And about those [virtues] that all the historians before Thoukydides possessed, and those they grasped only slightly, taking them up from the earliest [historians], […] not even those that are preserved does everyone trust to be genuine. Among these are Kadmos of Miletos and Aristaios of Prokonnesos and others alongside them.
Author: Dionysios of Halikarnassos
Title of Work: On Thoukydides
Location in Work: 23
Date of Work: c. 5 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
Τίσι δὲ αὐτῶν ἐχρήσαντο πάντες οἱ πρὸ Θουκυδίδου γενόμενοι συγγραφεῖς καὶ τίνων ἐπὶ μικρὸν ἥψαντο, ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀναλαβών, [...] οὔθ᾿ αἱ διασῳζόμεναι παρὰ πᾶσιν ὡς ἐκείνων οὖσαι τῶν ἀνδρῶν πιστεύονται· ἐν αἷς εἰσιν αἵ τε Κάδμου τοῦ Μιλησίου καὶ Ἀρισταίου τοῦ Προκοννησίου καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων τούτοις.
Reference Edition: Usener and Radermacher, Dionysius Opusculorum
Translation Notes: Some translations (Usher, for Loeb; Vecchiato, EGEP Arist. T2) incorporate an assumption that οὖσαι (‘genuine’ or ‘real’) refers to accuracy of attribution (see general notes).
Source of Date of Work: Bonner, Literary Treatises, 81.
Commentary:
This text has traditionally been understood to refer to doubts that works circulating under the names of early historians were correctly attributed, but the meaning of οὖσαι (‘genuine’ or ‘real’) is broader and probably refers here to the texts’ general credibility, including the reality of their stories. The inclusion of Aristeas among early historians probably owes to the Arimaspeia’s story of conflict between Skythians and Kimmerians.
Except for Gellius’ claim that he found a copy of the Arimaspeia, which appears to be fictional, this is the latest text that explicitly refers to the Arimaspeia as an extant work.
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T2; BNJ Aristeas (35) T5; EGF Aristeas T2; PEG Aristeas T18; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 10; FGrH Aristeas (35) T2