INTRODUCTION: From One Country House to Another
CHAPTER 1 • The Form and Genre of Varronian res rusticae
Philosophical Dialogue and the Form of the RR
Philosophical Satire in the RR
A Case Study of Parody and Irony in the RR
CHAPTER 2 • Creating the Agronomical Field of res rusticae
Sources and the Creation of a Roman Agronomical Tradition
Definition through the Dialectical Exchange in RR 1
Farming and Farmers, Cultura and Colo
Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 • Agri Cultura and the Italian Farm in RR 1
Italia and the Temple of Tellus
Patterns of Exemplification for Italian Agri Cultura
Exceptional “Exceptions” to RR 1’s Agricultural Exemplification
The Agripolitical Geography of Italia
The Death of Fundilius and the End of RR 1
CHAPTER 4 • The Song of Faustulus: Pastures and Provinces in RR 2
Staging the Dialogue
A Cast of Shepherds
A Vergilian Counterexample: Greek Shepherds in a Bucolic Italy
Epos and the Technical in RR 2
CHAPTER 5 • Provincial Pastures: The Amoebean Refrain of Romulus in RR 2
Scrofa and Varro as Military Herders of Men
Pairs of Paradigmatic Herdsmen: Eclogue 1 and RR 2
Animal Husbandry in Provincial Pastures
Conclusion
CHAPTER 6 • Tending the Villa of Rome in RR 3
The Villa-Still-Publica and the Shadows of Caesarian Dictatorship
Birdcages, Villas, and the Crapshoot of Pastio Villatica
Not Your Father’s Leporaria: Profit and Pleasure
Aviaries and the Failure of Elite Political Behavior
Bees and the Success of the Brothers Veianii
Epilogue
CHAPTER 7 • Varro’s Imperial Estate and Its Intellectual Contexts
Varro, His De Re Rustica, and Rome in 37 BC
Prior Roman Conceptions of Empire
Greek and Roman Intellectual Antecedents
Varro’s Conception of Imperium-as-Praedium
Conclusion: Some Final Thoughts on Varro and Modern Political Theory