Aelius Donatus
By the time of the "Content of Virgil"'s writing, the tradition of allegorizing Virgil was not new. Aelius Donatus had already completed an allegorical exposition of passages of the "Aeneid" which closely resembles Fulgentius's ideas, indicating that they were probably not unique to Fulgentius. Furthermore, Fulgentius appears to have taken the idea of Virgil as a sage from the earlier writer Macrobius. However, it seems Fulgentius was original in his attempt to systematically interpret the entire "Aeneid". He also seems to be the first to attempt to explain the text in a way at least partly acceptable to Christian readers.