Writings
The four extant works attributed to Fulgentius include (listed in what is believed to be chronological order):
- Mythologiae (Mythologies)
- Expositio continentiae Virgilianae secundum philosophos moralis (The Exposition of the Content of Virgil According to Moral Philosophy)
- Expositio sermonum antiquorum (The Explanation of Obsolete Words)
- De aetatibus mundi et hominis (On the Ages of the World and of Man)
A fifth work, which in the past has been attributed to Fulgentius is the Super Thebaiden (On the Thebaid). The manuscript ascribes the work to “S. Fulgencius Episcopus”, whom Rudolf Helm (the first modern publisher of Fulgentius’ work) considered to be the mythographer. This work was not included in the Carolingian manuscripts (possibly because it did not exist at this time), but was included in Helm’s 1897 edition of the works of Fulgentius, albeit with strong reservations. While there is no consensus on the authenticity of the treatise, there is strong evidence to assume the work as a product of the 12th-century, by a writer imitating the allegorical style of Fulgentius. This is not to say that the work was a forgery, but more likely that it was mistakenly attributed to Fulgentius as a result of scribal error.
In addition to these, Fulgentius mentions other works that have not survived to this day. In the first prologue to the Mythologies he mentions earlier satirical poems, and in the Content of Virgil he makes reference to his work on physiology.
Read more about this topic: Fabius Planciades Fulgentius
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head them, a cherished entry will be “To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one’s own writings in translation.””
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature, that a man, having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writings of others at discretion. Thought is the property of him who can entertain it; and of him who can adequately place it. A certain awkwardness marks the use of borrowed thoughts; but, as soon as we have learned what to do with them, they become our own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)