Dios Rome, Volume 1 | Page 7

are contained in somewhat less
than a dozen manuscripts, all of which prove to have sprung from a
Spanish archetype (since destroyed by fire) that Juan Paez de Castro
owned in the sixteenth century. Many of the copies were made by
Andreas Darmarius. The first publisher of these selections was Fulvio
Orsini (= Ursinus), who brought them out at Antwerp in 1582. As their
name indicates, they are accounts of embassies sent either by the
Romans to foreign tribes or by foreign tribes to the Romans. Some of
them are taken from Cassius Dio; hence their importance here.
Now it was the custom of the earlier editors to arrange the (early)
fragments of Dio according to the groups from which they were taken:
(1) the so-called Fragmenta Valesia (pickings from grammarians,
lexicographers, scholiasts), edited by the same Henri de Valois above

mentioned; (2) the Fragmenta Peiresciana (= Excerpts Concerning
Virtues and Vices); (3) the Fragmenta Ursina (= Excerpts Concerning
Embassies); and finally, in the edition of Sturz[4] (4) Excerpta Vaticana
(= Excerpts Concerning Judgments and the now rejected "Planudean
Excerpts"). The above grouping has been abandoned and a strictly
chronological order followed in all the later editions, including Bekker,
Dindorf, Melber, Boissevain.
[Footnote 4: See p. 22.]
The body of Fragments preceding Book Thirty-six cites, in addition to
the collections mentioned, the following works or authors:
Anecdota Græca of Immanuel Bekker (1785-1871), a scholar of vast
attainments and profound learning in classical literature. These
Anecdota are excerpts made from various Greek manuscripts found in
the course of travels extending through France, Italy, England, and
Germany. There were three volumes, appearing from 1814 to 1821.
Antonio Melissa.--A Greek monk living between 700 and 1100 A.D.
He collected two books of quotations from early Christian Fathers (one
hundred and seventy-six titles) on the general subject of Virtues and
Vices.
Arsenius.--Archbishop of Monembasia: age of the Revival of Learning.
Cedrenus.--A Greek monk of the eleventh century who compiled a
historical work ([Greek: Synopsis historiôn]) the scope of which
extended from the creation to 1057 A.D. He gives no evidence of
historical knowledge or the critical sense, but rather of great credulity
and a fondness for legends. His treatise is, moreover, largely
plagiarized from the Annals of Ioannes Scylitzes Curopalates.
Cramer, J.A.--An Oxford scholar who published two collections of
excerpts (similar to those of Bekker) between 1835 and 1841. The
collection referred to in our text had its source in manuscripts of the
Royal Library in Paris. It was in three octavo volumes.

Etymologicum Magnum.--A lexicon of uncertain date, after Photius
(886 A.D.) and before Eustathius. This dictionary contains many
valuable citations from lost Greek works. First edition, Venice, 1499.
Eustathius.--Archbishop of Thessalonica and the most learned man of
his age (latter half of the twelfth century). His most important
composition is his Commentary on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in which
he quotes vast numbers of authors unknown to us now except by name.
First edition, Rome, 1542-1550.
Glossary of C. Labbæus, the editor of Ancient Glosses of Law Terms,
published in Paris, 1606.
John of Antioch.--Author of a work called "Chronological History from
Adam" quoted in the Excerpts Concerning Virtues and Vices (vid.
supra). Internal evidence indicates that the book was written after 610
and before 900 A.D.
John of Damascus.--A voluminous ecclesiastical writer belonging to
the reigns of Leo Isauricus and Constantine VII. (approximately from
700 to 750 A.D.). He was an opponent of the iconoclastic movement.
The best edition of his works was published at Paris in 1712. The
passage cited in our Fragments is from [Greek: peri Drakontôn], a
mutilated essay on dragons standing between a "Dialogue Between a
Saracen and a Christian" and a "Discussion of the Holy Trinity."
John Laurentius Lydus.--A Byzantine writer, born at Philadelphia (the
city of Revelation, III, 7), in 490 A.D. Although he was famed during
his lifetime as a poet, all his verses have perished. The work cited in
our Fragments,--"Concerning the Offices of the Roman Republic, in
Three Books,"--had a curious history. For centuries it was regarded as
lost, but about 1785 nine tenths of it was discovered by De Villoison in
a MS. in the suburbs of Constantinople. It was published in Paris,
1811.--Laurentius in the course of his career held important political
posts and received two important literary appointments from the
Emperor Justinian I.
Suidas.--A lexicographer of the tenth century, composer of the most

comprehensive Greek dictionary of early times. It is a manual at once
of language and of antiquities. Inestimable as its value is, the
workmanship is careless and uneven. The arrangement is alphabetical.
John Tzetzes.--A Greek grammarian of the twelfth century. His
learning was great but scarcely equaled his self-conceit, as repeatedly
displayed in passages of his works. Many of his writings are still extant.
One of these is called