VARRO ATACINUS, Publius Terentius, a Latin poet, was born in the province of Narbonne in the year 82 before the Christian era. According to Jerome, he derived his cognomen from a village named Atace; but as we discover no other trace of such a village, the account of Porphyrius, that he derived it from the river Atace, appears more probable. His name indicates a Roman origin. Jerome likewise informs us that, at the age of thirty-five, he applied himself with great ardour to the study of Greek literature. Horace, Sat. i. 10, 46, alludes to him as an unsuccessful writer of satires:
Hoc erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino
Atque quibusdam aliis, melius quod scribere possem,
Inventore minor.
Wöllner concludes, that of a living poet Horace would not have spoken in such terms. Adopting Bentley's chronology, according to which the satire that contains this passage was written in the year 37 B.C., he infers that Varro did not exceed the age of forty-five. The conjecture is not devoid of plausibility, but cannot be admitted as certain.