Institutio Oratoria

But we must wait till our powers have been developed and established to the full before we turn to these poets, just as at banquets we take our fill of the best fare and then turn to other food which, in spite of its comparative inferiority, is still attractive owing to its variety. Not until our taste is formed shall we have leisure to study the elegiac poets as well. Of these, Callimachus is regarded as the best, the second place being, according to the verdict of most critics, occupied by Philetas. [*](Philetas of Cos (290 B.C.).)

But until we have acquired that assured facility of which I spoke, [*](x. i. 1.) we must familiarise ourselves with the best writers only and must form our minds and develop an appropriate tone by reading that is deep rather than wide. Consequently, of the three writers of iambics [*](i.e. invective. The other two writers are Simonides of Amorgos and Hipponax of Ephesus. Archilochus ( fl. 686 B.C.). ) approved by the judgment of Aristarchus, Archilochus will be far the most useful for the formation of the facility in question.

For he has a most forcible style, is full of vigorous, terse and pungent reflexions, and overflowing with life and energy: indeed, some critics think that it is due solely to the nature of his subjects, and not to his genius, that any poets are to be ranked above him.