Servius’ Use of Persius in His Commentary on Vergil’s Aeneid : Uncovering a Rich Intertextual Dialogue

Abstract: This paper shows that in his commentary on Vergil’s Aeneid Servius makes significant use of Persius’ Satires . Although these poems are mainly cited in the context of linguistic explanations, the selection of the material reveals Servius’ close familiarity with Persius’ work, as well as his thorough understanding of the satirist’s allusive engagement with Vergil. Most of the parallels are drawn from scenes where Persius evokes Vergil either directly to comment on his predecessor’s poetic technique, or indirectly to create a comic effect by describing the morally degraded world of his satires with the language of a loftier literary genre.