Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius
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Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, usually called just Palladius, was a Roman writer of the 4th century AD.
Palladius is best known for his book on agriculture Opus agriculturae (sometimes known as De Re Rustica). This is a 14-part treatise on farming that gives detailed instructions, month-by-month, for the typical activities of a year on a Roman farm. Most of the book is in prose, with part 14 De Insitione (On Fruit Trees) written in elegiac verse.
Palladius may be compared with the agricultural writings of Cato the Elder, Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella, and Marcus Terentius Varro.
Palladius's work was well known in the Middle Ages and a number of early English translations have survived from this period, often titled On Husbandry. These 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 and Gervase Markham.
[edit] Further reading
- Palladius (edited by Robert H. Rodgers) Opus Agriculturae, De Veterinaria Medicina, De Insitione. 1975. ISBN 3-598-71573-0
- Robert H. Rodgers. An Introduction to Palladius. University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement 35. London, 1975.
