ABOUT

MARCUS
TERENTIUS
VARRO

 Marcus Terentius Varro, (born 116 BC, probably Reate,

Italy—died 27 BC), Rome’s greatest scholar and a satirist of
stature, best known for his Saturae Menippeae (“Menippean
Satires”). He was a man of immense learning and
a prolific author. Inspired by a deep patriotism, he intended
his work, by its moral and educational quality, to further
Roman greatness. Seeking to link Rome’s future with its
glorious past, his works exerted great influence before and
after the founding of the Roman Empire (27 BC).
 Varro wrote about 74 works in more than 600 books on a
wide range of subjects: jurisprudence, astronomy,
geography, education, and literary history, as well as satires,
poems, orations, and letters. The only complete work to
survive is the Res rustica (“Farm Topics”), a three-section
work of practical instruction in general agriculture
and animal husbandry, written to foster a love of rural life.
 Jessy A. Bañaga BSN 1-C
MARCUS TERENTIUS
VARRO Contributions Ancient Period .

His contributions to Microbiology,

 From the ancient Roman era, mentioned and
demonstrated the harmful little microscopic organisms
living in a swamp.
 One noteworthy aspect of the work is his anticipation
of microbiology and epidemiology. Varro warned his
contemporaries to avoid swamps and marshland, since in
such areas. There are bred certain minute creatures which
cannot be seen by the eyes, but which float in the air and
enter the body through the mouth and nose and cause
serious diseases.
 Proposed that disease could be caused by “certain minute
creatures . . . which cannot be seen by the eye.