senatorial family. It is probable that his youth, and even the greater
part of his manhood, were spent in literary pursuits, and in the
acquisition of that stupendous knowledge, which has procured to him the
appellation of the most learned of the Romans, since his name does not
appear in the civil or military history of his country, till the year 680,
when he was Consul along with Cassius Varus. In 686, he served under
Pompey, in his war against the pirates, in which he commanded the Greek
ships(50). To the fortunes of that Chief he continued firmly attached, and
was appointed one of his lieutenants in Spain, along with Afranius and
Petreius, at the commencement of the war with Cæsar. Hispania Ulterior was
specially confided to his protection, and two legions were placed under
his command. After the surrender of his colleagues in Hither Spain, Cæsar
proceeded in person against him. Varro appears to have been little
qualified to cope with such an adversary. One of the legions deserted in
his own sight, and his retreat to Cadiz, where he had meant to retire,
having been cut off, he surrendered at discretion, with the other, in the
vicinity of Cordova(51). From that period he despaired of the salvation of
the republic, or found, at least, that he was not capable of saving it;
for although, after receiving his freedom from Cæsar, he proceeded to
Dyracchium, to give Pompey a detail of the disasters which had occurred,
he left it almost immediately for Rome. On his return to Italy he withdrew
from all political concerns, and indulged himself during the remainder of
his life in the enjoyment of literary leisure. The only service he
performed for Cæsar, was that of arranging the books which the Dictator
had himself procured, or which had been acquired by those who preceded him
in the management of public affairs(52). He lived during the reign of
Cæsar in habits of the closest intimacy with Cicero; and his feelings, as
well as conduct, at this period, resembled those of his illustrious
friend, who, in all his letters to Varro, bewails, with great freedom, the
utter ruin of the state, and proposes that they should live together,
engaged only in those studies which were formerly their amusement, but
were then their chief support. “And, should none require our services for
repairing the ruins of the republic, let us employ our time and thoughts
on moral and political inquiries. If we cannot benefit the commonwealth in
the forum or the senate, let us endeavour, at least, to do so by our
studies and writings; and, after the example of the most learned among the
ancients, contribute to the welfare of our country, by useful
disquisitions concerning laws and government.” Some farther notion of the
manner in which Varro spent his time during this period may be derived
from another letter of Cicero, written in June, 707. “Nothing,” says he,
“raises your character higher in my esteem, than that you have wisely
retreated into harbour—that you are enjoying the happy fruits of a learned
leisure, and employed in pursuits, which are attended with more public
advantage, as well as private satisfaction, than all the ambitious
exploits, or voluptuous indulgences, of these licentious victors. The
contemplative hours you spend at your Tusculan villa, are, in my
estimation, indeed, what alone deserves to be called life(53).”
Varro passed the greatest portion of his time in the various villas which
he possessed in Italy. One of these was at Tusculum, and another in the
neighbourhood of Cumæ. The latter place had been among the earliest Greek
establishments in Italy, and was long regarded as pre-eminent in power and
population. It spread prosperity over the adjacent coasts; and its oracle,
Sibyl, and temple, long attracted votaries and visitants. As the Roman
power increased, that of Cumæ decayed; and its opulence had greatly
declined before the time of Varro. Its immediate vicinity was not even
frequently selected as a situation for villas. The Romans had a
well-founded partiality for the coasts of Puteoli, and Naples, so superior
in beauty and salubrity to the flat, marshy neighbourhood of Cumæ. The
situation of Varro’s other villa, at Tusculum, must have been infinitely
more agreeable, from its pure air, and the commanding prospect it enjoyed.
