MEMORIAE SUAE CAUSA: SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHOR AND COMMENTARY IN (LATE) ANTIQUITY

In the preface of his Interpretationes Vergilianae, Tiberius Claudius Donatus criticizes the authors of modern commentaries for writing non docendi studio, sed memoriae suae causa. A comparison with some parallel sources, and in particular with Gellius and Galen, who use similar phrases (ad subsidium memoriae; εἰς / πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν) in parallel contexts, shows that Donatus’s criticism is based on the traditional idea that ‘commentaries’ were in the first place non-literary and stylistically unpolished works, written for supporting the memory of their authors and not for teaching purposes. Through this conventional motif, Donatus presents the Interpretationes Vergilianae as a commentary addressed to an audience and conceived docendi studio, in which the author proves to be willing to play his role to the full extent.