Dios Rome, Volume 1 | Page 5

against him. After
Zonaras's day both One to Twenty-one and Sixty-one to Eighty suffer
the corruption of moth and of worm.
[Footnote 1: Iahni Annales, vol. 141, p. 290 sqq.]
The world has, then, in this twentieth century, those entire books of Dio
which have already been mentioned,--Thirty-six to Sixty,--and
something more. Let us first consider, accordingly, the condition in
which this intact remnant has come down to the immediate present, and
afterward the sources on which we have to depend for a knowledge of
the lost portion.
There are eleven manuscripts for this torso of Roman History, taking
their names from the library of final deposit, but they are not all, by any
means, of equal value. First come Mediceus A (referred to in this book
as Ma), Vaticanus A, Parisinus A, and Venetus A (Va) of the first class;
then Mediceus B of the second class; finally, Parisinus B, Escorialensis,
Turinensis, Vaticanus B, and Venetus B, with the mongrel Vesontinus,
which occupies a position in this group best designated, perhaps, as
2-1/2.
Vaticanus A has been copied from Mediceus A, and Parisinus A from
Vaticanus A, so that they are practically one with their archetype.
Venetus A is of equal age and authority with Mediceus A. One can not
now get back of these two codices. There is none of remoter date for
Dio save the parchment Cod. Vat. 1288, containing most of Books
Seventy-eight and Seventy-nine,--a portion of the work for the moment
not under discussion. Coming to the second class, Mediceus B is a joint
product of copying from the two principal MSS. just mentioned. In the

third class, Parisinus B is a copy of Mediceus B with a little at the
opening taken from Mediceus A. This was the version selected as a
guide by Robert Estienne in the first important edition of Dio ever
published (A.D. 1548). All the rest, Escorialensis, Turinensis,
Vaticanus B, and Venetus B are mere offshoots of Parisinus B. The
Vesontinus codex is derived partly from Venetus A and partly from
some manuscript of the third class.
The parchment manuscript to which allusion was made above is only
some three centuries later than the time of Dio himself. It covers the
ground from Book 78, 2, 2, to 79, 8, 3 inclusive (ordinary division). It
belonged to Orsini, and after his death (A.D. 1600) became the
property of the Vatican Library. It is square in shape and consists of
thirteen leaves, each containing three columns of uncials. In spite of its
age it is fairly overflowing with errors of every sort, many of which
have been emended by an unknown corrector who also wrote in uncials;
this same corrector would appear to have added the last leaf. And there
are a few additions in minuscules by a still later hand. The leaves are
very thin and in some places the ink has completely faded, showing
only the impression of the pen. For specimen illustrations of this codex
see Silvestre (Paléographie Universelle II, plate 7), Tischendorf (cod.
Sinait. plate 20) and Boissevain's Cassius Dio (Vol. III).
The dates of these codices (centuries indicated by Arabic numerals) are
about as follows:
I. Mediceus A-Ma- (11) I. Venetus A-Va- (11) I. Vaticanus A (15) I.
Parisinus A (17) II. Mediceus B (15) III. Parisinus B (15) III. Venetus
B (15) III. Vaticanus B (15) I. and III. Vesontinus (15) III. Turinensis
(16) III. Escorialensis (?) I. Codex Vaticanus græcus No. 1288 (5-6).
Mediceus A contains practically Books Thirty-six to Fifty-four, and
Venetus A Books Forty-one to Sixty (two "decades"). As they are both
the oldest copies extant and the sources of all the others, modern
editors would confine themselves to them exclusively but for the fact
that in each some gaps are found. In Mediceus A, for instance, two
quaternions (sixteen leaves) are lacking at the start, Leaf 7 is gone from
the third quaternion, Leaves 1 and 8 from the fourth; from the

thirty-first (now Quaternion 29) Leaf 1 has been cut, from the
thirty-third and last Leaf 5 has disappeared. Likewise in Venetus A
there are some gaps, especially near the end, in Book Sixty, where three
leaves are missing. Hence (without stopping to take up gaps and breaks
in detail) it may be said that the general plan pursued at the present day
is to adopt a reading drawn for each book from the following sources
respectively:
Book 36. Mediceus A, with lacuna of chapters 3-19 incl., supplied by
the mutual corrections of Vaticanus A and Parisinus B.
Books 37 to 49. Mediceus A.
Books 50 to 54. Vaticanus A (vice Mediceus A).
Books 55 to 59. Venetus A.
Book 60. Venetus A, except chapter 17, sections 7 to 20, and chapter
22, section 3, to chapter 26, section 2,--two passages supplied