COMMENTARIES

OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY.

I. The purpose of the Commentary and its division........Page i

SECTION I. ON THE LIFE OF JOHN LYDUS.

II. The origin of John Laurentius Lydus, and how he entered public service................................... iii
III. The calamitous old age of Lydus..................... vi
IV. Spurious or lost writings of Lydus......... viii
V. The genuine extant writings of Lydus. 1. The Book on the Monthsoriginal: "Liber de Mensibus". 2. The Book on the Roman Magistratesoriginal: "Liber de Magistratibus Romanis".
3. The Book on Omensoriginal: "Liber de Ostentis"........................ xi

SECTION II. THE FATE OF LYDUS'S WRITINGS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

VI. The Book on Omensoriginal: "De Ostentis" as praised by Theophylact Simocatta, and partially translated into Latin by the Venerable Bede. xiv
VII. Why most of Lydus's manuscripts perished during the 7th and 8th centuries.................................. xvi
VIII. The testimony of Patriarch Photius concerning Lydus....... xix
IX. Why Photius wrote somewhat harshly of Lydus............... xxi
X. The testimony of Leo the Wise............... xxiii
XI. A corrected Latin version of this passage. The testimony of Constantine Porphyrogenitus concerning Lydus..... xxiv
XII. The testimony of the SudaAn influential 10th-century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopaedia of the ancient Mediterranean world........................... xxvii
XIII. The testimony of the Venetian Scholiast.............. xxix
XIV. The testimony of Codinus...................................... xxx
XV. Whether John Skylitzes wrote about our Lydus......xxxii

SECTION III. FRAGMENTS OF LYDUS'S WRITINGS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT LIBRARIES BEFORE THE DISCOVERY OF THE CASEOLINUS MANUSCRIPT.

XVI. The greater summary of the Book on the Monthsoriginal: "De Mensibus", and how many manuscripts it survives in................................ xxxv