Agriculture, Writing, and Cato's Aristocratic Self-Fashioning

Brendon Reay

doi:10.1525/ca.2005.24.2.331

journal article Oct 01, 2005

Agriculture, Writing, and Cato's Aristocratic Self-Fashioning

Brendon Reay

Classical Antiquity Vol. 24 No. 2 pp. 331-361 · University of California Press

View at Publisher Save 10.1525/ca.2005.24.2.331

Abstract

Abstract This article investigates the interplay of agriculture and writing in the elder Cato's aristocratic self-fashioning (both his individual self-representation, that is, and his construction of aristocracy more broadly). I argue that the De Agricultura represents Cato and his contemporaries as individual, small-plot farmers by making explicit the agricultural inflection of a more general masterly extensibility, i.e., that slaves were prosthetic tools with which owners accomplished various tasks, a move that in turn reveals the ubiquitous, assiduous “labor” of the individual owner. The preface's valorization of small-plot farmers, past and present, contextualizes the owner's “labor” both culturally and historically (the one by means of the other), and thereby seeks to bridge the agricultural and temporal divide that separates Cato and his contemporaries from their esteemed predecessors.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

58

[1]

von Albrecht, M. 1979. Masters of Roman Prose from Cato to Apuleius: Interpretative Studies. Trans. N. Adkin. Leeds.

[2]

Astin, A. E. 1978. Cato the Censor. Oxford.

[3]

Baker, K. M. 1990. Inventing the French Revolution. Cambridge. 10.1017/cbo9780511625527

[4]

Bennett, C. E. 1910. Syntax of Early Latin I: The Verb. Boston.

[5]

Bloomer W. M. ClAnt (1997)

[6]

Blosel, W. 2000. "Die Geschichte des Begriffes Mos Maiorum von den Anfangen bis zu Cicero." In B. Linke and M. Stemmler, eds., Mos Maiorum: Untersuchungen zu den Formen der Identitatsstiftung und Stabilisierung in der romischen Republik, 25-97. Stuttgart.

[7]

Bradley, K. R. 1984. Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire: A Study in Social Control. Brussels.

[8]

Brehaut, E. 1933. Cato the Censor: On Farming. New York.

[9]

Brunt, P. A. 1971. Italian Manpower 225 B.C.A.D. 14. Oxford.

[10]

Cole T. CJ (1991)

[11]

Courtney, E. 1999. Archaic Latin Prose. Atlanta.

[12]

Dionisotti A. C. JRS (1982)

[13]

Finley, M., ed. 1976. Studies in Roman Property. Cambridge. 10.1017/cbo9781107297920

[14]

Fitzgerald, W. 2000. Slavery and the Roman Literary Imagination. Cambridge. 10.1017/cbo9780511612541

[15]

Flower, H. I. 1996. Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture. Oxford. 10.1093/oso/9780198150183.001.0001

[16]

Flower, H. I. 2004. "Spectacle and Political Culture in the Roman Republic." In idem, ed. 10.1017/ccol0521807948.015

[17]

Forni G. Athenaeum N.s. (1953)

[18]

Foucault M. Trans. M. Jordin. Radical Philosophy (1975)

[19]

Fraccaro, P. 1911. "Ricerche storiche e letterarie sulla censura del 184-183 (M. Porcio Catone L. Valerio Flacco)." Studi storici per l'antichita classica 4: 1-137.

[20]

Garnsey, P. 1996. Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine. Cambridge.

[21]

Goetz, G., ed. 1892. Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum. 3 vols. Leipzig.

[22]

10.1163/156852502753776948

[23]

Greene, J. A. and Kehoe, D. P. 1995. "Mago the Carthaginian." Actes du IIIe congres international des etudes pheniciennes et puniques; Tunis, 11-16 novembre 1991. Vol. 2, 110-117.

[24]

Gruen, E. 1992. Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome. Ithaca.

[25]

Habinek, T. 1998. The Politics of Latin Literature: Writing, Empire, and Identity in Ancient Rome. Princeton. 10.1515/9781400822515

[26]

Holkeskamp K.-J. Historia (1993)

[27]

Jordan, H., ed. 1860. M. Catonis praeter librum de re rustica quae exstant. Leipzig.

[28]

Kappelmacher A. WS (1922)

[29]

Kirschenbaum, A. 1987. Sons, Slaves and Freedmen in Roman Commerce. Jerusalem.

[30]

Leeman, A. D. 1963. Orationis Ratio. Vol. 1. Amsterdam.

[31]

Leumann-Hofmann-Szantyr. 1963-1965. Lateinische Grammatik. 2 vols. Munich. 10.2307/297446

[32]

Malcovati, H., ed. 1976. Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta Liberae Rei Publicae. 4th ed. Turin.

[33]

Phillips C. R. CJ (1991)

[34]

Pocock, J. G. A. 1985. Virtue, Commerce, and History. Cambridge. 10.1017/cbo9780511720505

[35]

Powell, J. G. F. 1988. Cicero: Cato Maior de senectute. Cambridge.

[36]

Rawson, E. 1976. "The Ciceronian Aristocracy and Its Properties." In M. Finley, ed. 10.1017/cbo9781107297920.006

[37]

Studies in Roman Property, 85-102. Cambridge.

[38]

Studies in Roman Property, 85-102. Cambridge. 1985. Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic. Baltimore.

[39]

Richter, W. 1978. Gegenstandliches Denken Archaisches Ordnen: Untersuchungen zur Anlage von Cato de agri cultura. Heidelberg.

[40]

Risselada, R. 1993. Imperatives and Other Directive Expressions in Latin. Amsterdam. 10.1163/9789004408975

[41]

Roller M. CPh (2004)

[42]

Said, E. 1993. Culture and Imperialism. New York.

[43]

Scullard, H. H. 1973. Roman Politics 220-150 B.C. 2nd ed. Oxford.

[44]

Shatzman, I. 1975. Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics. Brussels.

[45]

Stark R. RhM (1953)

[46]

Starr R. CQ (1987) 10.1017/s0009838800031797

[47]

Treggiari, S. 1969. Roman Freedmen During the Late Republic. Oxford.

[48]

Vairel-Carron, H. 1975. Exclamation, Ordre et Defense. Paris.

[49]

Walters, J. 1997. "Invading the Roman Body: Manliness and Impenetrability in Roman Thought." In J. Hallett and M. Skinner, eds., Roman Sexualities, 29-43. Princeton. 10.1515/9780691219547-003

[50]

Waswo R. NLH (1988) 10.2307/469088

Showing 50 of 58 references

Metrics

21

Citations

58

References

Details

Published: Oct 01, 2005
Vol/Issue: 24(2)
Pages: 331-361

Authors

B

Brendon Reay

Wellesley Collegebreay@wellesley.edu

Cite This Article

Brendon Reay (2005). Agriculture, Writing, and Cato's Aristocratic Self-Fashioning. Classical Antiquity, 24(2), 331-361. https://doi.org/10.1525/ca.2005.24.2.331

Agriculture, Writing, and Cato's Aristocratic Self-Fashioning

You May Also Like