Chapter 27

establish Caesar's veterans in Campania: Plin. _N.H._ vii. 176, 'Varro auctor est xx. viro se agros dividente Capuae,' etc. He also held the office of tribune (Gell. xiii. 12, 6), and was aedile with Murena (Plin. xxxv. 173).

When the civil war broke out he was one of Pompeius' lieutenants in Farther Spain, and resisted Caesar without success (Caes. _B.C._ ii. 17-20). From Spain he withdrew to Epirus, where he was coldly received by the Pompeians (Cic. _ad Fam._ ix. 6, 3, 'crudeliter otiosis minabantur, eratque eis et tua invisa voluntas et mea oratio'). We hear of him at Corcyra (_R.R._ i. 4), and at Dyrrhachium a few days before the battle of Pharsalus (Cic. _de Div._ i. 68). After Caesar's victory he lived quietly at his Tusculan villa (Cic. _ad Fam._ ix. 6, 4, 'his tempestatibus es prope solus in portu ... equidem hos tuos Tusculanenses dies instar esse vitae puto'). He was more easily reconciled than Cicero to the new government, and was made librarian by Caesar: Sueton. _Iul._ 44, 'Destinabat bibliothecas Graecas Latinasque quas maximas posset publicare, data M. Varroni cura comparandarum ac digerendarum.' This, however, did not prevent him writing a funeral oration on Cato's sister Porcia (Cic. _ad Att._ xiii. 48, 2).

After Caesar's death Varro was exposed to the persecution of Antonius, whose raid on his villa at Casinum is vividly described by Cicero (_Phil._ ii. 103 _sqq._). He was proscribed, but the devotion of his friends secured his escape (Appian _B.C._ iv. 47).

His old age was spent in peace, the literary activity for which his whole life was remarkable being maintained to the end. At the age of eighty-three he was still writing: Plin. _N.H._ xxix. 65, 'Cunctarer in proferendo ex his remedio, ni M. Varro lxxxiii vitae anno prodidisset,' etc.

Varro's death took place in B.C. 27, in his ninetieth year. Jerome yr. Abr. 1990, 'M. Terentius Varro philosophus prope nonagenarius moritur.'

(2) WORKS.

Cicero (_ad Att._ xiii. 18) calls Varro 'homo +polygraphôtatos+,' and Varro himself said that he had written four hundred and ninety Books by the end of his seventy-seventh year: Gell. iii. 10, 17, 'Addit se quoque iam duodecimam annorum hebdomadam ingressum esse et ad eum diem septuaginta hebdomadas librorum conscripsisse.' A letter of Jerome[30] gives a list of thirty-nine works in four hundred and ninety Books, admitting at the same time that these were only half of the total number ('vix medium descripsi indicem'). The titles of twenty-one other works are known from various sources.

1. _Agriculture._--Of this enormous number only one has survived in a complete form, the treatise _De Re Rustica_ in three Books, in the form of a dialogue. Book i. treats of agriculture; ii. of stock-raising; iii. of poultry, game, and fish. It was written B.C. 37-6: _R.R._ i. 1, 1, 'Annus octogesimus admonet me ut sarcinas colligam ante quam proficiscar e vita.'

2. _Grammar._--Of the twenty-five books _De Lingua Latina_, only v.-x. have been preserved, but the scope of the whole is known from Varro's own words. Book i. was introductory; ii.-vii. dealt with etymology; viii.-xiii. with inflexions; xiv.-xxv. with syntax. Varro's derivations are ridiculed by Quintilian i. 6, 37, 'Sed cui non post Varronem sit venia, qui _agrum_ quia in eo _agatur_ aliquid, et _graculos_ quia _gregatim_ volent dictos voluit persuadere Ciceroni?' From Book v. onwards the work was dedicated to Cicero, in return for his _Academics_; it is announced in Cic. _Ac._ i. 2, where Varro says, 'Habeo opus magnum in manibus, idque iam pridem: ad hunc enim ipsum (me autem dicebat) quaedam institui, quae et sunt magna sane et limantur a me politius.' The date of publication was probably B.C. 45-3.

