This collection of four agricultural writers was frequently published during the Renaissance and is often referred to as the Scriptores rei rusticae. The authors span the period from the second century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. All were upper class Romans who had had experience in running farms on their estates, though undoubtedly few of them ever experienced much of the actual labor.
This edition of the Libri de re rustica includes a privilege from Pope Leo X giving Aldus fifteen years' protection of all he had printed or would print using any type he had invented or might invent. Such elaborate copyrights, frequently sought and obtained by Aldus, in fact had little effect.
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