this author, by Pliny the Younger, that, though his
compositions might, perhaps, not obtain immortality, he wrote as if they
would. [Aeterna, quae scripsit, non erunt fortasse: ille tamen scripsit
tanquam futura.] The character which Martial gives of his epigrams, is
just and comprehensive:

Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura,
Quae legis: hic aliter non fit, Avite, liber.

Some are good, some indifferent, and some again still worse;
Such, Avitus, you will find is a common case with verse.

THE END OF THE TWELVE CAESARS

LIVES OF EMINENT GRAMMARIANS

(506)

I. The science of grammar [842] was in ancient times far from being in
vogue at Rome; indeed, it was of little use in a rude state of society,
when the people were engaged in constant wars, and had not much time to
bestow on the cultivation of the liberal arts [843]. At the outset, its
pretensions were very slender, for the earliest men of learning, who were
both poets and orators, may be considered as half-Greek: I speak of
Livius [844] and Ennius [845], who are acknowledged to have taught both
languages as well at Rome as in foreign parts [846]. But they (507) only
translated from the Greek, and if they composed anything of their own in
Latin, it was only from what they had before read. For although there
are those who say that this Ennius published two books, one on "Letters
and Syllables," and the other on "Metres," Lucius Cotta has
satisfactorily proved that they are not the works of the poet Ennius, but
of another writer of the same name, to whom also the treatise on the
"Rules of Augury" is attributed.

II. Crates of Mallos [847], then, was, in our opinion, the first who
introduced the study of grammar at Rome. He was cotemporary with
Aristarchus [848], and having been sent by king Attalus as envoy to the
senate in the interval between the second and third Punic wars [849],
soon after the death of Ennius [850], he had the misfortune to fall into
an open sewer in the Palatine quarter of the city, and broke his leg.
After which, during the whole period of his embassy and convalescence, he
gave frequent lectures, taking much pains to instruct his hearers, and he
has left us an example well worthy of imitation. It was so far followed,
that poems hitherto little known, the works either of deceased friends or
other approved writers, were brought to light, and being read and
commented on, were explained to o