Festus

Festus, SEXTUS POMPEIUS, a Latin grammarian, who flourished most probably in the 2d century A.D., and is one of our most important authorities on the Latin language. His epitome of the great work (now lost) of Verrius Flaccus, De Verborum Significatione, was arranged alphabetically in twenty books, of which only the latter half (M—V) survives, and even that in a single deplorably mutilated MS. This came from Illyria, and fell into the hands of Pomponius Lætus, a distinguished scholar of the 15th century. It ultimately passed into the library of Cardinal Farnese at Parma, and is now preserved at Naples. The work, in spite of all its imperfections, is a grand storehouse of knowledge on points of mythology, grammar, and antiquities. We have, too, a meagre abstract of Festus's abstract, compiled by a priest Paulus in Charlemagne's time. All previous editions of Festus are of little value compared with that of K. O. Müller (1839), in which he has made use of the Farnese MS. and other sources, distinguishing the value of each.