L'uso di 'epos' nella letteratura latina. Questioni testuali ed esegetiche (Lucilio, Orazio, Ovidio, Stazio, Marziale) e la definizione in Diomede (GLK III 483.27 ss.)

The contribution explores the use of 'epos' in Latin literature, a very rare and often uncertain term in the manuscripts, in contrast with its later fortune. Starting from the examination of the detailed definition of Diomedes' Ars grammatica, all the five attestations of epos in Latin poets (Lucilius, Horace, Ovid, Statius and Martial) are examinated, evaluating readings and conjectures in the search for the more reliable text, on the basis of the context and parallel passages. Research shows that the term in the Greek-Latin world had a partially different meaning from the current one, suitable for other literary genres, in addition to the epic poetry.