Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/530

 508 APPENDIX came after whom — and leave out all the important events. This notice is very important ; the criticism cannot apply to the Chronography of Psellus which we possess, and therefore suggests that Psellus wrote a brief epitome of history which began at a. d. 813, and is now lost. Other historians have treated only short periods or episodes, like Genesius, Theodore Daphnopates, Leo Diaconus and others ; and all these have written with a purpose or tendency — one to praise an Emperor, another to blame a Patriarch. The whole text of Scylitzes has not yet been published, but is accessible for historical purposes in the Latin transla- tion of B. Gabius (Venice, 1570), combined with the chronicle of Cedrenus, which (see below) contains practically a second ed. of Scylitzes up to a.d. 1057- The Greek text of the latter part of the work, a.d. 1057-1079, is printed in the Paris Byzantine series, and reprinted in the Bonn collection, along with Cedrenus. A complete critical edition is being prepared by J. Seger. [On sources, kc, consult Hirsch, Byzantinische Studien. ] The Historical Synopsis of George Cedrenus (c. 1100 a.d.), from the creation to a.d. 1057, is a compilation, in its earlier part, up to a.d. 811, from Theophanes, George Monachus, Symeon Magister, and above all, the Pseudo-Sj-meon (see above). From a.d. 811 to the end Cedrenus merely wrote out Scylitzes word for word. [Bonn edition in two vols. , 1838-9. Cp. Hirsch, op. cit.] John Zonaras, who flourished in the first half of the twelfth century, held important posts in the imperial service (Great Drungarios of the Guard, and chief of the secretarial staff), and then retired to St. Glyceria (one of the Princes' Islands), where as a monk he reluctantly yielded to the pressure of his friends to compose a profane history. The work begins with the creation and ends in the year a. d. 1118. In form it differs completely from such works as the Chronicles of Theophane.T or Scylitzes. Zonaras never copies his sources word for word ; he always puts their statements in his own way. But this mode of operation is purely formal and not critical ; it is merely a question of style ; he does not sift his material or bring intelligence to bear on his narrative. Yet he took more pains to collect material than many of his craftsmen ; he did not content himself with one or two universal histories such as George Monachus ; and he complains of his difficulty in getting books. His work has great importance from the fact that it has preserved the first twenty-one Books of Dion Cassius, otherwise lost. For the second half of the fifth and first half of the sixth century Zonaras has some important notices derived from a lost source ; though for the most part he follows Theophanes. For the last three centuries of his work Zonaras used George Monachus and the Logothete's Continuation, the Continuation of Theo- phanes, Sc3'litzes, Psellus, &c. [The Bonn ed. contained only Bks. 1-12 (1841-4) till 1896, when the third and concluding volume was added b}' T. Biittner-Wobst. There is also a complete edition by L. Dindorf in six volumes (18G8-75). On the sources of Zonaras from a.d. 450-811 the chief work is P. Sauerbrei, De fontibus Zon. quaestiones selectae (in Comment, phil. Jen. i. 1 sqq.), 1881 ; on the period A.D. 813-965, Hirsch, op. cit. For earlier Roman historj' there is a considerable literature on Zonaras. Cp. Krumbacher, op. cit., p. 375.] Among the compilations which supplied Zonaras with material is a (non- extant) Chronicle, which is defined as a common source of Zonaras and a work known as the Synopsis Sathas, because M. C. Sathas first edited it from a Venetian Ms. (1894 ; Bibl. Gr. med. aevi, vol. vii. ). This " Chronological Synop- sis " reaches from the creation to a.d. 1261. It is closely related to the (not yet published) chronicle of Theodore of Cyzicus which covers the same ground. On the common source, and the sources of that common source, see E. Patzig, Ueber einige Quellen des Zonaras, in Byz. Zeitsch. 5, p. 24 sqq. The author of the Synopsis lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century. The range of the chronicle will be understood when it is said that more than two-thirds of it are devoted to the last two hundred vears.