Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

CHAPTER 8 – VARRO: HOW TO HARVEST

GRAPES
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2000 YEARS OF LATIN PROSE

· A 21st century Anthology of Latin Prose ·

A LATIN ANTHOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

T wo thousand years of Latin Prose is a digital anthology of Latin Prose.

Here you will be able to find texts from two millennia of gems in Latin.
In this eighth chapter, we will learn more about Varro. We will also read about
how to harvest grapes for wine in a passage from his work De Re Rustica.

If you want to learn more about the anthology, you will find the preface here.

CHAPTER 8: VARRO

CONTENTS

1.The Life and Works of Varro

2.Audio & Video

3.Latin Text

4.Keywords & Commentary

5.English Translation
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

❶
LIFE AND WORKS
In this section you will learn about the life and works of Varro.

VARRO

(116-27 B.C.) 

Marcus Terentius Varro was perhaps Rome’s greatest scholar and a

contemporary of Cicero and Caesar.

LIFE OF VARRO

Varro was born in 116 B.C. probably

in Reate (modern Rieti, Lazio, Italy),
where he also owned estates. Due to
his birthplace, and, to separate him
from a slightly younger namesake,
the poet Publius Terentius Varro
Atacinus (82-c. 35 B.C.), he
sometimes referred to as Varro
Reatinus.

Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.),

however, did not agree with Varro’s
origin being Reate, but insisted that MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO

he was born and bred in Rome itself: 

“Quod profecto non auctoritate sua fecit, sed quoniam eos

Romae natus et educatus in divinis rebus invenit. ”
— Augustinus, Civ, 4.1

And this he did not on his own authority, but because, being born
and educated at Rome, he found them among the divine things.

Whether or not Augustine was right or not, we will never know. What we do
know is that Varro had a thorough education in Rome and in Athens, with
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

teachers such as the grammarian Lucius Auelius Stilo and philosopher Antioch
of Ascalon. 

Varro later became involved in politics becoming quaestor, tribune, and later –
though this is uncertain – praetor and was part of the commission charged
with executing the agrarian law of Julius Caesar which distributed land among
the poor. 

Varro was also a close friend of Pompey, or Pompeius Magnus, and helped him
fight pirates in the Mediterranean and stood by his side as a senior officer in
the civil war against Julius Caesar. (For more about Caesar, see Chapter 6 of
this anthology.) 

After the death of Pompeius Magnus, Caesar

chose to pardon Varro and, according to
Suetonius, charged him with the task of
organizing the public library that he had
planned. Varro was to obtain and classify
Greek and Latin literature to open the most
magnificent public library possible. (See:
Suetonius, Div. Iul. 44).

The plans for a library, as well as Varro's

pardon, came to a brutal end in 44 B.C. with
VARRO, PORTRAIT 18TH CENT.
Caesar’s assassination. In the aftermath,
Varro was outlawed by Marcus Antonius and his villa, including his private
library, was destroyed. 

Along with his possessions, Varro’s life was in jeopardy, but it was saved by a
friend, general and consul Quintus Fufius Calenus, who fortunately was on
Marcus Antonius' good side. 

Once Emperor Augustus came into power, Varro gained his protection, and
spent the rest of his life writing in peace. He died of old age in 27 B.C.

VARRO’S WORKS
Varro didn't just write at the end of his life. He wrote throughout, and it has
been estimated that he produced more than 74 Latin works (as well as a few
Greek) spanning over more than 600 books. He was a giant in his own time,
and he was often referred to as a source for other authors. 

So great did Varro's contemporaries think of the scholar and his writings that
when consul, soldier, poet and historian Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 B.C.-4 A.D.)
founded a public library in Rome (not the one Caesar had planned), a statue of
Varro was placed in it. There were many statues in the library, but Varro’s was
the only of a living person (See: Plinius, Nat Hist. VII.30).

