View source for Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius

{{short description|4th/5th century Greco-Roman writer}}
{{Other people|Palladius}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{use list-defined references|date=July 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2013}}
'''Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius''', also known as '''Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus''' or most often just as '''Palladius''', was an ancient writer who wrote in Latin, and is dated variously to the later 4th century or first half of the 5th century AD.<ref>Robert Browning, "Minor Figures", in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature'' (Cambridge University Press, 1982), vol. 2, p. 89.</ref> He is principally known for his book on [[Roman agriculture|agriculture]], ''Opus agriculturae'', sometimes known as ''De re rustica''.

{{anchor|Biography|History}}
==Life==
Since the [[Middle Ages]], authors of agricultural treatises have referred often to Palladius. The Palladii were a prominent [[Gauls|Gallic]] family, and the name ''Palladius'' is probably a family name (of Greek origin), with Aemilianus his ''[[cognomen]]'' (of Roman origin). In [[late antiquity]], the [[Roman naming conventions|convention of the ''tria nomina'']] ("three names") for Roman men was no longer standard, and the greater variation in naming practice contributes to the uncertainty over the correct order of his names.<ref>[[Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|Alan Cameron]], "Polyonomy in the Late Roman Aristocracy: The Case of Petronius Probus", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 75 (1985), pp. 173–174, citing ''[[Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire|PLRE]]'' II, nos. 4 and 13–15.</ref> Evidence for his life is scant. Manuscripts of his work call him a ''[[vir illustris]]'', which would indicate high rank. Although Palladius relies heavily on earlier agricultural writers, he himself owned farms in Italy and Sardinia, and had considerable experience of farming, with a special interest in fruit trees.<ref>R.H. Rodgers, "The Moore Palladius", ''Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society'' 5.3 (1971), p. 203; Browning, "Minor Figures," ''CHCL'', vol. 2, p. 89.</ref>

{{anchor|Opus agriculturae|De Re Rustica|De re rustica|Opus Agriculturae}}<!--linked-->
==Works==
The ''Opus agriculturae'' is a treatise on farming in 14 parts or books, written in the late fourth or early fifth century AD.<ref name=Cambridge/> The first book is general and introductory. Books 2 to 13 give detailed instructions for the typical activities on a Roman farm for each month of the year, starting with January. Each of these calendrical books has sections on field crops, vegetable gardens, fruit trees and other trees, and livestock. The fourteenth book, ''De Veterinaria Medicina'', was rediscovered only in the 20th century, and gives instructions for the care of animals and elements of veterinary science.<ref name= Cambridge /> All of this is in prose, but Palladius also appended a poem, ''De Insitione'', On [[Grafting]], consisting of eighty-five [[couplet]]s of [[elegiac verse]].<ref name=smith />

Palladius' work stands in the tradition of Roman agricultural treatises, represented particularly by [[Cato the Elder|Marcus Priscus Cato]], [[Marcus Terentius Varro]], [[Columella|Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella]], and [[Gargilius Martialis]]. His chief contribution was to reduce the exhaustive works of Columella and Martialis to an appropriate scale for the practical farmer, while at the same time re-organising them on a calendrical basis, to provide the farmer with a checklist of the tasks needing attention each month.<ref>Fitch (below) p. 14</ref>

The work of Palladius was well known in the [[Middle Ages]]. A translation into [[Middle English]] verse survives from about 1420, entitled ''On Husbondrie'';<ref name=lodge /> it can be seen as part of a genre of instructional agricultural writing that was to develop in England into works such as those of [[Thomas Tusser]] and [[Gervase Markham]]. Two notable thirteenth century works that draw on Palladius are the ''Commoda ruralia'' of [[Pietro de' Crescenzi|Petrus de Crescentius]], written {{circa|1305}} and printed at [[Augsburg]] in 1471; and the ''[[Speculum Maius]]'' of Vincentius Bellovacensis ([[Vincent de Beauvais]]) written about 1250 and first printed in [[Strasbourg]] in 1473–76.<ref name=esch /> There are a number of other ''[[incunabula]]'' or early editions.

===Water-mills===
[[File:Barbegal mill 02.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Barbegal|sixteen overshot wheels at Barbegal]] are considered the largest [[ancient history|ancient]] mill complex. Their capacity was sufficient to feed the whole nearby city of [[Arles]]]]

The book is known for reference to a [[water-mill]] in Book 1, ch. 41, where Palladius suggests that waste water from bath buildings should be used to drive a mill. Such mills had been described by [[Vitruvius]] in 25 BC, and there is a growing number of examples of such Roman water-mills. The most spectacular is the set of 16 mills at [[Barbegal]] in southern France, using water fed by a stone aqueduct along the line of the same aqueduct which supplied nearby [[Arles]].

