Fulgentius, Fabius
Planciădes
A Latin grammarian, a native of Carthage, who wrote towards the end of the fifth century
A.D. His works include, among other things, an allegorical interpretation of the ancient
mythology in three books (
Mythologiae), the form of which reminds one of
Martianus
Capella (q.v.); an allegorical exposition
of the
Aeneid (Vergiliana Continentia); an explanation of strange and
antiquated words illustrated by forged citations (
Expositio Sermonis Antiqui);
and a sort of universal history (
De Aetatibus Mundi), of which fourteen books
are extant. The plan of this last work is the absurd one called
λειπογράμματος — that is, in the respective books, one letter of the
alphabet in succession remains unemployed, a fact which is duly announced at the beginning and
close of each book. Of the first three works, the text is printed in the edition of the
Mythographi Latini by Staveren
(Leyden, 1742). The
De
Aetatibus has been edited by Reifferscheid
(Breslau, 1883-84). See Zink,
Der Mytholog Fulgentius (Würzburg, 1867).
