Alle soglie dei commentarii: dall’epistola prefatoria al prologus geronimiano

Abstract

The article examines the features of the proemial prose epistle. After
an excursus concerning Latin works both in the classic and imperial
age, the author compares the dedicatory epistle surviving from Donatus’
Commentary on Vergil with the pattern of several prologi of
his disciple Jerome. The examined passages highlight an increasing
assimilation of the terms epistula, praefatio and prologus.