Besides immense flocks of sheep in Apulia, and many horses in the Sabine
district of Reate(54), Varro had considerable farms both at his Cuman and
Tusculan villas, the cultivation of which, no doubt, formed an agreeable
relaxation from his severe and sedentary studies. He had also a farm at a
third villa, where he occasionally resided, near the town of Casinum, in
the territory of the ancient Volsci(55), and situated on the banks of the
Cassinus, a tributary stream to the Liris. This stream, which was
fifty-seven feet broad, and both deep and clear, with a pebbly channel,
flowed through the middle of his delightful domains. A bridge, which
crossed the river from the house, led directly to an island, which was a
little farther down, at the confluence of the Cassinus with a rivulet
called the Vinius(56). Along the banks of the larger water there were
spacious pleasure-walks which conducted to the farm; and near the place
where they joined the fields, there was an extensive aviary(57). The site
of Varro’s villa was visited by Sir R. C. Hoare, who says, that it stood
close to Casinum, now St Germano: Some trifling remains still indicate its
site; but its memory, he adds, will shortly survive only in the page of
the historian(58).
After the assassination of Cæsar, this residence, along with almost all
the wealth of Varro, which was immense, was forcibly seized by Marc
Antony(59). Its lawless occupation by that profligate and blood-thirsty
triumvir, on his return from his dissolute expedition to Capua, is
introduced by Cicero into one of his Philippics, and forms a topic of the
most eloquent and bitter invective. The contrast which the orator draws
between the character of Varro and that of Antony—between the noble and
peaceful studies prosecuted in that delightful residence by the rightful
proprietor, and the shameful debaucheries of the wretch by whom it had
been usurped, forms a picture, to which it would be difficult to find a
parallel in ancient or modern oratory.—“How many days did you shamefully
revel, Antony, in that villa? From the third hour, it was one continued
scene of drinking, gambling, and uproar. The very roofs were to be pitied.
O, what a change of masters! But how can he be called its master? And, if
master—gods! how unlike to him he had dispossessed! Marcus Varro made his
house the abode of the muses, and a retreat for study—not a haunt for
midnight debauchery. Whilst he was there, what were the subjects
discussed—what the topics debated in that delightful residence? I will
answer the question—The rights and liberties of the Roman people—the
memorials of our ancestors—the wisdom resulting from reason combined with
knowledge. But whilst you, Antony, was its occupant, (for you cannot be
called its master,) every room rung with the cry of drunkenness—the
pavements were swimming with wine, and the walls wet with riot.”
Antony was not a person to be satisfied with robbing Varro of his
property. At the formation of the memorable triumvirate, the name of Varro
appeared in the list of the proscribed, among those other friends of
Pompey whom the clemency of Cæsar had spared. This illustrious and
blameless individual had now passed the age of seventy; and nothing can
afford a more frightful proof of the sanguinary spirit which guided the
councils of the triumvirs, than their devoting to the dagger of the hired
assassin a man equally venerable by his years and character, and who ought
to have been protected, if not by his learned labours, at least by his
retirement, from such inhuman persecution. But, though doomed to death as
a friend of law and liberty, his friends contended with each other for the
dangerous honour of saving him. Calenus having obtained the preference,
carried him to his country-house, where Antony frequently came, without
suspecting that it contained a proscribed inmate. Here Varro remained
concealed till a special edict was issued by the consul, M. Plancus, under
the triumviral seal, excepting him and Messala Corvinus from the general
slaughter(60).
But though Varro thus passed in security the hour of danger, he was unable
to save his library, which was placed in the garden of one of his villas,
and fell into the hands of an illiterate soldiery.
After the battle of Actium, Varro resided in tranquillity at Rome till his
decease, which happened in 727, when he was ninety years of age. The
tragical deaths, however, of Pompey and Cicero, with the loss of others of
his friends,—the ruin of his country,—the expulsion from his villas,—and
the loss of those literary treasures, which he had stored up as the solace
of his old age, and the want of which would be doubly felt by one who
wished to devote all his time to study,—must have cast a deep shade over
the concluding days of this illustrious scholar. His wealth was restored
by Augustus, but his books could not be supplied.
