HisDe re rustica in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source onRoman agriculture andcuisine, together with the works ofCato the Elder andMarcus Terentius Varro, both of which he occasionally cites. A smaller book on trees,De arboribus, is usually attributed to him.
Little is known of Columella's life. He was probably born inGades,Hispania Baetica (modern Cádiz), possibly to Roman parents. After a career in the army (he wastribune inSyria in 35 AD), he turned to farming his estates atArdea,Carseoli, andAlba inLatium.[4]
In ancient times, Columella's work "appears to have been but little read", cited only byPliny the Elder,Servius,Cassiodorus, andIsidorus, and having fallen "into almost complete neglect" afterPalladius published an abridgement of it.[5]: 383
This book is presented as advice to a certain Publius Silvinus. Previously known only in fragments, the complete book was among those discovered in monastery libraries in Switzerland and France byPoggio Bracciolini and his assistantBartolomeo di Montepulciano during theCouncil of Constance, between 1414 and 1418.[6]
Book 10 is written entirely indactylichexameter verse, in imitation of, or homage to,Virgil. It may initially have been intended to be the concluding volume, books 11 and 12 being perhaps an addition to the original scheme.[7]
A complete, but anonymous, translation into English was published byAndrew Millar in 1745.[8] Excerpts had previously been translated byRichard Bradley.[9]
The short workDe arboribus, "On Trees", is in manuscripts and early editions of Columella considered as book 3 ofDe re rustica.[10] However, it is clear from the opening sentences that it is part of a separate and possibly earlier work. As the anonymous translator of the Millar edition notes, inDe arboribus there is no mention of the Publius Silvinus to whom theDe re rustica is addressed.[8]: 571 A recent critical edition of the Latin text of theDe re rustica includes it, but asincerti auctoris, by an unknown hand.[11]Cassiodorus mentions sixteen books of Columella, which has led to the suggestion thatDe arboribus formed part of a work in four volumes.[10]
In addition to Cato the Elder and Varro, Columella used many sources that are no longer extant and for which he is one of the few references. These include works byAulus Cornelius Celsus, theCarthaginian writerMago,Tremellius Scrofa, and manyGreek sources. His uncle Marcus Columella, "a clever man and an exceptional farmer" (VII.2.30), had conducted experiments insheep breeding, crossing colourful wild rams, introduced from Africa for gladiatorial games, with domestic sheep,[12] and may have influenced his nephew's interests. Columella owned farms inItaly; he refers specifically to estates at Ardea, Carseoli, and Alba,[13] and speaks repeatedly of his own practical experience in agriculture.
The earliest editions of Columella group his works with those on agriculture ofCato the Elder,Varro andPalladius. Some modern library catalogues follow Brunet in listing these under "Rei rusticae scriptores" or "Scriptores rei rusticae".[14]
Iunii Moderati Columellae hortulus [Rome: Printer of Silius Italicus,c. 1471] (book X only)
Georgius Merula, Franciscus Colucia (eds.)De re rustica Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472.
