Vergilius Augusteus

What makes the Vergilius Augusteus so famous? The philologist will answer that it is one of the oldest extant copies of Virgil’s work. However, at the same time he will have to admit that the modest number of verses – 284 out of originally nearly 13,000 – limits its importance as a textual witness considerably. In fact, had the fragments never appeared, it would have made little difference to the current critical edition of Virgil’s opera maiora. The paleographer will uphold the Vergilius Augusteus as one of the few remains of a rare form of Late-Classical majuscule script, the Capitalis quadrata. However, being a somewhat artificial branch on the tree of Latin handwriting, this particular form of lettering was of short duration and did not notably influence the development that followed. For the art historian the Vergilius Augusteus is a document of primary historical importance, since its fifteen decorated initials mark the beginning of the development that in due time would lead to the virtually numberless initials in thousands upon thousands of Medieval manuscripts. Thus, it may be said that the greatest importance of the Vergilius Augusteus resides in its decoration, for all the latter’s seeming modesty.