Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero).[1] He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus ("Varro of Rieti") to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.
Life
Varro was born in or near Reate (now
During
Varro had studied under the Roman
In c. 37 BC,
Calendars
The compilation of the
Works
Varro's literary output was prolific;
Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Virgil in the Georgics, Columella, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Augustine, and Vitruvius, 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 of microbiology and epidemiology. 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]
Extant works
- De lingua latina libri XXV (or On the Latin Language in 25 Books, of which six books (V–X) survive, partly mutilated)
- Rerum rusticarum libri III (or Three Books of Rural Topics), also known as the De re rustica ("On Agriculture") or Res rusticae ("Agriculture")
Known lost works
- Saturarum Menippearum libri CL or Menippean Satires in 150 books
- Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI (Antiquities of Human and Divine Things)[19]
- 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 (or On Urban Topics in Three Books)
- De gente populi Romani libri IIII (cf. De civitate dei' xxi. 8.)
- De sua vita libri III (or On His Own Life in Three Books)
- De familiis troianis (or On the Families of Troy)
- De Antiquitate Litterarum libri II (addressed to the tragic poet Lucius Accius; it is therefore one of his earliest writings)
- De Origine Linguae Latinae libri III (addressed to 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 of Plautus)
- 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 libri V (?) (addressed to Marcellus,[21] on orthography and the metres of poetry)
- De philosophia (cf. De civitate dei' xix. 1.)
- De Bibliothecis (in three books)[22]
Most of the extant fragments of these works (mostly the grammatical works) can be found in the Goetz–Schoell edition of De Lingua Latina, pp. 199–242; in the collection of Wilmanns, pp. 170–223; and in that of Funaioli, pp. 179–371.
References
- ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, "Terentius Varro, Marcus"
- ^ "Marcus Terentius Varro | Roman author". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ "LacusCurtius • Varro On Agriculture – Book I". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ a b Baynes, Thomas Spencer (1891). The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature. C. Scribner's sons.
- ^ a b c Reid, James Smith (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 923–924. . In
- ISBN 978-0674997035.
- ISBN 978-1888456035.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-48205-7. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- OCLC 904729745.
- OCLC 904729745.
- ^
Miscellaneous Publication (900). Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station: 10. 1977 https://books.google.com/books?id=vj-cUsLlD1gC. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
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.
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(help) - ^ Lendering, Jona (2020), "Varronian Chronology", Official site, Amsterdam: Livius.
- ^ Quintilian. "Chapter 1". Institutio Oratoria. Vol. Book X. Verse 95.
- ^ Plutarch. Life of Romulus. New York: Modern Library. p. 31.
- ^ Harrison, Fairfax (1918). "Note Upon the Roman Agronomists". Roman Farm Management. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 1–14 [10].
- ^ Varro, Marcus Terentius (2014) [1934]. De Re Rustica. Loeb Classical Library. I.12.2 – via Bill Thayer's Website.
- ^ Thompson, Sue (March 2014). "From Ground to Tap" (PDF). The Mole: 3 (sidebar). Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- PMID 23835014.
- ^ "Marcus Terentius Varro | Roman author". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ Wilmanns, Augustus (1864). "II:97". De M. Terenti Varronis Libris Grammaticis. Berlin: Weidmann – via Gutenberg.
Marcellus autem ad quem haec uolumina misit quis fuerit nescio.
- ^ Several people called Marcellus lived during Varro's time. The identity of this one is unclear.[20]
- ^ Reid Byers, The Private Library: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Bookroom, 2021, p.53.
Further reading
- 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's Sermones: 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.
External links
- Marcus Terentius Varro: latin works in the latin Wikisource.
- Works by Marcus Terentius Varro at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Marcus Terentius Varro at Internet Archive
- Works by Marcus Terentius Varro at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- de Re Rustica (Latin and English at LacusCurtius)
- Links to translation of De Linga Latina by R.G.Kent
- Livius.org: Varronian chronology Archived 7 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- thelatinlibrary.com: Latin works of Varro
- Oxford Classical Dictionary
- Oxford Bibliographies