Gellius, AULUS

Gellius, AULUS, a Latin author, who flourished in the 2d century of our era, and is supposed to have been born at Rome, and to have studied philosophy at Athens, after which he practised law at Rome without abandoning his literary pursuits. His well-known work, the Noctes Atticæ, begun during the long nights of winter in a country-house near Athens, and completed during the later years of his life, is a collection of miscellaneous and ill-arranged matter on language, antiquities, history, and literature, in 20 books, of which the 8th is wanting. It contains many extracts from Greek and Latin authors no longer extant. The best edition is that of Hertz (2 vols. Berlin, 1883-85); see also the same editor's Opuscula Gelliana (1886).