INTRODUCTION. CORNELIUS NEPOS was a friend and contemporary of Cicero, Catullus, and Atticus. Cicero writes to Atticus (Epist. ad Attic. 16. 5) 'Nepotis Epistolam exspecto. Cupidus ille meorum? qui ea, quibus maxime γαυριώ legenda non putet? Et ais, μετ ̓ ἀμύμονα. Tu vero ἀμύμων. Ille quidem ἄμβροτος.” The meaning of the last clause evidently is that Atticus had praised Nepos, but said that he came after the blameless one, i. e. Cicero himself. Cicero replies that Atticus is the blameless one, that is, the best of mortals, but that Nepos is divine. This will seem exaggerated praise to those who regard him merely as the writer of a dull school-book. Lactantius (Instit. 3. 15, 13) quotes a passage from the first book of the letters of Nepos to Cicero, and Macrobius (Sat 2. 1) quotes another passage from the second book of the letters of Cicero to Nepos The first epigram of Catullus runs thus— 'Quoi dono lepidum novum libellum Quare habe tibi, quidquid hoc libelli est Plus uno maneat perenne saeclo.' We know that this is addressed to Nepos from an imitation of Ausonius The last line shews that Nepos was born in Gallia Cisalpina; and Pliny, Hist. Nat. 3. 22, calls him 'Padi accola.' He is reported by various ancient writers to have written the following works :— 1. Chronica; quoted by A. Gellius and Solinus, and referred to by Catullus in the lines quoted above. 2. Exemplorum Libri; quoted by Charisius and A. Gellius. 3. De Viris Illustribus; mentioned by Gellius, Macrobius, and Servius. 4. Lives of Cato and Cicero. He thus appears to have been a literary man of considerable knowledge and attainments; and if we had nothing of him remaining we might now be lamenting the loss of a great author. But the judgment of posterity is wiser than that of contemporaries and friends. The first edition of the book which we possess under the name of Nepos was published at Venice in 1471, under the title of Aemilii Probi de Vita Excellentium: it was attributed to him on the strength of a dedication addressed to Theodosius, ending thus 'Si rogat auctorem paullatim detege nostrum Lambinus, who published his edition in 1569, was the first to maintain that it was written by Cornelius Nepos, and there are few now who will dispute this opinion. It is supposed that the original work, de Viris Illustribus, consisted of sixteen books, in the following order : I. De regibus exterarum gentium. II. De regibus Romanorum. III. De excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium. V. De juris consultis Graecis. VIII. De oratoribus Romanis. IX. De poetis Graecis. This arrangement (which I copy from Nipperdey) is imaginary but it has much to recommend it. Nepos is a most untrustworthy historian. It is often difficult to disentangle the wilful complications of his chronology; and he tries to enhance the value of what he is relating by a foolish exaggeration, which is only too transparent to deceive. Nevertheless his style is clear, elegant, and lively, although in some respects it departs from Augustan usage, and at other times is marred by an affected euphuism; he touches on most points of interest in Grecian history, and for that reason is likely to be always popular as a school-book. He should be judged not as an original author but as a vulgarisateur who did much to make Greek learning popular amongst his fellow-citizens. We must not be surprised if all the writings which were inspired at Rome by Attic culture were not as good as Cicero's. There have been many excellent editions of Nepos. Lambinus first vindicated for these lives their true authorship. Cellarius was the first who thoroughly cleared up all their historical, geographical, and antiquarian allusions (Lips. 1689). Among the moderns Karl Nipperdey is well known for his numerous writings on our author. CORNELII NEPOTIS LIBER DE EXCELLENTIBUS DUCIBUS EXTERARUM GENTIUM. NoN dubito fore plerosque, Attice, qui hoc genus scripturae leve et non satis dignum summorum virorum personis iudicent, cum relatum legent, quis musicam docuerit Epaminondam, aut in eius virtutibus commemorari, saltasse eum 2 commode scienterque tibiis cantasse. Sed hi erunt fere, qui expertes litterarum Graecarum nihil rectum, nisi quod ipso3 rum moribus conveniat, putabunt. Hi si didicerint non eadem omnibus esse honesta atque turpia, sed omnia maiorum institutis iudicari, non admirabuntur nos in Graiorum 4 virtutibus exponendis mores eorum secutos. Neque enim Cimoni fuit turpe, Atheniensium summo viro, sororem germanam habere in matrimonio, quippe cum cives eius eodem uterentur instituto. At id quidem nostris moribus nefas habetur. Nulla Lacedaemoni vidua tam est nobilis, quae 5 non ad caenam eat mercede conducta. Magnis in laudibus tota fere fuit Graecia victorem Olympiae citari; in scenam vero prodire ac populo esse spectaculo nemini in eisdem gentibus fuit turpitudini. Quae omnia apud nos partim |