Publius Terentius Varro Atacinus (; 82 – c. 35 BC) was a Roman poet, more polished in his style than the more famous and learned Varro Reatinus, his contemporary, and therefore more widely read by the Augustan writers. Charles Thomas Cruttwell
''History of Roman Literature'' (1877)
: Book II, part I, note III He was born in the province of

Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in Occitania and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the first ...

, the southern part of

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

with its capital at

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

, on the river Atax (now the

Aude Aude ( ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it " ...

), for his

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

''Atacinus'' indicates his birthplace.

Writings

Only fragments of his works survive. His first known works are ,H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Latin Literature'' (London 1967) p. 146 a poem on

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's campaign against

Ariovistus Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC, who name appears prominently in Julius Caesar's '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. Before their conflict with the Romans, Ariovis ...

, and some satires; these should not be confused with the ''Menippean Satires'' of the other Varro, of which some 600 fragments survive. He also wrote a geographical poem, ''Chorographia''; ''Ephemeris'', a hexameter poem on weather-signs after Aratus, from which Virgil has borrowed and (late in life) elegies to Leucadia. His translation of the Alexandrian poet

Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius of Rhodes ( ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; ; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem is ...

' ''Argonautica'' into

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

has some fine surviving lines; and was singled out for praise by

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

: “Of Varro too what age will not be told/And Jason’s Argo and the fleece of gold?”. Oskar Seyffert considered that the poem to have been “the most remarkable production in the domain of narrative epic poetry between the time of Ennius and that of Vergil”. Of Varro's fragments, the

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

on "The Tombs of the Great" is well-known; whether or not it is truly Varro's is debatable:

Patrons

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

as well as

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

have been suggested as possible patrons of Varro's writings.B. Gold ed., ''Literary and Artistic Patronage in Ancient Rome'' (2012) p. 91

Notes

External links

Fragments of Varro Atacinus
with Portuguese translation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Atacinus, Varro Golden Age Latin writers Terentii 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman poets 82 BC births 30s BC deaths People from Gallia Narbonensis 1st-century BC Gallo-Roman people

Writings

Patrons

See also

Notes

External links