"_Judicium de Herodoto post longum tempus relicto_:--
"Ctesias mendacissimus Herodotum mendaciorum arguit, exceptis
paucissimis (ut mea fert sententia) omnimodo excusandum.
Cæterum diverticulis abundans, hic pater Historicorum, filum
narrationis ad tædium abrumpit; unde oritur (ut par est)
legentibus confusio, et exinde oblivio. Quin et forsan ipsæ
narrationes circumstantiis nimium pro re scatent. Quod ad
cætera, hunc scriptorem inter apprimè laudandos censeo, neque
Græcis, neque barbaris plus æquo faventem, aut iniquum: in
orationibus fere brevem, simplicem, nec nimis frequentem:
Neque absunt dogmata, e quibus eruditus lector prudentiam,
tam moralem, quam civilem, haurire poterit.
"Julii 6: 1720. J. SWIFT"
"I do hereby certify that the above is the handwriting of the
late Dr. Jonathan Swift, D.S.P.D., from whom I have had many
letters and printed several pieces from his original MS.
"Dublin, Aug. 21. 1762. GEORGE FAULKNER."
* * * * *