[16] libr. incert., Frg. 1, Müller.
[17] Lucius Ælius Præconinus Stilo, of Lanuvium, Stoic philosopher, philologist and rhetorician, was the first to give regular lessons in Latin literature and eloquence and to apply the historical method to the study of the Latin language. He was born not far from 154 B. C., and lived well into the first century B. C. His contemporary, Quintus Valerius Soranus (from Sora), also wrote on Latin literature, the study of which was, in his case, joined with that of Roman antiquities. Volcacius Sedigitus, of whose personality nothing is known, wrote a didactic poem on the history of Latin literature about 90 B. C. Besides these, numerous works on grammar, philology, antiquities, agriculture, and other subjects were written by various authors, whose names are in many cases lost, but whose works served as quarries from which Varro and other writers derived their treasures of learning.
Many prominent Romans played some part in the progress of literature. So Publius Rutilius Rufus (born about 158 B. C., consul in 105, died about 75) studied the Stoic philosophy, published speeches, juristic writings, and an autobiography in Latin, and wrote a history in Greek, while Quintus Lutatius Catulus (born about 152 B. C., consul in 102, died in 87) published orations and epigrams. Among the letters written and published in this period none were more admired than those of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.
[18] Jerome, in Eusebius’ Chronicle, year 1922 of Abraham, i. e., 95 B. C.
[19] Vita Vergilii, 2.
[20] Ad Quintum Fratrem, II, xi, 4.
[21] Book i, 921-947.
[22] iii, 830 f.
[23] Book ii, 172.
[24] ii, 14 ff.