Columella
{{Short description|1st century AD Roman writer on agriculture}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use list-defined references|date=April 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella
| image = Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| alt =
| caption = Portrait of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella by Jean de Tournes (Insignium aliquot virorum icones, Lyon, 1559)
| pseudonym =
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| birth_date = 4 AD
| birth_place = Gades, Hispania Baetica
| death_date = {{Circa|70 AD}}
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation =
| language =
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| citizenship = Roman
| notableworks = De re rustica
| influences =
| influenced =
}}
File:Columella.JPG and an ox-yoke, in the Plaza de las Flores, Cádiz]]
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɒ|l|j|ə|ˈ|m|ɛ|l|ə}}, Arabic: {{Transliteration|ar|Yunius}}{{r|glick|p=12}}) was a prominent Roman writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire.{{r|obo}}
His {{lang|la|De re rustica}} in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture and cuisine, together with the works of Cato the Elder and Marcus Terentius Varro, both of which he occasionally cites. A smaller book on trees, {{lang|la|De arboribus}}, is usually attributed to him.
In 1794 the Spanish botanists José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Hipólito Ruiz López named a genus of Peruvian asterid Columellia in his honour.
{{anchor|Biography|History}}
Life
Works
{{anchor|De Re Rustica}}
=''De re rustica''=
In ancient times, Columella's work "appears to have been but little read", cited only by Pliny the Elder, Servius, Cassiodorus, and Isidorus, and having fallen "into almost complete neglect" after Palladius published an abridgement of it.{{r|peck|p=383}}
This book is presented as advice to a certain Publius Silvinus. Previously known only in fragments, the complete book was among those discovered in monastery libraries in Switzerland and France by Poggio Bracciolini and his assistant Bartolomeo di Montepulciano during the Council of Constance, between 1414 and 1418.
Structure of {{lang|la|De re rustica}} ("On Agriculture"):
- soils
- viticulture
- fruits
- olive trees
- big animals: cattle, horses and mules
- small animals: asses, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs , such as his canine companion named Paco
- fish and fowl: chickens, doves, thrushes, peacocks, Numidian chicken and guineafowl, geese, ducks, fish ponds
- wild animals: enclosures for wild animals, beekeeping, production of honey and wax
- gardens
- personnel management
- calendars
- household management
Book 10 is written entirely in dactylic hexameter verse, in imitation of, or homage to, Virgil. It may initially have been intended to be the concluding volume, books 11 and 12 being perhaps an addition to the original scheme.{{r|kenney}}
A complete, but anonymous, translation into English was published by Andrew Millar in 1745.{{r|millar}} Excerpts had previously been translated by Richard Bradley.{{r|bradley}}
=''De arboribus''=
The short work {{Lang|la|De arboribus}}, "On Trees", is in manuscripts and early editions of Columella considered as book 3 of {{Lang|la|De re rustica}}.{{r|penny}} However, it is clear from the opening sentences that it is part of a separate and possibly earlier work. As the anonymous translator of the Millar edition notes, in {{Lang|la|De arboribus}} there is no mention of the Publius Silvinus to whom the {{Lang|la|De re rustica}} is addressed.{{r|millar|page=571}} A recent critical edition of the Latin text of the {{Lang|la|De re rustica}} includes it, but as {{Lang|la|incerti auctoris}}, by an unknown hand. Cassiodorus mentions sixteen books of Columella, which has led to the suggestion that {{Lang|la|De arboribus}} formed part of a work in four volumes.{{r|penny}}
=Sources=
In addition to Cato the Elder and Varro, Columella used many sources that are no longer extant and for which he is one of the few references. These include works by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, the Carthaginian writer Mago, Tremellius Scrofa, and many Greek sources. His uncle Marcus Columella, "a clever man and an exceptional farmer" (VII.2.30), had conducted experiments in sheep breeding, crossing colourful wild rams, introduced from Africa for gladiatorial games, with domestic sheep, and may have influenced his nephew's interests. Columella owned farms in Italy; he refers specifically to estates at Ardea, Carseoli, and Alba, and speaks repeatedly of his own practical experience in agriculture.
