Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
and a prolific author. He is regarded as
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
's greatest scholar, and was described by
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...
as "the third great light of Rome" (after
Vergil
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: t ...
and
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary
Varro Atacinus Publius Terentius Varro Atacinus (; 82 – c. 35 BC) was a Roman poet, more polished in his style than the more famous and learned Varro Reatinus, his contemporary, and therefore more widely read by the Augustan writers.Charles Thomas Cruttwell'' ...
.
Biography
Varro was born in or near Reate (now
Rieti) to a family thought to be of
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the
Reatine plain, reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, until his old age. He supported
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
, reaching the office of
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
, after having been
tribune of the people
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...
, ''
quaestor
A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times.
In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...
'' and ''
curule aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...
''.
It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was an informal political alliance among three prominent politicians in the late Roman Republic: Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The constitution of the Roman republic had many ve ...
was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate.
He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ( in the Greek of Appian).
[ He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of ]Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
for the resettlement of Capua
Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History
Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the Etrusc ...
and Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
(59 BC).[
During ]Caesar's civil war
Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...
he commanded one of Pompey's armies in the Ilerda campaign. He escaped the penalties of being on the losing side in the civil war through two pardons
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
granted by Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, before and after the Battle of Pharsalus
The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey. P ...
. Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...
proscribed
Proscription ( la, proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (''Oxford English Dictionary'') and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The term originated ...
him, resulting in the loss of much of his property, including his library. As the Republic gave way to Empire, Varro gained the favour of Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing.
Varro studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo, and later at Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
under the Academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon
Antiochus of Ascalon (; grc-gre, Άντίοχος ὁ Ἀσκαλώνιος; c. 125 – c. 68 BC) was an Academic philosopher. He was a pupil of Philo of Larissa at the Academy, but he diverged from the Academic skepticism of Philo and his p ...
. Varro proved to be a highly productive writer and turned out more than 74 Latin works on a variety of topics. Among his many works, two stand out for historians; ''Nine Books of Disciplines'' and his compilation of the ''Varronian chronology
This is a list of Roman consul, consuls known to have held office, from the beginning of the Roman Republic to the latest use of the title in Roman Empire, Imperial times, together with those magistrates of the Republic who were appointed in place ...
''. His ''Nine Books of Disciplines'' became a model for later encyclopedists, especially 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 '' ...
. The most noteworthy portion of the ''Nine Books of Disciplines'' is its use of the liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
as organizing principles. Varro decided to focus on identifying nine of these arts: grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
, rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
, logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
, arithmetic
Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
, geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
, astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
, musical theory, medicine, and architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
. Using Varro's list, subsequent writers defined the seven classical "liberal arts of the medieval schools".[
In 37 BC, in his old age, he also wrote on agriculture for his wife Fundania, writing a "voluminous" work ''De re rustica'' (also called ''Res rusticae'')—similar to ]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 histo ...
's similar work ''De agri cultura''—on the management of large slave-run estates.
Calendars
The compilation of the ''Varronian chronology
This is a list of Roman consul, consuls known to have held office, from the beginning of the Roman Republic to the latest use of the title in Roman Empire, Imperial times, together with those magistrates of the Republic who were appointed in place ...
'' was an attempt to determine an exact year-by-year timeline of Roman history up to his time. It is based on the traditional sequence of the consuls of the Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
—supplemented, where necessary, by inserting "dictatorial" and "anarchic" years. It has been demonstrated to be somewhat erroneous but has become the widely accepted standard chronology, in large part because it was inscribed on the arch of Augustus in Rome; though that arch no longer stands, a large portion of the chronology has survived under the name of ''Fasti Capitolini
The ''Fasti Capitolini'', or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rom ...
.''
Works
Varro's literary output was prolific; Ritschl estimated 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" by Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...
, and also recognized by Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
as "a man deeply read in Roman history".
Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, 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 '' ...
, 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: t ...
in the ''Georgics'', 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 ...
, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
, and 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 ...
, who credits hi
(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."
One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation of microbiology
Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...
and epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
. 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.
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 ''Agricultural Topics in Three Books'')
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'')
* ''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. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
, 'De civitate dei
''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...
' 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 Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
; cf. Augustine, 'De civitate dei
''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...
' 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
Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...
)
* ''De Similitudine Verborum libri III'' (on regularity in forms and words)
* ''De Utilitate Sermonis libri IIII'' (on the principle of anomaly or irregularity)
* '' libri V (?)'' (addressed to Marcellus, on orthography and the metres of poetry)
* ''De philosophia'' (cf. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
, 'De civitate dei
''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...
' xix. 1.)
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
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
*
*
*
de Re Rustica
(Latin and English 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 ...
)
Links to translation of ''De Linga Latina'' by R.G.Kent
Oxford Classical Dictionary
Oxford Bibliographies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varro, Marcus Terentius
116 BC births
27 BC deaths
2nd-century BC Romans
1st-century BC Roman praetors
1st-century BC writers
Ancient linguists
Ancient Roman antiquarians
Ancient Roman scholars of religion
Ancient Roman soldiers
Ancient Roman writers
Encyclopedias in classical antiquity
Roman encyclopedists
Geoponici
Golden Age Latin writers
People from Rieti
Recipients of ancient Roman pardons
Roman-era students in Athens
Varro, Marcus
Latinists