A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CONSTANTINUS.
HI. " De Administrando Imperio," without a
corresponding Greek title. This celebrated work
was written by the imperial author for the special
purpose of informing his son Romanus of the
political state of the empire, its various resources,
and the political principles which ought to be followed in its administration, as well as in its relations to foreign nations. It contains abundance of
historical, geographical, ethnographical, and political facts of great importance, and without it our
knowledge of the times of the author and the
nations which were either his subjects or his
neighbours would be little more than vagueness,
error, or complete darkness. The work is divided
into 53 chapters, preceded by a dedication to
prince Romanus. In the first 13 chapters the
author gives an account of the state of several nations which lived towards the north of the Danube,
such as the Petchenegues or Patzinacitae, the
Chazars, the Bulgarians, the Turks (by which he
means the Majars or present Hungarians), and
especially the Russians, who were then the most
dangerous enemies of Constantinople. In the
14th and following chapters he speaks of Mohammed, and gives a view of the rising power of the
Arabs, which leads him to Spain and the conquest
of the West Gothic kingdom by the Arabs. (cc.
23 and 24.) The relations of the Greeks to Italy
and to the Frankish kingdoms are related in cc.
26 to 28. In the eight following chapters (29 to
36), which are all very long, he dwells on the
history and geography of those parts of the empire
which a few centuries before his time were, and
are still, occupied by Slavonian nations, viz. Dalmatia, Servia, Croatia, &c. In c. 37 and following
he returns to the Patzinacitae, Chazars, and other
nations in ancient Scythia-a most valuable and interesting section, on which Bayer wrote the best
commentary which we have on the work: it refers
likewise to the corresponding part of the Themata
and is contained in the ninth volume of the " Commentarii Academiae Petropolitanae." After illustrating that subject, Constantine proceeds to Iberia,
Armenia, and some of the adjacent countries in
Asia. Chapter 52 contains some remarks on the
therma of the Peloponnesus, a country of which
the author speaks also occasionally in other chapters; and in the 53rd and last chapter, which is
of considerable length, he gives interesting information respecting the city of Cherson, the Chersosiitae, and other adjacent nations. The style of
the work is generally clear and simple, but the
logical order of the subjects is in some instances
broken. Editions: I and 2. By Meursius, 1610,
8vo. and 1617, 8vo., in his " Opera Const. Porph.,"
with a Latin translation. 3. By the same, in the
sixth volume of " Meursii Opera," edited by Lami,
in which, however, only the translation of Meursius
is contained, the editor having likewise given the
more perfect text and translation of Bandurius.
4. By Bandurius, in his " Imperium Orientale,"
the best edition, partly on account of a map of the
Eastern empire by Guillaume de L' Isle, which belongs both to this work and to that on the Themas.
Bandurius added a new translation and an extensive commentary. Having perused better MSS.
than Meursius, Bandurius was enabled to add the
text with a translation of the 23rd and 24th chapters (" De Iberia" and " De Hispania"), of which
Meursius had only fragments, so that he could not
translate them. 5. By Immanuel Bekker, Bonn,

CONSTANTINUS. 841
1840, in the Bonn collection of the Byzantines, a
revised reprint of the edition of Bandurius without
the map of Guillaume de L'Isle. The commentary of Bayer cited above belongs likewise to this
"work.
IV. BthAiov TaKrtcrci, rd(nvw reptiEov Vrc Ic'rd
SdchaTav v Kcal y7v /paxoaEVV, commonly called
" Tactica," an essay on the art of warfare by sea
and by land, a very interesting treatise. Editions: 1 and 2. By Meursius, in " Constantini
Opera," and in the sixth volume of " Meursii
Opera," edited by Lami, both cited above. No. 1
gives only the text, but No. 2 has also a Latin
translation by Lami. Maffei, who translated a
Cod. Veronensis of this work, attributes it to Constantine, the son of the emperor Romanus Lecapenus.
V. El PAlo y.T:paTn7yiucv 7rEPl cwv itac6pdev,Ovzv, &c., commonly called " Strategica," an interesting treatise on the mode of warfare adopted
by different nations. Edition, by Meursius, in the
sixth volume of his works edited by Lami, with a
Latin translation of the editor.
VI. "EcOecEOs 7rs BtaotXnov Tci4ws, " De Ceremoniis Aulae Byzantinae." This work is divided
into three sections, viz. the first book, an appendix
to the first book, and the second book. It gives a
detailed account of the ceremonies observed at the
imperial court of Constantinople. The appendix
to the first book treats of the ceremonies observed
in the imperial camp, and when the emperor sets
out from his palace for the purpose of leading his
army into the field, or returns from it to his
capital: it is dedicated to Romanus, the son of
Constantine. The first book is divided into 97
chapters, the appendix into 16 sections, or heads,
which are not numbered, and the second book
into 56 chapters, the last chapter incomplete; and
it seems that there were originally some chapters
more, which have not been discovered yet. The
work is on the whole tedious and wearisome, as we
may presume from the nature of the subject and
the character of the emperor, who dwells with
delight on trifling forms and usages which
scarcely anybody but a master of ceremonies would
find it worth while to write upon. The style,
however, is pure and elegant for the time; but the
work abounds with Arabic and other terms strange
to the Greek language, which are, however, explained by the commentators. It is impossible to
read it through; but if used as a book of reference
it answers well, and it contains, besides, a number
of important facts, and little stories or anecdotes
referring to the life of former emperors. Editions:
1. By Leich and Reiske, the first volume containing the first book and the appendix, Leipzig, 1751,
fol.; the second volume containing the second
book, ibid. 1754, fol., with a Latin translation,
an excellent Commentary to the first book by
Reiske, and Notes and a " Commentatio de Vita
et Rebus Gestis Constantini" by Leich. 2. By
Niebuhr, vol. i., Bonn, 1829, 8vo.; vol. ii., ibid.
1830. This is a carefully revised reprint of the
editio princeps; it contains the remaining part of
Reiske's commentary (to the appendix and the
second book), first edited by Niebuhr. The principal laws issued by Constantine (Novellae Constitutiones) have been published by Leunclavius
in his "Jus Graeco-Romanum," and by Labbe,
Paris, 1606, 8vo. Constantine wrote besides several
smaller treatises on religious and other matters.