Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt:... BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF ANCIENT AUTHORS CITED In this list are included brief notices of most of the regular Greek and Latin authors from whose works excerpts have been taken, but no attempt has been made to include various obscure Christian chroniclers, or to trace the authorships of Oriental inscriptions, etc. Many famous writers are not mentioned because no quotations are made from their writings. Ammianus Marcellinus (died about 390 A.d.). A native of Antioch. Served in the Roman Imperial bodyguard, but presently retired from the army, and wrote a history that is (so far as the work is preserved) one of our best authorities for the age just before the fall of the Empire. The books remaining to us cover 353 to 378 A.d. He was not the master of a good style, but his story is accurate, faithful, and impartial. Often in his writings is displayed a hatred of the shallow artificial life of his age, a spirit quite worthy of a bluff old soldier. Appian (an Alexandrian Greek who lived at Rome during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius). He seems to have been an advocate of some consequence, well acquainted with public affairs. His history of the Wars of Rome is extremely unoriginal, but is clearly written, and possesses the great advantage for us of being compiled from reliable contemporary authors whose writings are now lost. Appuleius (born about 130 A.d.). A native of Africa who traveled extensively in the Roman world, and studied the Platonic philosophy at Athens. His writings reflect pretty clearly what passed for learning and wisdom in his age. He was the author of a curious kind of romance--The Golden Ass. Caesar (100 to 44 B.c.). Julius Caesar is, of course, one of the leading figures in history, and only secondarily a man...