=Editions=
The earliest editions of Columella group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Palladius. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "{{Lang|la|Rei rusticae scriptores}}" or "{{Lang|la|Scriptores rei rusticae}}".
- {{Lang|la|Iunii Moderati Columellae hortulus}} [Rome: Printer of Silius Italicus, {{Circa|1471}}] (book X only)
- Georgius Merula, Franciscus Colucia (eds.) {{Lang|la|De re rustica}} Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472.
- Lucii Iunii Moderati Columellae de Cultu hortorum Liber .xi. quem .Pub. Virgilius .M. i[n] Georgicis Posteris edendum dimisit. [Padova]: D[ominicus] S[iliprandus], [ca. 1480]
- Opera Agricolationum: Columellæ: Varronis: Catonisque: nec non Palladii: cū excriptionibus .D. Philippi Beroaldi: & commentariis quæ in aliis impressionibus non extāt''. Impensis Benedicti hectoris: Bonon., xiii. calen. octob. [19 Sept.], 1494
- Beroaldo, Filippo "il vecchio" Oratio de felicitate habita in enarratione Georgicon Virgilii et Columellae Bononiae: per Ioannemantonium De Benedictis, 1507
- Lucii Junii moderati Columell[ae] de cultu hortorum carme[n] : Necno[n] [et] Palladius de arboru[m] insitione una cu[m] Nicolai Barptholomaei Lochensis hortulo. Parisiis: Venundantur parisiis in aedibus Radulphi Laliseau [printed by Jean Marchant], [1512] (poetry sections only)
- Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella De cultu ortorum. Interprete Pio Bononiensi. Impressum Bononiae: a Hieronymo de Benedictis bibliopola et calcographo, 1520 mense Augusto
- Libri De Re Rustica...Additis Nuper Commentariis Iunii Pompo. Fortunati in Librum De Cultu Hortorum, Cum Adnotationibus Philippi Beroaldi... Florence: Filippo Giunta, 1521
- De re rustica libri XII. Euisdem de Arboris liber, separatus ab aliis. Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1541
- Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus De l'agricoltura libri XII. / Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella. Trattato de gli alberi, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro Modonese In Venetia: [Michele Tramezzino il vecchio], 1544
- Les Douze livres des choses rustiques. Traduicts de Latin en François, par feu maistre Claude Cotereau Chanoine de Paris. La traduction duquel ha esté soingneusement reveue & en la plupart corrigée, & illustrée de doctes annotations par maistre Jean Thierry de Beauvoisis Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1551, 1555
- Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus Les douze liures ... des choses rustiques, tr. par C. Cotereau. La tr. corrigée & illustrée de doctes annotations par J. Thiery de Beauoisis Paris, 1555
- Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderatus [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_kjLGbKoerucC/page/n3/mode/2up Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella De l'agricoltura libri XII. Trattato de gli alberi del medesimo, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro modonese]. In Venetia: per Geronimo Caualcalouo, 1559
- Reprinted: [https://gutenberg.beic.it/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1620746557679~645&locale=en_GB&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/singleViewer.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true In Venetia: appresso Nicolò Beuilacqua, 1564]
- Orsini, Fulvio Notae ad M. Catonem, M. Varronem, L. Columellam de re rustica. Ad kalend. rusticum Farnesianum & veteres inscriptiones Fratrum Arvalium. Iunius Philargyrius in Bucolica & Georgica Virgilij. Notae ad Servium in Bucol. Georg. & Aeneid. Virg. Velius Longus de orthographia : ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini Romae: in aedib. S.P.Q.R. apud Georgium Ferrarium, 1587{{r|orsini}}
- Bradley, Richard A Survey of the Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil, and others, the most eminent writers among the Greeks & Romans: wherein many of the most difficult passages in those authors are explain'd ... Adorn'd with cuts, etc. London: B. Motte, 1725