Of the minor works on grammar, some at least were prior to the _De Lingua Latina_: Cic. _Ac._ i. 9, 'Plurimum poetis nostris omninoque Latinis et litteris luminis et verbis attulisti.' The titles known are, _De sermone Latino_, _De origine linguae Latinae_, _De similitudine verborum_, _De utilitate sermonis_, _De antiquitate litterarum_, +Peri charaktêrôn+.

3. _Roman History and Antiquities._ Varro's great work in this department was the _Antiquitates rerum divinarum humanarumque_, in forty-one Books. The arrangement, according to Augustine _De Civ. Dei_, vi. 3, was as follows: (_a_) i.-xxv. _res humanae_; i. introductory, ii.-vii. history of Rome down to its capture by the Gauls, viii.-xiii. geography of Italy, xiv.-xix. Roman Calendar, with dates of the chief historical events, xx.-xxv. Roman institutions, (_b_) xxvi.-xli. _res divinae_; the persons who sacrifice, the places, the times, the rites, and the gods were discussed in three Books each, xxvi. being introductory. The second part, at least, was addressed to Caesar as _pontifex maximus_. As it is mentioned by Cic. _Ac._ i. 9, it must have been published before B.C. 45.

Minor works under this head were _Annales_, _Res urbanae_, _De gente populi Romani_, _De vita populi Romani_, _De familiis Troianis_, _Tribuum Liber_; _Aetia_ (+aitia+), explaining Roman usages, in the form of a catechism; +Eisagôgikos+ to Pompey on the duties of a consul (B.C. 71), Gell. xiv. 7, 1; _De Pompeio_, _Legationum Libri_, _De sua vita_.

4. _Geography._-(_a_) _Ephemeris navalis_, addressed to Pompey before his departure for Spain about B.C. 77, a weather almanack for sailors; _Ephemeris rustica_ or _agrestis_, for farmers. (_b_) _Libri navales_, perhaps identical with the above, (_c_) _De ora maritima_.

5. _Law._--_De iure civili_ in fifteen Books.

6. _Rhetoric._--_Rhetorica_.

7. _Philosophy._-_De Forma Philosophiae_, _De Philosophia_.

8. _Mathematics_, etc.-_De mensuris_, _Mensuralia_, _De principiis numerorum_, _Libri numerorum_, _De geometria_, _De astrologia_.

9. _Disciplinae_ in nine Books, forming a complete course of education in the liberal arts.

10. _History of Literature and the Drama._--_De poetis_, _De poematis_, _De lectionibus_, _De bibliothecis_, _De proprietate scriptorum_, _De personis_, _De descriptionibus_, _De actis scenicis_, _De scenicis actionibus_, _De originibus scenicis_, _Quaestiones Plautinae_. In the _Hebdomades_ or _Imaginum Libri_ xv. Varro gave short accounts in prose and verse of seven hundred famous Greeks and Romans, with their portraits (Plin. _N.H._ xxxv. 11), the title being derived from the arrangement in groups of seven. Aristotle's +Peplos+ had dealt similarly with the heroes of the Trojan War, and the '+Peplographia+ Varronis' of Cic. _ad Att._ xvi. 11, 3 is usually identified with the _Hebdomades_.

11. +Logistorikoi+, in seventy-six Books, were probably not a mixture of fable and history, but essays enlivened by historical examples. The titles were double, the chief speaker being named as well as the subject of the essay, _e.g._ _Catus de liberis educandis_. To this work Cicero probably refers, _Ac._ i. 9, 'Philosophiam multis locis incohasti, ad impellendum satis, ad edocendum parum.'

12. Varro's poetical works are now represented only by fragments of the _Saturae Menippeae_, a medley of prose and verse in one hundred and fifty books (Cic. _Ac._ i. 9, 'Varium et elegans omni fere numero poema fecisti'). They were so called by Varro himself (Gell. ii. 18, 7, 'In satiris quas alii Cynicas, ipse appellat Menippeas'), being founded on the dialogues of Menippus, the Cynic of Gadara, of the third century B.C. Their object was to present philosophy in a popular dress: Cic. _Ac._ i. 8, 'Quae cum facilius minus docti intellegerent, iucunditate quadam ad legendum invitati.' From the way in which they are spoken of in the same passage ('in illis veteribus nostris'), most of them must have been among Varro's earliest writings. The titles are extremely curious, _e.g._ '+Dis paides hoi gerontes+,' 'Longe fugit qui suos fugit.' Quintilian considers Varro as the founder of a type of satire distinct from that of Lucilius, Horace, and Persius: x. 1, 95, 'Alterum illud etiam prius satirae genus sed non sola carminum varietate mixtum condidit Terentius Varro, vir Romanorum eruditissimus.' His other poetical works were ten books of _Poemata_, four of _Satires_, and six of _Pseudotragoediae_ (tragi-comedy).

