Terentianus

Terentianus Maurus was a Latin grammarian and theorists of the metric, which probably looked towards the end of the 2nd century AD. His surname Maurus suggests that Terentianus of the Roman province of Mauretania came from.

As far as can be reconstructed, was Terentianus 's major work, which consists of four books treatise De litteris, de syllabis, de metris ( " About pronunciation, syllables, and versification " ) whose sections are written in the respective treated poetic meters. In this - only incomplete traditional - didactic poem, the author refers to Septimius Serenus and Alfius Avitus as members of a " new school of poetry " ( poetae neoterici or novella ). These were about the reign of the Emperor Hadrian ( 117-138 ) is active, and there Terentianus ' representation suggests his approximate contemporaries, his own life has been dated to the second half of the century. From the above-mentioned treatise come the words, because of their Terentianus Maurus until today (mostly wrong) is quoted, namely: ( Books are included different depending on the interpretation of the reader) Pro captu lectoris sua fata habent libelli. As usual quote is only the second half of the sentence, sua fata habent libelli, which is also the meaning of " Books have their own destiny " is interpreted.

In print, the text first appeared 1497th The emphasis in 1531 created by the Parisian printer Simon de Colines is set in a " Terentianus " said roman type, which often mistakenly Claude Garamond is attributed.

The eminent German scholar and pioneer of text-critical method, Karl Lachmann, got in 1836 an edition of the surviving works of Terentianus Maurus.

Due to its first description by Terentianus Maurus a meter is named after him, called by Dag Norberg Terentianeus, a Elfsibler that " from a Hemiepes with obligate spondeischem first and second daktylischem foot and a Adonius " is.