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1. Virgil. Montaigne realized that his Greek was not up to appreciating the real merits of Homer.

2. Propertius, II, xxxiv, 79–80.

3. Horace, Epistles, I, ii, 3–4; then, Ovid, Amores, III, ix, 25–6; Lucretius, III, 1050–51; Manilius, Astronomica, II, 8–11.Then, ’80: the most noble work […] are feeble and imperfect…

4. Aristotle, after Plutarch (tr. Amyot), Des oracles de la prophetisse Pythie, VIII, 629 E; then, Plutarch, Life of Alexander, Dicts notables des Lacedaemoniens, 217 H; De trop parler D–E; Dicts des anciens Roys, 196 H. (For these well-known and authoritative sayings, cf. Erasmus, Apophthegmata, I, Cleomenes, I; IV, Alexander Magnus, LIV; V, Alcibiades, III. For Homer’s ‘winged words,’ cf. Rabelais, Quart Livre, TLF, LV, 63 ff.)

5. Cicero, Tusc. disput., I, xxxii, 79 (condemning the Stoic Panaetius for not believing in the immortality of the soul).

6. Innocent Gentillet, Discours sur le moyen de bien gouverner, III; then a line of Greek poetry as translated by Aulus Gellius into Latin, III, xi.

7. Lucan, Pharsalia, I, 149–50. The main original sources of Montaigne’s long, grammatically confusing eulogy of Alexander are Plutarch’s Alexander and the Fortunes of Alexander. Later borrowings, from Flavius Arrianus’ Deeds of Alexander and Quintus Curtius’ work with the same title.

8. Livy, XXXV, xiv; then, Virgil, Aeneid, VIII, 589–91.

9. Virgil, Aeneid, XII, 21–5.

10. The hero for Montaigne. His main sources here are again Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas; also Cornelius Nepos’ Epaminondas or Erasmus’ Apophthegmata, V, Epaminondas.

11. Scipio Africanus Minor, the son of Paulus Aemilius, often called Scipio Aemilianus; he achieved great renown in the Third Punic War. Cicero idealized him in his De Republica, De Senectute and De Amicitia.

12. Montaigne’s principal sources are Plutarch’s Pelopidas, Cornelius Nepos’ Epaminondas, Erasmus’ Apophthegmata and Plutarch (tr. Amyot), Esprit familier de Socrate.