iv
PREFACE.
The first two books, and portions of the third, eleventh, and fifteenth, exist only in an Epitome, of which both the date and author are unknown. It soon, however, became more common than the original work, and eventually in a great degree superseded it. Indeed Bentley has proved that the only knowledge which, in the time of Eustathius, existed of Athenæus, was through its medium.
Athenæus was also the author of a book entitled, "On the Kings of Syria," of which no portion has come down to us.
The text which has been adopted in the present translation is that of Schweighäuser.
C. D. Y.
