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Desire and value

Varro

Varro; 288 opinions; opinions of philosophers

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman scholar.

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordMarcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman scholar.
  • In TraherneII.99 begins by finding blindness and disagreement in the philosophers, but it does not simply discard their answers.
  • In this editionThe supplied note traces the number to Augustine’s report of Varro’s lost De Philosophia in City of God XIX.1: 288 possible positions, not necessarily 288 established historical sects.
  • A place to beginTurns Varro’s reported multiplicity into a synthesis of philosophical goods, ending with assurance of divine love.

Meaning

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman scholar. Here his name introduces a calculation of philosophical positions concerning the supreme good. Traherne’s report of 288 opinions is the starting point for a reconciliation of apparently rival accounts of happiness.

Use in the book

II.99 begins by finding blindness and disagreement in the philosophers, but it does not simply discard their answers. Traherne compares their opinions to rivers converging in the sea. Riches and contempt of riches, honour and pleasure, wisdom and stability, empire and love, contemplation and action, rest and suffering can enter one comprehensive enjoyment. The account’s ambition is to show how opposed formulations become compatible when their proper goods are understood.

This agreement requires a changed relation to the goods named. Victory is victory over lust; riches, honours, and pleasures are discerned through wisdom and enjoyed through love. Solitude can coexist with communion, and sufferings can lead into possession and rest. Traherne does not say that every school’s detailed doctrines are interchangeable. He gathers selected ends into the Christian felicity he has been describing.

The meditation concludes with a scriptural assurance that created powers cannot separate the believer from God’s love in Christ. The philosophical catalogue therefore culminates in a Christian account of secure enjoyment, rather than a detached classification of ancient schools.

Places to read

  1. II.99Turns Varro’s reported multiplicity into a synthesis of philosophical goods, ending with assurance of divine love.

In this edition

The supplied note traces the number to Augustine’s report of Varro’s lost De Philosophia in City of God XIX.1: 288 possible positions, not necessarily 288 established historical sects. This does not prove that Traherne consulted the lost work, or identify his immediate source.

Source note

Primary text: II.99. Supplied 2026 editorial notes 162 and 164 identify Varro, Augustine’s account of the calculation, and the concluding adaptation of Romans 8:38–39.