Optime docuit Donatus: Prisciano discípulo de Donato?

Abstract

Although the Alexandrian grammarian Apollonius Dyscolus (c. 2nd century AD) is remembered as the most important grammatical model for the Ars Prisciani, no less important seem to be the Latin sources with which Priscian dialogues in his extensive grammar. Thus, the Ars Donati could also be thought of as having a role for the construction of Priscian’s technical-grammatical thought. In this article, we aim at offering an approach to the direct and indirect references to Donatus contained throughout the Ars Prisciani, as well as to analyze the way in which Priscian makes use of exempla from the Latin artigraphic tradition, contained in the Ars Maior. We intend to show that, like the Perì syntáxeos by Apollonius Dyscolus, the manuals of Donatus (especially the Ars maior) also represented models for the development of the grammatical doctrine of this Latin author. In addition, we intend to show that Donatus’ exempla are presented in a different theoretical framework, no longer to describe the concept of Latinitas and the phenomena associated with it (such as the vices and virtues of speech), but to understand the extent of linguistic usage (usus).