into acceptable English what Dio spent twelve in
writing down. Yet the task was not quite the same, for half of this
historian's books have been caught up and whirled away in the cyclone
of time; and who knows whether they still possess any resting-place
above or beneath the earth?

The text originally chosen as the basis for the translation was that
of Melber, the idea of the translator being that the Teubner edition
would be the most convenient and readily obtainable standard of
reference for any one who wished to compare the Greek and the English.
Hence the numbering of the Fragments is that of Melber (subdivisions
are distinguished by a notation simpler than that of the original
"sections"). Since no Teubner volumes beyond the second proved to be
forthcoming, the rest of the work followed the stereotyped Tauchnitz
edition, which also enjoys a large circulation. This text, however,
contained so many cases of corruption and clumsiness that it seemed
best to work over carefully nearly all of the latter portion of the
English and to embody as many as possible of the improvements of
Boissevain. Incidentally Boissevain's interior arrangement of all the
later books was adopted, though it was deemed preferable (for mere
readiness of reference) to adhere to the old external division of
books established by Leunclavius. (Boissevain's changes are, however,
indicated.) The Tauchnitz text with all its inaccuracies endeavors to
present a coherent and readable narrative, and this is something which
the exactitude of Boissevain does not at all times permit. In the
translation I have striven to follow a conservative course, and at
some points a straightforward narrative interlarded with brackets will
give evidence of its origin in Tauchnitz, whereas at others loose,
disjointed paragraphs betray the hand of Boissevain who would not
willingly let Xiphilinus and Dio ride in the same compartment. My main
desire through it all has been not so much to attain a logical unity
of form as to present a history which shall look well and read well in
English. For this reason also I have banished most of the Fragments
(which must have only a comparatively limited interest) to the last
volume and have replaced them in my first by portions of Zonaras
(taken from Melber) which have their origin in Dio and are at the same
time clear, comprehensible, and connected.

Should any person object that even so my text does not offer eye and
ear a pellucid