So this end simultaneously befell Carthage and Corinth, famous, ancient cities: but at a much later date they received colonies of Romans, became again flourishing, and regained their original position. The exploits of the Romans up to this point, found by me in ancient books that record these matters, written by men of old time, I have drawn thence in a condensed form and have embodied in the present history. As for what comes next in order,--the transactions of the consuls and dictators, so long as the government of Rome was still conducted by these officials,--let no one censure me as having passed this by through contempt or indolence or antipathy and having left the history as it were incomplete. The gap has not been overlooked by me through sloth, nor have I of my own free will left my task half finished, but through lack of books to describe the events. I have frequently instituted a search for them, yet I have not found them, and I do not know whether the cause is that the passage of time has destroyed them, and so they are not preserved, or whether the persons to whom I entrusted the errand perhaps did not search for them with sufficient diligence; for I was living abroad and passing my life on an islet far from the city. And because it has not been my lot to gain access to these books in this instance, my history turns out to be only half complete for the acts of the consuls and even for those of the dictators. Hence, passing over them, though reluctantly, I will record the deeds of the emperors, with some brief introductory remarks to make clear to those who shall read my history by what steps the Romans passed from aristocracy (or democracy) to the rule of one man, and to impart, in addition, coherence to the narrative. * * * * * NOTE.--NO SUMMARY EXISTS OF THE MISSING BOOKS TWENTY-TWO TO THIRTY-FIVE INCLUSIVE, AND WE ARE DRIVEN TO RELY ON SCATTERED AND INCONSEQUENTIAL FRAGMENTS (THAT HAVE SOMEHOW ESCAPED THE WRECK OF SEASONS) AS THE BASIS FOR WHATEVER MENTAL IMAGE WE MAY CHOOSE TO FORM OF THE LOST NARRATIVE. THESE BITS POSSESS THE SAME VALUE FOR DIO'S HISTORY AS DO THE UNRELATED PIECES OF MARBLE AND CLAY FROM EXCAVATIONS IN ENABLING US TO GAIN A WIDER UNDERSTANDING OF ANTIQUE SCULPTURE AND POTTERY. FOR AN ACCOUNT OF THE SOURCES OF THESE FRAGMENTS SEE THE INTRODUCTION, UNDER THE CAPTION ENTITLED THE WRITING. * * * * * _(BOOK 22, BOISSEVAIN.)_