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Subscriptio

In the later days of the Roman Empire the Roman grammarians devoted themselves largely to editing the Latin classics, as the Alexandrian grammarians edited the great classical works of Greek literature. In the fourth and fifth centuries many men of eminence were numbered among these editors, who attached their names to their work. A signature of this sort is called subscriptio, and subsequent copyists carefully repeated the names at the head of the works which they copied side by side with those of subsequent revisers. Among the subscriptiones are found those of men like Symmachus (q.v.), Asterius (consul 494 A.D.), Mavortius (consul 527 A.D.), and many other important personages. These attestations are collected and discussed by Jahn in a monograph that is published in the Abh. der sächs. Gesellschaft d. Wissensch. for 1851.

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