13. _Oratory._--Varro left twenty-two Books of _Orationes_ and three of _Suasiones_, but he had no fame as an orator: Quint. x. 1, 95, 'Plus scientiae collaturus quam eloquentiae.'

14. _Letters._--Of these there seem to have been two collections: (_a_) _Epistulae Latinae_, real letters to acquaintances; (_b_) _Epistolicae Quaestiones_, discussing in epistolary form points of history, grammar, etc.

The collection of maxims which passes under the name _Sententiae Varronis_ is of uncertain authenticity.

LABERIUS.

The date of D. Laberius' birth is got from Sueton. _Iul._ 39, 'Ludis D. Laberius eques Romanus mimum suum egit.' This event took place in B.C. 45, and in the prologue to the piece (quoted below), l. 109, Laberius says he is sixty years old; hence he was born about B.C. 105. He died in January, B.C. 43.

Jerome yr. Abr. 1974 = B.C. 43, 'Laberius mimorum scriptor decimo mense post C. Caesaris interitum Puteolis moritur.'

In B.C. 45 Laberius, although an _eques_, was, as a punishment for his political opinions, compelled by Caesar to perform in one of his own mimes, and was beaten by Publilius Syrus.

Macrob. _Saturn._ ii. 7, 2 _sqq._, 'Laberium asperae libertatis equitem Romanum Caesar quingentis milibus invitavit, ut prodiret in scaenam et ipse ageret mimos, quos scriptitabat. Sed potestas non solum si invitet sed etiam si supplicet cogit, unde se et Laberius a Caesare coactum in prologo testatur his versibus:

"Necessitas, cuius cursus transversi impetum voluerunt multi effugere, pauci potuerunt, quo me detrusit paene extremis sensibus! Quem nulla ambitio, nulla umquam largitio, nullus timor, vis nulla, nulla auctoritas movere potuit in iuventa de statu: ecce in senecta ut facile labefecit loco viri excellentis mente clemente edita summissa placide blandiloquens oratio! Etenim ipsi di negare cui nil potuerunt, hominem me denegare quis posset pati? Ego bis tricenis annis actis sine nota eques Romanus e Lare egressus meo domum revertar mimus," etc.

In ipsa quoque actione subinde se, qua poterat, ulciscebatur inducto habitu Syri, qui velut flagris caesus praeripientique similis exclamabat

"Porro Quirites libertatem perdimus"

et paulo post adiecit

"Necesse est multos timeat quem multi timent."

Quo dicto universitas populi ad solum Caesarem oculos et ora convertit, notantes inpotentiam eius hac dicacitate lapidatam. Ob haec in Publilium vertit favorem ... [Publilius Syrus] cum mimos componeret ingentique adsensu in Italiae oppidis agere coepisset, productus Romae per Caesaris ludos, omnes qui tunc scripta et operas suas in scaenam locaverant provocavit ut singuli secum posita in vicem materia pro tempore contenderent. Nec ullo recusante superavit omnes, in quis et Laberium. Unde Caesar adridens hoc modo pronuntiavit

"Favente tibi me victus es, Laberi, a Syro"

statimque Publilio palmam et Laberio anulum aureum cum quingentis sestertiis dedit.'

We have forty-three titles of mimes by Laberius, and about one hundred and fifty lines of fragments. From the above we see that Laberius criticized contemporary society with great vigour. Other features are

(_a_) His invention of words.

Gell. xvi. 7, 1, 'Laberius in mimis, quos scriptitavit, oppido quam verba finxit praelicenter.' Examples are _manuatus est_ for _furatus est_; _abluvium_ for _diluvium_.

(_b_) His use of plebeian expressions.

Gell. xix. 13, 3, 'quae a Laberio ignobilia nimis et sordentia in usum linguae Latinae intromissa sunt.'

(_c_) His references to philosophy.

Cf. l. 17,

'nec Pythagoream dogmam doctus';