Reference edition:
Rhetores Latini Minores, ex codicibus maximam partem primum adhibitis emendabat Carolus Halm, Lipsiae 1863, 590-592 (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana).
The Libellus de statibus is a short rhetorical work attributed to an unknown Clodianus. It has come down to us through a miscellany, ms. Bern, Bürgerbibliothek 363, of the 9th c., which also contains Servius’ commentary (B) and Horace. The treatise consists of just three pages in Halm’s edition (Rhetores Latini Minores: 590-592), and these are only partially concordant with what the title leads us to expect. In fact, the first sixteen lines are the sole ones dedicated to status; after these come sixty lines on the meanings of names (a theme that was also treated by Boethius) and a short ethical section dedicated to knowing oneself. As early as Halm it was recognized that the treatise consists of different texts that were collected by the copyists and attributed to Clodianus because — most likely — he was the author of the first rhetorical section. It is impossible to say anything precise about the text’s dating. [A. Balbo; tr. C. L. Caterine].