A New Manuscript of Tiberius Claudius Donatus at UNC-Chapel Hill

This thesis presents Folio MS 539 in the Rare Book Collection at Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, which contains the Interpretationes Vergilianae of Tiberius Claudius Donatus on books 6-12 of the Aeneid. The first chapter describes the manuscript itself from a paleographic perspective and argues for its originating in the region of Veneto in Italy circa 1465. The second chapter collates the text of the manuscript against other known manuscripts and the standard modern edition. The third chapter uses the conclusions of the first two to place the Wilson Library manuscript within the textual transmission of the Interpretationes Vergilianae. The fourth chapter, finally, presents the unique text with which the manuscript opens, accompanied by a commentary, and discusses what this supplement reveals about the treatment of Donatus' work by the humanists who rediscovered it