It is not improbable, that the dispersion of this library, which impeded
the prosecution of his studies, and prevented the composition of such
works as required reference and consultation, may have induced Varro to
employ the remaining hours of his life in delivering those precepts of
agriculture, which had been the result of long experience, and which
needed only reminiscence to inculcate. It was some time after the loss of
his books, and when he had nearly reached the age of eighty, that Varro
composed the work on husbandry, as he himself testifies in the
introduction. “If I had leisure, I might write these things more
conveniently, which I will now explain as well as I am able, thinking that
I must make haste; because, if a man be a bubble of air, much more so is
an old man, for now my eightieth year admonishes me to get my baggage
together before I leave the world. Wherefore, as you have bought a farm,
which you are desirous to render profitable by tillage, and as you ask me
to take this task upon me, I will try to advise you what must be done, not
only during my stay here, but after my departure.” The remainder of the
introduction forms, in its ostentatious display of erudition, a remarkable
contrast to Cato’s simplicity. Varro talks of the Syrens and
Sibyls,—invokes all the Roman deities, supposed to preside over rural
affairs,—and enumerates all the Greek authors who had written on the
subject of agriculture previous to his own time.
The first of the three books which this agricultural treatise comprehends,
is addressed, by Varro, to Fundanius, who had recently purchased a farm,
in the management of which he wished to be instructed. The information
which Varro undertakes to give, is communicated in the form of dialogue.
He feigns that, at the time appointed for rites to be performed in the
sowing season, (_sementivis feriis_,) he went, by invitation of the
priest, to the temple of Tellus. There he met his father-in-law, C.
Fundanius, the knight Agrius, and Agrasius, a farmer of imposts, who were
gazing on a map of Italy, painted on the inner walls of the temple. The
priest, whose duty it was to officiate, having been summoned by the ædile
to attend him on affairs of importance, they were awaiting his return;
and, in order to pass the time till his arrival, Agrasius commences a
conversation, (suggested by the map of Italy,) by inquiring at the others
present in the temple, whether they, who had travelled so much, had ever
visited any country better cultivated than Italy. This introduces an
eulogy on the soil and climate of that favoured region, and of its various
abundant productions,—the Apulian wheat, the Venafrian olive, and the
Falernian grape. All this, again, leads to the inquiry, by what arts of
agricultural skill and industry, aiding the luxuriant soil, it had reached
such unexampled fecundity. These questions are referred to Licinius Stolo,
and Tremellius Scrofa, who now joined the party, and who were well
qualified to throw light on the interesting discussion—the first being of
a family distinguished by the pains it had taken with regard to the
Agrarian laws, and the second being well known for possessing one of the
best cultivated farms in Italy. Scrofa, too, had himself written on
husbandry, as we learn from Columella; who says, that he had first
rendered agriculture eloquent. This first book of Varro is accordingly
devoted to rules for the cultivation of land, whether for the production
of grain, pulse, olives, or vines, and the establishment necessary for a
well-managed and lucrative farm; excluding from consideration what is
strictly the business of the grazier and shepherd, rather than of the
farmer.
After some general observations on the object and end of agriculture, and
the exposition of some general principles with regard to soil and climate,
Scrofa and Stolo, who are the chief prolocutors, proceed to settle the
size, as also the situation of the villa. They recommend that it should be
placed at the foot of a well-wooded hill, and open to the most healthful
breeze. An eastern exposure seems to be preferred, as it will thus have
shade in summer, and sun in winter. They farther advise, that it should
not be placed in a hollow valley, as being there subject to storms and
inundations; nor in front of a river, as that situation is cold in winter,
and unwholesome in summer; nor in the vicinity of a marsh, where it would
be liable to be infested with small insects, which, though invisible,
enter the body by the mouth or nostrils, and occasion obstinate diseases.
Fundanius asks, what one ought to do who happens to inherit such a villa;
and is answered, that he should sell it for whatever sum it may bring; and
if it will bring nothing, he should abandon it. After this follow the
subjects of enclosure—the necessary implements of husbandry—the number of
servants and oxen required—and the soil in which different crops should be
sown. We have then a sort of calendar, directing what operations ought to
be performed in each season of the year. Thus, the author recommends
draining betwixt the winter solstice and approach of the zephyrs, which
was reckoned to be about the beginning of February. The sowing of grain
should not be commenced before the autumnal equinox, nor delayed after the
winter solstice; because the seeds which are sown previous to the equinox
spring up too quickly, and those sown subsequent to the solstice scarcely
appear above ground in forty days. A taste for flowers had begun to
prevail at Rome in the time of Varro; he accordingly recommends their
cultivation, and points out the seasons for planting the lily, violet and
crocus.
