PRONOUNS. Omission of personal and relative pronouns : e.g. Si vellet imperium, promptos [se] ostentavere. Gnarus præferocem [eum esse]. Piso pontifex, rarum [id quod erat] in tantâ claritudine, fato obiit.

VERB. The absolute use of the verb is very common in Tacitus; e. g. Expedire, i. e. Expeditionem suscipere. Ducere for sortiri, etc.

TENSES. Imperfect for pluperfect; Quod nisi properè subvenisset, amissa Britannia foret.

MOODS. Prevalent affectation of the indicative for subjunctive, for the sake of effect; e.g. Trudebantur in paludem, ni Cæsar instruxisset. Ni properavisset, verterat pernicies in accusatorem. Prope in prælium exarsere, ni admonuisset. And even in the oratio obliqua; e. g. Se cum cohorte, cui præerat, Canninefatem tumultum

compressurum.

Use of subjunctive to express disposition, necessity; e.g.. Tiberio etiam in rebus quas non occuleret - obscura verba.

His use of infinitives as substantives is not confined, as it is in good prose writers, to the nominative and accusative cases: he constantly uses the historical infinitive after particles, both demonstrative and copulative, and commingled with finite verbs: e.g. Ann. iii. 26, xii. 51; Hist. iii. 10: ubi crudescere seditio, et ad manus transibant. The infinitive is also employed with many verbs. instead of the particles, ut,' 'ne,' 'quominus,' 'quod'; e.g. Pepigere fraudem inimicorum ulcisci-Ann. xiii. 19: Paridem impulit ire propere; xi. 34: Instabat Narcissus aperire ambages, i. e. postulabat ut aperirentur.

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PARTICIPLE. Tacitus imitates the Greek use of the participle; e.g. Incusabatur facile toleraturus exsilium, legiones secuturæ sperabantur. He uses it absolutely for the substantive; e. g. Præsidentes. He also uses the participle perfect passive with more freedom than other

classical authors, for the abstract substantive; e.g. Cum occisus Dictator Cæsar pulcherrimum facinus videretur. The ablat. abs. is also used with much more latitude by Tacitus than by Livy, Sallust, or Cicero: e.g. where the participle of the verb substantive [] must often be understood; e.g. Incipere oppugnationem arduum, et nullo juxta subsidio anceps. Suffecisse olim indigenas consanguineis populis; i.e. cum consanguinei essent Romanis Italiæ populi. Juxta periculoso ficta seu vera promeret. Dedit jura queis pace et principe uteremur. Compare his use of the ablative without the governing participle; e.g. Juvenis conscientia [ductus] cunctabatur. The absolute use of the pass. part. without the substantive is far more frequent in Tacitus than in the other classics; e.g. Adjecto, comperto, intellecto, cognito, audito, explorato, nuntiato, quæsito, pensitato, prædicto, credito, repetito, disceptato, interdicto, etc. etc.

Anastrophe is more common in Tacitus than in other writers; e.g. Sedes inter Vestalium-Viam Miseni propter -Ripam ad Euphratis-Uxore ab Octavia-Vanescente quamquam plebis irâ.

II. 1. Tacitus eloquently complains of the monotonous unvarying aspect of the events he was called upon to describe (Ann. iv. 32); and one of the characteristics of his style is the variety which he contrives to impart to the detail of scenes, which, in the dreary annals of despotism, were continually revolving in the same orbit.

Suicide is a prominent figure in the records of the Imperial régime: and Tacitus relieves the tedium of his readers by giving the gloomy picture he is compelled to portray the advantage of every variety of shade and colour. The diversified phrases wherewith he chequers the details of suicide, fill a page in Bötticher: but the following may serve as a specimen. Ann. vi. 61: Suo ictu mortem invenire. 40: Finem vitæ sibi ponere. Voluntario exitu cudere. 38: Vim vitæ suæ adferre. 30: Se vitâ privare

iv. 35: Pitam abstinentiâ finire. vi. 23: Egestate cibi perimi. 9: Senili manu ferrum tentare.

The same effort is observable in the studied variety with which he paints the most familiar topics, e. g. the approach of evening, which he rarely touches twice with the same pencil. Ann. xv. 60: Propinquá vesperá. i. 16: Flexo in vesperam die. Vesperascente die. Inumbrante vespera. Præcipiti in occasum die. Extremo die. Sero diei. Obscuro diei.

He seems purposely to avoid uniformity of structure; but whether in imitation of Thucydides-a fallacy so common even in the days of Cicero-or, as Bötticher believes, to give variety to his diction, may be left to critics to decide. E.g. Ann. i. 62: Seu in deterius trahenti -sive credebat. iii. 30: Fato potentiæ—an satias capit. xiii. 47 Socors ingenium ejus in contrarium trahens callidumque interpretando.

