Fortunatianus, Curius
or Chi'rius, a Roman lawyer, flourished about the middle of the fifth century after Christ, a short time before Cassiodorus, by whom he is quoted.
Works
Artis Rhetoricae Scholicae Libri tres
Fortunatius drew up a compendium of technical rhetoric, by way of question and answer, in three books, compiled from the chief ancient authorities both Greek and Latin, under the title Curii Fortunatiani Consulti Artis Rhetoricae Scholicae Libri tres, a production which at one period was held in high esteem as a manual, from being at once comprehensive and concise.
Other writers with similar names
This writer must not be confounded with the Curius Fortunatianus who, as we are told by Capitolinus (Max. et Balb. 4), composed a history of the reign of Maximus and Balbinus, nor with Fortunatianus, an African, bishop of Aquileia, mentioned by St. Jerome (de Viris Ill. 97) as a commentator on the Gospels.
Editions
The Editio Princeps of the Ars Rhetorica was printed at Venice, fol. 1523, in a volume containing Rufinianus and other authors upon the same subject; a second edition, revised by P. Nannius, appeared at Louvain, 8vo. 1550; a third, by Erythraeus, at Strasburg, 8vo. 1568. The piece will be found also in the " Rhetores Latini Antiqui," of Pithou, Paris, 4to. 1599, p. 38-78.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.