From Columella’s mentioning Celsus as a contemporary, but not as a living writer[E], and our author’s speaking of Themison in the same manner[F], Le Clerc infers, with great probability, that Celsus wrote towards the latter end of the reign of Augustus, or at latest, in the beginning of Tiberius; in which last period he is placed by Fabricius[G]. And that he cannot have been later, appears not only from these authorities, but almost undeniably from the purity and elegance of his style, more nearly allied to the Augustan, than any of the succeeding ages. [E] Id. lib. i. c. 1. [F] Celsi praefat. lib. i. [G] Biblioth. Latin. lib. ii. c. 4. Both Columella and Quintilian seem to speak of him as a Roman, and indeed our author himself, when he is giving the Greek name for any distemper, and is to add the Roman, frequently uses this phrase, _nostri vocant, our countrymen call it_, or some other expression of the same nature[H]. [H] _Nostri anginam vocant_, lib. iv. c. 4.--_Apud nos indecorum, sed commune his herniae nomen est_, lib. vii. c. 18.--_Nostri vero sub eodem nomine, quo priora habent_, ib. We have seen by the above quotations, how many treatises were composed by Celsus, which have all perished in the barbarous ages, except this work on medicine; which from the manner of its beginning, _Ut alimenta sanis corporibus agricultura, sic medicina ægris sanitatem promittit_, seems to have immediately followed his book on husbandry: for this easy transition is very common with our author in connecting different subjects. What confirms this is, that H. Stephens, upon the authority of an ancient manuscript, has prefixed as the title, _Aurelii Cornelii Celsi de re medica libri octo; operis ab eo scripti de artibus pars sexta_. It would be still more evident, if we could depend upon the manuscript in the library of Alex. Paduan: in which, at the end of the fourth book is written, _Artium Cornelii Celsi liber nonus, idem medicinæ liber quartus explicit feliciter_[I]. For his agriculture contained five books[J], with which the first four of this work make up the nine. [I] Morgagni Ep. 2. p. 41. [J] _Quippe Cornelius totum corpus disciplinae quinque libris complexus est_, Columell. lib. 1. c. 1. Every trifling circumstance relating to our author has employed the industry of his learned commentators. The English reader will therefore forgive me for observing, that in most of the manuscripts, his name is written A. Cornelius Celsus. And Rubeus informs us, the ancient manuscript in the Vatican library has this title, _Auli Cornelii Celsi liber sextus, idemque medicinæ primus_. As _Aurelius_ was the name of a Roman family, it is not probable that this would be his praenomen; on the contrary, _Aulus_ is found to be a common praenomen in the Cornelian family[K]. For these reasons, I read his name A. that is _Aulus, &c._ instead of _Aurelius_, as most of the printed copies have it. [K] Morgagni Ep. iv. p. 75.