FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178  
179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   >>   >|  
Iulius Paris, the epitomizer of Valerius, speaks of ten books, only nine are extant, and it may be doubted whether there ever was a tenth. Book i. is mutilated. There are only two passages which throw any light on the date of composition--viii. 11, _ext._ 4, a denunciation of Seianus, obviously written after his fall in A.D. 31; and vi. 1 praef., before the death of Livia, A.D. 29. The work was published at latest in A.D. 37, for it is dedicated to Tiberius, who is the object of the most servile flattery (_e.g._ ii. 9, 6); similar language is used of Iulius Caesar (iv. 5, 6), and Augustus (i. 7, 1), while Brutus and Cassius are denounced as parricides (i. 5, 7; i. 8, 8). Two abridgments of Valerius Maximus are extant. CELSUS. Of the life of Celsus nothing is known; but he was an older contemporary of Columella. Colum. iii. 17, 4, 'Iulius Atticus et Cornelius Celsus, aetatis nostrae celeberrimi auctores, patrem atque filium Sasernam secuti.' He wrote an encyclopaedic work on agriculture, medicine, war, rhetoric, and philosophy, but only the section on medicine is extant. Quint. xi. 12, 24, 'Cum etiam Cornelius Celsus, mediocri vir ingenio, non solum de his omnibus conscripserit artibus sed amplius rei militaris et rusticae et medicinae praecepta reliquerit.' The first part consisted of five books on agriculture: cf. Colum. i. 1, 14, 'Cornelius totum corpus disciplinae quinque libris complexus est.' This section of the work was probably written in the reign of Tiberius, for it was known to Iulius Graecinus, whose execution took place under Caligula. Plin. _N.H._ xiv. 33, 'Graecinus, qui alioqui Cornelium Celsum transcripsit.' There are eight books _De Re Medica_. The only indication of their date is in iv. 7, where Celsus mentions a prescription as not found 'in monumentis medicorum.' As this prescription is given by Scribonius Largus, who wrote about A.D. 47, Celsus must have written before that year. The section on war was used by Vegetius (_De Re Mil._ i. 8). Rhetoric was also treated in the encyclopaedia. Quintilian, who mentions him as one of the more careful writers on that subject (iii. 1, 21, 'accuratius scripsit Celsus'), frequently combats his opinions and speaks of him rather contemptuously: _e.g._ ix. 1, 18, 'Cornelius Celsus nimia profecto novitatis cupidine ductus. Nam quis ignorasse eruditum alioqui virum credat,' etc. He may be the Celsus of Juv. 6, 245, who (according to the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178  
179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Celsus

 
Iulius
 

Cornelius

 

section

 

extant

 

written

 
Tiberius
 
alioqui
 

mentions

 

prescription


Graecinus

 

medicine

 

agriculture

 

speaks

 

Valerius

 
Medica
 

Cornelium

 
Celsum
 

transcripsit

 

indication


monumentis

 

medicorum

 

consisted

 
doubted
 

complexus

 

corpus

 

disciplinae

 

quinque

 
libris
 

execution


Caligula

 

Scribonius

 
profecto
 

novitatis

 

contemptuously

 

frequently

 
combats
 
opinions
 

cupidine

 

ductus


credat
 

ignorasse

 

eruditum

 

scripsit

 

accuratius

 

epitomizer

 

Vegetius

 
Largus
 

Rhetoric

 
careful