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The Servian commentaries on Vergil are doubly distinguished: they are among the very few ancient commentaries on classical Latin texts to survive essentially intact; and they exist in two radically different forms-the original commentary created by the grammarian Servius early in the fifth century, emphasizing grammar and syntax, and an augmented version produced in the seventh century when a reader blended his Servius with much other recherch� ancient lore. In the 1920s, the medievalist Edward Kennard Rand undertook to produce a truly modern edition that would fully reveal for the first time the character of the commentaries' two versions. All did not go smoothly, however: a volume devoted to Aeneid 1-2 appeared in 1946, and another, with the commentaries on Aeneid 3-5, in 1965; this edition of the commentaries on Aeneid 9-12 is the first new contribution to the series to appear in more than fifty years. On his death in 2013, Charles E. Murgia left publishable versions of the text, upper and lower critical apparatuses, and large parts of the introduction, and he had gathered most of the data for a testimonial apparatus. Robert A. Kaster completed the work on the testimonia and introduction (using some of Murgia's other writings to supplement the latter), added some subsidiary elements, and prepared the whole for publication. Thanks primarily to Murgia's work, this edition is superior to its predecessors in the series, and to all other editions of Servius, in every respect.
About the author
Charles E. Murgia was Professor Emeritus, Classics, at University of California, Berkeley, and a celebrated Latinist.
Robert A. Kaster is Kennedy Foundation Professor of Latin Language and Literature and Professor of Classics, Princeton University, and author or editor of eleven books.
Summary
The first new addition to the "Harvard Servius" to appear in over fifty years, this edition of the Servian commentaries on Aeneid 9-12 is superior to all previous editions of Servius in the constitution and layout of its text, its accurate and thorough critical apparatuses, and its rich collection of testimonia.
Additional text
Their edition is worthy of praise: needless to say, it is set to become the reference edition of Servius and the Seruius auctus over many decades. Given the great usefulness of these commentaries, not so much to the understanding of Virgil's oeuvre but rather for the study of what we may call 'Virgilian exegetical stratification,' as well as for our knowledge of the culture of Late Antiquity, Murgia's and Kaster's work is to be welcomed with enthusiasm and gratitude.
