Nonius Marcellus
Encyclopedia
Nonius Marcellus was a Roman
grammarian of the 4th or 5th century AD. His only surviving work is the De compendiosa doctrina, a dictionary or encyclopedia in 20 books that shows his interests in antiquarian
ism and Latin literature
from Plautus
to Apuleius
. Nonius may have come from Africa.
philosopher from Thubursicum in Numidia
. An inscription at Thubursicum dedicated by a certain "Nonius Marcellus Herculius" in 323 AD indicates that his family was based in that area. Since Nonius does not mention Christianity and calls himself a peripatetic, he seems not to have converted
.
Nonius quotes Aulus Gellius
and other 2nd-century compilers, and is himself quoted and praised three times by Priscian
in the 5th century, and so must have lived between these dates. According to the Cambridge History of Classical Literature, he was probably active in the first half of the 4th century, although some scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries thought he might have lived later in the 4th or even in the 5th century. It has also been argued that Nonius was a contemporary of Severan
authors such as Apuleius, or livef shortly after.
, including the tragedies of Accius
and Pacuvius
, the satires of Lucilius
, and the history
of Sisenna
. It consists of words, a short definition, and then quotations of authors using the word. It has been printed under a number of titles, including De proprietate latini sermonis and De varia significatione Verborum. It is one of three major Latin dictionaries preserved from antiquity, along with that of Festus
, which was an epitome of Verrius Flaccus
' work De verborum significatu, and the Etymologiae
of Isidore of Seville
.
The first twelve of Nonius's twenty books are organized grammatically around words or forms of words, and the remaining eight by subject matter such as clothing, weapons, food, etc. Each entry of either type consists of a brief definition and quotations from Republican-era writers, taken from 2nd-century sources, including Aulus Gellius
and Fronto, rather than the original texts. " His ignorance and inattention," notes the Cambridge History of Classical Literature, "diminish but cannot destroy the value of his compilation."
The research of W.M.Lindsay and later of Strzelecki has shown that Nonius obtained many of his lemmata
(entries) and the first citation for each from earlier grammatical texts which are now lost. The remainder of the entries and the extra citations belong to 41 books which he either owned or borrowed from a local library. For each section (either a book or a letter entry within a book), Nonius worked through his 41 lists from 41 volumes in the same order, first to find the lead-citation, and then again in order for additional citations. Based on this methodology, it can be determined whether Nonius is quoting an author first-hand, or from a grammar which was full of errors.
The Doctrina preserves fragments from early dramatists
, annalists
, satirists, and antiquarian writers. In arranging quotations from authors, Nonius always follows the same order, beginning with Plautus
and ending with Varro
and Cato
. The grammarians Priscian
and Fulgentius
borrowed largely from his book, and in the 5th century a certain Julius Tryphonianus Sabinus brought out a revised and annotated edition.
The Doctrina was edited with notes by J. Mercier in 1614 at Paris under the title De varia significatione Verborum. The page numbers of the Mercier edition are used as a reference in later editions (e.g. 121 M. means "page 121 of the Mercier edition").
Nonius also wrote a volume of letters On the neglect of study, which is lost but to which he refers in the Doctrina.
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
grammarian of the 4th or 5th century AD. His only surviving work is the De compendiosa doctrina, a dictionary or encyclopedia in 20 books that shows his interests in antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
ism and Latin literature
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
from Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
to Apuleius
Apuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
. Nonius may have come from Africa.
Life
Little is known about Nonius. The full title of his work, Noni Marcelli Peripatetici Tubursicensis de Conpendiosa Doctrina ad filium, indicates that he was a PeripateticPeripatetic
The Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers. The school originally derived its name Peripatos from the peripatoi of the Lyceum gymnasium in...
philosopher from Thubursicum in Numidia
Numidia
Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...
. An inscription at Thubursicum dedicated by a certain "Nonius Marcellus Herculius" in 323 AD indicates that his family was based in that area. Since Nonius does not mention Christianity and calls himself a peripatetic, he seems not to have converted
Conversion to Christianity
Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to some form of Christianity. It has been called the foundational experience of Christian life...
.
Nonius quotes Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
and other 2nd-century compilers, and is himself quoted and praised three times by Priscian
Priscian
Priscianus Caesariensis , commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. He wrote the Institutiones grammaticae on the subject...
in the 5th century, and so must have lived between these dates. According to the Cambridge History of Classical Literature, he was probably active in the first half of the 4th century, although some scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries thought he might have lived later in the 4th or even in the 5th century. It has also been argued that Nonius was a contemporary of Severan
Severan dynasty
The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. The dynasty was founded by the Roman general Septimius Severus, who rose to power during the civil war of 193, known as the Year of the Five Emperors....
authors such as Apuleius, or livef shortly after.
Works
The De compendiosa doctrina is one of the major sources for lost works of the Roman RepublicRoman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, including the tragedies of Accius
Lucius Accius
Lucius Accius , or Lucius Attius, was a Roman tragic poet and literary scholar. The son of a freedman, Accius was born at Pisaurum in Umbria, in 170 BC...
and Pacuvius
Pacuvius
Marcus Pacuvius was the greatest of the tragic poets of ancient Rome prior to Lucius Accius.He was the nephew and pupil of Ennius, by whom Roman tragedy was first raised to a position of influence and dignity...
, the satires of Lucilius
Gaius Lucilius
Gaius Lucilius , the earliest Roman satirist, of whose writings only fragments remain, was a Roman citizen of the equestrian class, born at Suessa Aurunca in Campania.-The Problem of his birthdate:...
