Chapter LXXXIV

Also read the same author’s _Synopsis_ of the above twenty books in five volumes. In this his style is more elegant but not nearly so agreeable; at the same time the work is more useful, since nothing is inserted except what is absolutely necessary. From his style, concise and free from redundancies, he may be described as a king laying down the law; his composition and diction send forth a sound which reaches the ears of the hearer somewhat more harshly. His manner is not unsuitable for synopsis, but by no means adapted for a perfect and complete history. It is evident that the writer lived before Dion Coccaeus[451] and Appian[452] of Alexandria, who also wrote on Roman history.