The remainder of the first book of Varro is well and naturally arranged.
He considers his subject from the choice of the seed, till the grain has
sprung up, ripened, been reaped, secured, and brought to market. The same
course is followed in treating of the vine and the olive. While on the
subject of selling farm-produce to the best advantage, the conversation is
suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the priest’s freedman, who came in
haste to apologize to the guests for having been so long detained, and to
ask them to attend on the following day at the obsequies of his master,
who had been just assassinated on the public street by an unknown hand.
The party in the temple immediately separate.—“De casu humano magis
querentes, quam admirantes id Romæ factum.”
The subject of agriculture, strictly so called, having been discussed in
the first book, Varro proceeds in the second, addressed to Niger Turranus,
to treat of the care of flocks and cattle, (_De Re Pecuaria_). The
knowledge which he here communicates is the result of his own
observations, blended with the information he had received from the great
pasturers of Epirus, at the time when he commanded the Grecian ships on
its coast, in Pompey’s naval war with the pirates. As in the former book,
the instruction is delivered in the shape of dialogue. Varro being at the
house of a person called Cossinius, his host refuses to let him depart
till he explain to him the origin, the dignity, and the art of pasturage.
Our author undertakes to satisfy him as to the first and second points,
but as to the third, he refers him to Scrofa, another of the guests, who
had the management of extensive sheep-walks in the territory of the
Brutii. Varro makes but a pedantic figure in the part which he has
modestly taken to himself. His account of the origin of pasturage is
nothing but some very common-place observations on the early stages of
society; and its dignity is proved from several signs of the zodiac being
called after animals, as also some of the most celebrated spots on the
globe,—Mount Taurus, the Bosphorus, the Ægean sea, and Italy, which Varro
derives from Vitulus. Scrofa, in commencing his part of the dialogue,
divides the animals concerning which he is to treat into three classes: 1.
the lesser; of which there are three sorts—sheep, goats, and swine; 2. the
larger; of which there are also three—oxen, asses, and horses; and,
lastly, those which do not themselves bring profit, but are essential to
the care of the others—the dog, the mule, and the shepherd. With regard to
all animals, four things are to be considered in purchasing or procuring
them—their age, shape, pedigree, and price. After they have been
purchased, there are other four things to be attended to—feeding,
breeding, rearing, and curing distempers. According to this methodical
division of the subject, Scrofa proceeds to give rules for choosing the
best of the different species of animals which he has enumerated, as also
directions for tending them after they have been bought, and turning them
to the best profit. It is curious to hear what were considered the good
points of a goat, a hog, or a horse, in the days of Pompey and Cæsar; in
what regions they were produced in greatest size and perfection; what was
esteemed the most nutritive provender for each; and what number
constituted an ordinary flock or herd. The qualities specified as best in
an ox may perhaps astonish a modern grazier; but it must be remembered,
that they are applicable to the capacity for labour, not of carrying beef.
Hogs were fed by the Romans on acorns, beans, and barley; and, like our
own, indulged freely in the luxury of mire, which, Varro says, is as
refreshing to them as the bath to human creatures. The Romans, however,
did not rear, as we do, a solitary ill-looking pig in a sty, but possessed
great herds, sometimes amounting to the number of two or three hundred.
From what the author records while treating of the pasturage of sheep, we
learn that a similar practice prevailed in Italy, with that which at this
day exists in Spain, in the management of the Merinos belonging to the
Mêstà. Flocks of sheep, which pastured during the winter in Apulia, were
driven to a great distance from that region, to pass the summer in
Samnium; and mules were led from the champaign grounds of Rosea, at
certain seasons, to the high Gurgurian mountains. With much valuable and
curious information on all these various topics, there are interspersed a
great many strange superstitions and fables, or what may be called vulgar
errors, as that swine breathe by the ears instead of the mouth or
nostrils—that when a wolf gets hold of a sow, the first thing he does is
to plunge it into cold water, as his teeth cannot otherwise bear the heat
of the flesh—that on the shore of Lusitania, mares conceive from the
winds, but their foals do not live above three years—and what is more
inexplicable, one of the speakers in the dialogue asserts, that he himself
had seen a sow in Arcadia so fat, that a field-mouse had made a
comfortable nest in her flesh, and brought forth its young.
