1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Asper, Aemilius

ASPER, AEMILIUS, Latin grammarian, possibly lived in the 2nd century A.D. He wrote commentaries on Terence, Sallust and Virgil. Numerous fragments of the last show that as both critic and commentator he possessed good judgment and taste. They are printed in Keil, Probi in Vergilii Bucolica Commentarius (1848); see also Suringar, Historia Critica Scholiastarum Latinorum (1834); Gräfenhan, Geschichte der klassischen Philologie im Alterthum. iv. (1843–1850). Two short grammatical treatises, extant under the name of Asper, and of very little value, have nothing to do with the commentator, but belong to a much later date—the time of Priscian (6th century). Both are printed in Keil, Grammatici Latini. See also Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, § 598.