report the author as Publii; those of the Epitoma have Flauii. Reeve 2004: suggests the
imperial service of Publius entitled him to use the late-antique status-indicator Flauius.
Although possible, this implies that the Epitoma was composed after the veterinary works,
contrary to expectation. Additionally, the form Vegeti suggests the common nominative
Vegetus rather than the rare form Vegetius.
All three of Vegetius’ works are compilations. In the Epitoma, the author conflates lost
military and strategic sources: at 1.8.10–11 he claims to have used C’s De disciplina
militari, C, F and Tarruntenus Paternus (author ca 180 of a treatise on
military law of which only two fragments remain, transmitted at Digesta Imp. Iustiniani
49.16.7 and 50.6.7: see RE 4A.2 [1932] 2405–2407). Vegetius’ Digesta are almost entirely
based on P and the M C, the latter elegantly modified
by Vegetius. Some passages, whose source is unknown, provide interesting vocabulary and
information about the anatomy or breeding of horses. The De curis boum almost entirely
derives from C’s Res rustica Book 6.
The Epitoma, popular in the Middle Ages and later (more than 200 MSS still survive),
has been translated into several languages: most famously those of Jean de Meun (1284,
old French) and Bono Giamboni (1286, old Italian). The two veterinary works, less
widely diffused, survive in about 20 MSS, usually preserving the two treatises together.
Nevertheless, Italian versions also exist. Theodericus Borgognoni used the Digesta exten-
sively for his Medela equorum in the 13th c., and Dino Dini for his 14th c. vernacular work on
horse medicine. Also noteworthy is Giovanni Brancati’s Italian translation of both works
(ca 1470).
Ed.: E. Lommatzsch, P. Vegeti Renati Digestorum artis mulomedicinae libri (1903) (with De curis boum errone-
ously as the fourth book); M.D. Reeve, Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris (2004).
Vincenzo Ortoleva, La tradizione manoscritta della «Mulomedicina» di Publio Vegezio Renato (1996);
M.B. Charles, Vegetius in Context. Establishing the Date of the Epitoma rei Militaris (2007).
Vincenzo Ortoleva
Velchionius (50 – 30 BCE)
A P., in G Antid. 2.11 (14.170–171 K.), records that Belkhionios said
that a recipe of A G was used by I C. Although ΒΕΛXΙΟΝΙΟΣ
might conceal a Greek name such as ΤΕΛXΙΝΑΙΟΣ (attested at Kure ̄ne ̄, 1st c. CE: LGPN
1.433), given the Latin context, a name derived from the Etruscan Velkhi- seems more likely:
Schulze (1904/1966) 99, 377–378.
(*)
PTK
P. Vergilius Maro of Mantua (42 – 19 BCE)
The man who would become arguably the greatest poet of the Latin language was born
70 BCE on a country estate in the village of Andes outside Mantua. Vergil trained as an
orator in Milan and Rome and studied there with various prominent scholars and poets,
including Parthenios of Nikaia. After moving to Naples he joined an Epicurean school led
by Siro ̄n and became acquainted with P. During the veteran-resettlement pro-
gram of 42– 40 BCE his family’s estate was confiscated, then apparently restored through the
intervention of his patron, Asinius Pollio. It was at this time that he began publishing versions
VELCHIONIUS