Marcus Terentius Varro: Difference between revisions

 

==Biography==

Varro was born in or near Reate (now [[Rieti]])<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Terentius-Varro|title=Marcus Terentius Varro {{!}} Roman author|newspaper=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> to a family thought to be of [[equites|equestrian]] rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the [[Reatine plain]], reported as near Lago di&nbsp;Ripasottile,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/1*.html#note36|title=LacusCurtius • Varro On Agriculture – Book I|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> until his old age. He supported [[Pompey]], reaching the office of [[praetor]], after having been [[tribune of the plebs|tribune of the people]], ''[[quaestor]]'' and ''[[curule aedile]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_jhKAAAAYAAJ&q=VARRO+praetor%2C+after+having+been+tribune+of+the+people%2C+quaestor+and+curule+aedile.&pg=PA92|title=The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature|last=Baynes|first=Thomas Spencer|year=1891|publisher=C. Scribner's sons|language=en}}</ref> It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the [[First Triumvirate]] was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Varro, Marcus Terentius |volume=27 |pages=923–924 |first=James Smith |last=Reid}}</ref> He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ({{lang|grc|Τρικάρανος}} in the Greek of [[Appian]], The Civil Wars, II.ii.9).<ref name=EB1911/> He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] for the resettlement of [[Capua]] and [[Campania]] (59&nbsp;BC).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=EB1911/>