hem have ended by
adopting the opinion which places Quintus Curtius under the reign of
Claudius. See Just. Lips. ad Ann. Tac. ii. 20. Michel le Tellier Praef.
in Curt. Tillemont Hist. des Emp. i. p. 251. Du Bos Reflections sur la
Poesie, 2d Partie. Tiraboschi Storia della, Lett. Ital. ii. 149. Examen.
crit. des Historiens d'Alexandre, 2d ed. p. 104, 849, 850.--G.
----This interminable question seems as much perplexed as ever. The first
argument of M. Guizot is a strong one, except that Parthian is often
used by later writers for Persian. Cunzius, in his preface to an edition
published at Helmstadt, (1802,) maintains the opinion of Bagnolo, which
assigns Q. Curtius to the time of Constantine the Great. Schmieder,
in his edit. Gotting. 1803, sums up in this sentence, aetatem Curtii
ignorari pala mest.--M.]

As the third Gordian was only nineteen years of age at the time of his
death, the history of his life, were it known to us with greater
accuracy than it really is, would contain little more than the account
of his education, and the conduct of the ministers, who by turns abused
or guided the simplicity of his unexperienced youth. Immediately after
his accession, he fell into the hands of his mother's eunuchs, that
pernicious vermin of the East, who, since the days of Elagabalus, had
infested the Roman palace. By the artful conspiracy of these wretches,
an impenetrable veil was drawn between an innocent prince and his
oppressed subjects, the virtuous disposition of Gordian was deceived,
and the honors of the empire sold without his knowledge, though in a
very public manner, to the most worthless of mankind. We are ignorant by
what fortunate accident the emperor escaped from this ignominious
slavery, and devolved his confidence on a minister, whose wise counsels
had no object except the glory of his sovereign and the happiness of the
people. It should seem that love and learning introduced Misitheus to
the favor of Gordian. The young prince married the daughter of his
master of rhetoric, and promoted his father-in-law to the first offices
of the empire. Two admirable letters that passed between them are still
extant. The minister, with the conscious dignity of virtue,
congratulates Gordian that he is delivered from the tyranny of the
eunuchs, [47] and still more that he is sensible of his deliverance. The
emperor acknowledges, with an amiable confusion, the errors of his past
conduct; and laments, with singular propriety