Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (;
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
.
His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on
Roman agriculture
Roman agriculture describes the farming practices of ancient Rome, during a period of over 1000 years. From humble beginnings, the Roman Republic (509 BC to 27 BC) and the Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD) expanded to rule much of Europe, northern ...
, together with the works of
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write hi ...
and
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 Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
, both of which he occasionally cites. A smaller book on trees, ', is usually attributed to him.
In 1794 the Spanish botanists
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Hipólito Ruiz López named a genus of Peruvian
asterid
In the APG IV system (2016) for the classification of flowering plants, the name asterids denotes a clade (a monophyletic group). Asterids is the largest group of flowering plants, with more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total flo ...
''
Columellia
''Columellia'' is a group of plant species in the Columelliaceae described as a genus in 1794.
''Columellia'' is native to the Andes Mountains of western South America ( Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia).Serrano, M. & J. Terán. 1998 000
Trip ...
'' in his honour.
Personal life
Little is known of Columella's life. He was probably born in
Gades,
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...
(modern Cádiz), possibly to Roman parents. After a career in the army (he was
tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...
in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
in 35), he turned to farming his estates at
Ardea,
Carseoli Carsoli ( Marsicano: ') is a town and '' comune'' in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo (central Italy). The ancient Roman city lies southwest of the modern town.
History
The ancient city, known as ''Carsioli'' (or ''Carseoli''), was founded in th ...
, and
Alba
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kin ...
in
Latium
Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire.
Definition
Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...
.
''De re rustica''
In ancient times, Columella's work "appears to have been but little read", cited only by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
,
Servius,
Cassiodorus
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...
, and
Isidorus, and having fallen "into almost complete neglect" after
Palladius published an abridgement of it.
This book is presented as advice to a certain Publius Silvinus. Previously known only in fragments, the complete book was among those discovered in monastery libraries in Switzerland and France by
Poggio Bracciolini
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanist. He was responsible for rediscovering and recovering many clas ...
and his assistant
Bartolomeo di Montepulciano during the
Council of Constance
The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the r ...
, between 1414 and 1418.
Structure of ' ("On Rural Affairs"):
*
soils
*
viticulture
Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, r ...
*
fruits
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
*
olive trees
*big animals:
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
,
horses
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...
and
mules
*small animals:
asses,
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
,
goats
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of th ...
,
pigs
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
,
dogs
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. ...
*fish and fowl:
chickens
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
,
doves,
thrushes,
peacocks, Numidian chicken and
guineafowl
Guineafowl (; sometimes called "pet speckled hens" or "original fowl") are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. Phylogenetically, they branched ...
,
geese,
ducks
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
,
fish ponds
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of l ...
*wild animals: enclosures for wild animals,
beekeeping
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus ''Apis (insect), Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees ar ...
, production of
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
and
wax
*
gardens
*personnel management
*
calendars
*
household management
Book 10 is written entirely in
dactylic hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...
verse, in imitation of, or homage to,
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
. It may initially have been intended to be the concluding volume, books 11 and 12 being perhaps an addition to the original scheme.
A complete, but anonymous, translation into English was published by
Andrew Millar
Andrew Millar (17058 June 1768) was a British publisher in the eighteenth century.
Biography
In 1725, as a twenty-year-old bookseller apprentice, he evaded Edinburgh city printing restrictions by going to Leith to print, which was considered b ...
in 1745. Excerpts had previously been translated by
Richard Bradley.
''De arboribus''
The short work ', "On Trees", is in manuscripts and early editions of Columella considered as book 3 of '. However, it is clear from the opening sentences that it is part of a separate and possibly earlier work. As the anonymous translator of the Millar edition notes, in ' there is no mention of the Publius Silvinus to whom the ' is addressed. A recent critical edition of the Latin text of the ' includes it, but as ', by an unknown hand.
Cassiodorus
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...
mentions sixteen books of Columella, which has led to the suggestion that ' formed part of a work in four volumes.
Sources
In addition to Cato the Elder and Varro, Columella used many sources that are no longer extant and for which he is one of the few references. These include works by
Aulus Cornelius Celsus
Aulus Cornelius Celsus ( 25 BC 50 AD) was a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, ''De Medicina'', which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia. The ''De Medicina'' is a primary source on ...
, the
Carthaginian writer
Mago,
Tremellius Scrofa, and many
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
sources. His uncle Marcus Columella, "a clever man and an exceptional farmer" (VII.2.30), had conducted experiments in
sheep breeding
Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber ( wool). They also yield sheepskin ...
, crossing colourful wild rams, introduced from Africa for gladiatorial games, with domestic sheep,
and may have influenced his nephew's interests. Columella owned farms in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
; he refers specifically to estates at Ardea, Carseoli, and Alba,
and speaks repeatedly of his own practical experience in agriculture.
Principal early editions
The earliest editions of Columella group his works with those on agriculture of
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write hi ...
,
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 Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
and
Palladius. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "" or "".
* '
ome: Printer of Silius Italicus, (book X only)
*
Georgius Merula
Georgius Merula (c. 1430 – 1494) was an Italian humanist and classical scholar.
Life
Merula was born in Alessandria in Piedmont. The greater part of his life was spent in Venice and Milan, where he held a professorship and continued to ...
, Franciscus Colucia (eds.) ' Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472.
* ''Lucii Iunii Moderati Columellae de Cultu hortorum Liber .xi. quem .Pub. Virgilius .M. i
Georgicis Posteris edendum dimisit.''
adova D
minicusS
liprandus a. 1480* Opera Agricolationum: Columellæ: Varronis: Catonisque: nec non Palladii: cū excriptionibus .D. Philippi Beroaldi: & commentariis quæ in aliis impressionibus non extāt''. Impensis Benedicti hectoris: Bonon., xiii. calen. octob.
