XI - THILO'S SERVIUS

Summary

The second volume of this work contains the Servian commentary on the fourth and fifth books of the Aeneid, with an elaborate preface, in which the editor sets forth at length his views on the work, the manuscripts on which its text is based, its authorities, its date, and its general character. The appearance of this preface, while it makes the volume doubly welcome, also makes it possible for a reviewer to criticize the edition, for the first time, as a whole.

There are two recensions of the Servian commentary, one of which contains many more notes than the other. These notes are sometimes supplementary to those of the shorter version, sometimes repetitions of them, sometimes inconsistent with them. The fuller recension is generally known as the Servius of Daniel, from the fact that the different manuscripts in which it is contained were first used by Peter Daniel, who edited it from these manuscripts in 1600. An account of the manuscripts used by Daniel, all or nearly all of which are fortunately still in existence, is given both by Thilo and Thomas, of whose excellent essay on Servius I have spoken elsewhere. The two scholars are in substantial accord on all points but one. The additional notes on the first and second Aeneids are contained in a manuscript now at Cassel. A Fulda manuscript, containing additional notes on the same two books, was collated for Daniel by Scioppius.