==Principal early editions==

The earliest editions of Palladius group his works with those on agriculture of Cato the Elder, Varro and Columella. Some modern library catalogues follow [[Jacques Charles Brunet|Brunet]] in listing these under "Rei rusticae scriptores" or "Scriptores rei rusticae".<ref name=brunet />

* Georgius Merula, Franciscus Colucia (eds.) ''De re rustica''. Opera et impensa Nicolai Ienson: Venetiis, 1472
* ''Rei rusticae authores''. Regii: opera et impensis Bartholomei Bruschi al' Botoni, Regiensis, 1482
* {{lang|la|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 September], 1494 
* {{lang|la|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}}. {{lang|la|italic=no|Parisiis: Venundantur parisiis in aedibus Radulphi Laliseau}} [printed by Jean Marchant], [1512]
* {{lang|la|Libri De Re Rvstica: M. Catonis Lib. I. M. Terentii Varronis Lib. III. L. Ivnii Moderati Colv-mellae Lib. XII. Eiusdem de arboribus liber separatus ab alijs, quare autem id fa-ctum fuerit: ostenditur in epistola ad lectorem. Palladii Lib. XIIII. De duobus dierum generibus: simulq[ue] de umbris, & horis, quæ apud Palladium, in alia epistola ad lectorem. Georgij Alexandrini enarrationes priscarum dictionum, quæ in his libris Catonis: Varronis: Columellæ}}. Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri, mense Maio, 1514
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=fgTlftaIKjAC {{lang|la|Libri de re rustica a Nicolao Angelio viro consumatissimo nuper maxima diligentia recogniti et typis excusi, cum indice & expositione omnium dictionum. Catonis, Varronis, Collumellæ, Palladij quæ aliqua enucleatione indigebant. M. Catonis Lib. I. M. Terentij Varronis Lib. III. L Junij Moderati Columellæ Lib XII. Ejusdem de arboribus liber separatus ab alijs. Palladij Lib XIIII. De duobus dierum generibus simulq&#91;ue&#93;; de umbris & oris, quæ apud Palladium}}]. Impressum Florentiæ: Philippi Iuntæ, [1515]
* Richard Bradley [https://books.google.com/books?id=dzITAAAAQAAJ ''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, 1725
* Johann Matthias Gesner (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=tJlAAAAAcAAJ ''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

==See also==
* [[Ancient Rome and wine]]

==References==

{{reflist|refs=

<ref name=brunet>{{cite book|last=Brunet|first=Jacques-Charles|title=Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres, vol 4., R–Z|year=1843|publisher=Silvestre|location=Paris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKzPOXskNJgC&pg=PA238|edition=4th|accessdate=28 July 2021|language=French|pages=238–9}}</ref>

<ref name=Cambridge>{{cite book|last=Browning |first=Robert |title=The Cambridge History of Classical Literature |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521210437 |page=771 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ktg9g44L7QC&pg=PA771 |editor=Easterling, P. E. |editor1-link=P. E. Easterling |editor2=Kenney, E. J. |editor2-link=E. J. Kenney |editor3=Knox, B. M. W. |editor3-link=Bernard Knox |editor4=Clausen, W. V. |accessdate=28 July 2021 |chapter=Learning and the Past }}</ref>

<ref name=esch>{{cite book|last=Eschenburg|first=Johann Joachim, Nathan Welby Fiske|title=Manual of classical literature|year=1839|publisher=Frederick W. Greenough|url=https://archive.org/details/manualclassical01fiskgoog|edition=3rd|accessdate=28 July 2021}} (Eschenburg cites the ''Speculum Historiale'' of Vincentius)</ref>

<ref name=lodge>Barton Lodge, Sidney J.H. Herrtage (eds.) (1873; 1879). [http://ebooks.library.ualberta.ca/local/palladiusonhusbo00palluoft ''Palladius on Husbondrie: edited from the unique MS. of about 1420 AD in Colchester Castle'']. London: for the Early English Text Society, N. Trübner & Co.</ref>

<ref name=smith>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Sir William|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood|year=1870|publisher=C. Little, and J. Brown|location=Boston; London|url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2432.html|edition=2nd|accessdate= 28 July 2021|page=99, vol. 3|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514091242/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2432.html|archivedate=14 May 2011}}</ref>

}}

==Further reading==
* Bartoldus, Marco Johannes ''Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus: Welt und Wert spätrömischer Landwirtschaft''. Augsburg (Wißner-Verlag), 2nd edit., 2014. {{ISBN|978-3-89639-875-8}}
* Brodersen, Kai ''Palladius: Das Bauernjahr''. Latin/German, Sammlung Tusculum, Berlin and Boston (de Gruyter) 2016. {{ISBN|978-3-11-044013-3}}
* Fitch, John G. (transl.) ''Palladius: The Work of Farming''. Totnes (Prospect Books), 2013. {{ISBN|9781903018927}}
* Rodgers, Robert H. (ed.) Palladius ''Opus Agriculturae, De Veterinaria Medicina, De Insitione.'' Leipzig (Teubner) 1975. {{ISBN|3-598-71573-0}}
* Rodgers, Robert H. ''An Introduction to Palladius''. University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement 35. London, 1975.

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Palladius, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120801173647/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/palladius/agr.html Full Latin text of ''Opus agriculturae'']}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=WoAaAAAAYAAJ Full text in English of Palladius's ''Fourteen books on Agriculture''] (as translated in year 1807 by T. Owen)
*[http://palladius.canadianwebs.com/ Late medieval English translation of Palladius's ''On Agriculture''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803050353/http://palladius.canadianwebs.com/ |date=3 August 2019 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palladius, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus}}
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Geoponici]]
[[Category:4th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:5th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:5th-century Romans]]
[[Category:Rutilii]]