ECLOGE CICERONIANE: CONTAINING NARRATIONS, MAXIMS, DESCRIPTIONS, CHARACTERS, LETTERS, SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF CICERO. EDITED BY ALEXANDER ALLEN. LONDON: TAYLOR AND WALTON, PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS TO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, 28, UPPER GOWER STREET. 1839. 119 PREFACE. No Latin author has written so largely, on so great a variety of subjects, and in so many styles, as Cicero, and his works have always been regarded as models of prose composition. Quintilian's observation, that the student may judge of his own proficiency by the satisfaction which he receives from the Roman orator, has been confirmed by universal assent. A difficulty, however, has often been felt by teachers, when they have wished to introduce their pupils to the reading of Cicero. They have found themselves at a loss what portion of his works to select. In his orations boys cannot be expected to take much interest, requiring as they do too much knowledge of law and of life to be fully understood by them. Philosophical subjects treated at length are wholly unsuited to the purpose. Treatises on rhetoric and stylistic are out of the question for those who have little or no knowledge of the subject of discussion; and his letters to Atti A |