Commentary on Silius Italicus

Domizio Calderini (1446-1478) was one of the founders of modern classical philology. He earned an outstanding reputation as a commentator on new or difficult Latin works, helped by the arrival of printing in Rome, of which he took early advantage. He was the first to attempt a serious commentary on the entire Punica of Silius Italicus after its rediscovery by Poggio in 1417. Unpublished in its own day, his commentary influenced exegetical tradition through his follower Pietro Marso, the first to be printed. For 500 years Calderini's commentary on Silius Italicus survived unrecognised as marginal notes in five incunables and one manuscript. This edition is of these notes recorded by students. It provides a window not only into Calderini's scholarship, but also into the distinctive character of Roman humanism and teaching at the University of Rome in the 1470s. Extensive indices make this book a valuable resource for the study of humanist philology.