compliment to Augustus, whose sensibility would have been wounded by the
praises of Cicero, and even by the mention of his name, they have so
industriously avoided the subject, as not to afford the most distant
intimation that this immortal orator and philosopher had ever existed.
Livy however, there is reason to think, did some justice to his memory:
but it was not until the race of the Caesars had become extinct, that he
received the free and unanimous applause of impartial posterity. Such
was the admiration which Quintilian entertained of his writings, that he
considered the circumstance or being delighted with them, as an
indubitable proof of judgment and taste in literature. Ille se
profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit. [105]

In this period is likewise to be placed M. Terentius Varro, the
celebrated Roman grammarian, and the Nestor of ancient learning. The
first mention made of him is, that he was lieutenant to Pompey in his
piratical wars, and obtained in that service a naval crown. In the civil
wars he joined the side of the Republic, and was taken by Caesar; by whom
he was likewise proscribed, but obtained a remission of the sentence. Of
all the ancients, he has acquired the greatest fame for his extensive
erudition; and we may add, that he displayed the same industry in
communicating, as he had done in collecting it. His works originally
amounted to no less than five hundred volumes, which have all perished,
except a treatise De Lingua Latina, and one De Re Rustica. Of the former
of these, which is addressed to Cicero, three books at the beginning are
also lost. It appears from the introduction of the fourth book, that
they all related to etymology. The first contained such observations as
might be made against it; the second, such as might be made in its
favour; and the third, observations upon it. He next proceeds to
investigate the origin of (66) Latin words. In the fourth book, he
traces those which relate to place; in the fifth, those connected with