Why do only fragments of Ennius’s Annales survive?

Only fragments of the Annales by Quintus Ennius survive primarily because the work was not consistently recopied as the format of books transitioned from papyrus rolls to vellum or parchment codices. During the later Roman Empire, the survival of classical texts depended heavily on whether they were selected for preservation by scholars and commentators.1

While authors such as Virgil, Horace, and Terence were protected by the literary tastes of the time, which favored specific rhetorical styles, earlier authors like Ennius fell out of favor and were eventually neglected. Consequently, works that were not actively copied were lost to history, a fate shared by much of ancient Latin literature due to the ravages of time, war, and fire. Today, only about 600 lines of the Annales remain.1234