The "Historical Library" ofDiodorus Siculus is a detailed account of Greek and Roman history down to the author's own time (about 60 B.C.). Unfortunately the second half (books 21-40) has only survived in fragments, but even these fragments represent one of the most important sources for the history of the period that they cover.
An English translation of books 1-32 is already available online, on theLacusCurtius site; but books 33-40 have not been available up to now, for the good reason that the standard translation (by Francis Walton) is still under copyright.
To fill the gap, this translation has been put together from various sources: from an old English translation by G.Booth (1814), from a French translation by F.Hoefer (1865), and where both of these are missing, from a completely new translation. Where old translations have been used, they have been thoroughly updated and compared with the Greek to ensure accuracy.
| Book 33 | Greek text | English translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books 34 & 35 | Greek text (chapters 1-7) | English translation | |
| Book 37 | Greek text | English translation | |
| Books 38 & 39 | Greek text | English translation | |
| Book 40 | Greek text | English translation |
Almost all of the fragments come from one of two sources: summaries in theBibliotheca ofPhotius; or excerpts made by order of the emperorConstantine Porphyrogenitus. The excerpts have survived in four collections: