Roman agriculture is a necessity of life, it is also an idealized way of life. Italians embrace both aspects of agriculture with enthusiasm. Farming manuals are written by landowners, commencing with Marcus Porcius Cato, circa 160 BCE, through to Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius, circa the mid-5th Century CE

Cato is one of Rome’s earliest writers on agriculture. In addition to history, he writes a manual on how to run a farm de Agri Cultura, On Agriculture. The origin of the work is interesting. As a young man he participates in Rome’s Third Punic War against Carthage. The only book looted from Carthage is the 28 volume de Re Rustica, On Matters Country. Cato adapts the work to suit Italian soil and climate conditions. de Agri Cultura becomes the Roman textbook on agriculture

Palladius too owns agricultural estates. His opus Agriculturae is a 14 book treatise on applied methods concerned with running a farm. Books 2 to 13 gave detail monthly instructions on farm management for a yearly cycle. Book 14, de Veterinaria Medicina is devoted to veterinary science. opus Agriculturae has an influence beyond the Roman Empire. Europe of the Middle and Renaissance eras read the work. In England, the work is translated and consulted

Marcus Terentius Varro, a landowner and farmer; in 59 BCE, serves on the land and agricultural commission established by Gaius Iulius Caesar. The commission oversees agrarian reform and settlement for the Capua and Campania districts. Varro also advises Augustus. Varro wrote a work titled de Re Rustica, On Country Matters; often simply cited as res Rusticae

Cicero defends Sextus Roscius against the charge of patricide. Cicero turned the trial to his advantage and accuses Lucius Cornelius Chysogonus of murder and fraud. During the trial; Chysogonus mocks Sextus for his country-ways. Cicero replies: vita autem haec rustica quam tu agrestem vocas parsimoniae, diligentiae, iustitiae magistra est, But a country life, which you call a clownish one, is the teacher of economy, of industry, and of justice

Vitruvius, quoted at the top of this page; the passage continues below in the left column. Vitruvius is a modern architect. The passage is best-practice for the design and construction of farm buildings

Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella is quoted in the right column. He writes his own 12 volume work, de Re Rustica. His other work is: de Arboribus, On Trees. The excerpt is bucolic romanticism, the rural idle at its best