rict: _R.R._ ii. praef. 6, 'ipse
pecuarias habui grandes, in Apulia oviarias, et in Reatino equarias.'

Of his family nothing is known except that he had an uncle belonging
to the equestrian order (Plin. _N.H._ vii. 176). His philosophical
education was received at Athens, where he was a disciple of Antiochus
of Ascalon: Cic. _Ac. Post._ 12, 'Aristum Athenis [Brutus] audivit
aliquamdiu, cuius tu [Varro] fratrem Antiochum.'

He took part in the war with Sertorius in Spain, B.C. 76 (Sall. _Hist._
ii. fr. 69). In the war with the pirates, B.C. 67, he was one of
Pompeius' lieutenants, and received a _corona navalis_ for his services.
Varro _R.R._ ii. praef. 7, 'cum piratico bello inter Delum et Ciliciam
Graeciae classibus praeessem.' Plin. _N.H._ vii. 115, '[Varroni] Magnus
Pompeius piratico ex bello navalem [coronam] dedit.' Probably he was
also with Pompeius in the war with Mithradates (Plin. _N.H._ xxxiii.
136, xxxvii. 11; knowledge of the Caspian, vi. 38). To the coalition of
Pompeius, Caesar, and Crassus he was originally hostile, going so far as
to write one of his satires, +Trikaranos+, against them (Appian _B.C._
ii. 9); but in 59 he was a member of the commission appointed to
establish Caesar's veterans in Campania: Plin. _N.H._ vii. 176, 'Varro
auctor est xx. viro se agros dividente Capuae,' etc. He also held the
office of tribune (Gell. xiii. 12, 6), and was aedile with Murena (Plin.
xxxv. 173).

When the civil war broke out he was one of Pompeius' lieutenants in
Farther Spain, and resisted Caesar without success (Caes. _B.C._ ii.
17-20). From Spain he withdrew to Epirus, where he was coldly received
by the Pompeians (Cic. _ad Fam._ ix. 6, 3, 'crudeliter otiosis
minabantur, eratque eis et tua invisa voluntas et mea oratio'). We
hear of him at Corcyra (_R.R._ i. 4), and at Dyrrhachium a few days
before the battle of Pharsalus (Cic. _de Div._ i. 68). After Caesar's
victory he lived quietly at his Tusculan villa (Cic. _ad Fam._ ix. 6,
4, 'his tempestatibus es prope solus in portu ... equidem hos tuos
Tusculanenses dies instar esse vitae puto'). He was more easily
reconciled than Cicero to the new government, and was made librarian
by Caesar: Sueton. _Iul._ 44, 'Destinabat bibliothecas Graecas
Latinasque quas maximas posset publicare, data M. Varroni cura
comparandarum ac digerendarum.' This, however, did not prevent him
writing a funeral oration on Cato's sister Porcia (Cic. _ad Att._
xiii. 48, 2).

After Caesa