An ''ars grammatica'' ( en, italic=yes, art of grammar) is a generic or proper title for surveys of

Latin grammar Latin is a heavily inflected language with largely free word order. Nouns are inflected for number and case; pronouns and adjectives (including participles) are inflected for number, case, and gender; and verbs are inflected for person, ...

. The first ''ars grammatica'' seems to have been composed by

Remmius Palaemon Quintus Remmius Palaemon or Quintus Rhemnius Fannius Palaemon. was a Roman grammarian and a native of Vicentia. He lived during the reigns of Emperors Tiberius and Claudius. Life From Suetonius, we learn that he was originally a slave who o ...

(first century CE), but is now lost. The most famous ''ars grammatica'' since

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

has been that composed by Donatus.

Donatus' ''Ars Grammatica''

Two ''artes grammaticae'' circulate under the name Donatus. The first, the ''Ars Minor'', is a brief overview of the eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, participle, conjunction, preposition, and interjection (''nomen, pronomen, verbum, adverbium, participium, conjunctio, praepositio, interjectio''). The text is presented entirely in a question-and-answer format (e.g. "How many numbers does a noun have?" "Two: singular and plural."). Donatus' ''Ars Major'' is only a little longer, but on a much more elevated plane. It consists of a list of stylistic faults and graces, including tropes such as

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

, synecdoche, allegory, and

sarcasm Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection ...

. Donatus also includes schemes such as zeugma and anaphora.

Diomedes' ''Ars Grammatica''

The ''Ars Grammatica'' or ''De Oratione et Partibus Orationis et Vario Genere Metrorum libri III'' by

Diomedes Grammaticus Diomedes Grammaticus was a Latin grammarian who probably lived in the late 4th century AD. He wrote a grammatical treatise, known either as ''De Oratione et Partibus Orationis et Vario Genere Metrorum libri III'' or '' Ars grammatica'' in three book ...

is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

grammatical

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...

. Diomedes probably wrote in the late 4th century AD. The treatise is dedicated to a certain Athanasius. *Book I the eight parts of speech *Book II the elementary ideas of grammar and of style *Book III poetry, quantity, and meters The third book on poetry is particularly valuable, containing extracts from Suetonius' ''De poetica''. This book contains one of the most complete lists of types of

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable ...

s in antiquity, including the ''teres versus'', which may be the so-called

golden line The golden line is a type of Latin dactylic hexameter frequently mentioned in Latin classrooms and in contemporary scholarship about Latin poetry, but which apparently began as a verse-composition exercise in schools in early modern Britain. Defin ...

. The ''Ars'' of Diomedes still exists in a complete form (although probably abridged). It was first published in a collection of Latin Grammarians printed at Venice by Nicolas Jenson in about 1476. The best edition of Diomedes's ''Ars Grammatica'' is in ''Grammatici Latini'' vol. I by

Heinrich Keil Theodor Heinrich Gottfried Keil (25 May 1822, Gressow – 27 August 1894, Friedrichroda) was a German classical philologist. He was a son-in-law to educator Friedrich August Eckstein (1810–1885). He studied classical philology at the Univer ...

Alcuin's ''Ars Grammatica''

In around the 790s, Alcuin of York composed an ''Ars grammatica'' as the first of a group of four ''opera didascalica'' ('educational works') in question-and-answer form rooted in Donatus's ''Ars grammatica''. The other three texts were ''De orthographia'', ''Ars rhetorica'', and ''De dialectica''. Alcuin's ''Ars grammatica'' begins with a section ''Disputatio de vera philosophia'' ('dialogue on true philosophy'). In the assessment of Rita Copeland and Ineke Sluiter, 'the content of these works is highly derivative, but the pedagogy is innovative, and the way in which the work of compilation has been executed gives a new ideological twist to traditional material'.

Other works of ''ars grammatica''

Other extant works of ''Ars grammatica'' have been written by *

Charisius Flavius Sosipater Charisius ( 4th century AD) was a Latin grammarian. He was probably an African by birth, summoned to Constantinople to take the place of Euanthius, a learned commentator on Terence. ''Ars Grammatica'' The ''Ars Grammatica'', ...

(fourth century) *

Gaius Marius Victorinus Gaius Marius Victorinus (also known as Victorinus Afer; fl. 4th century) was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician and Neoplatonic philosopher. Victorinus was African by birth and experienced the height of his career during the reign of Constantius II. He ...

(fourth century)Victorinus. ''Ars grammatica''. Ed. I. Mariotti (Florence: Felice le Monnier, 1967). *

Maurus Servius Honoratus Servius was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries on the works of Virgil. These works, ''In tria V ...

(fourth to fifth century) *Pseudo-

References

External links

On-line Latin texts of major Latin grammarians at the ''Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum''

of

William Smith (lexicographer) Sir William Smith (20 May 1813 – 7 October 1893) was an English lexicographer. He became known for his advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools. Early life Smith was born in Enfield in 1813 to Nonconformist parents. He attend ...

Latin texts of all of Aelius Donatus
including the ''Ars Minor'' and all the parts of the ''Ars Major'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ars Grammatica Latin texts Latin language