Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian ( or ), was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; he authored a set of commentaries on the works of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. These works, ("Exposition on Three Works of Virgil"), ("Commentaries on Virgil"), ("Commentaries on the Works of Vergil"), or ("Commentaries on the Poems of Virgil"), constituted the first

incunable An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the ...

to be printed at

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, by Bernardo Cennini, in 1471. In the ''Saturnalia'' of

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

, Servius appears as one of the interlocutors; allusions in that work and a letter from Symmachus to Servius indicate that he was not a convert to Christianity.

Name

The name Servius also appears as Seruius owing to the unity of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

letters V and U from antiquity until as late as the 18th century. Many medieval manuscripts of Servius's commentaries give him the

praenomen The praenomen (; plural: praenomina) was a first name chosen by the parents of a Ancient Rome, Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the ...

Marius or Maurus and the

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

Honoratus. The authenticity of these namesshared by Christian saintsis now doubted.

Commentary on Virgil

The commentary on

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', , , , or survives in two distinct manuscript traditions. The first is a comparatively short commentary, attributed to Servius in the superscription in the manuscripts and by other internal evidence. The second class derive from the 10th and 11th centuries, embed the same text in a much expanded commentary. The copious additions are in contrasting style to the original; none of these manuscripts bears Servius' name, and the commentary is known traditionally as ''Servius auctus'' or ''Servius Danielis'', from Pierre Daniel who first published it in 1600. "The added matter is undoubtedly ancient, dating from a time but little removed from that of Servius, and is founded to a large extent on historical and antiquarian literature which is now lost. The writer is anonymous and probably a Christian",''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 1911: sub "Servius Maurus Honoratus" although one proposed author,

Aelius Donatus Aelius Donatus (; fl. mid-fourth century AD) was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. He once taught Jerome, an early Christian Church father who is most known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, known as the Latin Vulgate. N ...

, was a Christian. A third class of manuscripts, written for the most part in Italy, includes the core text with interpolated

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

, which demonstrate the continued usefulness of the ''Virgilii Opera Expositio''.

Other works

Besides the Virgilian commentary, other works of Servius are extant: a collection of notes on the grammar (''Ars grammatica'') of Aelius Donatus; a treatise on metrical endings in verse (''De finalibus''); and a tract on the different

poetic meter In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of ...

s (''De centum metris''). The edition of Georg Thilo and Hermann Hagen (1878–1902), remains the only edition of the whole of Servius' work. Currently in development is the Harvard Servius (''Servianorum in Vergilii Carmina Commentariorum: Editionis Harvardianae''); of the projected five volumes, two have so far appeared: ii (Aeneid 1–2), 1946, and iii (Aeneid 3–5), 1965.

References

Sources

* Casali, Sergio and Fabio Stok (edd.). ''Servio: stratificazioni esegetiche e modelli culturali / Servius: exegetical stratifications and cultural models'' (Bruxelles: Éditions Latomus, 2008) (Collection Latomus, 317). . * Rand, E. K., "Is Donatus's Commentary on Virgil Lost?" ''Classical Quarterly'' 10 (1916), 158–164. Donatus's authorship of the supplementary material. * Savage, John Joseph Hannan, "The Manuscripts of the Commentary of Servius Danielis on Virgil", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 43 (1932), 77–121. . * Savage, John Joseph Hannan, "The Manuscripts of Servius's Commentary on Virgil", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 45 (1934), 157–204. .

External links

* *
''Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil''
at the Perseus Project in Latin.
''Commentary on the Eclogues of Vergil''
at the Perseus Project in Latin.

* * ''Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii'', Georius Thilo, Hermannus Hagen (ed.), 3 vol., Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1881–1902
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3 part 1vol. 3 part 2
{{Authority control Grammarians of Latin Virgil Aeneid 4th-century writers in Latin Late-Roman-era pagans 5th-century writers in Latin