The perusal of the Roman classics was at once my exercise and reward.
Dr. Middleton's _History_, which I then appreciated above its true
value, naturally directed me to the writings of Cicero. The most perfect
editions, that of Olivet, which may adorn the shelves of the rich, that
of Ernesti, which should lie on the table of the learned, were not
within my reach. For the familiar epistles I used the text and English
commentary of Bishop Ross; but my general edition was that of
Verburgius, published at Amsterdam in two large volumes in folio, with
an indifferent choice of various notes.... Cicero in Latin, and
Xenophon in Greek, are indeed the two ancients whom I would first
propose to a liberal scholar....
In the infancy of my reason I turned over, as an idle amusement, the
most serious and important treatise: in its maturity, the most trifling
performance could exercise my taste or judgement; and more than once I
have been led by a novel into a deep and instructive train of
thinking.--E. GIBBON. _Autobiography._