Gellius's only known work is the
Attic Nights (), which takes its name from having been begun during the long nights of a winter which he spent in
Attica. He afterwards continued it in Rome. It is compiled out of an
Adversaria, or commonplace book, in which he had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books, and it comprises notes on
grammar,
geometry,
philosophy,
history and many other subjects.
Editions The
editio princeps was published at
Rome in 1469 by
Giovanni Andrea Bussi, bishop-designate of
Aleria. The earliest critical edition was by
Ludovicus Carrio in 1585, published by
Henricus Stephanus; however, the projected commentary fell victim to personal quarrels. Better known is the critical edition of
Johann Friedrich Gronovius; although he devoted his entire life to work on Gellius, he died in 1671 before his work could be completed. His son
Jakob published most of his comments on Gellius in 1687, and brought out a revised text with all of his father's comments and other materials at Leyden in 1706; this later work became known as the "Gronoviana". According to Leofranc Holford-Strevens, the "Gronoviana" remained the standard text of Gellius for over a hundred years, until the edition of
Martin Hertz (Berlin, 1883–85; there is also a smaller edition by the same author, Berlin, 1886), revised by C. Hosius, 1903, with bibliography. A volume of selections, with notes and vocabulary, was published by Nall (London, 1888). There is an English translation by W. Beloe (London, 1795), and a French translation (1896). A more recent English translation is by
John Carew Rolfe (1927) for the
Loeb Classical Library. More recently, Peter K. Marshall's edition (Oxford U. Press, 1968, 1990 (reissued with corrections) seems widespread both in print and digital (open access) formats.
Translations • • ; volume 2; volume 3 ==See also==