Gellius, Aulus (c. AD 130–perhaps 180), the (Latin) author of Noctes Atticae (‘Attic nights’), in twenty books, of which all survive except the beginning of the preface and book 8 (for which we have chapter headings). His birthplace is unknown, but he studied literature at Rome before proceeding to Athens where he visited Herodēs Atticus. His book is a random collection of short essays, based on the Greek and Latin books he had read and the conversations and lectures he had heard, and deals with a great variety of topics: philosophy, history, law, grammar, literary and textual criticism, antiquarian knowledge, and many other subjects. He began collecting his material during the winter nights in Attica and arranged it in later life for the amusement and instruction of his children. It contains thousands of curious and interesting passages from works no longer extant, and is a mine of information on Greek and Latin authors; we are particularly indebted to him for the preservation of many passages from early Latin literature, and, among many good stories, for that of Androclus and the lion (5. 14).
Aulus Gellius
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Aulus Gellius (ca. 125 AD—after 180 AD), Latin author and grammarian, possibly of African origin, probably born and certainly brought up at Rome.
He studied grammar and rhetoric at Rome and philosophy at Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office. His teachers and friends included many distinguished men — Sulpicius Apollinaris, Herodes Atticus and Fronto.
His only work, the Attic Nights (in Latin: Noctes Atticae), takes its name from having been begun during the long nights of a winter which he spent in Attica. He afterwards continued it at Rome. It is compiled out of an Adversaria, or commonplace book, in which he had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books, and it comprises notes on grammar, geometry, philosophy, history and almost every other branch of knowledge.
The work, deliberately devoid of sequence or arrangement, is divided into twenty books. All these have come down to us except the eighth, of which nothing remains but the index. The Attic Nights are valuable for the insight they afford into the nature of the society and pursuits of those times, and for its many excerpts from works of lost ancient authors.
One story is Androcles, which is often compiled into collections of Aesop's fables (but is not found there).
External links
- Attic Nights (Latin text: complete; English translation: Preface thru Book 13)
- Attic Nights (Latin text: Books 1‑11, 13, 20)
References
- Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Aulus Gellius: An Antonine Author and his Achievement (Oxford University Press; revised paperback edn. 2005), limited preview online.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Further reading
- The Worlds of Aulus Gellius, edited by Leofranc Holford-Strevens and Amiel Vardi (Oxford University Press, 2004), a collection of 12 essays by various authors, limited preview online.
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