In existographies, Marcus Varro (116-27 BC) (619-708 AUC) (IQ:175|#249) (Cattell 1000:427) (CR:4) was a Roman scholar, politician, and philosopher noted for []
Antiquities
In c.48BC, Varro penned Antiquities of Human and Divine Affairs (Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum) (Ѻ), a 41 book set, wherein, like the historian Livy after him, he regarded religion as a human institution, that was important to preserve for the good of society. [4]
Vita
On vita, Varro said the following:
“The poets, through the conjunction of fire and moisture, are indicating that the vis, ‘force’, which they have is that of Venus [Aphrodite]. Those born of vis have what is called vita, ‘life’, and that is what is meant by Lucilius [c.120BC] when he says: ‘life is force you see: to do everything force doth compel us’.”
— Marcus Varro (c.50BC), On the Latin Language [1]
Dating system | AUC
In circa 50BC (or circa 703 AUC), Varro introduced the anno urbis conditae (AUC) or “from city founding” dating system, which dated years from the founding of Rome or 21 Apr 753BC (in Christian era years). [1] The AUC dating system, supposedly, came to be superseded, in usage, by the AD/BC dating system, invented in 525AD (1260AUC) by Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus, during the reign of Charlemagne (742-814). [2]
Quotes | On
The following are quotes on Varro:
“Your books led us home, when we were wandering like strangers in our own city. You have revealed to us the names, types, duties and origins of all things divine as well as human.”
— Cicero (45BC), On Academic Skepticism (book dedication to Varro) [4]
“What good can we suppose it did Varro and Aristotle to know so many things?”
— Michel Montaigne (1580), “An Apology for Raymond Sebond” [3]
References
1. (a) Varro, Marcus. (c.50BC). On the Latin Language: On the Science and the Origin of Words, Addressed to Cicero, Volume One, Volume Two (editor: G.P. Goold). Harvard University Press, 1938.
(b) Fisher, Jay. (2014). The Annals of Quintus Ennius and the Italic Tradition (vis est vita, pg. 152). JHT Press.
(c) Venus – Wikipedia
(d) Aphrodite – Wikipedia.
(e) Lucretius. (55BC). De Rerum Natura Libri Sex: Explanatory Notes (vis est vita, pg. 15) (editor: Hugh Munro (Ѻ)). Deighton Bell, 1886.
(f) Ennius – Wikipedia.
(g) John “Jay” Fisher (faculty) – Branford College.
2. ab urbe condita – Wikipedia.
3. (a) Montaigne, Michel. (1580). “An Apology for Raymond Sebond”; in: The Complete Works (translator: Donald Frame) (Varro and Aristotle, pg. 435). Everyman’s Library, 2003.
(b) Hecht, Jennifer M. (2003). Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas (Varro and Aristotle, pg. 298). HarperOne.
4. Cicero. (45BC). The Nature of the Gods (Introduction, translation, and notes: P.G. Walsh) (pg. xxvi). Oxford University Press, 1998.
External links
● Marcus Varro – Wikipedia.
