| Marcus Terentius Varro |
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BIOGRAPHY Varro was born in what is now Rieti to a family of Equestrian rank. He studied under the Roman philologist , before and after the Battle Of Pharsalus . He was one of the commission of twenty that carried out the great agrarian scheme of Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC). Caesar later appointed him to oversee the public Library of Rome in 47 BC, but following Caesar's death Mark Antony Proscribed him, resulting in the loss of much of his property, including his library. As the Republic gave way to Empire, Varro gained the favour of Augustus , under whose protection he found the security and quiet to devote himself to study and writing. Among his many works, one that stands out for historians is his compilation of the Consuls of the Roman Republic , which was inscribed on Augustus ' Triumphal Arch . This list, the Varronian Chronology , though doubted by some for its introduction of dictatorial and anarchic years, has proved itself an invaluable resource. He is considered by some to be the greatest of Roman scholars, and a greater Polymath than Pliny The Elder . WORKS Varro wrote more than 400 pieces in his lifetime, of which only two survive complete, and roughly seventy in fragments. Extant works
Known lost works
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