9 Sept.
9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding .
Evolution of the Arabic digit
In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
1494
*
Beroaldo, Filippo "il vecchio" ''Oratio de felicitate habita in enarratione Georgicon Virgilii et Columellae'' Bononiae: per Ioannemantonium De Benedictis, 1507
* ''Lucii Junii moderati Columell
ede cultu hortorum carme
: Necno
tPalladius de arboru
insitione una cu
Nicolai Barptholomaei Lochensis hortulo.'' Parisiis: Venundantur parisiis in aedibus Radulphi Laliseau
rinted by Jean Marchant 512
__NOTOC__
Year 512 ( DXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paulus and Moschianus (or, less frequently, year ...
(poetry sections only)
* Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus ''Columella De cultu ortorum. Interprete Pio Bononiensi''. Impressum Bononiae: a Hieronymo de Benedictis bibliopola et calcographo, 1520 mense Augusto
* ''Libri De Re Rustica...Additis Nuper Commentariis Iunii Pompo. Fortunati in Librum De Cultu Hortorum, Cum Adnotationibus Philippi Beroaldi...'' Florence: Filippo Giunta, 1521
* ''De re rustica libri XII. Euisdem de Arboris liber, separatus ab aliis''. Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1541
* Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus ''De l'agricoltura libri XII. / Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella. Trattato de gli alberi, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro Modonese'' In Venetia:
ichele Tramezzino il vecchio 1544
* ''Les Douze livres des choses rustiques. Traduicts de Latin en François, par feu maistre Claude Cotereau Chanoine de Paris. La traduction duquel ha esté soingneusement reveue & en la plupart corrigée, & illustrée de doctes annotations par maistre Jean Thierry de Beauvoisis'' Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1551, 1555
* Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus ''Les douze liures ... des choses rustiques, tr. par C. Cotereau. La tr. corrigée & illustrée de doctes annotations par J. Thiery de Beauoisis'' Paris, 1555
* Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatu
''Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella De l'agricoltura libri XII. Trattato de gli alberi del medesimo, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro modonese'' In Venetia: per Geronimo Caualcalouo, 1559
** Reprinted
In Venetia: appresso Nicolò Beuilacqua, 1564
* Orsini, Fulvio ''Notae ad M. Catonem, M. Varronem, L. Columellam de re rustica. Ad kalend. rusticum Farnesianum & veteres inscriptiones Fratrum Arvalium. Iunius Philargyrius in Bucolica & Georgica Virgilij. Notae ad Servium in Bucol. Georg. & Aeneid. Virg. Velius Longus de orthographia : ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini'' Romae: in aedib. S.P.Q.R. apud Georgium Ferrarium, 1587
* Bradley, Richard ''A Survey of the Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil, and others, the most eminent writers among the Greeks & Romans: wherein many of the most difficult passages in those authors are explain'd ... Adorn'd with cuts, etc.'' London: B. Motte, 1725
* Gesner, Johann Matthias (ed.) ''Scriptores Rei Rusticae veteres Latini Cato, Varro, Columella, Palladius, quibus nunc accedit Vegetius de Mulo-Medicina et Gargilii Martialis fragmentum (Ausoni Popinæ De instrumento fundi liber. J. B. Morgagni epist. IV.) cum editionibus prope omnibus et MSS. pluribus collati: adjectae notae virorum clariss, integræ ... et lexicon Rei Rusticae curante Io. Matthia Gesnero'' Lipsiae: sumtibus Caspari Fritsch, 1735
full text
* Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (trans. Anon.)
L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry, in Twelve Books: and his book, concerning Trees. Translated into English, with illustrations from Pliny, Cato, Varro, Palladius and other ancient and modern authors' London: A. Millar, 1745
References
Further reading
* Baldwin, Barry. 1963. "Columella's Sources and How He Used Them." ''Latomus'' 22:785–791.
* Bertoni, D. 2017. "Geometry and Genre in Columella". ''American Journal of Philology.'' 138.3: 527-554.
* Carandini, Andrea. 1983. "Columella's Vineyard and the Rationality of the Roman Economy." ''Opus'' 2:177–204.
* Carroll, Peter D. 1976. "Columella the Reformer." ''Latomus'' 35:783–790.
* Doody, Aude. 2007. "Virgil the Farmer? Critiques of the Georgics in Columella and Pliny." ''Classical Philology.'' 102.2: 180-197.
* Dumont, Jean Christian. 2008. "Columella and Vergil." ''Vergilius'' 54:49–59.
* Forster, E. S. 1950. "Columella and His Latin Treatise on Agriculture." ''Greece and Rome'' 19:123–128.
* Gowers, Emily. 2000. "Vegetable Love: Virgil, Columella, and Garden Poetry." ''Ramus'' 29:127–148.
* Henderson, John. 2002. "Columella's Living Hedge: the Roman Gardening Book." ''The Journal of Roman Studies'' 92: 110-133.
* Olson, L. 1943. "Columella and the Beginning of Soil Science." ''Agricultural History'' 17:65–72.
* Requejo, A. 2017. "Columella's Georgics: Form, Method, Intertextuality, Ideology." U.W. Seattle, PhD dissertation
External links
Works by Columella at Perseus Digital Libraryat
The Latin Library
The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for ...
Books I‑IV in English translationat
LacusCurtius
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columella
AD 4 births
70 deaths
1st-century Romans
1st-century writers
Ancient Roman writers
Silver Age Latin writers
Geoponici
Moderatus Columella, Lucius
People from Cádiz
Romans from Hispania
Hispania Baetica
Viticulture
1st-century agronomists