Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/695

Rh JUSTINUS. Kcvoral MSS., indicating, under tlie name of pro- logues (proloffi), the contents of each chapter in regular order, bearing a close resemblance, in form and substance, to the summaries prefixed to the books of Livy, and, like these, proceeding from some unknown pen. We thus ascertain that the original was com- prised in 44 books, that the title was Liber Histo- riaruin Philippicarum^ the additional words et totius mundi origines et terrae situs, given by the author of the prologues, being in all probability an inaccurate explanation appended by himself. The term HLstoriae Philippicae was employed because the chief object proposed was to give a complete account of the origin, rise, progress, decline, and extinction of the Macedonian monarchy, with all its branches ; but in the execution of this design, Trogus permitted himself, in imitation of Hero- dotus and Theopompus, to indulge in so many ex- cursions, that a very wide field of investigation was embraced, although the designation Universal History is altogether inapplicable. In the first six books, which served as a sort of introduction to the rest, while ostensibly examining into the re- cords of the period anterior to Philip I., he took a surve}' of the various states which eventually be- cime subject to, or in any way connected with, the Macedonians. In this manner the empires of the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians, were passed under review : the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt led to a delineation of that country and its people: the contest of Darius with the Scythians was accompanied by a geographical sketch of the nations which bordered on the northern and eastern shores of the Euxine : the invasion of Xerxes brought the Athenians and Thessalians pn the stage, who in tuin called up the Spartans and other Dorian clans. A narrative of the Peloponnesian "war naturally succeeded : with the fatal expedition to Sicily was interwoven a description of that famous island, of its races, and of the colonies spread over its surface. The downfall of Athens was next recorded, followed by the enterprise of the younger Cyrus, the campaigns of Agesilaus in Asia, and various minor events, until the decay of the I-iacedemonian and the rise of the Boeotian influence gradually introduced the history of Macedon, which, commencing with the seventh book, was continued down to the ruin of Perseus and the abortive attempt of the impostor Andriscus, which were de- tailed in the thirty-third. But even after the main subject had been fairly commenced, it could only be regarded in the same light as the argument of an Epic poem, which admits of continual episodes and digressions — the guiding-thread of the discourse, which, although often apparently lost, forms the connecting links by which the various portions of the complicated fabric are united and held together in one piece. Thus the interference of Philip in the aifairs of Greece suggested an exposition of the causes which led to the Sacred War : his attacks upon Perinthus and Byzantium involved a disqui- sition on the early fortunes of the cities in question : his dispute with the Scythians and his relations with the Persians afforded an apology for resuming the chronicles of these nations : the transactions of Artaxerxes Mnemon produced an account of the Cyprians and Paphlagonians, while the exploits of Alexander the Epy-otan furnished a pretext for an essay on the Apulians, Sabines, and Samnites. The strife which arose among the successors of JUSTINUS. 681 Alexander the Great formed in itself an almoKt inexhaustible theme, while the ambitious schemes of Pyrrhus were illustrated by a dissertation on the Sicilians and Carthaginians, which occupied no less than six books. After the reduction of Mace- donia to a Roman province, with which, as we have seen above, the thirty-third book closed, the following nine were devoted to the aiEiirs of Asia, Pontus, Syria, Egypt, and Boeotia, including the Parthian monarchy ; the forty-second and forty-third contained a sketch of the steps by which the Romans had attained to supremacy ; and in the last were collected some scattered notices in refer- ence to the Ligurians,Massilians,and Spaniards, the Greeks having been previously (lib.xxiv.) discussed. To what period Justin (who is designated in one MS. as Justinus Froniinus, and in another as M, Junianus Justinus, while the great majority exhibit the simple appellation Justinus) belongs it is im- possible to determine with certainty. The expres- sion which he employs (viii. 4. § 7), " Graeciam etiam nunc et viribus et dignitate orbis terrarum principem" would in itself be scarcely sufficient to prove that he flourished under the Eastern em- perors, even if it related to the age in which he composed, and not, as it does in reality, to the particular epoch of which he happened to be treat- ing in his narrative ; while the words " Imperator Antonine," which appear in the preface, are to be found in no MS. now extant, but are probably an interpolation foisted in by some of the earlier editors who followed Isidorus, Jornandes, and John of Salisbury, in confounding Justin the histo- rian with Justin the Christian father and martyr. The earliest writer by whom he is mentioned is Saint Jerome (Prooe?H. in Daniel), and therefore lie cannot, at all events, be later than the beginning of the fifth centurj', Justin has been frequently censured by scholars in no measured terms for the slovenly manner in which he executed what they are pleased to con- sider as an abridgment of Trogus. It is unques- tionable that many leading events are entirely omitted, that certain topics are dismissed with ex- cessive brevity, that others not more weighty in themselves are developed with great fulness, and that in consequence of this apparent caprice an air of incoherence and inequality is diffused over the whole performance. But before subscribing to the justice of these animadversions, it would be well to ascertain if possible the real object of the compiler. Now we are distinctly told by himself {Praef.) that he had occupied his leisure during a residence in the city by selecting those passages of Trogus which seemed most worthy of being generally known, passing over such as in his estimation were not particularly interesting or instmctive. Thus it is clear that the pages of Justin are not to be viewed in the light of a systematic compendium of Trogus, but rather, in his own words, as an An- thology {breve fiorwm corpusculnm), and that the criticisms alluded to above are altogether inappli- cable to what is professedly merely a collection of Elegant Extracts. We may indeed lament that he should have thought fit to adopt a plan by which we have entirely lost, or at least very im- perfectly retained, a mass of valuable information on a great variety of topics, of which we are igno- rant ; but on the other hand, we must feel grateful to the labours, which have preserved from oblivion many facts not recorded elsewhere.