Madness”; history ordinarily afforded him a worthier frame for his subjects, more especially the contemporary history of his country, so that these essays became, as they were called -laudationes- of esteemed Romans, above all of the Coryphaei of the constitutional party.  Thus the dissertation “concerning Peace” was at the same time a memorial of Metellus Pius, the last in the brilliant series of successful generals of the senate; that “concerning the Worship of the Gods” was at the same time destined to preserve the memory of the highly-respected Optimate and Pontifex Gaius Curio; the essay “on Fate” was connected with Marius, that “on the Writing of History” with Sisenna the first historian of this epoch, that “on the Beginnings of the Roman Stage” with the princely giver of scenic spectacles Scaurus, that “on Numbers” with the highly-cultured Roman banker Atticus.  The two philosophico-historical essays “Laelius or concerning Friendship,” “Cato or concerning Old Age,” which Cicero wrote probably after the model of those of Varro, may give us some approximate idea of Varro’s half-didactic, half-narrative, treatment of these subjects.

Varros’ Menippean Satires

The Menippean satire was handled by Varro with equal originality of form and contents; the bold mixture of prose and verse is foreign to the Greek original, and the whole intellectual contents are pervaded by Roman idiosyncrasy—­one might say, by a savour of the Sabine soil.  These satires like the philosophico-historical essays handle some moral or other theme adapted to the larger public, as is shown by the several titles—–­Columnae Herculis-, —­peri doxeis—­; —­Euren ei Lopas to Poma, peri gegameikoton—­, -Est Modus Matulae-, —­peri metheis—­; -Papiapapae-, —­peri egkomios—.  The plastic dress, which in this case might not be wanting, is of course but seldom borrowed from the history of his native country, as in the satire -Serranus-, —­peri archairesion—.  The Cynic-world of Diogenes on the other hand plays, as might be expected, a great part; we meet with the —­Kounistor—­, the —­Kounorreiton—­, the ’Ippokouon, the —­’Oudrokouon—­, the —­Kounodidaskalikon—­ and others of a like kind.  Mythology is also laid under contribution for comic purposes; we find a -Prometheus Liber-, an -Ajax Stramenticius-, a -Hercules Socraticus-, a -Sesqueulixes-who had spent not merely ten but fifteen years in wanderings.  The outline of the dramatic or romantic framework is still discoverable from the fragments in some pieces, such as the -Prometheus Liber-, the -Sexagessis-, -Manius-; it appears that Varro frequently, perhaps regularly, narrated the tale as his own experience; e. g. in the -Manius- the dramatis personae go to Varro and discourse to him “because he was known to them as a maker of books.” as to the poetical value of this dress we are no longer allowed to form any certain judgment; there still occur in our fragments several very charming sketches full of wit and liveliness—­