r 



INTRODUCTION 



Commodus," son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina, 

 Emperor 180-192. Bom in l6l, he was made a 

 Qiesiir in l66, and Imperator in 176. As H. ii. 682 

 fF. (quoted above) implies that the son was cissociated 

 with his father in the imperial power, this would 

 date the Halieutica betAveen 176, and the death of 

 Marcus Aurelius in 180. For the sporting proclivities 

 of Comraodus cf. Herodian i. 15. The schol. in 

 most places, i. Q6, i. 77, ii. 41, iv. 4 take the son 

 to be 'AvTtovtvw (sic) tw Fo/jSiavw, but on ii. 683 

 the father and son are given as 'AiTwva'os koX 



KdJ/JLoSoS- 



The identification of the Antoninus of the 

 Halieutica with Marcus Aurelius has been generally 

 accepted. The date thus assigned to the Cilician 

 Oppian agrees admirably with the external evidence 

 mentioned above. It agrees too with the date given 

 for QpgianbyEusebius (Chron. op. S. Hieron., vol. 

 viii. p. ~7227 ed7 Veron. 1 736), and Syncellus 

 {Chronogr. pp. 352 f., ed. Paris, l652), who place 

 Oppian in the year 1 7 1 or 1 73. If there be am-thing 

 at atl"~in the somewhat suspicious story of the 

 banishment of the father and his restoration through 

 his son, the story would appear to refer to the poet 

 of the Ct/negetica. 



The latest edition (sixth) of W. von Christ's 

 Geschichte der griechiscken Literahcr (ed. W. Schmid 

 and O. Stahlin) holds that the Cynegetica and the 

 Halieutica, although by different authors, are both 

 alike dedicated to Caracalla. von Christ himself 

 held, as we hold, that the Halieutica was dedicated 

 to Marcus Aurelius. The reasoning by which the 



" His imperial name was Marcus Aurelius Commodus 

 Antoninus. 



