Seven Books of History against the Pagans

468 Pages·2010·2.609 MB·English

by  Paulus Orosius, Andrew T. Fear (transl.)

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Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford
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Mary Cunningham, University of Nottingham
Carlotta Dionisotti, King’s College, London
Peter Heather, King’s College, London
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William E. Klingshirn, The Catholic University of America
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Mary Whitby, University of Oxford
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Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian: Agapetus – Advice to the Emperor,
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Translated with notes and an introduction by PETER N. BELL
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History and Hagiography from the Late Antique Sinai
DANIEL F. CANER, with contributions by SEBASTIAN BROCK, RICHARD M. PRICE
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Translated Texts for Historians
Volume 54
Orosius
Seven Books of History
against the Pagans
Translated with an introduction and notes by
A. T. Fear
Liverpool
University
Press
First published 2010
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool, L69 7ZU
Copyright © 2010 A. T. Fear
The right of A. T. Fear to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A British Library CIP Record is available.
ISBN 978-1-84631-473-5 cased
ISBN 978-1-84631-239-7 limp
Set in Times by
Koinonia, Manchester
Printed in the United Kingdom by
Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations viii
INTrODUCTION
1. Life 1
2. The Histories 6
3. Intentions 7
4. Secular Religious History 13
5. Sources 15
6. Structure 16
7. Chronological Systems and the Ordering of Time 18
8. Notes of Caution 22
9. Orosius’s Clash with Augustine 23
10. Legacy 24
NOTE ON TrANSLATION 26
SyNOPSIS 27
SEVEN BOOkS Of HISTOry AGAINST THE PAGANS
Book One 31
Book Two 73
Book Three 109
Book Four 154
Book Five 206
Book Six 261
Book Seven 318
Bibliography 415
Index 432

ACkNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all those who have made many improvements to this
work, in particular Gillian Clark, John Davies, Mark Humphries, and Mary
Whitby. The errors and infelicities that remain are entirely my own respon-
sibility.
ABBrEVIATIONS
a. anno (in the year)
A Abr. a Abraham (from Abraham)
ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D.
325 (ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson)
AUC Ab Urbe Condita (from the foundation of the City)
CCSL Corpus Christianorum: series Latinorum
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
fr. fragment
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica
NPNF A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
Christian Church (ed. P. Schaff)
Per. Periocha
PG Patrologia Graeca
PL Patrologia Latina
PLRE Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (vol.1, ed. A. H. M.
Jones, J. R. Martindale and J. Morris; vol. 2, ed. J. R. Martindale)
s.a. sub anno (in the year)
SHA Scriptores Historiae Augustae
sup. supplement