Cato Marcus Porcius - Cato: On Farming/De Agri Cultura

Major Roman works on farming

References to modern English translations are given where available. For fuller information on these texts see White, Farming , pp..

Columella, On Farming. [Cited simply as Columella. Latin, 1st century ad.] Translated by H.B. Ash, E.S. Forster, E. Heffner (Loeb classical library). 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 194155.

Columella, On Trees . Included in vol. 3 of the above edition.

Geoponica . [Byzantine Greek text consisting of selections from earlier Greek and Roman writers on farming. 10th century ad.]

Palladius, On Farming . [Latin. 5th century ad.]

Pliny, Natural History . [Cited simply as Pliny. Latin encyclopaedic work, 1 st century ad.] Translated by H. Rackham and others (Loeb classical library). 10 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 193863.

Varro, On Farming. [Cited simply as Varro. Latin, 1st century bc.] Translated by H.B. Ash and W.D. Hooper (with Cato, On Farming) (Loeb classical library). Cambridge, Mass., 1934.

Virgil. [Latin poet, 1st century bc. Most often cited here for his Georgics , on farming.] Numerous translations.

Other ancient texts quoted or cited

Accius. [Latin tragedy playwright, late 2nd century bc, known only from fragments.]

Antiphanes. [Greek comedy playwright, 4th century bc, known only from fragments.]

Apicius. [ The Roman cookery book , c. 400 ad.] Translated by Barbara Flower and Elisabeth [Alfldi-] Rosenbaum. London, 1958.

Athenaeus, Deipnosophists. [On food in Greek culture, citing numerous earlier sources; c. 200 ad.] Translated by C.B. Gulick (Loeb classical library). 7 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 192741.

Berytius, Farming . [Greek, quoted in the Geoponica , also known in Armenian translation.]

Cato, Origines . [Known only in fragments, cited from Chassignet (q.v.).]

Cato, Speeches . [Known only in fragments, cited from Malcovati (q.v.).]

Chrysippus of Tyana, Bread-making . [Greek, written in Rome, 2nd century BC?] See note on chapter .

Cicero. [Latin orator and philosopher, 1st century BC.] Numerous translations.

Daniel . [Aramaic (partly Hebrew) romance; 2nd century BC.] Included in the

Bible and Apocrypha.

Democritus . [Greek work on farming attributed to or named after the early philosopher; quoted in the Geoponica .]

Diodorus of Sicily, Historical Library . [Greek, 1st century bc.] Translated by C.H. Oldfather and others (Loeb classical library). 12 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 193367.

Dioscorides, De Materia Medica . [Greek; 1st century ad, with later additions.]

Eupolemus. [Author of a romance on Abraham, perhaps of the 2nd century bc, surviving only in fragments.] Translation in The Old Testament pseudepigrapha tr. J.H. Charlesworth (London, 19835) vol. 2.

Fan Shng-chih shu . [Chinese work on agriculture; 1st century bc.] Fragments collected and translated by Shih Shng-han. Peking, 1982.

Festus, On the Meaning of Words . [Latin lexicography, 2nd century ad, only surviving in part.]

Florentinus. [Author on farming, probably from Roman Bithynia, quoted in the Geoponica.]

Galen, On the Properties of Foods . [Greek dietary textbook. Rome, 2nd century ad.]

Gellius, Attic Nights . [Latin antiquarian notes, 2nd century ad.] Translated by J.C. Rolfe (Loeb classical library). Cambridge, Mass., 1927.

Hesiod, Works and Days . [Greek poem of traditional lore, c. 700 bc.] Translated by M.L. West (Worlds classics). Oxford, 1988. Note also his edition of the Greek text with commentary, Oxford, 1978.

Hicesius. [Greek medical author, 1st century bc, known only from fragments.]

Horace. [Latin poet, 1st century bc.] Various translations.

Isidore of Seville, Etymologies . [Latin lexicography, 7th century ad.]

Juvenal, Satires . [Latin, c. 100 ad.] Various translations.

