INTRODUCTION 



authorities of his time several others of whom we 

 have definite knowledge, as Trebellius,^ Graecinus,^ 

 Julius Atticus,^ Volusius,* and Gallio.^ From these 

 and other references ® it is clear that Columella was 

 living during the time of Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

 {circa 4 b.c.-a.d. 65) and Pliny the Elder (23-79), 

 by whom he is quoted, and that he was of about the 

 same age as the former and several years older than 

 the latter. We have reason to believe, from the 

 conclusion of Book XII,' that his work was completed 

 when he was well advanced in years.* 



1 V, 1. 2. M. Trebellius, legatus of Vitellius (Tac. Ann. VI. 

 41. 1), was governor of Syria a.d. 36. 



"1.1.14; IV. 3. 6. Julius Graecinus was put to death under 

 Caligula (Tac. Agr. 4) in 39 or 40. 



* IV. 1. 1; IV. 8. 1. Nothing more is known of Julius 

 Atticus than is found in Columella's scattered references to 

 him as a contemporary of Celsus. Reitzenstein {De 

 ScTiptorum Rei Rusticae Libris Deperditis, p. 27) concludes 

 from this evidence that he was somewhat older than Celsus 

 and that he wrote in the time of Tiberius. 



* I. 7. 3. The Lucius Volusius mentioned by Pliny {N.H. 

 VII. 49), who died a.d. 56 at the age of ninetv-three; cf. 

 Tac. Ann. XIII. 30, XIV. 56. 



' IX. 16. 2. Gallic, brother of the younger Seneca, died 

 A.D. 65. 



* Collected by Reitzenstein op. cit., pp. 62f. ' XII. 59. 5. 



* Reitzenstein (op. cit., p. 31; c/. Becher, op. cit., p. II) 

 inclines to the view that the works of Columella appeared in 

 the year 64, and certain)}^ not before 61, basing his argument 

 on the late date of Seneca's ownership of the Nomentan farm 

 (III. 3. 3), which, as PUny writes (N.H. XIV. 45, 49) in a.d. 

 77, was bought by Remmius Palaemon in hisce viginti annis 

 and sold to Seneca within ten years. Haussner (Die luind- 

 schriftliche Ueberliefcrung dcs . . . Columella, p. 7), carrying 

 the question further, places the date of Seneca's purchase 

 in 62 or 63, the composition of Columella's third book between 

 that date and the year of Seneca's death (65), and the publi- 

 cation of the whole work after 65. 



