Cicero. Quintus' poetry is now represented only by twenty hexameters on the signs of the zodiac; but he wrote an epic poem, Annales (ad Att. ii. 16, 4 [Quintus] ‘ita remittit ut me roget ut annales suos emendem et edam'), and composed tragedies with great rapidity (ad Q.F. iii. 6, 7, 'quattuor tragoedias xvi. diebus absolvisse cum scribas, tu quidquam ab alio mutuaris ?'). His admiration for Sophocles and Euripides appears in De Fin. v. 3; ad Fam. xvi. 8, 2.

TIRO./

M. Tullius Tiro, the freedman of Cicero, who had a high opinion of his worth and ability (ad Fam. xvi. 4, 3; ad Att. vii. 5, 2), wrote (1) a biography of his patron: Ascon. p. 49, 'ut legimus apud Tironem libertum Ciceronis in libro iiii. de vita eius.'

(2) Editions of Cicero's speeches and letters: Gell. i. 7, 1, "in oratione Ciceronis v. in Verrem, libro spectatae fidei, Tironiana cura atque disciplina facto.' (See also p. 85.)

(3) A collection of Cicero's witticisms: Quint. vi. 3, 5, 'utinam libertus eius Tiro aut alius, quisquis fuit, qui iii. hac de re libros edidit, parcius dictorum numero indulsissent.'

(4) Grammatical works, as aνdéктαι, mentioned by Gell. xiii. 9, 2.

For his system of shorthand, cf. Sueton. p. 136 R., 'Romae primus Tullius Tiro, Ciceronis libertus, commentatus est notas, sed tantum praepositionum.'

T. POMPONIUS ATTICUS (B.C. 109-32).

Author of (1) Annalis, a chronological table of the chief events in Roman and foreign history, accompanied by

genealogies (Nepos, Att. 18, 1). As it was Cicero's De Re Publica that suggested its composition (Cic. Brut. 19), its date cannot be earlier than B.C. 54. (2) Family histories, e.g. of the Iunii (Nepos, Att. 18, 3), published separately. (3) De Imaginibus, a collection of inscriptions in verse for the busts of celebrated men (Nepos, Att. 18, 5). (4) De Consulatu Ciceronis, in Greek (Nepos, Att. 18, 6), written B.C. 60 (Cic. ad Att. ii. 1, 1).

Atticus is an interesting figure on account of the large publishing business which he conducted (Nepos, Att. 13, 3); and the great care with which he sought out good MSS. to reproduce in his establishment makes him important in the history of the preservation of ancient literature.

M. TERENTIUS VARRO.

(1) LIFE.

M. Terentius Varro was born B.C. 116 at Reate in the

Sabine country.

Jerome yr. Abr. 1901, 'M. Terentius Varro philosophus et poeta nascitur.' Symmachus, Ep. i. 2, calls him 'Terentius Reatinus'; and he owned property in that district: R.R. ii. praef. 6, ‘ipse pecuarias habui grandes, in Apulia oviarias, et in Reatino equarias.'

Of his family nothing is known except that he had an uncle belonging to the equestrian order (Plin. N.H. vii. 176). His philosophical education was received at Athens, where he was a disciple of Antiochus of Ascalon: Cic. Ac. Post. 12, 'Aristum Athenis [Brutus] audivit aliquamdiu, cuius tu [Varro] fratrem Antiochum.'

He took part in the war with Sertorius in Spain, B.C. 76 (Sall. Hist. ii. fr. 69). In the war with the pirates, B.C. 67, he was one of Pompeius' lieutenants, and received a corona

navalis for his services. Varro R.R. ii. praef. 7, 'cum piratico bello inter Delum et Ciliciam Graeciae classibus praeessem.' Plin. N.H. vii. 115, '[Varroni] Magnus Pompeius piratico ex bello navalem [coronam] dedit.' Probably he was also with Pompeius in the war with Mithradates (Plin. N.H. xxxiii. 136, xxxvii. 11; knowledge of the Caspian, vi. 38). To the coalition of Pompeius, Caesar, and Crassus he was originally hostile, going so far as to write one of his satires, Tpikápavos, against them (Appian B.C. ii. 9); but in 59 he was a member of the commission appointed tc establish Caesar's veterans in Campania: Plin. N.H. vii. 176, 'Varro auctor est xx. viro se agros dividente Capuae,' etc. He also held the office of tribune (Gell. xiii. 12, 6), and was aedile with Murena (Plin. xxxv. 173).

