[62]
The greatness of the genius of Stesichorus1
is shown by his choice of subject: for he sings of the
greatest wars and the most glorious of chieftains,
and the music of his lyre is equal to the weighty
themes of epic poetry. For both in speech and
action he invests his characters with the dignity
which is their due, and if he had only been capable
of exercising a little more restraint, he might,
perhaps, have proved a serious rival to Homer.
But he is redundant and diffuse, a fault which,
while deserving of censure, is nevertheless a defect
springing from the very fullness of his genius.
1 Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily (flor. circ. 600 B.C.), wrote in lyric verse on many legends, more especially on themes connected with the Trojan war.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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