Excerpt from The Institutio Oratoria Of Quintilian, Vol. 4 of 4: With An English TranslationIf we turn to history, we shall find a number of 73 distinguished writers, but there are two who must undoubtedly be set far above all their rivals: their excellences are different in kind, but have won almost equal praise. Thucydides is compact in texture, terse and ever eager to press forward H ero dotus is pleasant, lucid and diffuse: the former excels in vigour, speeches and the expression of the stronger passions, the latter in charm, conversations and the delineation of the gentler emotions. Theo 74 pompus 1 comes next, and though as a historian he is inferior to the authors just mentioned, his style has a greater resemblance to oratory, which is not surprising, as he was an orator before he was urged to turn to history. Philìstus 2 also deserves Special distinction among the crowd of later historians, good though they may have been: he was nu imitator of Thucydides, and though far his inferior, was some what more lucid. Ephorus, 3 according to Isocrates, needed the spur. Clitarchus 4 has won appyoval by 75 his talent, but his accuracy has been impugned. Timagenes 5 was born long after these authors, but deserves our praise for the very fact that he revived the credit of history, the writing of which had fa1len into neglect. I have not forgotten Xenophon, but be will find his place among the philosophers.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.