Dios Rome, Volume 1 | Page 8

Chiliades (or Thousands), a name bestowed by
its first editor, who divided the work into sections of one thousand lines
each. The subject-matter consists of the most miscellaneous historical
or mythological narratives or anecdotes, absolutely without connection.
Tzetzes copied these accounts from upward of four hundred
writers,--one of them being Cassius Dio. The Chiliades is written in the
so-called Versus politicus, or "political verse," which is really not verse
at all, but a kind of decadent doggerel.--A minor treatise by the same
author is the Exegesis of the Iliad of Homer, published by Hermann
(Leipzig, 1812).
Isaac Tzetzes, who has attracted less attention than his brother John, is
best known as the author of a commentary on the Cassandra of
Lycophron (a poem of 1474 iambic verses by a post-classical tragedian,
about 285 B.C., embodying the warnings of the royal prophetess and
couched in appropriately incomprehensible expressions). It was hardly
worth all the care that Tzetzes lavished upon it. From manuscript
evidence and various claims of John Tzetzes it seems that John worked
over, improved, and enlarged the commentary of his brother. Isaac's
name, however, still remains associated with this particular exposition.
We are now at length placed in a position to consider the condition of
the ultimate portion of the work, i.e., the last twenty books, Sixty-one
to Eighty inclusive. In general it may be said that for this section of the
history we are thrown back upon an epitome of Ioannes Xiphilinus,
who lived about fifty years earlier than the Ioannes Zonaras recently
under discussion. To this general statement there are two important
exceptions. First, even as early as Xiphilinus wrote (eleventh century)
nearly two books of this last portion had perished. Book Seventy,
containing the reign of Antoninus Pius, was entirely gone save a few

miserable chapters, and Book Seventy-one had suffered the same fate
in its beginning, so that our account of the renowned Marcus Aurelius
begins practically with the year 172 instead of 161. The gap thus
created has been partially filled by extracts of every conceivable quality
and merit, from Suidas, from John of Antioch, even from Asinius
Quadratus. This on the side of loss: on the side of gain there are
numerous little excerpts (just as in the case of the early books) that may
serve to fill crevices or cover scars, and above all there exists a
parchment manuscript, known as Vaticanus 1288, older than Mediceus
A, older than Venetus A, and containing Books Seventy-eight and
Seventy-nine probably very much as Dio wrote them, save that the
account is mutilated at beginning and end.
Boissevain concludes (by comparing the Table of Contents found with
a remark of Photius) that this particular piece of salvage was originally
Books Seventy-nine and Eighty (instead of Seventy-eight and
Seventy-nine), that Book Eighty of Dio was really what is now
commonly called Seventy-nine and Eighty, and that the so-called Book
Eighty (of only five chapters) was but a kind of epilogue to the whole
work. Whatever we may decide respecting the merits of his argument,
the important fact is that here for a short distance we have Dio's
original narrative, as in Books Thirty-six to Sixty, and are no longer
obliged to depend upon epitomes.
A word of explanation about Xiphilinus must come next. This
Xiphilinus was a native of Trapezos (Trebizond) and became a monk at
Constantinople. Here, at the behest of Michael VII. Ducas (1071-1078)
he made an abridgment of Books Thirty-six to Eighty of Dio; thus it is
his version of the lost books Sixty-one to Eighty on which we are
compelled to rely. His task was accomplished with an even greater
degree of carelessness than is customary in such compositions, and it
may be said that his ability or, at least, his good will is not nearly so
great as that of Zonaras. Yet he is largely a pis aller for the would-be
reader of Cassius Dio.
Whereas the original was divided arbitrarily into books, Xiphilinus
divided his condensation into "sections," each containing the life of one

emperor. Readers must further note that the present division of Books
Seventy-one to Eighty dates only from Leunclavius (1592, first edition)
and is not necessarily correct. Improvements in arrangement by
Boissevain (latest editor of Dio entire) are indicated in the present
translation, though for convenience of reference the old headlines are
still retained.
Before speaking of the editions through which Dio's Roman History has
passed it seems desirable to summarize briefly the condition of the
whole as explained in the preceding pages. Here is a bird's-eye view of
the whole situation.
Books 1-21 exist in Zonaras and various fragments. " 22-35 exist in
fragments only. " 36-54 exist in Dio's own words, and are found in
universally approved MSS. " 54-60 exist in generally approved MSS. "
60-69