When I was returning from Greece to Italy and had come to Brundisium, after disembarking I was strolling about in that famous port, which Quintus Ennius called praepes, or ‘propitious,’ using an epithet that is somewhat far-fetched, but altogether apt. There I saw some bundles of books exposed for sale, and I at once eagerly hurried to them. Now, all those books were in Greek, filled with marvellous tales, things unheard of, incredible; but the writers were ancient and of no mean authority: Aristeas of Proconnesus, Isigonus of Nicaea, Ctesias and Onesicritus, Philostephanus and Hegesias. The volumes themselves, however, were filthy from long neglect, in bad condition and unsightly. Nevertheless, I drew near and asked their price; then, attracted by their extraordinary and unexpected cheapness, I bought a large number of them for a small sum, and ran through all of them hastily in the course of the next two nights. As I read, I culled from them, and noted down, some things that were remarkable and for the most part unmentioned by our native writers; these I have inserted here and there in these notes, so that whoever shall read them may not be found to be wholly ignorant and ἀνήκοος, or ‘uninstructed,’ when hearing tales of that kind.
Author: Aulus Gellius
Title of Work: Attic Nights
Location in Work: 9.4.1-5
Date of Work: c. 177 CE
Original Language: Latin
Original Text:
inclito spatiaremur, quem Q. Ennius remotiore paulum, sed admodum scito vocabulo ‘praepetem’ Cum e Graecia in Italiam rediremus et Brundisium iremus egressique e navi in terram in portu illo appellavit, fasces librorum venalium expositos vidimus. Atque ego avide statim pergo ad libros. Erant autem isti omnes libri Graeci miraculorum fabularumque pleni, res inauditae, incredulae, scriptores veteres non parvae auctoritatis: Aristeas Proconnesius et Isigonus Nicaeensis et Ctesias et Onesicritus et Philostephanus et Hegesias; ipsa autem volumina ex diutino situ squalebant et habitu aspectuque taetro erant. Accessi tamen percontatusque pretium sum et, adductus mira atque insperata vilitate, libros plurimos aere pauco emo eosque omnis duabus proximis noctibus cursim transeo; atque in legendo carpsi exinde quaedam et notavi mirabilia et scriptoribus fere nostris intemptata eaque his commentariis aspersi, ut qui eos lectitarit ne rudis omnino et ἀνήκοος inter istiusmodi rerum auditiones reperiatur.
Reference Edition: Marshall, A. Gellii.
Translation Source: Rolfe, Gellius.
Source of Date of Work: Holford-Strevens, Chronology.
Commentary:
Gellius’ claim is transparently fictional, as the six authors whose works he claims to have found were all cited as sources by Pliny the Elder for the seventh book of his Natural History, and Gellius lists the authors in the same order Pliny includes them among his longer list (Pliny, Natural History 1.7, where Aristeas is 2nd, Isigonus 4th, Ctesias 14th, Onesicritus 17th, Philostephanus 41st, and Hegesias 42nd). Odds of such matching order happening randomly are 1 in 720. Gellius further betrays his ruse when he continues by describing the books’ contents (to come in this collection).
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T3; BNJ Aristeas (35) T7a; EGF Aristeas T1; PEG Aristeas T20; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 9; FGrH Aristeas (35) T4