Atilius Fortunatianus Explained

Atilius Fortunatianus (flourished in the 4th century A.D.) was a Latin grammarian. He was the author of a treatise on metres, dedicated to one of his pupils, a youth of senatorial rank, who desired to be instructed in the Horatian metres.^{[1] [2]} The manual opens with a discussion of the fundamental ideas of metre and the chief rules of prosody, and ends with a detailed analysis of the metres of Horace. The chief authorities used are Caesius Bassus and the Latin adaptation by Juba the grammarian of the Τέχνη of Heliodorus. Fortunatianus being a common name in the African provinces, it is probable that the author was a countryman of Juba, Terentianus Maurus and Victorinus.

Atilius' work on metrical treatise depends on that of Caesius Bassus.^{[3] [2]} His treatise on metrics also contains in the beginning some chapters on vowels, consonants and syllabus.^[4]

There is an edition of his Ars in H. Keil, Grammatici Latini, vi.; also published by him separately (1885).

Discovery at Bobbio

In 1493 a sensational trove of grammatical and late-Roman poetry was discovered in Bobbio,^[5] and Atilius’s work was part of this discovery.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Book: Kaster, Robert A. . 1 Jan 1997. Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity. 10 February 2022. Oakland, California . University of California Press . 409. 978-0-520-21225-1.
2. Book: von Albrecht, Michael . 16 Sep 2019. A History of Roman Literature: From Livius Andronicus to Boethius : with Special Regard to Its Influence on World Literature. 10 February 2022. Leiden, Netherlands . BRILL . 1471. 978-9-004-10711-3.
3. Book: Elliott, Jackie . 16 April 2018. Ennius and the Architecture of the Annales. 10 February 2022. Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 448. 978-1-107-02748-0.
4. Book: Koerner, E.F.K. . 28 Jun 2014. Concise History of the Language Sciences: From the Sumerians to the Cognitivists. 10 February 2022. Amsterdam . Elsevier . 116. 978-1-483-29754-5.
5. Book: Bischoff, Bernhard . 12 April 1990. Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. 10 February 2022. Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 192. 978-0-521-36726-4.
6. Book: Zetzel, James E. G. . 16 April 2018. Critics, Compilers, and Commentators: An Introduction to Roman Philology, 200 BCE-800 CE. 10 February 2022. Oxford . Oxford University Press . 283. 978-0-195-38051-4.