Ars grammatica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ars grammatica or De Oratione et Partibus Orationis et Vario Genere Metrorum libri III by Diomedes is a Latin grammatical treatise.
The name Ars grammatica is in use also as generic or proper title for numerous grammatical or other works.
Diomedes wrote probably in the late 300s CE. He dedicated his treatise to a certain Athanasius.
In Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by William Smith (1870). (Scanned by the University of Michigan's).
- DIOMEDES, the author of a grammatical treatise "De Oratione et Partibus Orationis et Vario Genere Metrorum libri III." We are entirely ignorant of his history, but since he is frequently quoted by Priscian (e.g. lib. ix. pp. 861, 870, lib. x. 879, 889, 892), he must have lived before the commencement of the 6th century (AD). The work is dedicated to a certain Athanasius, of whom we know nothing whatsoever. It is remarked elsewhere [CHARISIUS, FLA'VIUS SOSI'PATER|charisius], that a close correspondence may be detected between the above work and many passages in the Institutiones Grammaticae of Charisius, and the same remark applies to Maximus Victorinus.
- Diomedes was first published in a collection of Latin Grammarians printed at Venice by Nic. Jenson, about 1476. It is to be found in the Grammaticae Latinae Auctores Antiqui of Putschins, 4to. Hanov. 1605, pp. 170—527. For critical emendations, consult Scioppizts, Suspect. Lect. and Reuvens, Collectanea Litteraria^ Leyden, 1815. See also Osann, Beitr'dge zur Griech* u. Rom. Lit. <7e.vc7i.ii. p. 331. [W.R.]
- In book I he discusses the eight parts of speech;
- in II the elementary ideas of grammar and of style;
- in III poetry, quantity, and meters.
The third book on poetry is particularly valuable, containing extracts from Suetonius's De poetica. This book contains one of the most complete lists of types of dactylic hexameters in antiquity, including the teres versus, which may (or may not) be the so-called "golden line."
The works of both grammarians are valuable, but whereas much of Charisius has been lost, the Ars of Diomedes has come down complete (although probably abridged).
qouted, recompiled or (...)
The best edition is in H. Keil's Grammatici Latini, vol I.
