Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 203 



ploying the former in fuch a way as to lead his reader, in the 

 inftance quoted, to fuppofe, that the truth of the laft alterna- 

 tive might have been explored, while that of the two former 

 was incapable of being fo. All the three appear to be equally 

 the fubjects of conjecture. By changing the particle, the hi- 

 ftorian meant, perhaps, to infinuate, that he reckoned the laft 

 caufe the inoft probable ; and it was, at leaft, worthy of his 

 candour, to afcribe moft probability to that which was moft for 

 the honour of PLAUTUS. 



That TACITUS had fome fuch purpofe in view, by changing 

 the particle, may be inferred from a fimilar pafTage, in which, 

 after employing the She twice, he lays hold of the conjunction 

 Vel. " AgitaJtTe LACO, ignaro GALBA, de occidendo TITO Vi- 

 1 NIO dicitur, five ut pcena ejus animos militum mulceret, fe u 

 " confcium OTHONIS credebat, ad poflremum vel odio *." 

 LA co's purpofe is reprefented as arifing from one of three mo- 

 tives ; but the two firft are not to each other as both are to the 

 third. The hiftorian knew not whether it fprang from withing 

 to do what was agreeable to the foldiers, or from jealoufy of an 

 undue attachment to OTHO; but he affirms, that, if from 

 neither of thefe, it certainly fprang from hatred. 



TACITUS employs the conjunction Et as fynonymous with 

 Cum, and as expreflive of time. He fays, " Nondum quartus a 

 1 vicloria mentis, el libertus VITELLII vetera odiorum nomina 

 " sequabat f." Though this ufe of Et may be fubfervient to 

 the purpofes of defcription ; yet, from its novelty, it muft be 

 regarded as a grammatical licence. The will of the fpeaker is, 

 indeed, abfolute, in uniting by this, and other conjunctions, 

 what objects it pleafes ; yet a certain degree of fimilarity is ex- 

 pected in thofe that form the afTemblage. Et is here made to 

 unite a period of time and a ftate of political corruption j and 

 the writer's intention is to mark the rapidity of the growth of 

 the latter, by conjoining, and, of coxirfe, contrafting it with 



c c 2 the 



* Hift. lib., i. cap. 39. f Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 95. 