- Gesner, Johann Matthias (ed.) Scriptores Rei Rusticae veteres Latini Cato, Varro, Columella, Palladius, quibus nunc accedit Vegetius de Mulo-Medicina et Gargilii Martialis fragmentum (Ausoni Popinæ De instrumento fundi liber. J. B. Morgagni epist. IV.) cum editionibus prope omnibus et MSS. pluribus collati: adjectae notae virorum clariss, integræ ... et lexicon Rei Rusticae curante Io. Matthia Gesnero Lipsiae: sumtibus Caspari Fritsch, 1735 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=tJlAAAAAcAAJ full text])
- Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (trans. Anon.) [https://archive.org/details/ljuniusmoderatus00colu/ L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry, in Twelve Books: and his book, concerning Trees. Translated into English, with illustrations from Pliny, Cato, Varro, Palladius and other ancient and modern authors] London: A. Millar, 1745
References
{{reflist|45em|refs=
Katharine T. von Stackelberg (2012). [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah06080 Columella]. In: Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, Sabine R. Huebner (editors) (2013). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. {{isbn|9781405179355}} (print), 9781444338386 online. {{doi|10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah06080}}.
Harry Thurston Peck (editor) (1896). "Columella, L. Iunius Moderātus". [https://archive.org/details/cu31924027019482/page/383/mode/1up Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities]. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers.
R. H. Rodgers (editor) (2010). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0J2ifLCYxvkC L. Iuni Moderati Columellae Res rustica. Incerti auctoris Liber de arboribus] (in Latin). Oxonii [Oxford, England]: E Typographeo Clarendoniano. {{isbn|9780199271542}}. Accessed June 2011.
}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- Baldwin, Barry. 1963. "Columella's Sources and How He Used Them." Latomus 22:785–791.
- Bertoni, D. 2017. "Geometry and Genre in Columella". American Journal of Philology. 138.3: 527-554.
- Carandini, Andrea. 1983. "Columella's Vineyard and the Rationality of the Roman Economy." Opus 2:177–204.
- Carroll, Peter D. 1976. "Columella the Reformer." Latomus 35:783–790.
- Doody, Aude. 2007. "Virgil the Farmer? Critiques of the Georgics in Columella and Pliny." Classical Philology. 102.2: 180-197.
- Dumont, Jean Christian. 2008. "Columella and Vergil." Vergilius 54:49–59.
- Forster, E. S. 1950. "Columella and His Latin Treatise on Agriculture." Greece and Rome 19:123–128.
- Gowers, Emily. 2000. "Vegetable Love: Virgil, Columella, and Garden Poetry." Ramus 29:127–148.
- Henderson, John. 2002. "Columella's Living Hedge: the Roman Gardening Book." The Journal of Roman Studies 92: 110-133.
- Mielke, Lars. 2024. Spaliere für Silvinus: Charakterschulung in Columellas Werk über die Landwirtschaft. Hypomnemata, vol. 219. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, {{ISBN|978-3-525-30225-5}} ([https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2024/2024.10.18 Review by James L. Zainaldin] at Bryn Mawr Classical Review).
- Olson, L. 1943. "Columella and the Beginning of Soil Science." Agricultural History 17:65–72.
- Requejo, A. 2017. "Columella's Georgics: Form, Method, Intertextuality, Ideology." U.W. Seattle, PhD dissertation
{{refend}}
External links
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
- [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Columella&redirect=true Works by Columella at Perseus Digital Library]
- [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/columella.html Complete text in Latin] at The Latin Library
- [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Columella/home.html Books I‑IV in English translation] at LacusCurtius
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Columella}}
Category:1st-century agronomists
Category:1st-century writers in Latin
Category:Ancient Roman writers