But Seneca was still in fashion; his partisans continued to admire, though it cannot be said that they imitated him.  He fell short of the ancients, and they were still more beneath their model.  Since they were content to copy, it were to be wished that they had been able to vie with him.  He pleased by his defects, and the herd of imitators chose the worst.  They acquired a vicious manner, and flattered themselves that they resembled their master.  But the truth is, they disgraced him.  Seneca, it must be allowed, had many great and excellent qualities; a lively imagination, vast erudition, and extensive knowledge.  He frequently employed others to make researches for him, and was often deceived.  He embraced all subjects; in his philosophy, not always profound, but a keen censor of the manners, and on moral subjects truly admirable.  He has brilliant passages, and beautiful sentiments; but the expression is in a false taste, the more dangerous, as he abounds with delightful vices.  You would have wished that he had written with his own imagination, and the judgement of others.  To sum up his character; had he known how to rate little things, had he been above the petty ambition of always shining, had he not been fond of himself, had he not weakened his force by minute and dazzling sentences, he would have gained, not the admiration of boys, but the suffrage of the judicious.  At present he may be read with safety by those who have made acquaintance with better models.  His works afford the fairest opportunity of distinguishing the beauties of fine writing from their opposite vices.  He has much to be approved, and even admired:  but a just selection is necessary, and it is to be regretted that he did not choose for himself.  Such was the judgement of Quintilian:  the learned reader will, perhaps, be glad to have the whole passage in the author’s words, rather than be referred to another book. Ex industria Senecam, in omni genere eloquentiae versatum, distuli, propter vulgatam falso de me opinionem, qua damnare eum, et invisum quoque habere sum creditus.  Quod, accidit mihi, dum corruptum, et omnibus vitiis fractum dicendi genus revocare ad severiora judicia contendo.  Tum autem solus hic fere in manibus adolescentium fuit.  Quem non equidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus praeferri non sinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum, diversi sibi conscius generis, placere se in dicendo posse iis quibus illi placerent, diffideret.  Amabant autem eum magis, quam imitabantur; tantumque ab illo defluebant, quantum ille ab antiquis descenderat.  Foret enim optandum, pares, aut saltem proximos, illi viro fieri.  Sed placebat propter sola vitia, et ad ea se quisque dirigebat effingenda, quae poterat.  Deinde cum se jactaret eodem modo dicere, Senecam infamabat.  Cujus et multae alioqui et magnae virtutes fuerunt; ingenium facile et copiosum; plurimum studii; et multarum rerum cognitio, in qua tamen aliquando ab iis, quibus inquirenda quaedam