Varro followed him; we find him in the _Academicae Quaestiones_ of Cicero, [6] saying that he adopted this method in the hope of enticing the unlearned to read something that might profit them. In these _saturae_ topics were handled with the greatest freedom. They were not satires in the modern sense. They are rather to be considered as lineal descendants of the old _saturae_ which existed before any regular literature. They nevertheless embodied with unmistakable clearness Varro's sentiments with regard to the prevailing luxury, and combined his thorough knowledge of all that best befitted a Roman to know with a racy freshness which we miss in his later works. The titles of many are preserved, and give some index to the character of the contents. We have some in Greek, _e.g._ Marco_polis_ or _peri archaes_, a sort of Varro's Republic, after the manner of Plato; _Hippokyon_, _Kynoppaetor_, and others, satirizing the cynic philosophy. Some both in Greek and Latin, as _Columnae Herculis, peri doxaes_; _est modus matulae, peri methaes_; others in Latin only, as _Marcipor_ the slave of Marcus (_i.e._ Varro himself). Many are in the shape of proverbs, e.g. _Longe fugit qui suos fugit_, _gnothi seauton_, _nescis quid vesper serus vehat_. Only two fragments are of any length; one from the _Marcipor_, in graceful iambic verse, [7] the other in prose from the _nescis quid vesper_. [8] It consists of directions for a convivial meeting: "Nam multos convivas esse non convenit, quod _turba_ plerumque est _turbulenta_; et Romae quidem constat: sed et Athenis; nusquam enim plures cubabant. [9] Ipsum deinde convivium constat ex rebus quatuor, et tum denique omnibus suis numeris absolutum est; si belli homuculi collecti sunt, si lectus locus, si tempus lectum, si apparatus non neglectus. Nec loquaces autem convivas nec mutos legere oportet; quia eloquentia in foro et apud subsellia; silentium vero non in convivio sed in cubiculo esse debet. Quod profecto eveniet, si de id genus rebus ad communem vitae usum pertinentibus confabulemur, de quibus in foro atque in negotiis agendis loqui non est otium. Dominum autem convivii esse oportet non tam _tautum_ quam _sine sordibus_. Et in convivio legi non omnia debent, sed ea potissimum quae simul sunt _biophelae_, [10] et delectent potius, ut id quoque videatur non superfuisse. Bellaria ea maxime sunt _mellita_, quae _mellita_ non sunt, _pemmasin_ entra et _pepsei_ societas infida." In this piece we see the fondness for punning, which even in his eightieth year had not left him. The last pun is not at first obvious; the meaning is that the nicest sweetmeats are those which are not too sweet, for made dishes are hostile to digestion; or, as we may say, paraphrasing his diction, "Delicacies are conducive to delicacy." It was from this _satura_ the celebrated rule was taken that guests should be neither fewer than the graces, nor more than the muses. The whole subject of the Menippean satires is brilliantly treated in Mommsen's _History of Rome_, and Riese's edition of the satires, to both which, if he desire further information, we refer the reader. [11]