The directory «Plots»

Varro Marcus Terentius
(116 BCE – 27 BCE)

Varro was born in what is now Rieti to a family of equestrian rank.
He studied under the Roman philologist Lucius Aelius Stilo, and later at Athens under the Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon. Politically, he supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile.[2] He escaped the penalties of being on the losing side in the civil war through two pardons granted by Julius Caesar, before and after the Battle of Pharsalus. He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BCE). Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome in 47 BCE, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony proscribed him, resulting in the loss of much of his property, including his library.[citation needed] As the Republic gave way to Empire, Varro gained the favour of Augustus, under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing.
Among his many works, one that stands out for historians is his compilation of the Consuls of the Roman Republic, which was inscribed on Augustus' triumphal arch. This list, the Varronian chronology, though doubted by some for its introduction of dictatorial and anarchic years, has proved itself an invaluable resource.
He is considered by some to be the greatest of Roman scholars, and a greater polymath than Pliny the Elder.

Italy, 1974, Quotation of Varrone's «Menippean Satire»