Ancient Books

CHAP. I. Of the Chronology of the First Ages of the Greeks. All Nations, before they began to keep exact accounts of Time, have been prone to raise their Antiquities; and this humour has been promoted, by the Contentions between Nations about their Originals. Herodotus tells us, that the Priests ofEgyptreckoned from the Reign ofMenesto that ofSethon, who putSennacheribto flight, three hundred forty and... more...

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY. ANCIENT RELIGIONS: EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN, AND PERSIAN. It is my object in this book on the old Pagan civilizations to present the salient points only, since an exhaustive work is impossible within the limits of these volumes. The practical end which I have in view is to collate a sufficient number of acknowledged facts from which to draw sound inferences in reference... more...

BOOK I I.—All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae. Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest,... more...

CHAPTER I The wife of Belisarius, whom I have spoken of in my previous writings, was the daughter and grand-daughter of chariot-drivers, men who had practised their art in the circus at Byzantium and at Thessalonica. Her mother was one of the prostitutes of the theatre. She herself at first lived a lewd life, giving herself up to unbridled debauchery; besides this, she devoted herself to the study of... more...

HISTORY OF THE WARS: BOOK V I Such, then, were the fortunes of the Romans in Libya. I shall now proceed to the Gothic War, first telling all that befell the Goths and Italians before this war. 474-491 a.d.During the reign of Zeno Byzantium the power in the West was held by Augustus, whom the Romans used to call by the diminutive name Augustulus because he took over the empire while still a lad,July 31,... more...

ONCE UPON A TIME. Once upon a time, there lived in a city of Asia Minor, not far from Mount Ida, as old Homer tells us in his grand and beautiful poem, a king who had fifty sons and many daughters. How large his family was, indeed, we cannot say, for the storytellers of the olden time were not very careful to set down the actual and exact truth, their chief object being to give the people something to... more...

BOOK V. THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIES, CALLED TERPSICHORE 1. In the meantime those of the Persians who had been left behind in Europe by Dareios, of whom Megabazos was the commander, had subdued the people of Perinthos first of the Hellespontians, since they refused to be subject to Dareios. These had in former times also been hardly dealt with by the Paionians: for the Paionians from the Strymon had... more...

DURATION OF TIME M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola. (A.D. 54 = a.u. 807 = First of Nero, from Oct. 13th). Nero Caesar Aug., L. Antistius Vetus. (A.D. 55 = a.u. 808 = Second of Nero). Q. Volusius Saturninus, P. Cornelius Scipio. (A.D. 56 = a.u. 809 = Third of Nero). Nero Caesar Aug. (II), L. Calpurnius Piso. (A.D. 57 = a.u. 810 = Fourth of Nero). Nero Caesar... more...