S. offers a short introduction to, an edition and translation of and a commentary on Proba's Cento. In the introduction she discusses general questions such as the identity of the author, the date of composition, the content of the poem, the various allusive modes of the Cento, metre and transmission. The text follows Schenkl's 1888 edition (CSEL 16.1, pp. 569–609) except for lines 37, 38 and 42, and its apparatus criticus contains a selective list of major manuscript variants. The translation – Italian prose printed in lines – follows the Latin text fairly closely echoing even tense changes (e.g. 456–68) typical of the cento technique. The commentary makes up the bulk of the volume (203 pages). Each section of the text is introduced in a paragraph of its own, for example the creation, the flood, the sermon on the mount, followed by a line-by-line commentary. In large sections there are additional entries for each subsection (e.g. the first day of the creation). Before the select bibliography, which closes the book, there is an one-page index of biblical passages and an extensive list of the original Virgilian lines that make up the text of the cento (including Proba's morphological changes to the original lines).

In the introduction, S. confirms the most common identification of Proba as Faltonia Betitia Proba (a.d. 322~370), wife of Clodius Celsinus Adelphius, and dates the cento to the 360s. She explains the structure of the poem, consisting of episodes from the Old and New Testament and linked by a second prooemium, as the story of God's salvation of humankind from the creation to Christ's ascension. Unlike other scholars, and perhaps rightly, S. does not engage with the allegedly different concepts of intertextuality in the preface of Proba's Cento (line 23: Vergilium cecinisse loquar pia munera Christi) and in the dedication to Arcadius (lines 3–4: Maronem / mutatum in melius), which is transmitted on some medieval manuscripts together with Proba's Cento. Instead, the section on intertextuality in the introduction contains general remarks (such as which Virgilian lines/episodes are used repeatedly) and technical notes (e.g. on enjambement) on Proba's composition and the late antique reception of the poem. In the commentary, on the other hand, the allusions to Virgil, i.e. the lines underlying Proba's text, are explained in fair detail one by one. This creates as a typical pattern for the entries of the commentary an introductory statement identifying the model lines, followed by an explanation of the original context(s) and finally an interpretation of the cento passage in light of the model episode(s). Given the nature of Proba's work, this is a natural and useful format, but it can also be a challenge to the reader's attention (as most commentaries are). This challenge could perhaps have been made easier by a more substantial introduction or another form of highlighting key points and passages, especially in view of the fact that the average Classicist's knowledge of Proba's text is rather limited. As it is, commitment on the part of the reader will pay out though it may be feared that a number of interesting points will be lost to most in the bulk of the commentary. Not only unexpected passages (e.g. the biographical excursus in 415–28 following Jesus' baptism) but also exegetical statements such as the connection between the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and that of Eve in paradise, made on the grounds of the snake with which Allecto infects Amata (Aen. 7.351), as well as considerations of where Proba used which Biblical sources (see e.g. on 372–6 or 621–3), are all out there for discovery and further investigation. The commentary is therefore perhaps most useful for those who know what they are looking for and where they are likely to find it, but is still to be commended for offering much useful information, such as discussions of textual problems, of previous interpretations, references to secondary literature and the commentator's own judgement, all usually well argued.

The book has been carefully produced with a pleasant layout. Minor inconsistencies include the omission of the first name initials of some authors in the short bibliography on pp. 328–31, which may (or not) have contributed to Opelt's mistaken gender in the discussion of 621–3 (p. 276). I found the list of Virgilian source lines at the back of the book less useful than if it had been presented next to or below the text. None of this, however, diminishes the value of this book as a major contribution to the study of Proba's Cento and as an excellent basis for further research on this fascinating text.