978 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
though several stories are gleaned from them. These are re¬ 
lated in John’s own words, as a rule, though statements of the 
source frequently appear. 
There are very many passages from Suetonius, especially 
from his poetry and there are four from Sallust. Two of the 
latter can be traced to other sources but one from the Jugurtha 
and one from the Catiline cannot be accounted for except on 
the assumption of John’s knowledge of the texts. As these were 
current at the time and as John seems to be quite familiar with 
Sallust, 1 it is probable that he knew both of these works. The 
third Decade of Livy which was often used in this time, seems 
also to have been known by John and though he quotes Julius 
Floras directly on the Punic wars yet his familiarity with 
the subject, his reference to Livy, as ; ‘scriptor belli Punici Titus 
Livius refert,” 2 and his use of material which could only have 
been obtained from the original, make it altogether probable 
that he had read at least a part of Livy. 
John speaks also of Tacitus and Quintus Curtius as his¬ 
torians who give full descriptions of certain events, but his own 
works give no hint that he knew more than the names of these 
two. Naturally, he is more familiar with the epitomists and 
anecdotic historians. His use of these writers is aptly described 
by Schaarschmidt: “diese Autoren werden formlich geplun- 
dert.” 3 It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that if the 
fourth book of the Strategematica of Frontinus or the fourth 
book of the Facta et Dicta Memorabilia were lost they could be 
restored from the Policraticus. His quotations from them are 
not confined to these two books. The De He Militari of Ve- 
getius and the Epitoma of Justin are used almost as extensively. 
Julius Floras is quoted only twice but both passages are fairly 
long and quite accurate, so that he probably had the work. 
He apparently read the natural histories of the Elder 
Pliny which were so commonly used at that time in Northern 
France as an encyclopedia. He says: “memor hominum, quos 
in libro Naturalis Historiae apud Plinium didici” 4 and the 
1 Migne, p. 500. “Crispo historicorum inter Latinos Postissimo.” 
2 Migne, p. 495. 
3 Schaarschmidt, p. 90. 
4 Migne, p. 576. 