, and the history
Roman historiography
Roman Historiography is indebted to the Greeks, who invented the form. The Romans had great models to base their works upon, such as Herodotus and Thucydides. Roman historiographical forms are different from the Greek ones however, and voice very Roman concerns. Unlike the Greeks, Roman...
of Sisenna
Lucius Cornelius Sisenna
Lucius Cornelius Sisenna was a Roman soldier, historian, and annalist. He was killed in action during Pompey's campaign against pirates after the Third Mithridatic War. Sisenna had been commander of the forces on the coast of Greece....
. It consists of words, a short definition, and then quotations of authors using the word. It has been printed under a number of titles, including De proprietate latini sermonis and De varia significatione Verborum. It is one of three major Latin dictionaries preserved from antiquity, along with that of Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus was a Roman grammarian, who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo in Gaul.He made an epitome in 20 volumes of the encyclopedic treatise in many volumes De verborum significatu, of Verrius Flaccus, a celebrated grammarian who flourished in the...
, which was an epitome of Verrius Flaccus
Verrius Flaccus
Marcus Verrius Flaccus was a Roman grammarian and teacher who flourished under Augustus and Tiberius.-Life:He was a freedman, and his manumitter has been identified with Verrius Flaccus, an authority on pontifical law; but for chronological reasons the name of Veranius Flaccus, a writer on augury,...
' work De verborum significatu, and the Etymologiae
Etymologiae
Etymologiae is an encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. It forms a bridge between a condensed epitome of classical learning at the close of Late Antiquity and the inheritance received, in large part through Isidore's work, by the early Middle Ages...
of Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
.
The first twelve of Nonius's twenty books are organized grammatically around words or forms of words, and the remaining eight by subject matter such as clothing, weapons, food, etc. Each entry of either type consists of a brief definition and quotations from Republican-era writers, taken from 2nd-century sources, including Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
and Fronto, rather than the original texts. " His ignorance and inattention," notes the Cambridge History of Classical Literature, "diminish but cannot destroy the value of his compilation."
The research of W.M.Lindsay and later of Strzelecki has shown that Nonius obtained many of his lemmata
Lemma
Lemma may refer to:* Lemma , a proven statement used as a stepping-stone toward the proof of another statement* Lemma , the canonical form or citation form of a word...
(entries) and the first citation for each from earlier grammatical texts which are now lost. The remainder of the entries and the extra citations belong to 41 books which he either owned or borrowed from a local library. For each section (either a book or a letter entry within a book), Nonius worked through his 41 lists from 41 volumes in the same order, first to find the lead-citation, and then again in order for additional citations. Based on this methodology, it can be determined whether Nonius is quoting an author first-hand, or from a grammar which was full of errors.
The Doctrina preserves fragments from early dramatists
Theatre of ancient Rome
The theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving and diverse art form, ranging from festival performances of street theatre, nude dancing, and acrobatics, to the staging of Plautus's broadly appealing situation comedies, to the high-style, verbally elaborate tragedies of Seneca...
, annalists
Annalists
Annalists , is the name given to a class of writers on Roman history, the period of whose literary activity lasted from the time of the Second Punic War to that of Sulla...
, satirists, and antiquarian writers. In arranging quotations from authors, Nonius always follows the same order, beginning with Plautus
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
and ending with Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.-Biography:...
and Cato
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
. The grammarians Priscian
Priscian
Priscianus Caesariensis , commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. He wrote the Institutiones grammaticae on the subject...
and Fulgentius
Fabius Planciades Fulgentius
Fabius Planciades Fulgentius was a late-antique period writer. Four extant works are commonly attributed to him, as well as a possible fifth which some scholars include in compilations with much reservation...
borrowed largely from his book, and in the 5th century a certain Julius Tryphonianus Sabinus brought out a revised and annotated edition.
The Doctrina was edited with notes by J. Mercier in 1614 at Paris under the title De varia significatione Verborum. The page numbers of the Mercier edition are used as a reference in later editions (e.g. 121 M. means "page 121 of the Mercier edition").
Nonius also wrote a volume of letters On the neglect of study, which is lost but to which he refers in the Doctrina.
Editions
- L MüllerLucian MüllerLucian Müller was a German classical scholar.-Biography:Müller was born in Merseburg in the Province of Saxony. After graduating from Humboldt University, Berlin and the University of Halle, he lived for five years in the Netherlands, working on his Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in den...
(1888) vol. 1, vol. 2. - J. H. Onions (1895)
- W. M. Lindsay (Teubner, 1903) vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3
Studies
- Articles in the Classical Review, Dec. 1888, June and July 1889.
- J. H. Onions, Classical Review Oct. 1890, Oct. 1895, Feb. 1896, Feb. 1902.
- W. M. Lindsay, Journal of Philology, xvi. (1888), xviii. (1890), (JH Onions), xxi. (1893). ("The Printed Editions of Nonius," by H NettleshipHenry NettleshipHenry Nettleship was an English classical scholar.Nettleship was born at Kettering, and was educated at Lancing College, Durham School and Charterhouse schools, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1861, he was elected to a fellowship at Lincoln, which he vacated on his marriage in 1870...
) - W. M. Linday, 1901 article online at Google books here
- Paul Monceaux, Les Africains. Etude sur la littérature latine d'Afrique (1894)
- TeuffelWilhelm Siegmund TeuffelWilhelm Siegmund Teuffel , German classical scholar, was born at Ludwigsburg in the kingdom of Württemberg...
, History of Roman Literature (Eng. trans.), 404A; - Martin Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Literatur, iv. 1 (1904).
External links
- Roger Pearse, How the text of Nonius Marcellus reaches us - Information on manuscripts.
- 10th century British Library manuscript of Nonius Marcellus in digital form