Commentary on the Aeneid
Also known as: In Vergilii Aeneidem Commentarii, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid, Servius Auctus, Servius Danielis
A late antique line-by-line commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid, preserving Roman antiquarian lore, mythography, and grammatical notes. It exists in a shorter Servian form and a later expanded recension.
Description
Servius’s Commentary on the Aeneid is a continuous exegesis keyed to the twelve books of Virgil’s epic, transmitting vast amounts of Roman antiquarian knowledge: etymologies, cult practice, legal and ritual terms, historical references, and mythographic catalogues. The shorter recension, commonly attributed to Servius Maurus Honoratus, offers concise grammatical and contextual elucidations, while the later expanded version (often called Servius Auctus or Servius Danielis) incorporates additional scholia from lost sources, frequently enlarging mythic narratives and antiquarian detail. Together, the recensions became the standard school commentary on Virgil throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, shaping how the Aeneid’s characters, places, and myths were interpreted in Latin education and humanist scholarship.
Historiography
The commentary survives in two principal forms: the shorter Servian recension and an expanded corpus (Servius Auctus/Servius Danielis) that integrates material from now-lost scholia. Medieval manuscripts transmit both, often intermixed. The authoritative modern edition is the Thilo–Hagen Teubner; digital Latin texts are available in Perseus. The work’s schoolroom use ensured wide medieval diffusion and made it foundational for Renaissance Virgilian philology.
Date Notes
Short recension attributed to Servius (late 4th–early 5th c. CE); an expanded redaction (Servius Auctus/Servius Danielis) was compiled in the 5th–6th c.
Themes
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Aeneas
- Dido
- Turnus
- Anchises
- Venus
- Juno
Myths
- Exegesis of Trojan and Roman Foundations
- Allegorical and Historical Interpretations
- Line-by-Line Commentary on the Epic
Facts
- Two principal recensions circulate: the shorter Servius and an expanded Servius Auctus/Servius Danielis.
- The commentary preserves fragments of earlier antiquarian authors (e.g., Varro, Verrius Flaccus, Hyginus).
- Servius’s notes often explain Roman ritual, law terms, calendar lore, and place-name etymologies.
- The work was a medieval school text and a cornerstone of Renaissance Virgilian scholarship.
- Servius tends toward philological and historical explanation rather than moral allegory.
- The expanded recension likely aggregates scholia from multiple, now-lost sources.
- Transmission is complex: manuscripts often conflate short and expanded material.
- Modern critical standard is the Thilo–Hagen Teubner edition, frequently cited in scholarship.
- Digital Latin texts of both recensions are widely available for research and teaching.
- The commentary is keyed sequentially to the twelve books of the Aeneid.