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- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. 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 Af ...

, 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 his ...

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'' 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 in 35), he turned to farming his estates at Ardea, Carseoli, 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 Kingdom ...

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 Isidorus (born c. 139) was a native ancient Egyptian priest in the 2nd century during the Roman rule in Egypt. He led the native Egyptian revolt against Roman rule during the reign of emperor Marcus Aurelius.Dio CassiusEpitome 72/ref> The likely ...

, 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 classi ...

and his assistant

Bartolomeo di Montepulciano Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo is a masculine Italian given name, the Italian equivalent of Bartholomew. Its diminutive form is Baccio. Notable people with the name include: * Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo (1824–1860), Italian paleobotanist and lic ...

during the Council of Constance, between 1414 and 1418. Structure of ' ("On Rural Affairs"): *

soils Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ter ...

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, ...

* fruits *

olive trees The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

*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 ma ...

, horses and mules *small animals:

asses Ass most commonly refers to: * Buttocks (in informal American English) * Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus'' **any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus'' Ass or ASS may also refer to: Art and entertainment * Ass (album), ''Ass'' (album ...

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 domesticated ...

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 *fish and fowl: chickens,

doves Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

peacocks Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are ref ...

, 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 A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...

, ducks,

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 li ...

*wild animals: enclosures for wild animals, beekeeping, 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 Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

*personnel management *

calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a ph ...

household management Housekeeping is the management and routine support activities of running an organised physical institution occupied or used by people, like a house, ship, hospital or factory, such as tidying, cleaning, cooking, routine maintenance, shopping, ...

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 be ...

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.

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 {{short description, List of several related Roman men Tremellius Scrofa (sometimes, less properly, spelled Tremelius and Scropha) was the name of several related Roman men, among whom: :Lucius Tremellius Scrofa, quaestor in 143 BC, who served as a ...

, 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, 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

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 te ...

, 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. 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

External links

Works by Columella at Perseus Digital Library

at

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 rese ...

Books I‑IV in English translation
at

LacusCurtius LacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in July 2021 it had "3707 webpages, 765 photos, 772 drawings & engravings, 120 plans, 139 maps." T ...

{{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