Eutropius

Eutropius dedicated his Breviarium or Historia Romana to the eastern emperor Valens in 369/370. He was one of the emperor's senior officials and later rose to become proconsul of Asia in 372 (as we learn from Ammianus), praetorian prefect of eastern Illyricum in 380-381, and consul in 387. His history covers Roman history form 753 BC to AD 364 in 10 short books totalling c. 19,000 words. It was an immediate success, and was soon translated into Greek and was a significant source for both Christian and non-Christian works in the succeding generation, including Orosius' History against the pagans. In the eighth century it was incorporated wholesale into Paul the Deacon's Historia Romana, which was then extended by Landolfus Sagax. Eutropius was therefore transmitted through the Middle Ages not also in his original form (ca. 30 manuscripts), but also in Paeanius' Greek translation (five manuscripts) and the versions of Paul and Landolfus (ca. 160 and ca. 40 manuscripts respectively. The first and still in some ways the best modern critical edition is that of Droysen for Monumenta Germaniae Historica (1879).

Further reading:

• N.E. Lenski, Failure of Empire: Valens and Roman State in the Fourth Century AD (Berkeley, 2002), 185-196.