Columella Lucius Junius Moderato (Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella)

Born in Hades (sovr. Cadiz) in Spain, his comprehensive work on agriculture (De re rustica) in 12 books written about. 60-65 BC. Style columella of quality, not devoid of grace, but does not succumb to the rhetoric and pretentiousness. X book devoted to gardening, written in verse - hexameters, in imitation of Virgil's Georgica. Focusing mainly on the conditions of Italy, Columella describes topics such as choice of land, maintenance of water resources area, plowing and fertilizing, care of the vineyards and the cultivation of fruit trees. The book also discusses the breeding of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, poultry, fish cages and the content of bees, as well as horticulture, and outlined responsibilities of both the farmer and his wife. Columella wrote as a man deeply disturbed by the decline of agriculture in Italy, its dependence on imported food. Other, less his treatise on the trees most likely represents a part of an earlier work.