Terentius Scaurus (the praenomen ‘Quintus’ is attested in Charisius, 263, 11-12 B) was a famous grammarian, active during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (as Gellius 11,15,3 attests: Terentius autem Scaurus, divi Hadriani temporibus grammaticus vel nobilissimus[…]; likewise the Historia Augusta, Ver. 2,5: Audivit Scaurinum grammaticum Latinum, Scauri filium, qui grammaticus Hadriani fuit). Scaurus was the author of a treatise called De orthographia, almost all of which has come down to us intact, and of several other grammatical and exegetical texts, most of which have not survived and are known by attestations in other sources. 

Little is known of Scaurus’ life, but nonetheless many references to him clearly establish his authority and fame, offering some puzzle pieces to a biography that remains otherwise rather obscure. His birthplace and childhood home are unknown, although the treatise allows us to glimpse that his education followed the traces of Quintilian’s pedagogical doctrine. He has been identified with the Scaurus addressed in Pliny the Younger’s Epistle 5,12, where Pliny seeks his advice on one of his oratiuncula ((Plin. Epist. 5,12 Mynors: C. Plinius Terentio Scauro suo s. […] Tu velim quid de universo, quid de partibus sentias, scribas mihi. Ero enim vel cautior in continendo vel constantior in edendo, si huc vel illuc auctoritas tua accesserit); this letter confirms that Scaurus played an active cultural and literary role at the time and allows us to hypothesise that he was already active under Trajan. He is thought to have died by 138 or shortly thereafter, since Gellius attests to his relationship with Hadrian, but not with any later emperors. Scaurus’ enduring fame is attested by quotations in successive grammarians (Charisius, Diomedes, Priscian), and by references in writers like Ausonius (praef. 1, 18-20 Green; comm. 15, 12; 27, 7 Green; epist. 10, 27 Green) and Arnobius — even if this latter invokes him in the context of a polemical tirade on the linguistic practices of the pagans (Nat. 1, 59). 

 In addition to the Orthographia, several lost works are attributed to Scaurus: an Ars grammatica has been attributed by Charisius (169, 20 B.; 173, 4-5 B), who may also have written an epitome of the work (Law; Biddau); a Vergilian commentary has been attributed by Servius (ad Aen. 3,484) and the Veronese scoliiof the Aeneid(ad Aen. 4,146; 5, 95). Scaurus may also have written a commentary on Horace, as attested by Charisius (263,11-12 B; 272, 27-28) and Porphyrion (ad Hor. sat. 2,5,92): since Charisius mentions that the commentary contains ten books, scholars hypothesise that the commentary was on all of Horace’s collected works, and not only the Ars poetica(but Lo Monaco argues against the existence of a Scaurian commentary on Horace). The hypothesis that he wrote a commentary on Plautus has been dismissed (cfr. Biddau, XXIX-XXX n. 13), and while Gellius attributes to him a brief work on the errors of the grammarian Caesellius Vindex (11,15,3: Scaurus[…] inter alia quae ‘De Caeselli erroribus’ composuit[…]), Tempesti raises doubts about this (Quinto Terenzio Scauro, pp. 181-184: cfr. Biddau, XXX-XXXI). [Anita Di Stefano; tr. C. Belanger]