When the civil war broke out he was one of Pompeius' lieutenants in Farther Spain, and resisted Caesar without success (Caes. B.C. ii. 17-20). From Spain he withdrew to Epirus, where he was coldly received by the Pompeians (Cic. ad Fam. ix. 6, 3, ‘crudeliter otiosis minabantur, eratque eis et tua invisa voluntas et mea oratio'). We hear of him at Corcyra (R.R. i. 4), and at Dyrrhachium a few days before the battle of Pharsalus (Cic. de Div. i. 68). After Caesar's victory he lived quietly at his Tusculan villa (Cic. ad Fam. ix. 6, 4, 'his tempestatibus es prope solus in portu equidem hos tuos Tusculanenses dies instar esse vitae puto'). He was more easily reconciled than Cicero to the new government, and was made librarian by Caesar : Sueton. Iul. 44, 'Destinabat bibliothecas Graecas Latinasque quas maximas posset publicare, data M. Varroni cura comparandarum ac digerendarum.' This, however, did not prevent him writing a funeral oration on Cato's sister Porcia (Cic. ad Att. xiii. 48, 2).

...

After Caesar's death Varro was exposed to the persecution of Antonius, whose raid on his villa at Casinum is vividly described by Cicero (Phil. ii. 103 sqq.). He was proscribed, but the devotion of his friends secured his escape (Arpian B.C. iv. 47).

His old age was spent in peace, the literary activity for which his whole life was remarkable being maintained to the end. At the age of eighty-three he was still writing: Plin. N.H. xxix. 65, 'Cunctarer in proferendo ex his remedio, ni M. Varro lxxxiii vitae anno prodidisset,' etc.

Varro's death took place in B.C. 27, in his ninetieth year. Jerome yr. Abr. 1990, 'M. Terentius Varro philosophus prope nonagenarius moritur.'

(2) WORKS.

Cicero (ad Att. xiii. 18) calls Varro 'homo Toλvypаþú. TaTOS,' and Varro himself said that he had written four hundred and ninety Books by the end of his seventy-seventh year: Gell. iii. 10, 17, 'Addit se quoque iam duodecimam annorum hebdomadam ingressum esse et ad eum diem septuaginta hebdomadas librorum conscripsisse.' A letter of Jerome 1 gives a list of thirty-nine works in four hundred and ninety Books, admitting at the same time that these were only half of the total number ('vix medium descripsi indicem '). The titles of twenty-one other works are known from various sources.

1. Agriculture. Of this enormous number only one has survived in a complete form, the treatise De Re Rustica in three Books, in the form of a dialogue. Book i. treats of agriculture; ii. of stock-raising; iii. of poultry, game, and fish.

It was written B.C. 37-6: R.R. i. 1, 1, 'Annus

1 F. Ritschl, Opuscula, iii., p. 525.

octogesimus admonet me ut sarcinas colligam ante quam proficiscar e vita.'

2. Grammar. Of the twenty-five books De Lingua Latina, only v.-x. have been preserved, but the scope of the whole is known from Varro's own words. Book i. was introductory; ii-vii. dealt with etymology; iii.-xiii. with inflexions; xiv.-xxv. with syntax. Varro's derivations are ridiculed by Quintilian i. 6, 37, 'Sed cui non post Varronem sit venia, qui agrum quia in eo agatur aliquid, et graculos quia gregatim volent dictos voluit persuadere Ciceroni?' From Book v. onwards the work was dedicated to Cicero, in return for his Academics; it is announced in Cic. Ac. 2, where Varro says, 'Habeo opus magnum in manibus, idque iam pridem : ad hunc enim ipsum (me autem dicebat) quaedam institui, quae et sunt magna sane et limantur a me politius.' The date of publication was probably B.C. 45-3.

i.

Of the minor works on grammar, some at least were prior to the De Lingua Latina: Cic. Ac. i. 9, 'Plurimum poetis nostris omninoque Latinis et litteris luminis et verbis attulisti.' The titles known are, De sermone Latino, De origine linguae Latinae, De similitudine verborum, De utilitate sermonis, De antiquitate litterarum, IIepì xapaкτýpwv.

3. Roman History and Antiquities.-Varro's great work in this department was the Antiquitates rerum divinarum humanarumque, in forty-one Books. The arrangement, according to Augustine De Civ. Dei, vi. 3, was as follows: (a) i.-xxv. res humanae; i. introductory, ii.-vii. history of Rome down to its capture by the Gauls, viii.-xiii. geography of Italy, xiv.-xix. Roman Calendar, with dates of the chief historical events, xx.-xxv. Roman institutions. (b) xxvi.-xli. res divinae; the persons who sacrifice, the places, the times,