Servius the Grammarian

Servius commenting Virgil (France, 15th century).
16th century edition of Virgil with Servius' commentary printed to the left of the text.

Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian (Latin: Servius or Seruius Grammaticus), 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; he authored a set of commentaries on the works of Virgil. These works, In Tria Virgilii Opera Expositio ("Exposition on Three Works of Virgil"), Commentarii in Virgilium ("Commentaries on Virgil"), Commentarii in Vergilii Opera ("Commentaries on the Works of Vergil"), or Vergilii Carmina Commentarii ("Commentaries on the Poems of Virgil"), constituted the first 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 Symmachus to Servius indicate that he was not a convert to Christianity.[1]

  1. ^ "Macrobius Criticism - Essay - eNotes.com". eNotes. Retrieved 2022-09-01.