Textus Originalis

DE FRAGMENTIS LIBRORUM VI—X.

Cetera sine certa causa mutare ac transponere minime expedit; unde autem certae causae in re tam dubia tamque obnoxia errori? Nisi forte contigerit, ut extrinsecus sive ex tabulis chronographi, quo usus est Diodorus, sive ex posterioribus scriptoribus qui ipsi sua ex Diodoro hauserunt, certa quaedam argumenta et indicia colligantur, haec quaestio ad exitum adduci non poterit. Ne id quidem exploratum est, quas res quotve annos singuli libri complexi sint; constat tantum sexto libro Diodorum res usque ad Troiae excidium (I 4, 6)*), decimo usque ad Xerxis transitum in Europam (XI 1, 1) persecutum esse. Septimum librum inde a Troia capta usque ad primam Olympiadem pertinuisse quamvis sit veri simile, Bipontinorum et Wurmi sententia, octavum librum a Roma condita, non a prima Olympiade initium cepisse, qua ratione potest refutari? Nonum librum Bipontini atque omnes deinceps editores incipiunt a Solonis aetate. Quod cum consentiant, dissentiunt de libri noni exitu. Conservavi quidem Caroli Müller distributionem, tamen non dissimulo valde mihi arridere Strothi sententiam, qui, sicuti ipse conieceram, decimi libri exordium fuisse censet illum locum communem (frag. X 12), quo historiae utilitas celebratur. Nam eadem fere disseruit Diodorus in initio et primi et decimi quinti libri.**) Res ipsas autem fragmentis noni libri et decimi ineuntis tractatas, quorum illa ad septem sapientes, haec ad Pythagoreos spectant, facile in unum coire librum in promptu est. Nemo credo in eo offendet, quod frag-

*) Scilicet de primo septimi libri fragmento adnotavit C. Müller: 'incertus haereo utrum ad septimum an ad sextum librum pertinuerit.' Dubitat etiam de frag. X 1 et 2. **) cf. tamen XI 38, 6. 46, 1. XV 88, 1.

Traduzione

ON THE FRAGMENTS OF BOOKS VI—X.

To change and transpose other things without certain cause is by no means expedient; but whence come certain causes in a matter so doubtful and so liable to error? Unless perhaps it happens that certain proofs and indications are gathered from external sources, either from the chronological tables which Diodorus used, or from later writers who themselves drew their material from Diodorus, this question cannot be brought to a conclusion. Not even this is established, how many affairs or how many years each book encompassed; it is only agreed that Diodorus in the sixth book pursued events up to the destruction of Troy (I 4, 6)*), in the tenth up to Xerxes' crossing into Europe (XI 1, 1). Although it is probable that the seventh book extended from the capture of Troy to the first Olympiad, by what reasoning can the opinion of the Bipontine editors and Wurm, that the eighth book began with the founding of Rome, not with the first Olympiad, be refuted? The Bipontine editors and all subsequent editors begin the ninth book with the age of Solon. While they agree on this, they disagree about the end of the ninth book. I have indeed preserved Carl Müller's distribution, yet I do not conceal that Stroth's opinion greatly appeals to me, who, as I myself had conjectured, thinks that the beginning of the tenth book was that commonplace passage (frag. X 12) in which the utility of history is celebrated. For Diodorus discussed nearly the same things at the beginning of both the first and the fifteenth books.**) That the actual matters treated in the fragments of the ninth book and the beginning of the tenth—of which the former pertain to the seven sages, the latter to the Pythagoreans—easily coalesce into one book is obvious. No one, I believe, will take offense at the fact that the frag-

*) Namely, concerning the first fragment of the seventh book, C. Müller noted: 'I am uncertain whether it belonged to the seventh or to the sixth book.' He also doubts about frag. X 1 and 2. **) cf. however XI 38, 6. 46, 1. XV 88, 1.

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