FESTUS

Sextus Pompeius Festus; a Roman scholar, who probably flourished in the 2nd century A.D. He made an abridgment of the great lexical work of Verrius Flaccus, De Verborum Significatu, using at the same time other works of the same author. The abridgment, arranged in alphabetical order, and containing twenty books, superseded its original. Of Festus' own work we have only the second half (the letters M-V) in a very imperfect state. The rest is preserved in a meagre epitome made by the priest Paulus, in the age of Charles the Great. Slight as are these remains of the original work of Verrius, they are very valuable for the fulness of select grammatical and antiquarian notices which they contain.