This book concludes with what forms the most profitable part of
pasturage—the dairy and sheep-shearing.
The third book, which is by far the most interesting and best written in
the work, treats _de villicis pastionibus_, which means the provisions, or
moderate luxuries, which a plain farmer may procure, independent of
tillage or pasturage,—as the poultry of his barn-yard—the trouts in the
stream, by which his farm is bounded—and the game, which he may enclose in
parks, or chance to take on days of recreation. If others of the
agricultural writers have been more minute with regard to the construction
of the villa itself, it is to Varro we are chiefly indebted for what
lights we have received concerning its appertenancies, as warrens,
aviaries, and fish-ponds. The dialogue on these subjects is introduced in
the following manner:—At the comitia, held for electing an Ædile, Varro
and the Senator Axius, having given their votes for the candidate whom
they mutually favoured, and wishing to be at his house to receive him on
his return home, after all the suffrages had been taken, resolved to wait
the issue in the shade of a _villa publica_. There they found Appius
Claudius, the augur, whom Axius began to rally on the magnificence of his
villa, at the extremity of the Campus Martius, which he contrasts with the
profitable plainness of his own farm in the Reatine district. “Your
sumptuous mansion,” says he, “is adorned with painting, sculpture, and
carving; but to make amends for the want of these, I have all that is
necessary to the cultivation of lands, and the feeding of cattle. In your
splendid abode, there is no sign of the vicinity of arable lands, or
vineyards. We find there neither ox nor horse—there is neither vintage in
the cellars, nor corn in the granary. In what respect does this resemble
the villa of your ancestors? A house cannot be called a farm or a villa,
merely because it is built beyond the precincts of the city.” This polite
remonstrance gives rise to a discussion with regard to the proper
definition of a villa, and whether that appellation can be applied to a
residence, where there is neither tillage nor pasturage. It seems to be at
length agreed, that a mansion which is without these, and is merely
ornamental, cannot be called a villa; but that it is properly so termed,
though there be neither tillage nor pasturage, if fish-ponds,
pigeon-houses, and bee-hives, be kept for the sake of profit; and it is
discussed whether such villas, or agricultural farms, are most lucrative.
Our author divides the _Villaticæ pastiones_ into poultry, game, and fish.
Under the first class, he comprehends birds, such as thrushes, which are
kept in aviaries, to be eaten, but not any birds of game. Rules and
directions are given for their management, of the same sort with those
concerning the animals mentioned in the preceding book. The aviaries in
the Roman villas were wonderfully productive and profitable. A very
particular account is given of the construction of an aviary. Varro
himself had one at his farm, near Casinum, but it was intended more for
pleasure and recreation than profit. The description he gives of it is
very minute, but not very distinct. The pigeon-house is treated of
separately from the aviary. As to the game, the instructions do not relate
to field-sports, but to the mode of keeping wild animals in enclosures or
warrens. In the more simple and moderate ages of the republic, these were
merely hare or rabbit warrens of no great extent; but as wealth and luxury
increased, they were enlarged to the size of 40 or 50 acres, and
frequently contained within their limits goats, wild boars, and deer. The
author even descends to instructions with regard to keeping and fattening
snails and dormice. On the subject of fish he is extremely brief, because
that was rather an article of expensive luxury than homely fare; and the
candidate, besides, was now momentarily expected. Fish-ponds had increased
in the same proportion as warrens, and in the age of Varro were often
formed at vast expense. Instances are given of the great depth and extent
of ponds belonging to the principal citizens, some of which had
subterraneous communications with the sea, and others were supplied by
rivers, which had been turned from their course. At this part of the
dialogue, a shout and unusual bustle announced the success of the
candidate whom Varro favoured: on hearing this tumult, the party gave up
their agricultural disquisitions, and accompanied him in triumph to the
Capitol.