Verrius Flaccus
Marcus. A Roman freedman, “who obtained
renown chiefly by his method of teaching. To exercise the wits of his pupils, says Suetonius,
he used to pit against each other those of the same age, give them a subject to write upon,
and reward the winner with a prize, generally in the shape of a fine or rare copy of some
ancient author” (Nettleship's
Essays, p. 203). He educated the
grandsons of Augustus and died under Tiberius. He devoted himself to
literary and antiquarian studies resembling those of the learned Varro. Thus, he wrote
De Orthographia and
Rerum Memoria Dignarum Libri; but his most
important work was entitled
De Verborum Significatu, which may claim to be the
first Latin lexicon ever written. It was arranged alphabetically; it gave interpretations of
obsolete words, and explained the meaning of the oldest institutions of the State, including
its religious customs, etc. We possess only fragments of an abridgment made by Festus, and a
further abridgment of the latter, dedicated to Charlemagne, by Paulus. (See
Festus;
Paulus.)
A calendar of Roman festivals drawn by him was set up in marble at Praenesté, near
Rome; of this there are some fragments still preserved containing the months of January to
April inclusive and December. These fragments are known as the Fasti Praenestini (
C. I.
L. i. p. 311). See Nettleship's
Lectures and Essays, pp. 201-247
(Oxford, 1885).
