PREFACE 



This translation of Varro's * Rerum Rusticarum ' 

 is based on the * Editio Minor' of Keil, which is 

 the best text that we at present possess, and the most 

 accessible to students. The numerous passages 

 where I have ventured to adopt or propose a reading 

 differing from that given by the great scholar are 

 indicated and fully discussed either in the Com- 

 mentary or Excursus. In excuse for the many 

 alterations of his text which I have proposed, I 

 would point out that Keil himself professes only to 

 have restored the text of the Archetype, which is 

 avowedly corrupt, to have made certain indubitable 

 corrections, and to have cleared the ground for 

 further emendation. 



In rendering the Latin, I have aimed, above all 

 things, at accuracy, and have tried to say in English 

 what Varro actually said in Latin, not what I 

 imagine he ought to have said, or might have said, 

 had he written in English. Graceful paraphrase 

 would have been quite out of place in the case of an 

 author who has no graces of style, is valuable 

 principally for his matter, and is very difficult to 

 understand. 



To other translations I am not at all indebted. 

 Those with which I am acquainted — the French of 

 Nisard, the Italian of Pagani, and the English of 

 Clarke (1800) — are not good, and were made by men 

 evidently unaccustomed to Varro's peculiar and 

 archaic diction. 



