Such were the doctrines of the old Academy, which Varro was also introduced as supporting in Cicero's _Academica_.--"I have comprehended," says that illustrious orator and philosopher, in a letter to Atticus, "the whole Academic system in four books, instead of two, in the course of which Varro is made to defend the doctrines of Antiochus(78). I have put into his mouth all the arguments which were so accurately collected by Antiochus against the opinion of those who contend that there is no certainty to be attained in human knowledge. These I have answered myself. But the part assigned to Varro in the debate is so good, that I do not think the cause which I support appears the better."
I am not certain under what class Varro's _Novem libri Disciplinarum_ should be ranked, as it probably comprehended instructive lessons in the whole range of arts and sciences. One of the chapters, according to Vitruvius, was on the subject of architecture. Varro was particularly full and judicious in his remarks on the construction and situation of Roman villas, and seems to have laid the foundation for what Palladius and Columella subsequently compiled on that interesting topic. Another chapter was on arithmetic; and Fabricius mentions, that Vetranius Maurus has declared, in his _Life of Varro_, that he saw this part of the work, _De Disciplinis_, at Rome, in the library of the Cardinal Lorenzo Strozzi.
Varro derived much notoriety from his _satirical_ compositions. His _Tricarenus_, or _Tricipitina_, was a satiric history of the triumvirate of Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus. Much pleasantry and sarcasm were also interspersed in his books entitled _Logistorici_; but his most celebrated production in that line was the satire which he himself entitled _Menippean_. It was so called from the cynic Menippus of Gadara, a city in Syria, who, like his countryman Meleager, was in the habit of expressing himself jocularly on the most grave and important subjects. He was the author of a _Symposium_, in the manner of Xenophon. His writings were interspersed with verses, parodied from Homer and the tragic poets, or ludicrously applied, for the purpose of burlesque. It is not known, however, that he wrote any professed satire. The appellation, then, of _Menippean_, was given to his satire by Varro, not from any production of the same kind by Menippus, but because he imitated his general style of humour. In its external form it appears to have been a sort of literary anomaly. Greek words and phrases were interspersed with Latin; prose was mingled with verses of various measures; and pleasantry with serious remark. As to its object and design, Cicero introduces Varro himself explaining this in the _Academica_. After giving his reasons for not writing professedly on philosophical subjects, he continues,--"In those ancient writings of ours, we, imitating Menippus, without translating him, have infused a degree of mirth and gaiety along with a portion of our most secret philosophy and logic, so that even our unlearned readers might more easily understand them, being, as it were, invited to read them with some pleasure. Besides, in the discourses we have composed in praise of the dead, and in the introductions to our antiquities, it was our wish to write in a manner worthy of philosophers, provided we have attained the desired object." From what Cicero afterwards says in this dialogue, while addressing himself to Varro, it would appear, that he had indeed touched on philosophical subjects in his _Menippean_ satire, but that, learned as he was, his object was more to amuse his readers than instruct them: "You have entered on topics of philosophy in a manner sufficient to allure readers to its study, but inadequate to convey full instruction, or to advance its progress."