the trade of puffing is related in the
Dialogue, on the authority of Pliny, who tells us that those wretched
sycophants had two nick-names; one in Greek, [Greek: Sophokleis], and
the other in Latin, LAUDICAENI; the former from _sophos_, the usual
exclamation of applause, as in Martial: _Quid tam grande sophos clamat
tibi turba, togata_; the Latin word importing _parasites_ who sold
their praise for a supper. _Inde jam non inurbane [Greek: Sophokleis]
vocantur; iisdem nomen Latinum impositum est_, LAUDICAENI. _Et tamen
crescit indies foeditas utraque lingua notata._ Lib. ii. epist. 14.

Section 10.

[a] Pliny tells us, that he employed much of his time in pleading
causes before the _centumviri_; but he grew ashamed of the business,
when he found those courts attended by a set of bold young men, and
not by lawyers of any note or consequence. But still the service of
his friends, and his time of life, induced him to continue his
practice for some while longer, lest he should seem, by quitting it
abruptly, to fly from fatigue, not from the indecorum of the place. He
contrived however to appear but seldom, in order to withdraw himself
by degrees. _Nos tamen adhuc et utilitas amicorum, et ratio aetatis,
moratur ac retinet. Veremur enim ne forte non has indignitates
reliquisse, sed laborem fugisse videamur. Sumus tamen solito rariores,
quod initium est gradatim desinendi._ Lib. ii. epist. 14.

Section 11.

[a] The person here distinguished from the rest of the rhetoricians,
is the celebrated Quintilian, of whose elegant taste and superior
judgement it were superfluous to say a word. Martial has given his
character in two lines:--

Quintiliane, vagae moderator summe juventae,
Gloria Romanae, Quintiliane, togae.
Lib. ii. epig. 90.

It is generally supposed that he was a native of _Calaguris_ (now
_Calahorra_), a city in Spain, rendered famous by the martial spirit
of Sertorius, who there stood a siege against Pompey. Vossius,
however, thinks that he was born a Roman; and GEDOYN, the elegant
translator mentioned section 6. note [a], accedes to that opinion,
since Martial does not claim him as his countryman. The same writer
says, that it is still uncertain when Quintilian was born, and when he
died; but, after a diligent enquiry, he thinks it probable that the
great critic was born towards the latter end of Tiberius; and, of
course, when Domitius Afer died in the reign of Nero,