haec uolumina misit quis fuerit nescio.
  22. ^Several people calledMarcelluslived during Varro's time. The identity of this one is unclear.[21]
  23. ^Reid Byers, The Private Library: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Bookroom, 2021, p.53.

Further reading[edit]

  • Cardauns, B.Marcus Terentius Varro: Einführung in sein Werk.Heidelberger Studienhefte zur Altertumswissenschaft. Heidelberg, Germany: C. Winter, 2001.
  • d’Alessandro, P. “Varrone e la tradizione metrica antica”.Spudasmata,volume 143. Hildesheim; Zürich; New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2012.
  • Dahlmann, H.M. “Terentius Varro. Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft”. Supplement 6,Abretten bis Thunudromon.Edited by Wilhelm Kroll, 1172–1277. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1935.
  • Ferriss-Hill, J. “Varro’s Intuition of Cognate Relationships.”Illinois Classical Studies,volume 39, 2014, pp. 81–108.
  • Freudenburg, K. "The Afterlife of Varro in Horace'sSermones:Generic Issues in Roman Satire. "Generic Interfaces in Latin Literature: Encounters, Interactions and Transformations,edited by Stavros Frangoulidis, De Gruyter, 2013, pp. 297–336.
  • Kronenberg, L.Allegories of Farming from Greece and Rome: Philosophical Satire in Xenophon, Varro and Virgil.Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  • Nelsestuen, G.Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic.Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2015.
  • Richardson, J.S. “The Triumph of Metellus Scipio and the Dramatic Date of Varro, RR 3.”The Classical Quarterly,volume 33, no. 2, 1983, pp. 456–463.
  • Taylor, D.J..Declinatio: A Study of the Linguistic Theory of Marcus Terentius Varro.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1974.
  • Van Nuffelen, P. “Varro’s Divine Antiquities: Roman Religion as an Image of Truth.”Classical Philology,volume 105, no. 2, 2010, pp. 162–188.

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