UNA LEGGENDA NERONIANA NEGLI «SCHOLIA IN IUVENALEM RECENTIORA» CON UN’APPENDICE SU UNA GLOSSA ALLA «CONSOLATIO PHILOSOPHIAE» DI BOEZIO

The grotesque medieval legend about Nero giving birth to a frog is associated with the false etymology of the toponym Lateranis, lata rana, i.e. ‘big frog’. Apparently, this correlation has been attested for the first time in the Scholia in Iuvenalem recentiora, ascribed to Remigius of Auxerre. Through the analysis of scholiastic, lexicographical, and literary sources, the present paper aims to uncover the origins of this peculiar connection between Lateranis, Nero, and the legend itself. Particular attention has been paid to a series of details which the Carolingian master records whenever he finds precise references (or even allusions) to Nero in Juvenal’s Satires. Moreover, a brief appendix discusses the authorship of an anecdotal version of the Emperor’s death by focusing on another gloss about Nero: such annotation, occurring in a few manuscripts of the Consolatio Philosophiae and previously attributed to Remigius himself, seems to open a path to further investigations on the relations between the so-called School of Auxerre and the Abbey of Saint-Amand.