Author Description

Servius Grammaticus is believed to have been active in the later part of the fourth century CE. Little is known about him (not even the correct form of his name) but he was traditionally thought to have been a pupil of the great grammarian Donatus. The most important work ascribed to him is this commentary on the Aeneid, Eclogues and Georgics of Vergil, which clarifies the content and language of Vergil's poems by citing other Latin authors, some of whose works are now lost and may be known only from Servius' references to them. This three-volume Latin edition (in four parts), begun by Georg Thilo (1831-93) and completed after Thilo's death by Hermann Hagen (1844-98), was published in Germany between 1878 and 1902, and is still regularly consulted by scholars of Vergil and of Latin literature. Volume 1 contains Servius' commentary on Aeneid Books 1-5.