Aulus Gellius (c. 125 – after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome . He was educated in Athens , after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his Attic Nights , a commonplace book , or compilation of notes on grammar , philosophy , history , antiquarianism , and other subjects, preserving fragments of the works of many authors who might otherwise be unknown today.
18-555: Medieval manuscripts of the Noctes Atticae commonly gave the author's name in the form of "Agellius", which is used by Priscian ; Lactantius , Servius and Saint Augustine had "A. Gellius" instead. Scholars from the Renaissance onwards hotly debated which one of the two transmitted names is correct (the other one being presumably a corruption) before settling on the latter of the two in modern times. The only source for
36-789: A universal grammar . Dante places Priscian in Hell among the sodomites in Canto XV of his Inferno . Dante's contemporaries knew of no historical evidence that Priscian was a sodomite. Giovanni Boccaccio suggested that Priscian was placed here to signify teachers of grammar in general, who were reputed to frequently sexually abuse their young students. Editions Latin/German editions Latin/French editions Attribution Martin Hertz Martin Julius Hertz (7 April 1818, in Hamburg – 22 September 1895)
54-472: A clerk in the imperial secretariat. Priscian's most famous work, the Institutes of Grammar ( Latin : Institutiones Grammaticae ), is a systematic exposition of Latin grammar. The dedication to Julian probably indicates the consul and patrician, not the author of a well-known epitome of Justinian 's Novellae , who lived somewhat later than Priscian. The grammar is divided into eighteen books, of which
72-529: A revised text with all of his father's comments and other materials at Leyden in 1706; this later work became known as the "Gronoviana". According to Leofranc Holford-Strevens, the "Gronoviana" remained the standard text of Gellius for over a hundred years, until the edition of Martin Hertz (Berlin, 1883–85; there is also a smaller edition by the same author, Berlin, 1886), revised by C. Hosius, 1903, with bibliography. A volume of selections, with notes and vocabulary,
90-603: A thousand manuscripts exist, all ultimately derived from the copy made by Theodorus. Most copies contain only books I—XVI; these are sometimes known as the Priscianus Major ("Greater Priscian"). Others contain only books XVII and XVIII along with the three books to Symmachus; these are known as his work On Construction ( De Constructione ) or the Priscianus Minor ("Lesser Priscian"). A few copies contain both parts. The earliest manuscripts are from
108-416: Is often included in compilations of Aesop 's fables, but was not originally from that source. Internal evidence led Leofranc Holford-Strevens to date its publication in or after AD 177. The work, deliberately devoid of sequence or arrangement, is divided into twenty books. All have survived except the eighth, of which only the index survives. The Attic Nights are valuable for the insight they afford into
126-668: The Saturnalia , and is thus of the highest value for the text". The editio princeps was published at Rome in 1469 by Giovanni Andrea Bussi , bishop-designate of Aleria . The earliest critical edition was by Ludovicus Carrio in 1585, published by Henricus Stephanus ; however, the projected commentary fell victim to personal quarrels. Better known is the critical edition of Johann Friedrich Gronovius ; although he devoted his entire life to work on Gellius, he died in 1671 before his work could be completed. His son Jakob published most of his comments on Gellius in 1687, and brought out
144-460: The 9th century, though a few fragments are somewhat earlier. Priscian's minor works include: Books XVII & XVIII of the Institutes , his work On Construction , was part of the core curriculum of the University of Paris in the 13th century and Roger Bacon 's lectures for the class were the probable origin of his own Overview of Grammar , one of the first expositions on the idea of
162-479: The authors whom he quotes most frequently are Virgil , and, next to him, Terence , Cicero , Plautus ; then Lucan , Horace , Juvenal , Sallust , Statius , Ovid , Livy and Persius . The grammar was quoted by several writers in Britain of the 8th century - Aldhelm , Bede , Alcuin - and was abridged or largely used in the next century by Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda and Servatus Lupus of Ferrières. About
180-507: The control of the Vandalic Kingdom . He was probably of Greek descent. According to Cassiodorus , he taught Latin at Constantinople in the early sixth century. His minor works include a panegyric to Anastasius (491—518), written about 512, which helps establish his time period. In addition, the manuscripts of his Institutes contain a subscription to the effect that the work was copied (526, 527) by Flavius Theodorus,
198-457: The first sixteen deal mainly with sounds, word-formation and inflexions; the last two, which form from a fourth to a third of the whole work, deal with syntax. Priscian's grammar is based on the earlier works of Herodian and Apollonius . The examples it includes to illustrate the rules preserve numerous fragments from Latin authors which would otherwise have been lost, including Ennius , Pacuvius , Accius , Lucilius , Cato and Varro . But
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#1732773233336216-523: The friendship and instruction of Favorinus , Herodes Atticus , and Fronto . He returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office. He was appointed by the praetor to act as an umpire in civil causes, and much of the time which he would gladly have devoted to literary pursuits was consequently occupied by judicial duties. Gellius' only known work is the Attic Nights ( Latin : Noctes Atticae ), which takes its name from having been begun during
234-665: The life of Aulus Gellius is the details recorded in his writings. Internal evidence points to Gellius having been born between AD 125 and 128. He was of good family and connections, and he was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome . He attended the Pythian Games in the year 147, and resided for a considerable period in Athens . Gellius studied rhetoric under Titus Castricius and Sulpicius Apollinaris ; philosophy under Calvisius Taurus and Peregrinus Proteus ; and enjoyed also
252-504: The long nights of a winter which he spent in Attica . He afterwards continued it in Rome. It is compiled out of an Adversaria , or commonplace book, in which he had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books, and it comprises notes on grammar , geometry , philosophy , history and many other subjects. One story is the fable of Androcles , which
270-559: The nature of the society and pursuits of those times, and for its many excerpts from works of lost ancient authors. The Attic Nights found many readers in antiquity. Writers who used this compilation include Apuleius , Lactantius , Nonius Marcellus , Ammianus Marcellinus , the anonymous author of the Historia Augusta , Servius , and Augustine ; but most notable is how Gellius' work was mined by Macrobius , "who, without mentioning his name, quotes Gellius verbatim throughout
288-662: Was a Latin grammarian and the author of the Institutes of Grammar , which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages . It also provided the raw material for the field of speculative grammar . The details of Priscian's life are largely unknown. Priscian was born and raised in the North-African city of Caesarea (modern Cherchell , Algeria), the capital of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis , which during his lifetime would be under
306-620: Was a German classical philologist , a student and biographer of Karl Lachmann . He studied philology at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin , where his instructors included August Boeckh (1785–1867) and Karl Lachmann (1793–1851), the latter being an important influence to Hertz' career. He earned his doctorate in 1842, followed by his habilitation a few years later (1845). Afterwards, he embarked on an educational journey throughout Europe (southern Germany, Netherlands , Belgium , France , Italy and Austria ). In 1855 he became
324-639: Was published by Nall (London, 1888). There is an English translation by W. Beloe (London, 1795), and a French translation (1896). A more recent English translation is by John Carew Rolfe (1927) for the Loeb Classical Library . More recently, Peter K. Marshall's edition (Oxford U. Press, 1968, 1990 (reissued with corrections) seems widespread both in print and digital (open access) formats. Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis ( fl. AD 500 ), commonly known as Priscian ( / ˈ p r ɪ ʃ ən / or / ˈ p r ɪ ʃ i ən / ),
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