What knowledge has the world of the first thirty-five books of Dio’s Roman History?  To such a question answer must be made that of this whole section the merest glimpse can be had.  It is here that we encounter the name of Zonaras, concerning whom some information will now be in order.  Ioannes Zonaras was an official of the Byzantine Court who came into prominence under Alexis I. Comnenus in the early part of the twelfth century.  For a time he acted as both commander of the body-guard and first private secretary to Alexis, but in the succeeding reign,—­that of Calo-Ioannes,—­he retired to the monastery of Mt.  Athos, where he devoted himself to literary labors until his death, which is said to have occurred at the advanced age of eighty-eight.  He was the author of numerous works, such as a Lexicon of Words Old and New, an Exposition of the Apostolic and Patristic Canons, an Argument Directed Against the Marriage of Two Nephews to the Same Woman, etc.; but our special interest lies in his [Greek:  Chronikon] (Chronicon), a history of the world in eighteen books, from the creation to 1118 A.D.,—­this last being the date of the demise of Alexis.  The earlier portions of this work are drawn from Josephus; for Roman History he uses largely Cassius Dio; Plutarch, Eusebius, Appian also figure.  But it has already been stated that Books Twenty-two to Thirty-five perished at an indefinitely early date; hence it follows that Zonaras has only Books One to Twenty-one at hand to use for his account of early Rome; besides these he has later employed Books Forty-four to Eighty.  Consequently it is possible to get many of the facts related to Dio, and in some cases his exact words, by reading Books VII to XII of this [Greek:  Chronikon] or [Greek:  Epitome Historion] by Zonaras.  It is Books VII, VIII, and IX especially which follow Books One to Twenty-one of Dio.

Parallel with this account of Zonaras and extending beyond it, even to the extent of throwing a wire of communication across the yawning time-chasm represented by Books Twenty-two to Thirty-five, are certain excerpts and epitomes found in various odd corners and strangely preserved to the present moment.  These are:  Excerpts Concerning Virtues and Vices; Excerpts Concerning Judgments; Excerpts Concerning Embassies.  The so-called “Planudean Excerpts” which used to be admitted to editions are rejected on good authority[2] by Melber, whom I have followed.  I shall attempt only a brief mention of those excerpts, to show their pertinence.

[Footnote 2:  Mommsen (Hermes VI, pp. 82-89); Haupt (Hermes XIV, pp. 36-64, and XV, p. 160); Boissevain (Program, Rotterdam, 1884).]

The Excerpts Concerning Virtues and Vices exist in a manuscript of the tenth century at the library of Tours, originally brought from the island of Cyprus and sold to Nicolas Claude Fabre de Peiresc, who lived from 1580 to 1637.  Apparently it is a collection made at the order of Constantine VII.  Porphyrogenitus.  It was first published at Paris by Henri de Valois in 1634.  The collection consists of quotations from Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Nicolas Damascenus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Appian, Dio, John of Antioch, and others.