Book 10
1.117
he would deserve a place among the greatest. For his natural talents are great, his gift of bitterness, wit and passion remarkable, but he allowed the sharpness of his temper to prevail over his judgment. Moreover, though his jests are pungent enough, this very pungency often turned the laugh against himself.
1.118
There are many other clever speakers, but it would be a long task to deal with them all. Domitius Afer Domitius Afer ( d. 59 A.D.), the leading orator of the reigns of Tiberius and his successors. and Julius Africanus Iulius Africanus, a Gaul, who flourished in the reign of Nero. are by far the most distinguished. The former is superior in art and in every department of oratory, indeed he may he ranked with the old orators without fear of contradiction. The latter shows greater energy, but is too great a precisian in the choice of words, prone to tediously long periods and somewhat extravagant in his metaphors. There have been distinguished talents even of more recent date.
