Dio's Rome, Volume 1: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English FormCassius Dio Cocceianus
History
Dio's Rome, Volume 1: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form
Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Rome -- History
Just a word first in regard to the lost works with which Suidas
credits Dio. He probably never wrote the "Persia": perhaps it belonged
to Dio of Colophon, or possibly Suidas has confused _Dion_ with
_Deinon_. It is certain that he did not write "The Getae": this
composition was by his maternal grandfather, Dio of Prusa, and was the
fruit of exile. "Journey-signs" or "Itineraries" is an enigmatic
title, and the more cautious scholars forbear to venture an opinion
upon its significance. Bernhardy, editor of Suidas, says "Intelligo
_Librum de Signis_" and translates the title "De Ominibus inter
congrediendum." Leonhard Schmitz (in the rather antiquated _Smith_)
thinks it means "Itineraries" and that Dio Chrysostom very likely
wrote it, because he traveled considerably. Concerning "In Trajan's
Day" two opinions may be mentioned,--one, that the attribution of such
a title to Dio is a mistake (for, if true, he would have mentioned it
in his larger work): the other, that its substance was incorporated
in the larger work, and that it thereby lost its identity and
importance. The "Life of Arrian" is probably a fact. Arrian was a
fellow-countryman of Dio's and had a somewhat similar character and
career. It may be true, as Christ surmises, that this biography was a
youthful task or an essay of leisure, hastily thrown off in the midst
of other enterprises.
Coming to Dio's personality we have at the outset to decide how his
name shall be written. We must make sure of his proper designation
before we presume to talk about him. The choice lies between Dio
Cassius and Cassius Dio, and the former is the popular form of the
name, if it be permissible to speak of Dio at all as a "popular"
writer. The facts in the case, however, are simple. The Greek
arrangement is [Greek: Dion ho Kassios]. Now the regular Greek custom
is to place the gentile name, or even the praenomen, _after_ the
cognomen: but the regular Latin custom (and after all Dio has more of
the Roman in his makeup than of the Greek) is to observe the order
_praenomen_, _nomen_, _cognomen_. It is objected, first, that the
Greeks _sometimes_ followed the regular Latin order, and, second, that
the Romans _sometimes_ followed the regular Greek order (e.g., Cicero,
in his _Letters_). But the Greek exception cannot here make Dio the
_nomen_ and Cassius the _cognomen_: we _know_ that the historian
belonged to the gens Cassia (his father was Cassius Apronianus) and
that he took Dio as cognomen from his grandfather, Dio Chrysostom. And
the Latin exception simply offers us the alternative of following a
common usage or an uncommon usage. The real question is whether Dio
should be regarded rather as Greek or as Roman. To be logical, we must
say either Dion Kassios or Cassius Dio. Considering the historian's
times and his _habitat_, not merely his birthplace and literary
dialect, I must prefer Cassius Dio as his official appellation. Yet,
because the opposite arrangement has the sanction of usage, I deem it
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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