Geoponici

Geoponici (the Latinized form of a nonexistent Γεωπονικοι, used for convenience), or "Scriptores rei rusticae", the Greek and Roman writers on husbandry and agriculture. On the whole the Greeks paid less attention than the Romans to the scientific study of these subjects, which in classical times they regarded as a branch of economics. Thus Xenophon's "Oeconomicus" (see also "Memorabilia" ii.4) contains a eulogy of agriculture and its beneficial ethical effects, and much information is to be found in the writings of Aristotle and his pupil Theophrastus. About the same time as Xenophon, the philosopher Democritus of Abdera wrote a treatise "Περι Γεωργιας" ("On Agriculture"), frequently quoted and much used by the later compilers of "Geoponica" (agricultural treatises). Greater attention was given to the subject in the Alexandrian period; a long list of names is given by Varro and Columella, amongst them Hiero II and Attalus III Philometor. Later, Cassius Dionysius of Utica translated and abridged the great work of the Carthaginian Mago, which was still further condensed by Diophanes of Nicaea in Bithynia for the use of King Deiotarus. From these and similar works, Cassianus Bassus compiled his "Geoponica", a source of the later Byzantine "Geoponica". Mention may also be made of a little work Περι Γεωργικων by Michael Psellus.

The Romans, aware of the necessity of maintaining a numerous and thriving order of agriculturists, from very early times endeavoured to instil into their countrymen both a theoretical and a practical knowledge of the subject. The occupation of the farmer was considered next in importance to that of the soldier, and distinguished Romans did not disdain to practice it. In furtherance of this object, the great work of Mago was translated into Latin by Decimus Silanus at the order of the Roman Senate; the elder Cato had meanwhile written his "De Agri Cultura", a simple record in homely language of the rules observed by the old Roman landed proprietors rather than a theoretical treatise. He was followed by the two Sasernae (father and son), and Gnaeus Tremellius Scrofa, whose works are lost. The learned Marcus Terentius Varro of Reate, when eighty years of age, composed his "Rerum rusticarum libri tres", dealing with agriculture, the rearing of cattle, and the breeding of fishes. He was the first to systematize what had been written on the subject, and supplemented the labours of others by practical experience gained during his travels.

In the Augustan age, Julius Hyginus wrote on farming and beekeeping, Sabinus Tiro on horticulture, and during the early Empire, Julius Graecinus and Julius Atticus on the culture of vines, and Cornelius Celsus (best known for his "De Medicina") on farming. The chief work of the kind, however, is that of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, "De Arboribus" and "De Agricultura". About the middle of the 2nd century, the two Quintili, natives of Troja, wrote on the subject in Greek. It is remarkable that Columella's work exercised less influence in Rome and Italy than in southern Gaul and Spain, where agriculture became one of the principal subjects of instruction in the superior educational establishments that were springing up in those countries. One result of this was the preparation of manuals of a popular kind for use in the schools. In the 3rd century, Gargilius Martialis of Mauretania compiled a "Geoponica" in which medical botany and the veterinary art were included. The "Opus Agriculturae" of Palladius (4th century), in fourteen books, which is largely derived from Columella, is rearranged into a farmer's calendar, in which the different rural occupations are arranged in order of months. The fourteenth book (on forestry) is written in elegiacs (eighty-five couplets). The whole of Palladius and considerable fragments of Gargilius Martialis are extant.

References

*1911