Eutropius
1.
A Latin historian of the fourth century. He bore arms under Julian in his expedition
against the Parthians, as he himself informs us (x. 16), and is thought to have risen to
senatorial rank. Suidas makes him of Italian origin, while some modern writers, on the other
hand, advance the hypothesis that he was a native of Gaul, and was perhaps identical with the
Eutropius to whom some of the letters of Symmachus are addressed. The manuscripts give him
the title of Vir Cl., which may stand for either Vir Clarissimus or Vir Consularis, but which
in either sense indicates an advancement to some of the highest offices in the State. He
wrote several works, of which the only one remaining is an abridgment of Roman history
(
Breviarium ab Urbe Condita), in ten books. It is a brief and dry outline,
without either elegance or ornament, yet containing certain facts which are nowhere else
mentioned. The work commences with the foundation of the city, and is carried on to the death
of Jovian, A.D. 364. At the close of this work Eutropius announces his intention of
continuing the narrative in a more elevated style, inasmuch as he will have to treat of great
personages still living. It does not appear that he ever carried this plan into execution.
The best editions are those of Grosse
(Halle, 1813), Hartel
(Berlin,
1872), and of Droysen
(Berlin, 1878). There is a lexicon to Eutropius by
Eichert
(Breslau, 1850). On his style see Sorn,
Die Sprachgebrauch des
Eutropius, pt. i.
(Halle in Austria, 1888), pt. ii.
(Laibach,
1889). The
Breviarium was translated into Greek by one Paeanius, whose
version is still in great part extant, and is edited in Droysen's edition of Eutropius. See
Duncker,
De Paeanio Eutropii Interprete (Greiffenberg, 1880).
See, also,
Historia Miscella.
2.
A eunuch and minister of the emperor Arcadius, who rose by infamous practices from the
lowest condition to the highest pitch of opulence and power. He was probably a native of
Asia, was made chamberlain to the emperor in the year A.D. 395, and, after the fall of
Rufinus, succeeded that minister in the confidence of his master, and rose to unlimited
authority. He was even created consul, a disgrace to Rome never before equalled. An insult
offered to the empress was the cause of his overthrow; and he was sent into perpetual exile
at Cyprus. He was soon afterwards, however, brought back on another charge; and after being
condemned, was beheaded in 399 (Zosim. v. 10, 18, etc.).
