Robinson Ellis was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 classical scholar.

He was born at Barming

Barming

Barming is a civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It lies to the west of Maidstone, the county town, and had a population of 2234 persons . The eastern end of the parish is part of the built-up area of Maidstone, although the remainder is much more rural...

, near Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, and was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey

Elizabeth College, Guernsey

Elizabeth College is an independent school in the town of St Peter Port, Guernsey, founded in 1563 under the orders of Queen Elizabeth I.- History :...

, Rugby School

Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

, and Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

. In 1858 he became fellow of Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, and in 1870 professor of Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 at University College, London. In 1876 he returned to Oxford, where from 1883 to 1893 he held the university readership in Latin. In 1893 he succeeded Henry Nettleship

Henry Nettleship

Henry Nettleship was an English classical scholar.Nettleship was born at Kettering, and was educated at Lancing College, Durham School and Charterhouse schools, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1861, he was elected to a fellowship at Lincoln, which he vacated on his marriage in 1870...

 as professor.

His chief work was on Catullus

Catullus

Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...

, whom he began to study in 1859. In the course of his research he discovered an important early manuscript of Catullus, named the Codex Oxoniensis. However, Ellis did not recognise the importance of his own discovery, and failed to consult it for his Commentary on Catullus (1876), thereby attracting criticism. In 1889 he produced a second, enlarged edition, which resulted its author's recognition as an authority on Catullus. Professor Ellis quoted largely from the early Italian commentators, maintaining that the land where the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 originated had done more for scholarship than is commonly recognized. He has supplemented his critical work by a translation (1871, dedicated to Alfred Tennyson) of the poems in the metres of the originals.

Another author to whom Professor Ellis devoted many years' study was Manilius

Marcus Manilius

Marcus Manilius was a Roman poet, astrologer, and author of a poem in five books called Astronomica.-Criticism:The author of Astronomica is neither quoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his name is uncertain, but it was probably Marcus Manilius; in the earlier books the author is...

, the astrological

Astrology

Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...

 poet. In 1891 he published Nodes Manilianae, a series of dissertations on the Astronomica, with emendations. He also treated Avianus

Avianus

Avianus, a Latin writer of fables, generally placed in the 5th century, and identified as a pagan.The 42 fables which bear his name are dedicated to a certain Theodosius, whose learning is spoken of in most flattering terms. He may possibly be Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, the author of...

, Velleius Paterculus

Marcus Velleius Paterculus

Marcus Velleius Paterculus was a Roman historian, also known simply as Velleius. Although his praenomen is given as Marcus by Priscian, some modern scholars identify him with Gaius Velleius Paterculus, whose name occurs in an inscription on a north African milestone .-Biography:Paterculus belonged...

 and the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 poet Orientius

Orientius

- Biography and work :He wrote the elegiac poem Commonitorium of 1036 verses describing the way to heaven, with warnings against its hindrances...

, whom he edited for the Vienna Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum. He edited the Ibis of Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

, the Aetna of the younger Lucilius

Lucilius Junior

Lucilius Junior , was the Roman governor of Sicily during the reign of Nero, a friend and correspondent of Seneca, and the possible author of Aetna, a poem which survives in a corrupt state.-Life:...

, and contributed to the Anecdota Oxoniensia various unedited Bodleian

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 and other manuscripts. In 1907 he published Appendix Vergiliana

Appendix Vergiliana

The Appendix Vergiliana is a collection of poems traditionally ascribed as juvenilia of Virgil, although it is likely that all the pieces are in fact spurious...

(an edition of the minor poems); in 1908 The Annalist Licinianus

Granius Licinianus

Granius Licinianus was a Roman author of historical and encyclopedic works that survive only in fragments. He most likely lived at the time of Hadrian.-History:...

.

External links

• Works by Robinson Ellis at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...