Quintilian (c.35-c.100 A.D.), though

not a contemporary, even called
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

him vir Romanorum eruditissimus,

i.e. the most learned of all Romans.
(See Quintillian’s Institutio Oratoria,
lib X.95)

Varro composed works in many

genres such as literary history,
rhetoric, philosophy, and poetry as
well as books concerning the genres
of Roman poetry, the origin of the
Roman people. He also wrote an
MANUSCRIPT OF “DE LINGUA LATINA“, BIBLIOTECA
illustrated book about Greek and MEDICEA LAURENZIANA, FLORENCE, ITALY PLUT. 51.10,
FOL. 28R., CIRCA 1100

Roman political life — the first

known illustrated Roman book. Supposedly this last work had 700 pictures of
famous Romans and Greeks.

Varro’s perhaps most important work, though lost to us today, was

his Disciplinae, an encyclopedia of the nine liberal arts; grammar, dialectic,
rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music, medicine and architecture.
This work became a model for later encyclopedists and lay the foundation for
the later defined seven classical liberal arts. 

Another essential work, though perhaps less literary, was Varro's chronology,
known as the Varronian Chronology. This chronology was a year-by-year
timeline of Roman history up to Varro's own time based on the sequence of
consuls of the Roman republic. The chronology has been proved wrong in
several cases. It was, however, inscribed on the Arch of Augustus in Rome (the
arch no longer stands) and was used as a basis for the Fasti Capitolini – a list
of the chief magistrates from the early 5th century B.C. to Emperor Augustus’
time originally engraved on marble tablets at the Forum Romanum. These,
together with later historians such as Livius, largely form our knowledge of
Roman chronology. 

Most of Varro’s enormous corpus of writings have, as mentioned, been lost to

us. We do have fragments from many of them – mostly preserved in Aulus
Gellius (125-180 A.D.) Noctes Atticae. 
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

“DE RE RUSTICA“, BIBLIOTECA MEDICEA LAURENZIANA, FLORENCE, ITALY PLUT. 51.3, CIRCA 1500

There are two of Varro's works from which more has been preserved from: De
Re Rustica sive Rerum Rusticarum libri III and De Lingua Latina. 

De Lingua Latina was Varro's grammatical work, written between 47 and 45

B.C. It consisted originally of 25 books out of which we only have 6 left (books
V-X) however in a poor, gap-filled, state.

De Re Rustica, is the only one preserved in its entirety. It is, as the title
indicates, a work about agriculture. It is written in three books where the first
one concern agriculture, the farming of land, the second cattle, and the third
one raising small livestock (birds, bees etc.). 

It is to De Re Rustica we shall turn to today’s chapter of 2000 years of Latin

Prose and read a passage about grapes and wine. 

written by Amelie Rosengren, M.A.

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

You can read more about Varro and the civil war in Julius Caesar’s De Bellum
Civile, lib. II.17-21. Be aware though, the book is written by Caesar so he might
be a little bit biased.

Michael von Albrecht’s A History of Roman Literature: From Livius

Andronicus to Boethius or The Cambridge companion to the writings of
Julius Caesar, edited by Luca Grillo, Christopher B. Krebs, is a treasure when
learning about Roman authors and their literary styles.

Lives of Caius Asinius Pollio, Marcus Terentius Varro, and Cneius Cornelius
Gallus; with illustrations, by Edward Berwick (1814) - Though beware that this
book is not a modern history book and has a lot of opinions, fluffed details and
takes a lot of liberties. It is a good read though and gives a more complete
picture of Varro.
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

❷
AUDIO & VIDEO
Click below to read and listen to a passage from Varro's "De Re
Rustica".

VIDEO WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

AUDIO OF LATIN TEXT

008. Varro – 2000 Years of Latin Prose – Latinitium.com.mp3

Daniel Pettersson Download

❸
LATIN TEXT
Below you will find the original text of the passage in Latin.

DE RE RUSTICA, LIB I. LIV

In vinetis uva cum erit matura, vindemiam ita fieri oportet, ut videas, a quo
genere uvarum et a quo loco vineti incipias legere. Nam et praecox et miscella,
quam vocant nigram, multo ante coquitur, quo prior legenda, et quae pars
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

arbusti ac vineae magis aprica, prius debet descendere de vite. 

