Monumenta rerum ac disciplinarum: Varro's Literary Role in Gellius Noctes Atticae Book 3

Abstract

While traditional studies of authors cited by Aulus Gellius have focused on extracting the fragments quoted in the Noctes Atticae, this article examines the role these citations play within the work itself. The Republican scholar Varro looms large throughout the Noctes Atticae, and Gellius' use of his works represents an important hermeneutic for understanding Gellius' intellectual program. By examining the deployment of linked Varronian citations throughout Gellius' third book, this article argues for both the centrality of such quotations in recognizing a unified intellectual plan of the Noctes Atticae, and the corresponding importance of Varro for Gellius' literary persona.