Lucii Iunii Moderati Columellae de Cultu hortorum Liber .xi. quem .Pub. Virgilius .M. i[n] Georgicis Posteris edendum dimisit. [Padova]: D[ominicus] S[iliprandus], [ca. 1480]
Opera Agricolationum: Columellæ: Varronis: Catonisque: nec non Palladii: cū excriptionibus .D. Philippi Beroaldi: & commentariis quæ in aliis impressionibus non extāt. Impensis Benedicti hectoris: Bonon., xiii. calen. octob. [19 Sept.], 1494
Beroaldo, Filippo "il vecchio"Oratio de felicitate habita in enarratione Georgicon Virgilii et Columellae Bononiae: per Ioannemantonium De Benedictis, 1507
Lucii Junii moderati Columell[ae] de cultu hortorum carme[n] : Necno[n] [et] Palladius de arboru[m] insitione una cu[m] Nicolai Barptholomaei Lochensis hortulo. Parisiis: Venundantur parisiis in aedibus Radulphi Laliseau [printed by Jean Marchant], [1512] (poetry sections only)
Columella, Lucius Iunius ModeratusColumella De cultu ortorum. Interprete Pio Bononiensi. Impressum Bononiae: a Hieronymo de Benedictis bibliopola et calcographo, 1520 mense Augusto
Libri De Re Rustica...Additis Nuper Commentariis Iunii Pompo. Fortunati in Librum De Cultu Hortorum, Cum Adnotationibus Philippi Beroaldi... Florence: Filippo Giunta, 1521
De re rustica libri XII. Euisdem de Arboris liber, separatus ab aliis. Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1541
Columella, Lucius Iunius ModeratusDe l'agricoltura libri XII. / Lutio Giunio Moderato Columella. Trattato de gli alberi, tradotto nuouamente di latino in lingua italiana per Pietro Lauro Modonese In Venetia: [Michele Tramezzino il vecchio], 1544
Les Douze livres des choses rustiques. Traduicts de Latin en François, par feu maistre Claude Cotereau Chanoine de Paris. La traduction duquel ha esté soingneusement reveue & en la plupart corrigée, & illustrée de doctes annotations par maistre Jean Thierry de Beauvoisis Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1551, 1555
Columella, Lucius Junius ModeratusLes douze liures ... des choses rustiques, tr. par C. Cotereau. La tr. corrigée & illustrée de doctes annotations par J. Thiery de Beauoisis Paris, 1555
Orsini, FulvioNotae ad M. Catonem, M. Varronem, L. Columellam de re rustica. Ad kalend. rusticum Farnesianum & veteres inscriptiones Fratrum Arvalium. Iunius Philargyrius in Bucolica & Georgica Virgilij. Notae ad Servium in Bucol. Georg. & Aeneid. Virg. Velius Longus de orthographia : ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini Romae: in aedib. S.P.Q.R. apud Georgium Ferrarium, 1587[15]
Bradley, RichardA Survey of the Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil, and others, the most eminent writers among the Greeks & Romans: wherein many of the most difficult passages in those authors are explain'd ... Adorn'd with cuts, etc. London: B. Motte, 1725
Gesner, Johann Matthias (ed.)Scriptores Rei Rusticae veteres Latini Cato, Varro, Columella, Palladius, quibus nunc accedit Vegetius de Mulo-Medicina et Gargilii Martialis fragmentum (Ausoni Popinæ De instrumento fundi liber. J. B. Morgagni epist. IV.) cum editionibus prope omnibus et MSS. pluribus collati: adjectae notae virorum clariss, integræ ... et lexicon Rei Rusticae curante Io. Matthia Gesnero Lipsiae: sumtibus Caspari Fritsch, 1735 (full text)
^ab[anonymous translator] (1745).L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry, in Twelve Books: and his book, concerning Trees. Translated into English, with illustrations from Pliny, Cato, Varro, Palladius and other ancient and modern authors. London: Andrew Millar.
^Richard Bradley (1725).A Survey of the Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil, and others, the most eminent writers among the Greeks & Romans: wherein many of the most difficult passages in those authors are explain'd ... Adorn'd with cuts, etc.. London: B. Motte.
^Denis Diderot, Jean Le Rond d' Alembert (editors) (1765). [Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ...] (in French). Neufchatel: S. Faulche. Volume 9 JU–MAM, page 179. Accessed June 2011.
^Fulvio Orsini (1587).Notae ad M. Catonem, M. Varronem, L. Columellam de re rustica. Ad kalend. rusticum Farnesianum & veteres inscriptiones Fratrum Arvalium. Iunius Philargyrius in Bucolica & Georgica Virgilij. Notae ad Servium in Bucol. Georg. & Aeneid. Virg. Velius Longus de orthographia : ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini. Romae: in aedib. S.P.Q.R.: apud Georgium Ferrarium. Full text online at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, two copies:1,2.
