Dion Cassius Cocceianus, born 155 A.D. at Nicæa, in Bithynia, was a grandson of Dion Chrysostom. He held many official positions under different Roman emperors from Commodus to Alexander Severus, but about 230 returned to Nicæa where he passed the remainder of his life. His great work consists of 80 books, divided into decades. It originally covered the whole history of Rome from the landing of Æneas in Italy down to 229 A.D., but unfortunately only a small portion of it has come down to us entire. We have books 36-54 complete, but of all the rest of the work only fragments and abridgments are extant. It was compiled with great diligence and judgment, and is one of the most important sources for the later republic and the first centuries of the empire. We have had occasion to quote the abridgment of Xiphilinus.
Dion Chrysostomos Cocceianus, λόγοι περὶ βασιλείας, edited by D. Paravisinus, Milan, 1476; and by Reiske, Leipsic, 1784, 2 vols.
Dion Chrysostom one of the most eminent rhetoricians and sophists, was born at Prusa, in Bithynia, about 50 A.D. His first visit to Rome was cut short by an edict of Domitian expelling all philosophers. After extended travels through Thrace and Scythia, he returned to Rome in the reign of Trajan, who showed him marked favour. He died at Rome about 117 A.D. Eighty of his orations are still extant, all the production of his later years. They possess only the form of orations, being in reality essays on moral, political, and religious subjects. They are distinguished for their refined and elegant style, being modelled upon the best writers of classic Greece.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ἀρχαιολογία, edited by F. Sylburg, Frankfort, 1586, 2 vols.; Latin translation by L. Biragus, Treviso, 1480; translated into English from the Greek by Edward Spelman, under the title of The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassensis, London, 1758.—Duchesne, André, Historiæ Francorum scriptores coetanei ab ipsius gentis origine ad Philippi IV tempora, Paris, 1636-1649, 5 vols.
Edictum Theodorici Regis, in Nivellius’ edition of Cassiodorus, Paris, 1579.—Eugippius, Vita Sancti Severini, in vol. I of Kirschengeschichte Deutschlands, also in vol. I of Auctores Antiquissimi, in the Monumenta Germaniæ Historica.
Eugippius was abbot of the monastery of St. Severinus in the sixth century. His work is valuable as a picture of life in the Roman provinces after the barbarian invasions.
Eusebius, ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία, edited by Valesius, with Latin translation, Paris, 1659; edited by Dindorf, Leipsic, 1871; English translation by Hanmer, 1584; by C. F. Cruse, New York, 1865; Χρόνικόν, edited by A. Schone, Berlin, 1866; 1875.
Eusebius, who has been called the “Father of Church History,” was born in Palestine about 260 A.D.; died at Cæsarea in 340. He was made bishop of Cæsarea in 313, and became one of the leaders of the Arians, and a conspicuous figure in the church in the time of Constantine. Both his Ecclesiastical History and his Chronicle are important sources.
Eutropius, Breviarium Historiæ Romanæ, Rome, 1471; Basel, 1546-1552; edited by Grosse, Leipsic, 1825; translated from the Latin by J. S. Watson, under the title of Abridgement of Roman History.
Flavius Eutropius, a Latin historian of the fourth century, was a secretary of Constantine the Great, and accompanied Julian in his Persian expedition. He wrote an abridgment of Roman history, in ten books, from the founding of the city to the accession of Valens, 364 A.D., by whose command it was composed, and to whom it is inscribed. Its merits are impartiality, brevity, and clearness, but it possesses little independent value.
Fabretti, Raphael, Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum, Rome, 1699.—Fabricius, Johannes Albert, Bibliotheca Latina, sive Notitia Auctorum Veterum Latinorum, quorumcunque scripta ad nos pervenerunt, Hamburg, 1697, 3 vols.; Bibliotheca Latina mediæ et infirmæ ætatis, Hamburg, 1734-1736, 5 vols.; Bibliotheca Græca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Veterum Græcorum, quorumcunque Monumenta integra aut fragmenta edita extant, tum plerorumque ex manuscriptis ac deperditis, Hamburg, 1705-1728, 14 vols.; edited by Harless, 1790-1809.—Florus, Lucius Annæus, Rerum Romanorum Libri IV (Epitome de Gestis Romanorum), Paris, 1471; translated from the Latin by J. S. Watson, Epitome of Roman History, London, 1861.
The identity of this author is unsettled. The work is of scarcely any value as a source.
Frontinus, Sextus Julius, De Aquæductibus Urbis Romæ Libri II, edited by Bucheler, Leipsic, 1858.
Sectus Julius Frontinus was governor of Britain from 75-78 A.D. In 97 he was appointed curator aquæum. He died about 106. Frontinus was possessed of considerable engineering knowledge, and is the main authority upon the water system of ancient Rome.
Herodianus, or Herodian, Τῆς μετὰ Μάρκον βασιλείας ἱστοριῶν βιβλία ὀκτώ, edited by Irmish, Leipsic, 1789-1805, 5 vols.; and by F. A. Wolf, Halle, 1792.
Born about 170 (?) A.D., died about 240 A.D.; a Greek historian, resident in Italy, author of a Roman history for the period 180-238 A.D. (Commodus to Gordian).
Historia, Miscella, in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Hanover, 1819, in progress.
A compilation in three parts; the first a version of Eutropius, ascribed to Paulus Diaconus, the second and third are credited to Landulf the Wise (eleventh century). It includes extracts from the annalists as well as from Jordanes and Orosius.
Hormisdas, Pope, Epistolæ, in Migne’s Patrologiæ latine, vol. LXIII, Paris, 1844-1855, 221 vols.
Isidorus Hispalensis, Historia Gothorum, Paris, 1580; Rome, 1797-1803, 7 vols., Chronicon, Turin, 1593.
Isidore, bishop of Seville, was born 560 A.D. at Carthagena, or Seville; died at the latter city April 4, 636. He was a man of extensive scholarship and was zealously concerned for the maintenance and spread of the learning of classical times. To this end he compiled his Originum seu etymologiarum libri XX, a sort of encyclopædia of the sciences as known to his day. His historical works comprise a Chronicon, or series of chronological tables, from the creation to the year 627; Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum.
Jaffé, Philip, Monumenta Carolina, Berlin, 1867; Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum, Berlin, 1864-1873, 6 vols.; Regesta pontificum Romanorum ad annum 1198, Leipsic, 1881-1886.—Jerome, Saint, De Viris Illustribus, s. de Scriptoribus ecclesiasticis; in Migne’s Patrologiæ latine, Paris, 1844-1855; edited by Herding, Leipsic, 1879; Epistolæ, Basel, 1516-1520.—Jordanes (Jornandes), De Getarum origine actibusque, Augsburg, 1515; Paris, 1679; edited by Mommsen, Berlin, 1882; De Regnorum ac temporum Successione, edited by Grotius, Amsterdam, 1655.
Very little is known of the personal history of Jordanes except that he was a Goth, perhaps of Alanic descent, that he was a notary and afterwards became a monk. His De Getarum origine actibusque, largely taken from the lost history of Cassidorus, is highly important for our knowledge of the Gothic kingdom in Italy. The other work cited above possesses scarcely any value.
Josephus, Flavius, Περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ ἢ Ἰουδαϊκῆς ἱστορίας περὶ ἁλώσεως (History of the Jewish War) and Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία (Jewish Antiquities), Augsburg, 1470; Basel, 1544; edited by Hudson, Oxford, 1720; translated from the Greek by William Whiston, The Works of Josephus, London, 1737, 2 vols. A biographical note upon this author will be found in vol. II, p. 232.