Mago (agricultural writer)

Mago (, ) was a Carthaginian writer, author of an agricultural manual in Punic which was a record of the farming knowledge of Carthage. The Punic text has been lost, but some fragments of Greek and Latin translations survive.

Work Mago's long work was divided into 28 books. It incorporated local Berber and Punic traditional practices. Carthage being the granary of the central Mediterranean, knowledge of agricultural and veterinary practices was extensive. It began with general advice which is thus summarized by Columella:

After Rome's destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, the Carthaginian libraries were given to the kings of Numidia. Uniquely, Mago's book was retrieved and brought to Rome. It was adapted into Greek by Cassius Dionysius and translated in full into Latin by D. Junius Silanus, the latter at the expense of the Roman Senate.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 18.22 , cf. 1.18; Cicero, De Oratore 1.249; Varro, Rerum Rusticarum 1.1.10; Columella, De Agricultura 1.1.13, 12.4.2. The Greek translation was later abridged by Diophanes of Nicaea, whose version was divided into six books.Columella, De Agricultura 1.1.10.

Extracts from these translations survive in quotations by Roman writers on agriculture, including Varro, Columella, Pliny the Elder, and Gargilius Martialis. This is a partial list of surviving fragments:

If buying a farm, sell your town house.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 18.35; Columella, De Agricultura 1.1.18. The most productive vineyards face north.Columella, De Agricultura 3.12.5. How to plant vines.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 17.80, 128; Columella, De Agricultura 3.15.3-5 and 5.5.4, cf. Virgil, Georgics 2.348-353. How to prune vines.Columella, De Agricultura 4.10.1. How to plant olives.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 17.93; Columella, De Arboribus 4.10.1. How to plant fruit trees.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 17.63-64, 131. How to harvest marsh plants.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 21.110-112. Preparing various grains and pulses for grinding.Pliny, Naturalis Historia 18.97-98. How to select bullocks.Columella, De Agricultura 6.1.3. Notes on the health of cattle.Varro, De Re Rustica 2.5.18. Mules sometimes foal in Africa. Mules and mares foal in the twelfth month after conception.Varro, De Re Rustica 2.1.27; Columella, De Agricultura 6.37.3. Notes on farmyard animals.Varro, De Re Rustica 3.2.13. Getting bees from the carcass of a bullock or ox.Columella, De Agricultura 9.14.6. The beekeeper should not kill drones.Columella, De Agricultura 9.15.3. How to preserve pomegranates.Columella, De Agricultura 12.46.5. How to make the best passum (raisin wine).Columella, De Agricultura 12.39.1.

Mago (agricultural writer)

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