On Agriculture and On Farming

Petrus Crescentius of Bologna had a codex of the same kind toward the beginning of the fourteenth century. For in his twelve books on agriculture, which were written in the first years of that century, he often used the precepts of ancient writers on rural affairs and, having added the authors' names, transcribed many things from the books of Cato and Varro. But in all these, I found nothing that should be referred to an origin different from the stock of our books, or that would show that Crescentius used a better codex than those we now have.

Of those books which were written in Italy in the fifteenth century, few—at the time when the Marcian codex was mutilated in the final part, as Politianus and Victorius had it—were described from it, which reveal their origin by that very defect. But most, which have the third book of Varro complete, were derived from the same archetype before it suffered that loss. For these also agree both among themselves and with the rest in such a way that they cannot be referred to another stock. But of all of them, the paper codex Laurentianus 51, 4 was most accurately described from the Marcian codex. In it, the three books of Varro are written with the chapters of the first book, the final part of the third book having been omitted: "Varro’s first book of rustic affairs on agriculture begins happily. Which Greeks and Latins have written on agriculture — for sale. I would have attained leisure — to the Greek pipe-player." Beyond the defect of the third book, from chapter 16, 21 toward the end of that same book, individual words that had perished or could not be read in the archetype due to gaps in the parchment were often omitted, where the scribe indicated the gaps by leaving space between them.

In the remaining books, I did not find copies expressed with equal diligence from the archetype.