_Homer_

We may begin properly with Homer.

He it is who gave birth to, and set the example for all parts of
eloquence, in the same way, as he himself says, as the course of rivers
and springs of fountains owe their origin to the ocean. No one, in great
subjects, has excelled him in elevation; nor in small subjects, in
propriety. He is florid and close, grave and agreeable, admirable for
his concise as well as for his copious manner, and is not only eminent
for poetical, but likewise oratorical, abilities.


_Æschylus_

Æschylus is the one who gave birth to tragedy. He is sublime, and grave,
and often pompous to a fault. But his plots are mostly ill-contrived and
as ill-conducted. For which reason the Athenians permitted the poets who
came after him to correct his pieces and fit them for the stage, and in
this way many of these poets received the honor of being crowned.


_Sophocles and Euripides_

Sophocles and Euripides brought tragedy to greater perfection; but the
difference in their manner has occasioned dispute among the learned as
to their relative poetic merits. For my part, I shall leave the matter
undecided, as having nothing to do with my present purpose. It must be
confest, nevertheless, that the study of Euripedes will be of much
greater value to those who are preparing themselves for the bar; for