Servius

▪ Roman author

in full  Marius , or  Maurus, Servius Honoratus 

flourished 4th century AD, Rome

      Latin grammarian, commentator, and teacher, author of a valuable commentary on Virgil.

      As an adulescens Servius was one of the speakers in the Saturnalia of Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, and at least the greater part of his life was spent in Rome. His commentary on Virgil is extant in two versions, a longer and a shorter. The longer and anonymous version, first printed in 1600 in an edition by Pierre Daniel, consists of Servius' own work—somewhat altered—in which he sought to meet the needs of schools and paid special, but not exclusive, attention to grammatical and stylistic points. With it are incorporated some valuable additions, in the main from a commentary—perhaps those parts of the commentary by Aelius Donatus (Donatus, Aelius) which were not used by Servius—which mostly concern Virgil's rhetoric, mythology, and subject matter. These are a precious source of knowledge about Roman antiquities.

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