Editing Remmius Palaemon

{{short description|1st century AD Roman grammarian}}
'''Quintus Remmius Palaemon'''<ref>{{harvp|Kolendo|1984}}.</ref> or '''Quintus Rhemnius Fannius Palaemon'''<ref name=burman>{{harvp|Burman|1731}}.</ref> was a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Philologist|grammarian]] and a native of [[Vicentia]]. He lived during the reigns of [[Roman Emperor|Emperors]] [[Tiberius]] and [[Claudius]].

== Life <span class="anchor" id="Biography"></span><span class="anchor" id="History"></span>==
From [[Suetonius' minor works|Suetonius]],<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''De Grammaticis'', 23.</ref> we learn that he was originally a [[slavery|slave]] who obtained his freedom and taught grammar at [[Rome]].<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Palaemon, Quintus Remmius |volume=20 |page=523}}</ref> Suetonius preserves several anecdotes of his profligate and arrogant character.<ref name=EB1911/> He was said to be so steeped in luxury that he bathed several times a day. Tiberius and Claudius both felt he was too dissolute to allow boys and young men to be entrusted to him. He referred to the great grammarian [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] as a "pig". However, he had a remarkable memory and wrote poetry in unusual meters, and he enjoyed a great reputation as a teacher;<ref name=EB1911/> [[Quintilian]] and [[Aulus Persius Flaccus|Persius]] are said to have been his pupils.<ref name=EB1911/>

==Works==
His lost ''Ars'',<ref>[[Juvenal]], 7.215.</ref> a system of [[Latin grammar|grammar]] much used in his own time and largely drawn upon by later grammarians, contained rules for correct [[diction]], illustrative quotations and discussed [[barbarism (linguistics)|barbarism]]s and [[solecism]]s.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>[[Juvenal]], 6.452.</ref> An extant ''[[Ars grammatica]]'' (discovered by [[Jovianus Pontanus]] in the 15th century) and other unimportant treatises on similar subjects have been wrongly ascribed to him.<ref name=EB1911/>

Among Palaemon's ascribed works is a ''Song on Weights and Measures'' (''{{lang|la|Carmen de Ponderibus et Mensuris}}'')<ref>''[[Poetae Latini Minores (Burman)|PLM]]'', 5.71–82.</ref><ref name=burman/> now dated to between the late 4th and early 6th centuries.<ref>F. Hultsch, Metrologicorum scriptorum reliquiae 2, 1866, 88-98.</ref><ref>J. Gruber, "Carmen de ponderibus et mensuris" in ''[[Der Neue Pauly]]'' (2006 [1964]).</ref> In this poem, first edited in 1528,<ref>{{citation |last=Johann |first=Setzer |title=Aurelij Cornelij Celsi, De re medica, libri octo eruditissimi. Q. Sereni Samonici Praecepta medica, uersibus hexametris. Q. Rhemnij Fannij Palaemonis, De ponderibus [et] mensuris, liber rarus [et] utilissimus }}. {{in lang|la}}</ref> the term ''gramma'' is used for a weight equal to two  [[obolus|oboli]].<ref>{{citation |first=Charlton T. |last=Lewis |author2-first=Charles |author2-last=Short |display-authors=1 |title=A Latin Dictionary |contribution-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dgramma2 |contribution=gramma |date=1879 }}.</ref> (Two oboli—a ''diobol''—corresponds to 1/24th of a [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Weight|Roman ounce]] or about 1.14 grams.) This eventually led to the adoption of the term ''[[gram]]'' as a unit of weight (''poids'', later of mass) by the French [[National Convention]] in 1795.

== References ==
===Citation===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
<!--primary sources-->
* {{citation |title=Poetae Latini Minores sive Gratii Falisci Cynegeticon, M. Aurelii Olympii Nemesiani Cynegeticon, Et Ejusdem Eclogae IV, T. Calpurnii Siculi Eclogae VII, <!--sic-->Claudii Rutilii Numatiani Iter, Q. Serenus Samonicus De Medicina, Vindicianus sive Marcellus De Medicina, Q. Rhemnius Fannius Palaemon De Ponderibus & Mensuris, et Sulpiciae Satyra cum integris Doctorum Virorum Notis & quorumdam excerptis |last=Burman |first=Pieter [Petrus Burmannus] |volume=[https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10218465?page=9 Vols. I] & [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10218466?page=7 II] |location=Leiden |publisher=Conrad Wishoff & Daniël Gödval |date=1731 |author-link=Pieter Burman the Elder }}. {{in lang|la}}
* {{citation |first=C. |last=Marschall |title=De Remmii Palaemonis Libris Grammaticis |date=1887 }}. {{in lang|la}}
<!--secondary sources-->
* {{citation |first=J. |last=Kolendo |contribution=De Q. Remmio Palaemone Grammatico et Agricola |title=Meander |number=39 |date=1984 |pages=407–418 }}. {{in lang|la}}
* {{citation |first=Henry |last=Nettleship |author-link=Henry Nettleship |contribution=Latin Grammar in the First Century |title=Journal of Philology |number=15 |date=1886 }}.
* {{citation |first=R.M. |last=Olenic |contribution=Reconstitution de l'Ars grammatica de Q. Remmius Palémon |title=Problèmes de Philologie Classique |volume=III |location=Lvov |publisher=Univ. I. Franka |date=1963 |pages=98–107 }}.
* {{citation |first=John Edwin |last=Sandys |author-link=John Edwin Sandys |title=History of Classical Scholarship, ''2nd ed.'' |date=1906 }}.

==External links==
*[http://kaali.linguist.jussieu.fr/CGL/bgl.jsp?query=Palaemon Bibliography on Palaemon at ''Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum'']
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/de_Grammaticis*.html Suetonius's ''De Grammaticis'' in English translation]

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[[Category:Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen]]
[[Category:Grammarians of Latin]]
[[Category:Ancient linguists]]
[[Category:1st-century Romans]]