Vacca was a 6th-century grammarian who studied and commented on the works of
Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...
. Little is known of Vacca other than that he wrote ''Vita Lucani'' (''Life of Lucan''), which is not to be confused with
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
' ''Vita Lucani''.
Vacca's commentaries were used in the medieval study of Lucan.
Though he is not named, evidence of Vacca's writing appears in the 10th-century works ''
Commenta Bernensia {{Short description, 10th-century manuscript
The ''Commenta Bernensia'', also known as the Bern scholia, are commentaries or marginal notes in a 10th-century manuscript, Cod. 370, preserved in the Burgerbibliothek of Berne, Switzerland.
The comment ...
'' and ''Adnotationes super Lucanum''.
Vacca's ''Life of Lucan'' gives sole accounts of many of Lucan's lost works, as well as accounts of the feud between Lucan and
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
, which agrees with
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
' and contradicts
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
'.
External links
*''M. Annaei Lucani Pharsalia'', Petrus-Augustus Lemaire (ed.), vol. 1, Parisiis, colligebat Nicolaus Eligius Lemaiure, 1830
pp. XLV-XLVII
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vacca
Grammarians of Latin
6th-century non-fiction writers
6th-century Latin writers