And when he approaches the damp ground on the whitening shore

And sees delicate Attis near the marble sea

He makes his attack. She, out of her wits, flees into the wild grove;

There she spent all the rest of her life as a servant to the goddess.

Goddess, great goddess, Cybele, goddess mistress of Dindymus,

May all your madness be far from my home, Mistress,

Urge, incite others, drive others to madness.

A COUNTRY VILLA

De Re Rustica, III

Varro

Translated by W. D. Hooper, 1934

Varro (116–27 BC), a veteran of the Roman civil wars, wrote prolifically on themes as diverse as historical chronology, architecture and agriculture. In De Re Rustica, his only complete work to survive, a group of Romans gather to discuss the particulars of country life and villa husbandry while waiting for the results of an election of ‘aediles’ – junior politicians. Voting in Rome traditionally took place on the Campus Martius. Their conversation centres on luxuries and ways to make profit. Although Varro’s dialogue is rather meandering – a sequence of extracts is provided here for ease of reading – it reveals some of the more surprising preoccupations of Romans in the first century BC.

During the election of aediles, Quintus Axius, the senator, a member of my tribe, and I, after casting our ballots, wished, though the sun was hot, to be on hand to escort the candidate whom we were supporting when he returned home. Axius remarked to me: “While the votes are being sorted, shall we enjoy the shade of the Villa Publica, instead of building us one out of the half-plank of our own candidate?”

“Well,” I replied, “I think that the proverb is correct, ‘bad advice is worst for the adviser,’ and also that good advice should be considered good both for the adviser and the advised.” So we go our way and come to the Villa. There we find Appius Claudius, the augur, sitting on a bench so that he might be on hand for consultation, if need should arise. There were sitting at his left Cornelius Merula (“Blackbird”), member of a consular family, and Fircellius Pavo (“Peacock”), of Reate; and on his right Minucius Pica (“Magpie”) and Marcus Petronius Passer (“Sparrow”). When we came up to him, Axius said to Appius, with a smile:

“Will you let us come into your aviary, where you are sitting among the birds?”