Marcus Terentius Varro

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Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC), also known as Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer.

1 Biography
2 Works
- 2.1 Extant works
- 2.2 Known lost works
3 External links
- 3.1 Varro's own writings
- 3.2 Secondary material

[edit] Biography

Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain, probably near Lago di Ripa Sottile, till his old age.

He studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo, and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon. Politically, he supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile. He escaped the penalties of being on the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar, before and after the Battle of Pharsalus. He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC). Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed 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, under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing.

Among his many works, one that stands out for historians is his compilation of the Varronian chronology, 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, eked out, where that did not fit, 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.

[edit] Works

Varro's literary output was very large; 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' Noctes Atticae.

Called "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintilian (Inst. Or. X.1.95), Varro was recognized as an important source by many other ancient authors, among them Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Vergil in the Georgics, Columella, Aulus Gellius, Augustine, and Vitruvius, who credits him (VII.Intr.14) with a book on architecture.

From a modern perspective, one noteworthy aspect of Varro's work is his anticipation of microbiology and epidemiology. Varro warned his contemporaries to avoid swamps and marshland, since such areas "breed 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." (R.R. I.12.2)

[edit] Extant works

De lingua latina libri XXV (or On the Latin Language in 25 Books; of which six survive, partly mutilated)
Rerum rusticarum libri III (or Agricultural Topics in Three Books)