Diomedes Grammaticus was 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 ...

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 An ''ars grammatica'' ( en, italic=yes, art of grammar) is a generic or proper title for surveys of Latin grammar. The first ''ars grammatica'' seems to have been composed by Remmius Palaemon (first century CE), but is now lost. The most famous '' ...

'' in three books, dedicated to a certain Athanasius. Since he is frequently quoted by

Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...

(e.g. lib. ix. pp. 861, 870, lib. x. 879, 889, 892), he must have lived before the year 500. His third book on poetry is particularly valuable, containing extracts from

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

's ''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 (or may not) 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 ...

." Diomedes wrote about the same time as

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

and used the same sources independently. The works of both grammarians are valuable, but whereas much of Charisius has been lost, the ''Ars'' of Diomedes has come down to us complete (although probably abridged). 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 best edition is in H. Keil's ''Grammatici Latini'', vol I.

References

*''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...

'' (1849), v. 1, p. 1026 *"Diomedes" in , ''Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity'', The Transformation of the Classical Heritage, volume 11, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 1988 *This entry incorporates material from the respective 1911 ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' article

External links

Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum: complete texts and full bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammaticus, Diomedes Grammarians of Latin Ancient linguists 4th-century Romans 4th-century Latin writers