Mark Terence Warron

Mark Terence Warron was born in 116 BC. e. in Sabine Reate . He held all posts in the civil service before the praetor , which researchers attributed, presumably, to the war of Pompey with the Mediterranean pirates (67 BC). During the civil war in 49, he fought on the side of Pompey in Spain. At the end of the war, Caesar forgave him and appointed him head of the public library. Having settled in Rome, Varron finally devoted himself to the historical researches and literary activities that had long interested him. However, for personal reasons, Mark Anthony subjected him to scripture , with Varron losing part of his library and his land. From the age of 43, he began to engage only in scientific work and literary activity. Worked until a very old age. He wrote some works at the age of eighty.

The main literary work of Varron is considered to be the philosophical and moral “Menippe Satyrs” ( lat. Saturae menippeae ) in 150 books (each book has one satire; 591 short fragments of 96 books have been preserved; Varron failed to reconstruct a single complete satire). They are named for their specific form, borrowed by the author from the cynical writer Menippus , whom Varron highly appreciated. Actually, from Varron comes the name of the corresponding genre - the Menippus satire . According to Cicero , written in adolescence.

There is an incomplete catalog of works by Varron compiled by Jerome , on the basis of which it is established that Varron wrote over 70 works, with a total of over 600 books. He was engaged, in particular, grammar, jurisprudence, art, history, history of literature, the theory of music.

The treatise “ On Agriculture ” (“Res rusticae”) in 3 books, 5-10 books of the work “On the Latin Language” (“De lingua Latina”; there were 25 books in total) was preserved. This work is based on the findings of his teacher Lucius Elias Stilon .

Of great importance was the encyclopedia of Varron “Disciplinae” in 9 books (lost), responses to which can be found among outstanding scholars of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, including Augustine , Martian Capella , Cassiodor , Isidore Seville . According to tradition, Varron’s encyclopedia consisted of grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy (astrology), music (i.e. music theory), medicine and architecture, from which it is concluded that Varron was the first to describe free arts in form of cycle (although with the addition of medicine and architecture). It is now believed that Warron is the author of, at a minimum, treatises on music and land surveying (De mensuris, which is also interpreted as geometry), traces of other treatises are not traced. Detailed criticism of the traditional cyclical interpretation of Varron is given by Ilzetraut Ado (see in the list of references). Regardless of whether “Music” was included in the 9-volume or was written as an independent treatise (the latter is more likely), Varron can be considered the first Roman music theorist.

His works under the general title “Logistorics” (Logistorici) are widely known, consisting of 76 books in the form of philosophical dialogues, the main content of which is formed by ethical reasoning with examples from mythology and history. The word logistoricus is the neologism of Varron; its exact meaning is unknown. In one of the monographs “On Philosophy” (De philosophia), the author presents philosophy as a doctrine of the right way of life.

In historical studies, “Human and Divine Antiquities” (“Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum”) are highlighted in book 41 (labor lost). This is an encyclopedia of the history of Roman culture. From the first part, devoted to human values, little has been preserved. After the introductory book, four parts followed, each possibly with 6 books each: about people (de hominibus), places (de locis), times (de temporibus) and things (de rebus). Thanks to Christian writers, especially Augustine , the contents of the second part of the study (books 26–41), which Varron devoted to Caesar , are known. After the book, introducing us to the course of divine values, five triads followed: about clergy, sacred places, holy times (perhaps parts of the year best for rituals), rituals and varieties of gods. Valuable quotes from Antiquities and Logisticians are also censored by Censorin .

The books "On the Origin of the Roman People" ("De gente populi Romani") and "On the Life of the Roman People" ("De vita populi Romani") (both in 4 volumes), Varron devoted the history of the Romans and the contribution of Rome to the history of civilization.

In the book “Images” (“Hebdomades vel de imaginibus”; 15 books), Varron presented 700 portraits of the great personalities of Greece and Rome. In it, he proved the equal position of Greek and Roman cultures.

The role of Varron in the formation of grammar and linguistics is great. Fragments of the works of Varron “History of the Alphabet” (“Historia litterarum”; 2 books), “On the origin of the Latin language” (“De origine linguae Latinae”; 3 books) and some other fragments have been preserved.

