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

2-6- EUTROPIUS. EUTROPIUS.
Histoire des Emnpereurs, vol. iv. pp. 130, 244; conclusion out of the passage in question (x. 116,
Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 27.) sub fin.), even if we retain the reading " Nimius
2. Grand-daughter of the foregoing, being the reliaionis Christianae insectator," it is very hard
daughter of Constantius Chlorus and Flavia Maxi- for an unprejudiced reader to imagine; and it
miana Theodora, and therefore the sister of Delma- is equally difficult to perceive upon what grounds
tius, Julius Constantius, Hannibalianus, Constan- we can reject or evade the testimony of Nicetia, and Anastasia, and half-sister of Constantine phorns Gregoras, who insists that the praises
the Great. (See the genealogical table prefixed to bestowed by Eutropius upon Constantine are peCONSTANTINUS I.) She is believed to have been culiarly valuable, because they proceed from one
the wife of Nepotianus, who was consul A. D. 301; who cherished hostile feelings towards that prince
but at all events she was certainly the mother of in consequence of differing from him in religion
that Nepotianus who assumed the purple on the (61d Ire tI jris Opf7rKeias dKIcovY7lT'ov) and of
3rd of June, A. D. 350, and she perished in the being the contemporary and partizan (jM1lKcmrvn,
proscription which followed his death twenty-eight Kal adpea'ssrqvv) of Julian; moreover, as if to leave
days afterwards. (NEPOTIANUS.] (Aurel. Vict. no room for doubt, he declares that the observations
Epit. xlii.; Zosim. ii. 43; Athanas. Apoloq. vol. i. of Eutropius, inasmuch as he was a gentile prop. 677, ed. Paris, 1627.) [W. R.] fessing a different faith from Constantine ("EAAnv
EUTRO'PIUS, the eunuch. [ARCADIUS.] i6'ov Kal d~AAoqpAov Opw~iccacs TpdOpqpos), are
EUTRO'PIUS, a man of high rank in that tainted with heathen bitterness (ciroovure'EAAqportion of Upper Moesia which was called Darda- vIKcIs irmcpas), and then goes on to adduce some
nia, married Claudia, daughter of Crispus, the bro- examples of unfair representations.
ther of Claudius Gothicus, and by her became the The only work of Eutropius now extant is a
father of Constantius Chlorus. See the genealogi- brief compendium of Roman history in ten books,
cal table in vol. i. p. 831. [W. R.] extending from the foundation of the city to the
EUTRO'PIUS, a Roman historian who has accession of Valens, by whose command it was
been styled Flavims Eutropius by Sigonius and composed, and to whom it is inscribed. The ausome of the earlier scholars without the slightest thor, at the conclusion of the last chapter, promises
authority from MSS. or any ancient source for a more detailed and elaborate narrative of the
such an addition. Considerable doubts are enter- events in which his imperial protector was the
tained with regard to the native country of this chief agent, but we know not whether this pledge
writer. The only positive witness is Suidas, who was ever redeemed. Suidas indeed records that
terms him a learned Italian ('IraAas aooirno-'s); Eutropius wrote "other things," but without specibut these words have been interpreted to signify fying what these were; and Priscian quotes from
merely that he wrote in Latin. The arguments of some Eutropius as a grammatical authority upon
certain French writers, who have sought to prove the sound of the letter x, but drops no hint that
from Symmachus that he was the countryman of this personage is the historian.
Ausonius, and those of Vinetus, who endeavours In drawing up the abridgment which has defrom various considerations to demonstrate that he scended to us, the compiler appears to have conmust have been a Greek, are singularly feeble and suited the best authorities, although not always
frivolous. We know from: his own statements, with discrimination, and to have executed his task
taken in combination with various passages in the in general with care, although manifest errors
Byzantines, that he held the office of a secretary may occasionally be detected in facts as well as in
(Epistolaris'EmrToAo?oypafos) under Constantine the chronology, and all occurrences likely to reflect disGreat, that he was patronised by Julian the Apes- honour -on the Roman name are sedulously glossed
tate, whom he accompanied in the Persian expe- over or entirely omitted. The style is in perfect
dition, and that he was alive in the reign of Valen- good taste and keeping with the nature of the untinian and Valens, to the latter of whom his book dertaking. We find a plain, clear, precise, simple,
is dedicated. To these particulars our certain familiar narrative, in which the most important
information is limited. That he is the same indi- events are distinctly brought out without ostentavidual with the Eutropius who, as we learn from tion and without any pretensions to ornament or
Ammianus Marcellinus, was proconsul of Asia to rhythmical cadence in the structure of the peabout A. D. 371, and who is spoken of by Libanius riods. The language is, for the most part, exceedand'Gregory Nazianzen, br. with the Eutropius ingly pure, although, as might be expected, the
who,-as we gather from the Codex Theodosianus, critical eye of modern scholarship has detected
was praefectus praetorio in A.D. 380 and 381, are several words and combinations not sanctioned by
pure -conjectures resting upon no base save the the usage of the purest models.- Under these ciridentity of. name and embarrassed by chronological cumstances it is not surprising that this little
difficulties.- In no case must he be confounded work should have become exceedingly popular at a
with the ambitious eunuch, great chamberlain to period when the taste for deep learning and orithe emperor Arcadius, -so8 well- known from the ginal investigation was on the decline, and that for
invective of Claudian; and still less could he have many ages it should have been extensively embeen the disciple of Augustin, as not a few persons ployed as a school-book.: We find the substance
have fancied, since, if not actually dead, he must of it copied into the chronicles of I-ieronymus,
have reached the extreme verge of old age at the Prosper, Cassiodorus, and many others: it is closely
epoch when the bishop of- Hippo was rising into followed by Rufus, Orosius, aud by a host of
fame. - The only other point connected with the monkish annalists; while it is incorporated verbapersonal career of this author which admits of tim, with many additions, in the well-known Hisdiscussion, is his religion. It has been confidently toria Miscella, a sort of historical farrago, which is
asserted that it can be proved from his own words commonly, but erroneously, supposed to have been
that he was a Christian. But how any one could, compounded by Paul, son of Warnefrid ud Theoby any possible stretch of ingenuity, twist such a dolinda, at one time deacon of Aquileia, and