CURTIUS, Quintus, a Latin historian, who wrote the life of Alexander the Great in 10 books, of which the two first are not indeed extant, but were so well supplied by Freinsheimus, that the loss is scarcely regretted. Where this writer was born, or even when
he lived, are points no one pretends to know. By his style he is supposed to have lived in or near the Augustan age; while some are not wanting, who imagine the work to have been composed in Italy about 300 years ago, and the name of Quintus Curtius to be fictitiously added to it. Cardinal du Perron was so great an admirer of this work, as to declare one page of it to be worth 30 of Tacitus; yet, M. le Clerc, at the end of his Art of Criticism, has charged the writer with great ignorance and many contradictions. He has nevertheless many qualities as a writer, which will always make him admired and applauded.