INTRODUCTION xxvii 



Great caused Varro's writings to be burnt in order 

 to conceal Augustine's plagiarisms from them ! 



It is clear from Cicero's letters (Ad Att., iv, i6, 

 etc.) that in those of his treatises which are cast 

 in the form of dialogues he was careful to avoid 

 anachronisms and the introduction of anything 

 which might shock the reader by its inherent im- 

 probability. Those who take part in the dialogue 

 are real people, not unknown to the public, and 

 speak each in accordance with his known character. 

 We find no fictitious personages, and no violation 

 of history. We may be quite sure that the more 

 accurate and less imaginative Varro has been 

 equally careful, and that in the Rerum Rusticarum 

 we are introduced to a circle of people, all of whom 

 once lived, and were his acquaintances or friends, 

 and that they are portrayed in their real characters. 

 Many of them, indeed, Cicero's letters have made 

 familiar to us; Atticus, for instance, and Agrius, 

 Appius, C. Fundanius, Cossinius, Axius — and often 

 they form an illuminating commentary on Varro's 

 text. As examples: Axius the senator is humor- 

 ously represented by Varro as a man whose whole 

 heart is set on gain: in Cicero he appears as 

 an avaricious moneylender; in book ii, 2, 11, Varro 

 writes of Atticus, **who was then (58 b.c.) Pom- 

 ponius, and now (36 B.C.) is called Q, Caecilius": 



