,--he retired to the monastery
of Mt. Athos, where he devoted himself to literary labors until his
death, which is said to have occurred at the advanced age of
eighty-eight. He was the author of numerous works, such as a Lexicon
of Words Old and New, an Exposition of the Apostolic and Patristic
Canons, an Argument Directed Against the Marriage of Two Nephews to
the Same Woman, etc.; but our special interest lies in his [Greek:
Chronikon] (Chronicon), a history of the world in eighteen books, from
the creation to 1118 A.D.,--this last being the date of the demise of
Alexis. The earlier portions of this work are drawn from Josephus; for
Roman History he uses largely Cassius Dio; Plutarch, Eusebius, Appian
also figure. But it has already been stated that Books Twenty-two to
Thirty-five perished at an indefinitely early date; hence it follows
that Zonaras has only Books One to Twenty-one at hand to use for his
account of _early_ Rome; besides these he has later employed Books
Forty-four to Eighty. Consequently it is possible to get many of the
facts related to Dio, and in some cases his exact words, by reading
Books VII to XII of this [Greek: Chronikon] or [Greek: Epitome
Historion] by Zonaras. It is Books VII, VIII, and IX especially which
follow Books One to Twenty-one of Dio.

Parallel with this account of Zonaras and extending beyond it, even to
the extent of throwing a wire of communication across the yawning
time-chasm represented by Books Twenty-two to Thirty-five, are certain
excerpts and epitomes found in various odd corners and strangely
preserved to the present moment. These are: Excerpts Concerning
Virtues and Vices; Excerpts Concerning Judgments; Excerpts Concerning
Embassies. The so-called "Planudean Excerpts" which used to be
admitted to editions are rejected on good authority[2] by Melber, whom
I have followed. I shall attempt only a brief mention of those
excerpts, to show their pertinence.

[Footnote 2: Mommsen (Hermes VI, pp. 82-89); Haupt (Hermes XIV, pp.
36-64, and XV, p. 160); Boissevain (Program, Rotterdam, 1884).]

The _Excerpts Concerning Virtues and Vices_ exist in a manuscript of
the tenth century at the library of Tours, originally brought from the
island of Cyprus and sold to Nicolas Claude Fabre de Peiresc, who
lived from 1580 to 1637. Apparently it is a collection made at the
order of Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus. It was first published at
Paris by Henri de Valois in 1634. The collectio