Agennius Urbicus

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Agennius Urbicus was a Latin specialist writer of the 5th (?) Century AD.

Name, sources

Under the name of Agennius Urbicus, in the so-called Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum, two only incompletely transmitted tracts have been preserved: De controversiis agrorum and a Frontin commentary , the so-called Commentum de agrorum qualitate . Both tracts are linked in the oldest manuscript, the Arcerianus B in the inscriptions and subscriptions, with the name of an AGGENVS or AGENVS VRBICVS, which is why, in addition to the authorship of the Commentum , the form of the name Agennius must also remain in dispute. The author's name chosen in the research goes back to a Bamberg codex (9th – 10th centuries).
The two independent epigraphic records cannot necessarily be identified with Agennius Urbicus. The M. Adginnius Urbicus mentioned in CIL XIII 1674–75 (to be dated to the 1st century AD) cannot be connected with the author of the gromatic treatises for philological reasons; The choice of words and syntax of the treatises point to the 5th century AD (or even later).

plant

The writing De controversiis agrorum ascribed to Agennius Urbicus in the version available to us is based on the edition of Carl Olof Thulin , who in turn is based on the Lachmann edition from 1848 to 1853 in the text design . Both editions use the following manuscripts for this: Arcerianus B (first class, 7th century) and the manuscripts P and G of the second class. Lachmann assumed from the bulk of this text that he could extract a second book Frontins. Thulin also followed him, albeit without specifying Frontin, in what was typographically identified in the editions by italic (or smaller) and Latin (and larger) types. In addition, the texts in both editions have been constituted by large rearrangements of the pages of the order, which is probably partly disrupted in the manuscripts.

On the other hand, Agennius is probably not the author of the Commentum de agrorum qualitate . The treatise is to be understood (as the name makes clear) as a commentary on Frontin's writing De agrorum qualitate , continuously explains passages from Frontin (sometimes with quotations by name) and also uses the writing de limitibus of a Hyginus. The choice of words and grammar also allow the conclusion that the Commentum is a late antique work, probably from the 5th century AD. This marks the first stage of compilation or processing and the beginning of the reception of the agrimensor texts . The aim of the commentator is to explain the writings classified as requiring explanation (Thulin Ed. 51, 8-10): Suscepimus qualitates agrorum tractandas atque plano sermone et lucido exponendas, et volumus ut ea quae a veteribus obscuro sermone conscripta sunt apertius et intellegibilius exponere ad erudiendam posteritatis infantiam ... (= We have undertaken to treat the properties of fields and to present them in clear and clear language, and we want to present what was written by the ancients in dark language more clearly and understandably in order to educate the childish ignorance of posterity ...) Whether this means that the unknown author commented on them as master books or for school use cannot yet be conclusively answered. Attached to the commentary was a booklet with geometric drawings illustrating the text , the so-called Liber diazographus .

Lachmann assessed the work of the Agennius in both tracts extremely negatively. Particularly on the Commentum of the Pseudo-Agennius there are statements that it was "the pathetic work of a Christian schoolmaster" or the complaint that "his unfortunate name ... caused confusion". In fact, it has to be checked to what extent the manuscripts are interpolated with the work of the Agennius; the layers of text that appear in the Commentum have not yet been sufficiently investigated. Whether no manuscript is actually "free from the interpolations of Agenius (sic!) Urbicus" can be doubted.

literature

  • F. Blume, K. Lachmann, A. Rudorff (Eds.): Gromatici veteres. 2 volumes. The writings of the Roman surveyors, Berlin 1848–52.
  • N. Bubnov (Ed.): Gerberti postea Silvestri II papae Opera mathematica. (972-1003). Berlin 1899. (Reprint Hildesheim 2005), especially Appendix VII on the manuscripts.
  • CO Thulin (Ed.): Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum (= Opuscula agrimensorum veterum. I). Leipzig 1913 (reprint Stuttgart 1971).
  • JN Carder: Art historical problems of a Roman land surveying manuscript: The codex Arcerianus A, Wolfenbüttel. PhD. University of Pittsburgh, 1976.
  • B. Campbell (Ed., Übers., Komm.): The writings of the Roman land surveyors. Introduction, translation and commentary (= Journal of the Roman Studies Monographs. 9). London 2000.
  • O. Behrends, M. Clavel-Lévêque et al. (Eds.): Agennius Urbicus. Controverses on the terres. Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum VI. Agennius Urbicus. Office des publications officielles des Communautés européennes, Luxembourg 2005.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lachmann Ed. 1848, 59-90; Thulin Ed. 1913, 20-51.
  2. ↑ Lachmann Ed. 1848, 1-58; Thulin Ed. 1913, 51-70.
  3. ↑ Guelferb. 2403, Aug. f. 36.23.
  4. ^ Clavel-Lévêque (2005) xv.
  5. ↑ See also Carder (1976) 125-130; Campbell (2000) xxxi-xxxv; Clavel-Lévêque (2005), xiii-xxii.
  6. ↑ Palatinus Vaticanus latinus 1564 (P); Guelferb. Gud. 105 (G).
  7. ↑ Thulin Ed. 1913, app. Crit. p. 51.
  8. ↑ This Hyginus 1 must not be confused with Hyginus 2 (= Hyginus gromaticus ).
  9. ↑ Lachmann (1848-53) 2, 104th
  10. ↑ Lachmann (1848-53) 2, 112th
  11. ↑ Blume in Lachmann (1848-53) 2, 6.
personal data
SURNAME Agennius Urbicus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latin specialist writer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century or 5th century
DATE OF DEATH 5th century or 6th century