There is, however, abundant scope for the illustration of this feature of Tacitus' style in the bighly diversified structure and cadence of his periods, and in the wide compass of his vocabulary, which not only includes a large number of words peculiar to himself, but also many of the age of Cicero, which he uses in a peculiar and sometimes a metaphorical and pregnant sense. A single example will suffice. The signification of the word adducere in the phrase Adducere habenas, common to Cicero and authors of the golden age, is thus developed by Tacitus: Adductum [i. e. severum, rigidum] et quasi virile servitium-Ann. xii. 7. Familiaritate juvenili-et rursus adductus-xiv. 4. 2. BREVITY. Instances of what is termed the preg nant' construction of words constantly occur in Tacitus. This nervous energy and condensation is one of the finest qualities of his style, but it often degenerates into obscurity. A few examples will illustrate this attribute of the diction of Tacitus. Hist. ii. 32: Clausam Alpibus et nullo maris subsiuio Transpadanam Italiam.' Ann. i. 59: 'Arminium-rapta uxor, subjectus servitio uxoris uterus,

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recordem agebant,' i.e. uxor gravida et partus quem erat editura. xi. 3: Tantum illi securitatis novissime fuit,' i. e. tantum in supremis quoque securitatis præ se tulit. ii. 40: Pericula polliceri,' i.e. societatem periculorum. i. 57: Victa in lacrymas,' i.e. ut lacrymas effunderet.

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His works abound with illustrations of what grammarians call the figure Syllepsis,' a figure adopted for the purposes of ornament and effect: e.g. Donec ira et dies permansit. Quia dissimulationem nox et lascivia exemerat.' Mixti copiis et lætitiâ.' 'Germania, a Sarmatis mutuo metu aut montibus separata.' 'Tribuni cum terrore et armatorum catervis volitabant.' Such phrases as In medium relinquam,' i.e. in dubium vocatum in medio relinquam, Aderant semisomnos in barbaros,' come within the scope of Syllepsis,' and are thoroughly Thucydidean.

The same love of condensation is betrayed in his frequent use of the figure Zeugma,' e. g. Ann. vi. 21: "Tum complexus eum Tiberius præscium periculorum [esse fatetur] et incolumem fore gratatur.' 24: Ut quemadmodum nurum filiumque [interfecisset], domumque omnem cædibus complevisset.'

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His study of Brevity is, however, still more conspicuous in his fondness for elliptical expression; a species of ellipse very different from that which is so appropriate to the colloquial tone of Plautus and Terence, and of Cicero's letters. It is employed by Tacitus to give energy and condensation to his style, and to distinguish it from the more homely sphere of ordinary prose.

Ellipse of:a. Nouns.-Papia Poppaa [lex]: Postero [die]: ad duodecimum [lapidem]: Laureata [literæ] : Apicata Sejani [uxor]: Pretium est [opera].

B. Finite Verb.-Hist. ii. 29: Ut verò deformis et flens processit, gaudium, miseratio, favor' [populi ora variabant]. y. Posse, facere, agere, vereri, venire, se conferre, are omitted. Ann. xiii. 14: Artaxata solo æquata sunt quia nec teneri [poterant], nec id nobis virium erat.' Agric. 19: Nihil per libertos servosane publica rei' factum].

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8. Verbs relating to the Senses.—e. g. Ann. i. 7: 'Vultuque composito, ne læti [viderentur] excessu principis,' etc. Agric. 33: Jamque agmina et armorum fulgores audentissimi cujusque procursu' [conspiciebantur].

E. Prepositions and particles are constantly left to be supplied.—e.g. Ann. iii. 40: [Incertum est] fato potentiæ rarò sempiternæ, an [quia] satias capit. Quod, cum [sequente tum], licet, magis, tantum, eo, potius, alii, hinr, primum, modo, aliquando, ut, ita, tamen, sed, are in many passages ellipsed.

3. In dealing only with grammatical peculiarities, it is impossible to give any adequate idea of the poetical spirit which animated the writings of Tacitus. Bötticher, in a passage of much eloquence, shows that Tacitus, in the style, the sentiment, and tone of his composition, stands in much the same relation to the great masters of ancient tragedy as Herodotus, who was termed the Homer of History, did to the epic muse of Greece.

The poetical colouring of his style, so far as it admits of exposition from mere verbal criticisın, may be illustrated from-a. The poetic (chiefly metonymic) signification of his words: B. His lavish use of Græcisms: y. His style of expression.

a. F.g. Demissus, i. e. originem trahens. Cf. Virgil: 'Demissæque ab Jove gentis,' etc., fiducia de homine fiducia caussa. Hist. ii. 4: Titus-ingens rerum fiducia accessit. Sinister, i. e. Malus. Annus, i. e. proventus anni. His frequent use of the abstract for the concrete, e.g. auxilia, vigilia, militiæ milites-Hist. iii. 18. So also remigium, clientela, servitium, exsilium ['plenum exsiliis mare,' Ilist. i. 2]. His use of substantives for adjectives, e.g. Spectator populus-Domus regnatrix-Corruptor animus-Victor exercitus-Bellator equus.

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B. The Greek structure was imitated by the Romans in poetry chiefly: thus Horace adopts Græcisms in his Odes, but discards them in the Satires, which he terms 'Sermoni propiora.' It is thus imitated by Tacitus: