Editing Servius the Grammarian

{{Short description|Late 4th/early 5th century Roman grammarian}}
{{Moresources|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Servius.jpg|thumb|Servius commenting Virgil (France, 15th century).]]
[[File:Vergilius, Basel 1544.jpg|right|thumb|16th century edition of Virgil with Servius' commentary printed to the left of the text.]]
'''Servius''', distinguished as '''Servius the Grammarian''' ({{langx|la|Servius}} or {{lang|la|Seruius Grammaticus}}), was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century [[Philologist|grammarian]]. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in [[Roman Italy|Italy]]; he [[author|authored]] a set of [[Commentary (philology)|commentaries]] on the works of [[Virgil]]. These works, {{lang|la|In Tria Virgilii Opera Expositio}} ("Exposition on Three Works of Virgil"), {{lang|la|Commentarii in Virgilium}} ("Commentaries on Virgil"), {{lang|la|Commentarii in Vergilii Opera}} ("Commentaries on the Works of Vergil"), or {{lang|la|Vergilii Carmina Commentarii}} ("Commentaries on the Poems of Virgil"), constituted the first [[Incunabulum|incunable]] to be printed at [[Florence]], by [[Bernardo Cennini]], in 1471.

In the ''Saturnalia'' of [[Macrobius]], Servius appears as one of the interlocutors; allusions in that work and a letter from [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]] to Servius indicate that he was not a convert to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macrobius Criticism - Essay - eNotes.com |url=https://www.enotes.com/topics/macrobius/critical-essays/criticism |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=eNotes |language=en}}</ref>

==Name==
The name Servius also appears as Seruius owing to the unity of the [[Latin orthography|Latin]] letters [[V]] and [[U]] from antiquity until as late as the 18th century. Many medieval manuscripts of Servius's commentaries give him the [[praenomen]] [[Marius (name)|'''Marius''']] or '''[[Maurus (disambiguation)|Maurus]]''' and the [[cognomen]] [[Honoratus (disambiguation)|'''Honoratus''']]. The authenticity of these names{{mdash}}shared by Christian saints{{mdash}}is now doubted.<ref>Robert A. Kaster, ''Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity'' (Berkeley, 1997), p. 357. ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', "[https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5866 Servius, grammarian and commentator]". ''[[PLRE]]'', vol. 1, p. 827.</ref>

== Commentary on Virgil==
The commentary on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''{{mdash}}{{lang|la|''In Vergilii ''Aeneidem'' Commentarii''|italic=unset}}, {{lang|la|''In'' Aeneida|italic=unset}}, {{lang|la|''Commentarii in Vergilii ''Aeneidem|italic=unset}}, {{lang|la|''In Vergilii ''Aeneidos'' Libros I{{ndash}}III Commentarii''|italic=unset}}, or {{lang|la|''Ad'' Aen.|italic=unset}}{{mdash}}survives in two distinct manuscript traditions.<ref>The manuscript tradition is examined by Charles E. Murgia, ''Prolegomena to Servius 5: the manuscripts'' (University of California Classical Studies 11), University of California Press, 1975.</ref> 

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.<ref>{{in lang|it}} I. Biffi and C. Marabelli (eds.), ''Figure del pensiero medievale. Fondamenti e inizi IV-IX secolo'', Jaca Book, 2009, p. 306</ref> 

"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",<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'' 1911: sub "Servius Maurus Honoratus"</ref> although one proposed author, [[Aelius Donatus]], was a Christian. 

A third class of manuscripts, written for the most part in Italy, includes the core text with interpolated [[scholia]], which demonstrate the continued usefulness of the ''Virgilii Opera Expositio''.{{cn|date=October 2021}}

==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]]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 ==<!-- This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{Reflist}}

== 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). {{ISBN|9782870312582}}.
* 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. {{JSTOR|310668}}.
* Savage, John Joseph Hannan, "The Manuscripts of Servius's Commentary on Virgil", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 45 (1934), 157–204. {{JSTOR|310634}}.

==External links==
*{{Commonscat-inline}}
*{{wikisourcelang-inline|la|Scriptor:Maurus Servius Honoratus|Maurus Servius Honoratus}}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 ''Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil''] at the Perseus Project in Latin.
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0091%3Apoem%3Dpr%3Acommline%3D1 ''Commentary on the Eclogues of Vergil''] at the Perseus Project in Latin.
* [http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0333.htm ''De Centum Metris'' at Intratext.com ]
* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130415003912/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/serv_cent.html ''De Centum Metris'' at Forum Romanorum ]}}
* ''Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii'', Georius Thilo, Hermannus Hagen (ed.), 3 vol., Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1881–1902: [https://archive.org/details/invergiliicarmin01servuoft vol. 1], [https://archive.org/details/invergiliicarmin02servuoft vol. 2], [https://archive.org/details/serviigrammatic01thilgoog vol. 3 part 1], [https://archive.org/details/ServiiGrammaticiAppendixServiana1902/page/n8 vol. 3 part 2].

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Grammarians of Latin]]
[[Category:Virgil]]
[[Category:Aeneid]]
[[Category:4th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Late-Roman-era pagans]]
[[Category:5th-century writers in Latin]]