208 ESS AT upon the PR INC I PL E S 



THE opinions of the beft modern critics confirm the fa- 

 vourable judgment given upon the writings of TACITUS. 

 They were rated beneath their value by thofe who pretended to 

 judge of them in the laft century. Mere philologifts might, 

 indeed, detect impurities in our author's ftyle, and falfely 

 afcribe that obfcurity to a fault in his diction, which, in fact, 

 had its feat in the depth of his thought. Being void, how- 

 ever, of that fcience which alone makes literature refpectable, 

 no words could unfold to them thofe beauties upon which he 

 meant that his reputation mould reft. Monfieur D'ALEMBERT *, 

 and other French critics, whofe merit entitled them to direct 

 literary opinions, faw the value of his works, and removed, in 

 fome degree, the prejudices that had fubfifted againft them. The 

 elegant Mr GIBBON tells us, " That, if we can prefer per- 

 " fonal merit to accidental greatnefs, we mall efteem the birth 

 " of the emperor TACITUS more truly noble than that of kings : 

 " That he claimed his defcent from the philofophic hiftorian, 

 " whofe writings will inftruct the laft generations of mankind f ." 

 That the emperor did not feel himfelf difhonoured by the connec- 

 tion, appears from his giving orders, that ten copies of TACITUS 

 mould be annually tranfcribed, and placed in the public libra- 

 ries. From the works of his immortal anceftor, he expected, 

 that his fubjects would learn the hiftory, not of the Roman con- 

 ftitution alone, but of human nature itfelf. By refcuing even 

 a part of thefe from deftruction, he acquired a right to the gra- 

 titude of pofterity ; becaufe he thereby preferred a mine, in 

 which, the longer and the deeper we dig, we fhall find the 

 richer ore. 



HOWEVER feeble this attempt to trace the principles of 

 hiftorical compofition may have been, it may perhaps (hew, 

 that TACITUS, and all fuccefsful hiftorians, have pleafed, 

 not by accident, but by rigidly adhering to a ftandard which 



they 



Melanges de Litterature, torn. 3. MorceaUK de TACITB. 

 f Hift. vol. i. p. 325, 



