The proverb, “Evil communications corrupt good manners,” which is found in Corinthians, is a quotation, intended as such, from Euripides.
Varro reckons three epochs: the first from the beginning of the world to the first flood, which he calls uncertain; the second from the flood to the first Olympiad, fabulous; the third from the first Olympiad to his own time, historical.
Politian, the poet and scholar, was an admirer of Alessandra Scala, and addressed to her this extempore:
To teach me that in hapless suit
I do but waste my hours,
Cold maid, whene'er I ask for fruit,
Thou givest me naught but flowers.
In the Latin version of Herodotus, the lowest of the towers forming the temple of Belus, is said to be a furlong thick and a furlong high; and some writers concluding each of the eight to be as high, make the whole one mile in height. In the Greek text, however, the lowest tower is merely said to be a furlong through—nothing is said of its height. Strabo makes the temple a furlong altogether in altitude.