On Agriculture and On Farming

Yet not all the authors contained within it have reached us: for two have entirely collapsed from age, and the final part of M. Varro has also perished. However, as we know from the ancient inscription on the front of the book, the twelve books of Junius Moderatus Columella were there as well, and one before them by Claudius Martialis. Nevertheless, the letters in the first part of the book have been so erased by age and frequent handling that it was necessary to write a rubric over them (for such inscriptions in the book are marked by rubrics), and so there may be some smudge upon these names. Martialis, however, is clearly legible. We have learned from the testimony of Palladius that Martialis was an ancient writer on agriculture. Servius, the commentator on Virgil, also said when explaining that passage from the fourth Georgic—"and I leave others to be mentioned later"—that he signifies Gargilius Martialis. Whether this is the same Martialis as that of Palladius and Servius is not a matter that needs to be studied intently right now. However, I did not want to omit making it known so that the antiquity of this book might be understood, which was written in those times when other writers were still found who later perished due to the negligence of men or the harshness of the ages. If that book had been preserved entirely intact, we might perhaps have a more emended Junius Columella, and another writer, whom we lack, who should not have been neglected. I also had these same authors in another volume, not so ancient nor so faithful, which seemed to be written in Gallic script. I brought that one out from the Medicean Library, as well as not a few others which are kept there, whom it is not necessary to name all now. Regarding one, however, which was diligently copied out and transcribed from a good exemplar in Padua, I will not be silent. It once belonged to Francesco Barbaro, a Venetian patrician, and it is recorded there that it was diligently copied by his effort in that city, which is a home of learning. These are the primary codices whose authority I have used, for others were either copied from that best one or were written so defectively and negligently that their testimony would deservedly have little weight. How I administered the undertaken task will now appear from my individual explanations.

At the end of the book, regarding Varro III.17.4, the same man noted this regarding the defect of the codex: "On the Greek flautist. The best and most ancient codex reads 'Greek tubist.' These final words in it..."