In vindemia diligentis uva non solum legitur sed etiam eligitur; legitur ad
bibendum, eligitur ad edendum. Itaque lecta defertur in forum vinarium, unde
in dolium inane veniat; electa in secretam corbulam, unde in ollulas addatur et
in dolia plena vinaciorum contrudatur, alia quae in piscinam in amphoram
picatam descendat, alia quae in aream in carnarium escendat. Quae calcatae
uvae erunt, earum scopi cum folliculis subiciendi sub prelum, ut, siquid reliqui
habeant musti, exprimatur in eundem lacum. 

Cum desiit sub prelo fluere, quidam circumcidunt extrema et rursus premunt
et, rursus cum expressum, circumsicium appellant ac seorsum quod expressum
est servant, quod resipit ferrum. Expressi acinorum folliculi in dolia
coniciuntur, eoque aqua additur; ea vocatur lora, quod lota acina, ac pro vino
operariis datur hieme.

❹
VOCABULARY & COMMENTARY
Below you will find some keywords and comments on the text.

VOCABULARY & COMMENTARY

These following words are key to understanding the text, if you already know
them - great! - if not, make a mental note of them.

vinetum, -i, n. vineyard. Note that the ending -etum commonly indicates that
there is a collection of a particular tree or bush. Compare e.g. with olivetum,
and quercetum meaning “olive-grove” and “oak-forest” respectively.

vindemia, -ae, f., vintage, harvest of grapes

quo, adv. wherefore, and therefore

apricus, -a, um, adj. sunny

lego, legere, gather, pick

Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

vinacea, -orum, n. pl. wine dregs

scopus, -i, m. stalk

resipit ferrum, tastes of iron; in Latin, the taste, or smell something has, is
expressed by the accusative with verbs such as olet, resipt, sapit (it smells, it
tastes). Another example would be hoc vinum piscem sapit. (“This wine tastes
of fish”)

quod lota aqua, here we have to supply est. In Latin it is very common to leave
out forms of esse, when they can be easily inferred from the context.  

❺
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Below you will find an English translation of the text.

ON AGRICULTURE, BOOK I. LIV

As to vineyards, the vintage should begin when the grapes are ripe; and you
must choose the variety of grapes and the part of the vineyard with which to
begin. For the early grapes, and the hybrids, the so‑called black, ripen much
earlier and so must be gathered sooner; and the part of the plantation and
vineyard which is sunnier should have its vines stripped first.

At the vintage the careful farmer not only gathers but selects his grapes; he
gathers for drinking and selects for eating. So those gathered are carried to the
wine-yard, thence to go into the empty jar; those selected are carried to a
separate basket, to be placed thence in small pots and thrust into jars filled
with wine dregs, while others are plunged into the pond in a jar sealed with
pitch, and still others go up to their place in the larder. When the grapes have
been trodden, the stalks and skins should be placed under the press, so that
whatever must remains in them may be pressed out into the same vat.

When the flow ceases under the press, some people trim around the edges of
the mass and press again; this second pressing is called circumsicium, and the
juice is kept separate because it tastes of the knife. The pressed grape-skins are
turned into jars and water is added; this liquid is called lora, from the fact that
the skins are washed (lota), and it is issued to the labourers in winter instead of
wine.
Chapter 8 – Varro: How to harvest grapes — Latinitium

BEHIND 2000 YEARS OF LATIN PROSE

Daniel Pettersson, M.A., is co-founder of Latinitium and is
currently teaching Latin at Stockholm University where he is
also working on his PhD dissertation on Humanist Colloquia.
Daniel believes in the importance of Latin literature in the modern world, and that you can
teach yourself Latin with the right motivation, method and material.
Amelie Rosengren, M.A. and co-founder of Latinitium, is a published author, illustrator and
historian. She specializes in daily life, has a soft spot for historic curiosities, and works as a
museum educator at the world’s oldest open air museum, Skansen.

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