• Latin texts “On the Latin language” and “On agriculture”

“About the Latin language” :

• M. Terenti Varronis De Linguae Latinae Quae Supersunt, ed. G. Goetz; F. Schoell, 1910.
• Edition in the Loeb classical library series (No. 333, 334): Varro . On the Latin language. Vol. I (1938). Books V — VII ; Vol. II (1938). Books VIII — X.
• Varron About the Latin language. VIII, 1-7, 9-23; IX, 1-5, 37-41, 55-58, 66-67, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99, 108, 109; X, 3, 7, 9-10, 14-17, 21, 22, 25-31, 33, 51, 53, 54, 56, 58, 60-62, 74, 79, 82, 83. Trans. Y. M. Borovsky. - In the book: Antique Theories of Language and Style. M.-L., Sotsekgiz, 1936, p. 80-83, 94-104, 120.
  • reprint: St. Petersburg: Aletheia. 1996.S. 85-88, 99-110, 118, 127.
• Varron About the Latin language [excerpt]. / Per. V.V. Karakulakova // Questions of the theory of linguistics. Kalinin, 1975.S. 72-87.
• In the Collection Budé series, the publication began: Varron . La Langue latine. T. II: Livre VI. Texte établi, traduit et commenté par P. Flobert. XLI, 228 p.

“On Agriculture” :

• M. Terenti Varronis Rerum Rusticarum Libri Tres, ed. G. Goetz, 1929.
• Varron Agriculture. / Per. M.E. Sergeenko. M.-L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1963. 220 p. 1300 copies.
• The Loeb classical library : Varro. On farming
• In the Collection Budé series, the work is published in 3 volumes.

Satyrs :

• M. Terenti Varronis Saturarum Menippearum Reliquiae , ed. A. Riese, Teubner, 1865.
• Petronii Saturae, Adiectae Sunt Varronis et Senecae Saturae Similesque Reliquiae, ed. F. Bücheler, 1963.
• Pomyalovsky I.V. Mark Terentius Varron Reatinsky and Menippova Satura. (Research and translations of Satur excerpts). St. Petersburg, 1869.305 pp.
• Varron Menippov satires. / Per. M. L. Gasparova. // Roman satire. M., 1989.S. 389-430.

Other works :

• Grammaticae Romanae Fragmenta, ed. G. Funaioli, 1907.
• Fragments of the grammatical writings of Varron, edition of Getz-Shell (1910)
• De M. Terenti Varronis Antiquitatum Rerum Humanarum Libris XXV, ed. P. Mirsch, 1882.
• Studi Varroniani : De Gente Populi Romani Libri IV, ed. P. Fraccaro, 1907.
• I Logistorici, ed. E. Bolisani, 1937.
• M. Terenti Varronis De Vita Populi Romani: Fonti, Esegesi, Edizione Critica dei Frammenti, ed. B. Riposati, 1972.
• M. Terentius Varro : Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum. Part 1, ed. B. Cardauns, 1976.

• Antique writers. Vocabulary. St. Petersburg: Doe, 1999.
• Ado I. Free Arts and Philosophy in Ancient Thought / Transl. with french E.F.Shichalina. - M .: GLK Yu. A. Shichalina, 2002 (the “Warron issue” is dedicated to pp. 185—229).
• Albrecht M. von . The history of Roman literature. / Per. with him. T. 1. M .: 2003. S. 646-670.
• Sidorovich O. V. Annalists and Antiquaries: Roman Historiography of the End of the 3rd — 1st Century BC e. M .: RGGU. 2005. Chapter 3, "Mark Terence Varron and the Antique Tradition." S. 165—273.
• Kritskaya S. Yu. Reflection of the linguistic views of the Stoics and atomists in the treatise of Mark Terence Varron "On the Latin language." // Epistolai. Collection of articles on the 80th anniversary of Professor Natalia Alexandrovna Chistyakova. / Ans. ed. L. B. Poplavskaya. SPb .: S. -Petersburg University. 2001.