After
Rome's destruction of
Carthage in 146 BC, the Carthaginian libraries were given to the kings of
Numidia, but one work was considered too important to lose. This was the agricultural manual in Punic by the Carthaginian author
Mago. This long work (it was divided into 28 books) was brought to Rome, and Silanus was commissioned by the
Roman Senate to translate it. At about the same period an adaptation into Greek was made by
Cassius Dionysius.[1]
As translated by Silanus, the work opened with general advice which is thus summarized by
Columella:
One who has bought land should sell his town house so that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have no need of a country estate.
Silanus's translation is lost, as is Mago's original, but through the translation Mago's work influenced the tradition of Roman agriculture. It is sometimes quoted by surviving Roman writers on farming. The following is a partial list of fragments:
If buying a farm, sell your town house (see quotation above).[3]