An Anonymous Ancient Commentary on Ovid’s Metamorphoses?

Abstract When you were a boy, I think you read the commentaries of Asper on Vergil and Sallust, Vulcatius on the speeches of Cicero, Victorinus on his dialogues; my own teacher Donatus on Terence’s comedies and Vergil; and others on other works: Plautus, Lucretius, Flaccus, Persius and Lucan. Perhaps the most conspicuous omission from Jerome’s well-known list of ancient commentaries on the Latin Classics is Ovid. Naturally it would be unwise to assume the list comprehensive, but it is in fact a pretty good guide so long as we bear in mind that, though writing in 401, Jerome is referring to the period of his schooldays in the 350s. This would explain why he mentions Aelius Donatus rather than Servius (ca 420) on Vergil, and says nothing of commentaries on Statius and Juvenal, both of which probably date from the early fifth century. That the omission of Ovid, Juvenal, and Statius at any rate is not casual is suggested by the fact that, while Jerome quotes from or alludes to most of the writers on his list freely and often, only three allusions to Ovid have been found, four to Juvenal, and none at all to Statius. The equally well-read Augustine seems not have known either Ovid or Statius.