Showing papers by "Peter S. White published in 1967"
TL;DR: In this paper, Dessau's contention that one man composed the Historia Augusta, not six as the collection itself attests, was strengthened by the soundest of his arguments together with any other evidence that seemed cogent and supported the whole with representative citations from the text.
Abstract: This paper is meant to strengthen Hermann Dessau's contention that one man composed the Historia Augusta , not six as the collection itself attests. In the first and positive part I have gathered the soundest of his arguments together with any other evidence that seemed cogent, and supported the whole with representative citations from the text. The next three sections expose basic weaknesses in the defence of multiple authorship offered by his opponents. I will show how criticism based upon linguistic differences and upon contradictions between Scriptores fails, or at least has so far failed, to confirm the traditional view; and I will also insist upon the shallowness of that compromise which postulates far-reaching interpolation rather than original falsification. The paper ends with some suggestions about argumentation which I hope will win the sympathy of anyone else who must deal with the problem of authorship.
15 citations