Whose Line is it Anyway? Dialogue with Donatus in Late Antique and Early Medieval Schools
Elizabeth Archibald
The instructional works of the fourth-century grammarian Aelius Donatus set agenda and tone for elementary Latin education more than a millennium. rudimentary Donatus’s two manuals, Ars minor, takes form dialogue in which master apparently drills student on parts speech. text was enthusiastically used medieval classrooms, but commentators between sixth ninth centuries began to interpret roles differently, assigning questions responses - doubling down this interpretation by explaining importance young students learning ask questions. In absence pedagogical manuals from period, these commentaries reveal surprising dynamic ways that masters thought about texts practices an era rapidly changing Latinity education.
The Journal of medieval Latin