Livy, From the Foundation of the City . [Latin history, 1st century bc.] Translated by B.O. Foster and others (Loeb classical library). 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 191959.

Lucilius. [Latin satirist, 2nd century bc, known only from fragments.]

Martial. [Latin poet, c. 100 ad.] Translated by D.R. Shackleton Bailey (Loeb classical library). 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1993.

Menander. [Greek comedy playwright, c. 300 bc.] F.G. Allinsons translation (Loeb classical library) is being replaced by that of W.G. Arnott. Cambridge, Mass., 1979 .

Menologium Colotianum . [Roman farming calendar.] Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae vol. 13 part 2.

Ovid, Fasti . [Poetic survey of Roman religious ritual. 1st century bc.] Translated by J.G. Frazer with important commentary. London, 1929. The translation was also published without commentary in the Loeb classical library.

Petronius, Satiricon . [Latin picaresque novel, 1st century ad.] Various translations.

Plato. [Greek philosopher, c. 400 bc.] Various translations.

Plato Comicus. [Greek comedy playwright, c. 400 bc, known only from fragments.]

Plautus. [Author of Latin adaptations of Greek comedy, c. 200 bc.] Various translations.

Pliny the Younger, Letters. [Latin, c. 100 ad.] Translated by B. Radice (Penguin classics). Harmondsworth, 1963.

Plutarch, Lives . [Greek, 2nd century ad; includes a life of Cato the Elder, cited here as Plutarch, Cato .] Translated by B. Perrin (Loeb classical library). 11 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 191426.

Seneca, Letters . [Latin, 1st century ad.] Translated by E.M. Gummere (Loeb classical library). 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 191725.

Strabo, Geography . [In Greek: semi-official Roman geography. 1st century bc.] Translated by H.L. Jones (Loeb classical library). 8 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 191732.

Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars . [ The twelve Caesars , Latin Imperial biographies. 2nd century ad.] Translation by R. Graves revised by M. Grant (Penguin classics). Harmondsworth, 1979.

Theophrastus, History of Plants . [Greek botanical text, c. 300 bc.] Translated by Sir Arthur Hort (Loeb classical library). Cambridge, Mass., 191626.

Varro, On the Latin Language . Translated by R.G. Kent (Loeb classical library). 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1938.

Vitruvius, On Architecture . [Latin, 1st century bc.] Translated by M.H. Morgan. Cambridge, Mass., 1914; reprint (Dover books), New York, 1960.

Modern studies and editions cited in abridged form

Andr, Alimentation . J. Andr, Lalimentation et la cuisine Rome . 2nd ed. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1981.

Arthur, Romans . P. Arthur, Romans in northern Campania . London: British School at Rome, 1991.

Astin, Cato . A.E. Astin, Cato the Censor . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

Boscherini, Medicina. S. Boscherini, La medicina in Catone e Varrone in Aufstieg und Niedergang der rmischen Welt ed. H. Temporini. Part 1: Von den Anfngen Roms bis zum Ausgang der Republik . Vol. 37 part 1 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 19) pp. 729755.

Brehaut. Cato the Censor, On Farming translated by Ernest Brehaut. New York: Columbia University Press, 1933.

Chassignet. Caton, Les Origines (fragments) ed. and tr. M. Chassignet. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1986.

Crawford, Coinage and money. M. Crawford, Coinage and money under the Roman Republic. London: Methuen, 1985.

Dalby, Siren feasts. A. Dalby, Siren feasts: a history of food and gastronomy in Greece. London: Routledge, 1996.

Dalby and Grainger. A. Dalby, S. Grainger, The classical cookbook . London: British Museum Press; Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 1996.

Drachmann, Oil-mills . A.G. Drachmann, Ancient oil-mills and presses . Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1932.

Frayn, Markets . J.M. Frayn, Markets and fairs in Roman Italy . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Frayn, Sheep-rearing. J.M. Frayn, Sheep-rearing and the wool trade in Italy during the Roman period. Liverpool: Cairns, 1984.

Frayn, Subsistence farming. J.M. Frayn, Subsistence farming in Roman Italy. London: Centaur, 1979.