Note 376 — Chapter XX · THE FINAL REVOLTS OF THE JEWS

411The writers Spartianus, Capitolinus, etc., dedicate their work to Diocletian or Constantine. It was suggested by Dessau, Hermes, 24, 337, that these writers never existed, and were invented by a forger of a century later. Mommsen, Hermes, 25, 298, assumed their existence, but regarded the extant works as revised at the time mentioned by Dessau. Other investigators, except H. Peter, accept Mommsen’s conclusions. Whether they are authentic or not, these biographies are alike wretched in style and thought.