In the narrative of Livy,who was a man of fine imagination,
these stories retain much of their genuine character.Nor could
even the tasteless Dionysius distort and mutilate them into mere
prose.The poetry shines,in spite of him,through the dreary
pedantry of his eleven books.It is discernible in the most
tedious and in the most superficial modern works on the early
times of Rome.It enlivens the dulness of the Universal History,
and gives a charm to the most meagre abridgements of Goldsmith.