Eutropius

Portrait of Eutropius as a monk from a 10th-century manuscript (Laurentian Library Plut. 65.35) Flavius Eutropius (–387) was a Roman official and historian. His book summarizes events from the founding of Rome in the 8th century BC down to the author's lifetime. Appreciated by later generations for its clear presentation and writing style, the can be used as a supplement to more comprehensive Roman historical texts that have survived in fragmentary condition.

Life The exact background and birthplace of Eutropius is disputed. Some scholars claim he was born in Burdigala (Bordeaux) and was a man of medicine. Others, most notably Harold W. Bird, have dismissed these claims as being highly unlikely. Eutropius has been referred to as Italian in other sources and supposedly held estates in Asia. Aside from that, his name was Greek, making it unlikely he came from Gaul. Confusion about this has arisen because Eutropius was a popular name in late antiquity. Some believed him to have had Christian sympathies because in some manuscripts of his work he refers to Emperor Julian as an "excessive" persecutor of Christians, but this seems very unlikely. He was almost certainly a pagan and remained one under the emperor Julian's Christian successors.

He served as the imperial secretary in Constantinople. He accompanied Julian (.361–363) on his expedition against the Sassanids in 363. He survived at least as late as the reign of the emperor Valens (364–378), to whom he dedicated his Summary of Roman History. Eutropius may have been the same Eutropius that was proconsul, or Governor of Asia from 371 to 372. which repeated the original text and then continued it into the reigns of Justinian the Great and Leo the Armenian respectively. It was translated into Greek by Paeanius around 380 and by Capito Lycius in the 6th century. The former translation has survived almost in its entirety, the latter only as selected excerpts.

Although Eutropius's style contains some idiosyncrasies, the work's plain style made it long a favorite elementary Latin schoolbook. A scholarly edition was compiled by H. Droysen in 1879, which includes all that remains of both Greek versions and the expanded Latin editions of Paul and Landolf. There have been numerous English editions and translations, including Bird's.