AGATHIAS.

Agathyas de bello Gothorum et aliis peregrinis historiis.

      Rome, Jac. Mazochius, 1516. 1516 4to., 74 leaves printed in roman letter, title in red gothic letter, printer's white-on-black woodcut device at end; an excellent copy in Italian 18th century decorated blue paper boards, leather spine. First edition of the chronicles of the Byzantine historian Agathias (d. 582). It begins where Procopius ends and is our chief authority for the period 552-558. It deals principally with the struggles of the Byzantine army, under the command of the eunuch Narses, against the Goths, Vandals, Franks, and Persians. Gibbon contrasts Agathias as "a poet and rhetorician" to Procopius "a statesman and soldier."Ascarelli, Annali di Mazochi, 99. Not in Adams.