FLORUS, Roman historian, flourished in the time of Trajan and Hadrian. He compiled, chiefly from Livy, a brief sketch of the history of Rome from the foundation of the city to the closing of the temple of Janus by Augustus (25 B.c.). The work, which is called Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum omnium annorurn DCC Libri duo, is a rhetorical panegyric of the greatness of Rome. Though often wrong in geographical and chronological details, it was much used in the middle ages. In the mss. the writer is variously given as Iulius Florus, Lucius Annaeus Florus, or simply Annaeus Florus. From certain similarities of style he has been identified with Publius Annius Florus (q.v.) author of a Virgilian dialogue, of which the introduction has been preserved.
The best editions are by O. Jahn (1852), C. Halm (1854) , which contain the fragments of the Virgilian dialogue. There is an English translation in Bohn's Classical Library.