This splendidly edited book, which originated as a doctoral thesis (KU Leuven, 2015), fills a significant gap in the study of the history of western linguistics. It is beyond any doubt that ancient grammar, especially in its systematization in the form of handbooks and commentaries, has received much greater attention than any other ancient linguistic reflection: a pagan and traditional product, grammar belongs “to a normative and prescriptive tradition in its own right” (p. 4). This explains and justifies a seemingly (at first) shocking decision of Tim Denecker, namely not to include in his corpus the language manuals “composed by early Christian Latin authors” (with the exception of Isidore’s Book I of Etymologiae, as indicated on p. 262, n. 4). Even if some peculiarities have been highlighted in ancient grammar books written by Christians, little more than some examples diverge from the books by their pagan counterparts, and the use of “Christian” examples is anyway quite limited in authors earlier than Priscian (one can note, e.g., horum Samuel(i)um in Pallad. gramm. IV 120.12, and the earlier Adam and Abraham in Char. gramm. p. 151.15–17 [ex Romano]).

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