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

448 POLYBIIJS. POLYBI US.
cumstance proves the more the difficulty of the order of the Emperor Constantinus Porphyrotask; for his descriptions are so vague and imper- genitus. These Exceipta are taken from various
fect, and so totally devoid of painting, that it is authors, but the most important of them came
scarcely possible to understand them. For in- from Polybius. In 1609 Is. Casaubon published
stance, in his account of the march of the Gauls at Paris, in folio, his excellent edition of Polybius,
into Italy, and of the subsequent movements of in which he incorporated all the Excerpta and
their army and of the Romans, there is an obscu- fragments that had hitherto been discovered, and
rity, which never could have existed had he con- added a new Latin version. He intended likewise
ceived in his own mind a lively image of the seat to write a commentary upon the author, but he
of war as a whole, of the connection of the rivers did not proceed further than the 20th chapter of
and chains of mountains with each other, and of the first book; this portion of his commentary
the consequent direction of the roads and most fre- was published after his death at Paris, 1617, 8vo.
quented passes." (Hist. of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 473, A further addition was made to the fragments of
474.) To this same cause, the want of imagina- Polybius by Valesius, who published, in 1634,
tion on the part of Polybius, we are disposed to another portion of the Excerpta of Constantinus,
attribute the apparent indifference with which he entitled Excerpta de Virtutibus et Vitiis (7repl2 dpe-ris
describes the fall of his native country, and the Kal KaKcas), containing extracts from Polybius,
extinction of the liberties of Greece. He only Diodorus Siculus, and other writers; and to this
sought to relate facts, and to draw the proper re- collection Valesius added several other firagments
flections from them: to relate them with vividness of Polybius, gathered together from various writers.
and to paint them in striking colours was not his Jacobus Gronovius undertook a new edition of
calling. Polybius, which appeared at Amsterdam in 1670,
The greater part of the history of Polybius has in 3 vols. 8vo.; the text of this edition is taken
perished. We possess the first five books entire, almost verbatim from Casaubon's, but the editor
but of the rest we have only fragments and ex- added, besides the extracts of Valesius and the
tracts, of which some, however, are of considerable commentary of Casaubon on the first twenty
length, such as the account of the Roman army, chapters of the first book, many additional notes
which belonged to the sixth book. The first five by Casaubon, which had been collected from his
books were first printed in a Latin translation papers by his son Mericus Casaubon, and likeexecuted by Nic. Perotti, and issued from the wise notes by Gronovius himself. The edition of
celebrated press of Sweynheym and Pannartz, Gronovius was reprinted under the care of J. A.
Rome, 1473, fol. The first part of the work of Ernesti at Leipzig, 1763-1764, 3 vols. 8vo. The
Polybius, which was printed in Greek, was the next edition is that of Schweighaeuser, which surtreatise on the Roman army, which was published passes all the preceding ones. It was published at
by Ant. de Sabio, Venice, 1529, 4to., with a Latin Leipzig, 1789-1795 in 8 vols. 8vo., of which the
translation by Lascaris; and in the following year, first four contained the Greek text with a Latin
1530, the Greek text of the first five books, with translation, and the other volumes a commentary,
the translation of Perotti, appeared at Hagenau, an historical and geographical index, and a coedited by Obsopoeus (Koch), but without the pious " Lexicon Polybianum," which is almost
treatise on the Roman army, which had probably indispensable to the student. Schwveighaeuser's
not yet found its way across the Alps. A few edition was reprinted at Oxford in 1823, in 5 vols.
years afterwards a discovery was made of some 8vo., without the commentary, but with the Lexiextracts from the other books of Polybius; but con. From the time of Valesius no new additions
the author of the compilation, and the time at were made to the firagments of Polybius, with the
which it was drawn up, are unknown; for we can exception of a fragment describing the siege of
hardly believe with Casaubon that it was the Ambracia, originally published in the second voEpitome which was made by M. Brutus, and of lume of Gronovius's Livy, until Angelo Mai diswhich both Plutarch (Brut. c. 4) and Suidas (s. v. covered in the Vatican library at Rome the third
Bpoi'oeS) speak. These extracts, which must be section of the Excerpta of Constantinus Porphyrodistinguished from those of the emperor Constan- genitus, entitled Excerpta de Sententiis (Orepl
tinus Porphyrogenitus mentioned below, contain 7yzwuc~r), which, among other extracts, contained
the greater part of the sixth book, and portions of a considerable number from the history of Polythe following eleven (vii.-xvii.). The manuscript bius. These excerpta were published by Mai in
containing them was brought from Corfu, and they the second volume of his Scriptorum veterum Nova
were published, together with the first five books Collectio, Rome, 1827, but in consequence of the
which had already appeared at Basel, 1549, fol. mutilated state of the manuscript from which they
from the press of Herragius. The Latin translation were taken, many of them are unintelligible. Some
of these extracts was executed by Wolfgang Mus- of the errors in Mai's edition are corrected in thle
culus, who also corrected Perotti's version of the reprints of the Excerpta, published by Geel Lat
other books, and the editing of the Greek text was leyden in 1829, and by Lucht at Altona in
superintended by Arnold Paraxylus Arlenius. A 1830; but these Excerpta appear in a far more
portion of these extracts, namely a description of correct form in the edition of Heyse, Berlin, 1846.
the naval battle fought between Philippus and since Heyse collated the manuscript afresh with
Attalus and the Rhodians, belonging to the six- great care and accuracy. The last edition of Poteenth. book, had been previously published by lybius is by Immanuel Bekker (Berlin, 1844, 2
Bayf in his De Re Navali Veterum, Paris, 1536, vols. 8vo.), who has added the Vatican fragments.
reprinted at Basel, 1537. In 1582 Ursinus pub- Of the translations of Polybius into modern
lished at Antwerp, in 4to., a second collection of languages, those most worthy of notice are the
Extracts from Polybius, entitled Excerpta de Le- French, by Thuillier, chiefly remarkable on account
gationibus ('EKhoyal rpl -Inpcaetswv), which were of the military commentary appended to it by Fomade in the tenth century of the Christian era by lard, Amsterdam, 1759, 7 vols. 4to.; the German,