The so-called subscriptions of Calliopius in the medieval tradition of Terence

The medieval manuscripts of Terence’s comedies follow them with the phrase « Calliopius recensui ». Scholarship has always considered this a record of diorthosis, inher- ited, like other such records in copies of classical writers, from late antiquity. Close examination of the manuscripts nearest the sources of medieval tradition shows otherwise. « Calliopius recensui » was either alien to these books at the moment of their execution or a recent addition to their underlying tradition. The words are accordingly the work of Carolingian masters. What they sought to express by them is not entirely obvious : « revised by Calliopius » is to be sure a possibility, but « recited by Calliopius » would be more in accordance with Carolingian lore about Terence’s life and about Roman stage practice.