Priscianus

• A celebrated grammarian in the time of the emperor Justinian.—
• II Theodorus Priscianus, a physician in the time of the emperors Gratian and Valentinian II.

one of the most celebrated grammarians of the later period of Roman literature.

From the surname Caesariensis which is given to him, we gather that he was either born at Caesareia, or at least was educated there. The time at which he lived cannot be fixed with any great precision. He is spoken of as a contemporary of Cassiodorus, who lived from A. D. 468 to at least A. D. 562. (Paulus Diaconus, de Gest. Longob. 1.25.) According to a statement of Aldhelm (ap. Mai, Auct. Class. vol. v. p. 501, &c.), the emperor Theodosius the younger, who died in A. D. 450, copied out Priscian's grammatical work with his own hand. Some authorities, therefore, place him in the first half of the fifth century, others a little later in the same century, others in the beginning of the sixth century. The second is the only view at all consonant with both the above statements. Priscianus was a pupil of Theoctistus. (Prisc. 18.5.) He himself taught grammar at Constantinople, and was in the receipt of a salary from the government, from which (as well as from parts of his writings, especially his translation of the Periegesis of Dionysius) it appears probable that he was a Christian. Of other particulars of his life we are ignorant. Works Commentariorum grammaticorum Libri XVIII.

Priscian was celebrated for the extent and depth of his grammatical knowledge. of which he has left the evidence in his work on the subject, entitled Commentariorum grammaticorum Libri XVIII., addressed to his friend and patron, the consul Julianus. Other titles are, however, frequently given to it. The first sixteen books treat upon the eight parts of speech recognised by the ancient grammarians, letters, syllables, &c. The last two books are on syntax, and in one MS. are placed as a distinct work, under the title De Constructione. Priscianus made good use of the works of preceding grammarians, but the writers whom he mainly followed were Apollonius Dyscolus (Apollonius, cujus auctoritatem in omnibus sequendam putavi, 14.1, vol. i. p. 581, ed. Krehl) and Herodianus (2.6, vol. i. p. 76, ed. Krehl). The treatise of Priscianus soon became the standard work on Latin grammar, and in the epitome of Rabanus Maurus obtained an extensive circulation. One feature of value about it is the large number of quotations which it contains both from Latin and Greek writers, of whom nothing would otherwise have remained. His acquaintance with Greek as well as Latin enabled him to carry on a parallel between the two languages. Other Works

Besides the systematic grammatical work of Priscianus there are still extant the following writings :-- 1. A grammatical catechism on twelve lines of the Aeneid, manifestly intended as a school book. 2. A treatise on accents. 3. A treatise on the symbols used to denote numbers and weights, and on coins and numbers. 4. On the metres of Terence. 5. A translation of the Προγυμνάσματα (Praeexercitamenta) of Hermogenes. The translation is however very far from being literal. The Greek original was discovered and published by Heeren in 1791. This and the two preceding pieces are addressed to Symmachus. 6. On the declensions of nouns. 7. A poem on the emperor Anastasius in 312 hexameters, with a preface in 22 iambic lines. 8. A piece De Ponderibus et Mensuris, in verse. (Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. v. p. 212, &100.235, &100.494, &c.) This piece has been attributed by some to the grammarian Rhemnius Fannius Palaemon, by others to one Remus Favinus, but the authorship of Priscianus seems well established. 9. An Epitome phaenomenön, or De Sideribus, in verse.Wernsdorf l.c. v. pt. i. p. 239. 10. A free translation of the Periegesis of Dionysius in 1427 lines, manifestly made for the instruction of youth. It follows the order of the Greek on the whole, but contains many variations from the original. In particular Priscianus has taken pains to substitute for the heathen allusions a phraseology better adapted for Christian times. 11. A couple of epigrams. (Anth. Lat. 5.47, 139.) To Priscianus also are usually attributed the acrostichs prefixed to the plays of Plautus, and describing the plot. Editions

The Poem on the Emperor Anastasius, the De Ponderibus et Mensuris and the Epitome phaenomenön have been edited separately by Endlicher (Vienn. 1828), with a preliminary dissertation.

The best edition of Priscianus is that by Krehl, which contains all but a few of the shorter poems (above, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 11). [C.P.M]

a physician, who was a pupil of Vindicianus (Rer. Med. iv. praef. p. 81. ed. Argent.), and who therefore lived in the fourth century after Christ.

He is supposed to have lived at the court of Constantinople, and to have attained the dignity of Archiater. He belonged to the medical sect of the Empirici, but not without a certain mixture of the doctrines of the Methodici, and even of the Dogmatici. Works Rerum Medicarum Libri Quatuor

He is the author of a Latin work, entitled, Rerum Medicarum Libri Quatuor, which is sometimes attributed to a person named Octavius Horatianus. The first book treats of external diseases, the second of internal, the third of female diseases, and the fourth of physiology, &c. The author, in his preface, speaks against the learned and wordy disputes held by physicians at the bedside of the patient, and also their putting their whole reliance upon foreign remedies in preference to those which were indigenous. Several of the medicines which he mentions himself are absurd and superstitious; the style and language of the work are bad; and altogether it is of little interest and value. Editions

It was first published in 1532, in which year two editions appeared, one at Strasburg, fol., and the other at Basel, 4to. Of these the latter is more correct than the other, but not so complete, as the whole of the fourth book is wanting, and also several chapters of the first and second books. It is also to be found in Kraut's Experimentarius Medicinae, Argent., fol., 1544, and in the Aldine Collection of Medici Antiqui Latini, 1547, fol., Venet.

A new edition was commenced by J. M. Bernhold, of which only the first volume was ever published (1791, 8vo. Ansbach), containing the first book and part of the second. On Diet

A work on Diet, which is sometimes attributed to Theodorus Priscianus, is noticed under Theodorus. Further Information

See Sprengel, Hist. de la Méd. ; Choulant, Handb. der Bücherkunde für die Aeltere Medicin. [W.A.G]

(1) A Latin grammarian of Caesarea, in Mauritania, who lived, at the beginning of the sixth century A.D., as a teacher of the Latin language in Constantinople. He there compiled, in addition to a number of smaller grammatical works, his Institutiones Grammaticae in eighteen books, the fullest and completest systematic Latin grammar which has come down to us. This work, which is of great importance owing to its ample quotations from ancient literature, was for a long time, in the Middle Ages, the school-book in ordinary use in the shape of an epitome by Rabanus Maurus, and formed the foundation for the earlier treatises on Latin grammar in modern times. We also possess an insipid panegyrical poem written by Priscian on the emperor Anastasius, a translation of the Cosmography of the geographer Dionysius, in hexameter verse, besides a grammatical catechism on twelve lines of the Aeneid for school use, a treatise on accent, a treatise on declension, a treatise on symbols for coins and weights, a treatise on the metres of Terence, a translation of the Προγυμνάσματα (Praeexercitamenta) of Hermogenes, a poem De Sideribus, and two epigrams. The best editions of Priscianus are those of Krehl (Leipzig, 1819-20) in 2 vols. and Keil in his Grammatici Latini (1855). (See grammatica.)

(2) A physician, who lived in the fifth century, named Theodōrus Prisciānus, has left us a Medicina Praesentanea (a book of rapid curatives) in five books.

(3) Lydus, a Neo-Platonic philosopher in the reign of Justinian. He wrote a paraphrase and commentary on the physics of Theophrastus (Metaphrasis in Theophrastum), and Solutiones to certain philosophic questions. His remains are edited by Bywater (1886).