Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (
116 BCE –
27 BCE), also known as
Varro Reatinus["Reatinus" refers to his birth at Reate, now Rieti, in Sabine territory (1911 Encylopedia Britannica).] to distinguish him from his contemporary
Varro Atacinus, was a
Roman scholar and writer, who the Romans came to call "the most learned of all the Romans."
Varro was born in what is now
Rieti to a family of
equestrian rank.
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.
[1911 Encylopedia Britannica] 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 BCE). Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public
library of Rome in 47 BCE, 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
Consuls of the
Roman Republic, which was inscribed on
Augustus'
triumphal arch. This list, the
Varronian chronology, though doubted by some for its introduction of dictatorial and anarchic years, has proved itself an invaluable resource.
He is considered by some to be the greatest of Roman scholars, and a greater
polymath than
Pliny the Elder.
Varro wrote more than 400 pieces in his lifetime, of which only two survive complete, and roughly seventy in fragments.
Extant works
*
De lingua latina libri XXV (or
On the Latin Language in 25 Books)
*
Rerum rusticarum libri III (or
Agricultural Topics in Three Books)
Known lost works
*
Saturarum Menippearum libri CL or
Menippean Satires in 150 books*
Antiquatatum rerum humanarum et divinarum libri XLI*
Logistoricon libri LXXVI*
Hebdomades vel de imaginibus*
Disciplinarum libri IX*
Beekeeping, which Varro documented
*
Varroa, a genus of bee parasite named for Varro
*
Free ebook of Marcus Terentius Varro at
Project Gutenberg*
Livius.org: Varronian chronology*
Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Marcus Terentius Varro"
*
Rerum Rusticarum de Agri Cultura
