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Varro, Marcus Terentius

We have 1 book for this author.

Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC), also known as Varro Reatinus^[1] to distinguish him from his contemporary Varro Atacinus, was a Roman scholar and writer, whom the Romans came to call "the most learned of all the Romans."

Biography

Varro was born in Reate (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.^[2] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

He is considered by some to be the greatest of Roman scholars, and a greater polymath than Pliny the Elder.^{[citation needed]}

Works

Varro wrote more than 400 pieces in his lifetime, of which only two survive complete, and roughly seventy in fragments.

Varro was called "the most learned of the Romans" by Cicero and St. Augustine of Hippo.^[3] Varro's account of the origin of the Legend of the Nine Muses is referenced by St. Augustine of Hippo in his book II, chapter 17 of his work "On Christian Doctrine."[1]

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."^[4]

Vitruvius (vii, introduction) notes a Terentius Varro wrote one book on architecture called "On the Nine Sciences"

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

Footnotes

^ "Reatinus" refers to his birth at Reate, now Rieti, in Sabine territory (1911 Encyclopedia Britannica).
^ 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
^ Harrison, Frederic, ed.The New Calendar of Great Men. London, Macmillan and Co., 1920. (UsefulTrivia.com)
^ Mayor, Adrienne. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World. New York, Overlook Duckworth, 2003; p. 114.