Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1236

Rh 1224 VARRO. with agriculture proper, that is, with the cultivation of the ground in order to render it susceptible of producing abundantly and profitably various crops, we are told that the science of tilling the earth (agricultura) may be reduced to four great heads. A. A knowledge of the farm itself {cognitio fundi)^ that is, of the locality which is to be the scene of the operations to be performed, including the situation, soil, climate, and buildings. B. A knowledge of the instruments requisite for performing the necessary operations {quae in eo /undo opus sint ac debeant esse cultiirae causa). C. A knowledge of the operations to be per- formed {quae in eo /undo colendi causa sint fa- cienda). D. A knowledge of the time when each oper- ation ought to be performed {quo quidquid tempore in eo fundo fieri convcniat). Each of these four heads must be divided into two 'a. The things appertaining to the soil itself {quae ad solum pertinent terrae). b. The things appertaining to the buildings {ad villas et ■n fa. The human instruments. p fa. The various crops to be cultivated. a. The time when with reference to the course wo. /'a. 1 he tnne wh -p J of the sun. I b. The time wh V. of the moo ^1 hen with reference to the course Again, each of these divisions is split up into a number of subdivisions, as for example 1. The outward aspect of the ground. The qualities of soil. The quantity of ground. The security of the farm. 1. Their situation. A. b.-{ 2. Their size. The arrangement of the different parts. T» f 1. Free labourers. ^' "• (2. Slaves. T., f 1. Animate, such as oxen, horses, &c. ■ ''2. Inanimate, such as ploughs, harrows, &c. and so on for the rest. But even these last are sometimes broken down still farther, as in the case of B. a. 2, where we have slaves separated into two classes — a. Serri soluti, /3. Servi vincti. The second book treats of the* management of stock, oxen, sheep, goats, swine, horses, asses, mules, together with supplemental chapters on shepherds and dogs, on milk, cheese, and wool. Villaticae pasiiones form the subject of the third book, a term embracing not only the domestic fowls which we comprehend under poultry, but also animals kept in a half-wild state in parks and enclosures, such as boars, hares, deer, and the like, together with snails and dormice, the whole being wound up by instructions for the management of fish-ponds, both salt and fresh-water. The books De Re Rustica were first printed by Jenson in his Rei Rusticae Scriptores, fol. Venet. 1472, and will be found in all similar collections. They appear under their best form in the Scriptores Rei Rusticae veteres Latini of J. M. Gesner, 4to. 2 vols. Lips. 17^^.5, and of J. G. Schneider, 8vo. 4 vols. Lips. 1794—1797. II. De Lingua Latitia, a grammatical treatise which extended to twenty four books. Six only (y. — X.) have been preserved, and these are in a VARRO. very shattered condition, disfigured by numerous blanks, corruptions and interpolations. It seems clear from the researches of Miiller that the whole of the MSS. now extant were derived from one common archetype, which at the period when the different copies were made, was itself in a very confused and mutilated state, many of the leaves having been lost, others displaced, and even the most entire full of defects, arising partly from the ignorance of transcribers, and partly from the ravages of time. This work, judging from sundry repetitions and contradictions which may be here and there detected, and from the general want of polish, was never finally revised by the author ; and may perhaps, as Miiller conjectures, never have been published under his sanction. We gather from Cicero {ad Alt. xiii. 12, Acad. i. 1 ) and from internal evidence (v. 100, vi. 13, 22, ed. Miilhr) that it must have been in progress during the years B.C. 46 — 45, and must have been finished before the death of the orator, to whom the last twenty books are inscribed (v. 1, vi. 97, vii. 109, 110). It was portioned out into three great divi- sions. (I.) De Impositione Vocabulorum, the origin of words and terms, formed the subject of the first seven books. The first was introductory and treated of the history of the Latin language {De Origine Linguae Latinae. See Priscian, i, 7). The second, third, and fourth of etymology considered as a science {De Etymologica Arte)^ what might be said for, against, and concerning it {contra earn — pro ea — de ea) ; the author then entered fairly on the origin of words {a quihus relms vocabula imposita sunt), considering, in the fifth, the names of places and of things in these places {De VocabuUs Locorum et quae in his sunt), the primary division of places being into Heaven and Earth {De Coelo — De Terra), and of the things in these places into things immortal and things mortal {De Lnmortalibus — De Mortalibus), things mortal being again dis- tributed into, 1. Living creatures {De Animalibus) ; 2. The vegetable kingdom {De Virgultis et simili- bus) ; 3. The works of man {De Manufactis) ; the sixth comprehended words denoting time, and in which the notion of time is implied {De Vocabulis Temporum et earum rerum quae dicuntur cum tem- pore aliquo) ; and in the seventh poetical words were discussed {De verbis quae a poetis stmt posita). (11.) Books eight to thirteen were devoted to the inflections of nouns and verbs, the only two classes of words acknowledged by Varro {De Declinatio- nibus). He here examined into the nature and ob- ject of these forms which he separated into two divisions, the natural and the arbitrary, the former falling under avahoyia, the latter under avco/uLaKia, (III.) Books fourteen to twenty-four were occu- pied with the laws of syntax ( Ut verba inter se con- jungantur). The remains of this treatise, imperfect as they are, must be regarded as particularly valuable, in so far as they have been the means of preserving many terms and forms which would otherwise have been altogether lost or would have proved unin- telligible, and much curious information is here treasured up connected with the ancient usages, both civil and religious^of the Romans. The principle also upon which Varro proceeds of con- necting Latin words as far as possible with the ancient dialects of Italy, instead of having recourse at once and exclusively to the Greek, as was the
 * (6. All other instruments.
 * (6. The localities suitable for each.