Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, also known as Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus or most often just as Palladius, was an ancient writer who wrote in Latin, and is dated variously to the later 4th century or first half of the 5th century AD. He is principally known for his book on
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, ''Opus agriculturae'', sometimes known as ''De re rustica''.
Biography
Since the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, authors of agricultural treatises have referred often to Palladius. The Palladii were a prominent
Gallic family, and the name ''Palladius'' is probably a family name (of Greek origin), with Aemilianus his ''
cognomen
A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...
'' (of Roman origin). In
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, the
convention of the ''tria nomina'' ("three names") for Roman men was no longer standard, and the greater variation in naming practice contributes to the uncertainty over the correct order of his names. Evidence for his life is scant. Manuscripts of his work call him a ''
vir illustris
The title ''vir illustris'' ('illustrious man') is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople. All senators had the title ''vir clarissimus'' ('very famous ...
'', which would indicate high rank. Although Palladius relies heavily on earlier agricultural writers, he himself owned farms in Italy and Sardinia, and had considerable experience of farming, with a special interest in fruit trees.
''Opus agriculturae''
The ''Opus agriculturae'' is a treatise on farming in 14 parts or books, written in the late fourth or early fifth century AD.
[ The first book is general and introductory. Books 2 to 13 give detailed instructions for the typical activities on a Roman farm for each month of the year, starting with January. Each of these calendrical books has sections on field crops, vegetable gardens, fruit trees and other trees, and livestock. The fourteenth book, ''De Veterinaria Medicina'', was rediscovered only in the 20th century, and gives instructions for the care of animals and elements of veterinary science.] All of this is in prose, but Palladius also appended a poem, ''De Insitione'', On Grafting
Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...
, consisting of eighty-five couplet
A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...
s of elegiac verse.
Palladius' work stands in the tradition of Roman agricultural treatises, represented particularly by Marcus Priscus Cato, 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 ...
, Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.
His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...
, and Gargilius Martialis. His chief contribution was to reduce the exhaustive works of Columella and Martialis to an appropriate scale for the practical farmer, while at the same time re-organising them on a calendrical basis, to provide the farmer with a checklist of the tasks needing attention each month.[Fitch (below) p.14]
The work of Palladius was well known in the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. A translation into Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
verse survives from about 1420, entitled ''On Husbondrie''; it can be seen as part of a genre of instructional agricultural writing that was to develop in England into works such as those of Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser (c. 15243 May 1580) was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem ''Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry'', an expanded version of his original title, ''A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie'', first publishe ...
and Gervase Markham
Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (ca. 1568 – 3 February 1637) was an English poet and writer. He was best known for his work '' The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman'', first publishe ...
. Two notable thirteenth century works that draw on Palladius are the ''Commoda ruralia'' of Petrus de Crescentius, written c. 1305 and printed at Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
in 1471; and the ''Speculum Maius
''Speculum maius'' (greater Mirror) was a major encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, written by Vincent de Beauvais in the 13th century. It was a great compendium of all knowledge of the time. The work seems to have consisted of three parts: the ''Spe ...
'' of Vincentius Bellovacensis (Vincent de Beauvais
Vincent of Beauvais ( la, Vincentius Bellovacensis or ''Vincentius Burgundus''; c. 1264) was a Dominican friar at the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont Abbey, France. He is known mostly for his ''Speculum Maius'' (''Great mirror''), a major work ...
) written about 1250 and first printed in Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
in 1473–76. There are a number of other ''incunabula
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...
'' or early editions.
Water-mills
The book is known for reference to a water-mill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production o ...
in Book 1, ch. 41, where Palladius suggests that waste water from bath buildings should be used to drive a mill. Such mills had been described by Vitruvius
Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...
in 25 BC, and there is a growing number of examples of such Roman water-mills. The most spectacular is the set of 16 mills at Barbegal
The Barbegal aqueduct and mills is a Roman watermill complex located on the territory of the commune of Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône, near the town of Arles, in southern France. The complex has been referred to as "the greatest known concentra ...
in southern France, using water fed by a stone aqueduct along the line of the same aqueduct which supplied nearby Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
.
Principal early editions
The earliest editions of Palladius group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Columella. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "Rei rusticae scriptores" or "Scriptores rei rusticae".
* Georgius Merula, Franciscus Colucia (eds.) ''De re rustica''. Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472
* ''Rei rusticae authores''. Regii: opera et impensis Bartholomei Bruschi al' Botoni, Regiensis, 1482
* . Impensis Benedicti hectoris: Bonon., xiii. calen. octob. 9 September
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
* . rinted by Jean Marchant 512* . Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri, mense Maio, 1514
Impressum Florentiæ: Philippi Iuntæ, 515* Richard Bradle
''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
* Johann Matthias Gesner (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
See also
* Ancient Rome and wine
Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the history of wine. The earliest influences on the viticulture of the Italian peninsula can be traced to ancient Greeks and the Etruscans. The rise of the Roman Empire saw both technological advances in ...
References
Further reading
* Bartoldus, Marco Johannes ''Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus: Welt und Wert spätrömischer Landwirtschaft''. Augsburg (Wißner-Verlag), 2nd edit., 2014.
* Brodersen, Kai ''Palladius: Das Bauernjahr''. Latin/German, Sammlung Tusculum, Berlin and Boston (de Gruyter) 2016.
* Fitch, John G. (transl.) ''Palladius: The Work of Farming''. Totnes (Prospect Books), 2013.
* Rodgers, Robert H. (ed.) Palladius ''Opus Agriculturae, De Veterinaria Medicina, De Insitione.'' Leipzig (Teubner) 1975.
* Rodgers, Robert H. ''An Introduction to Palladius''. University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement 35. London, 1975.
External links
Full Latin text of ''Opus agriculturae''
Full text in English of Palladius's ''Fourteen books on Agriculture''
(as translated in year 1807 by T. Owen)
Late medieval English translation of Palladius's ''On Agriculture''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palladius, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Geoponici
4th-century Latin writers
5th-century Latin writers
4th-century Romans
5th-century Romans
Rutilii