[86]
I will
repeat the words which I heard Domitius Afer use
in my young days. I asked what poet in his opinion
came nearest to Homer, and he replied, “Virgil
comes second, but is nearer first than third.” And
in truth, although we must needs bow before the
immortal and superhuman genius of Homer, there
is greater diligence and exactness in the work
of Virgil just because his task was harder. And
perhaps the superior uniformity of the Roman's excellence balances Homer's pre-eminence in his outstanding passages.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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