Obsequium: una parola difficile, alla prova dei commenti antichi a Virgilio

Vergil never uses the word obsequium in his poetry, while his Late Antique commentators often use it. For Servius it is a semi-technical word, that has a specific meaning; Servius Danielis and Tiberius Claudius Donatus apply it to a field, that of the relationship between power and subordinates, which seems to reflect a proto-imperial usage. Lastly, Donatus gives it a wide range of moral values.