Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 201 



SOME paflages in CICERO may, at firft fight, feem to fupport 

 that ufe of An now condemned in TACITUS. The former fays, 

 for inftance, " Nos hie te ad menfem Januarium expectamus, 

 " ex quodam rumore, an ex literis tuis ad alios miffis *. In 

 fuch a cafe as this, however, the fpeaker's heiitation as to the 

 opinion to be adopted, is but an inconfiderable circumftance. 

 He juft fuggefls, without wifhing to remove his doubt. The 

 expectation of feeing ATTIC us is the leading idea in the fen- 

 tence ', and the origin of this expectation is regarded as un- 

 worthy of the attention that is neceffary to trace it. So alfo ; 

 " Summa fenectute CATO orationem in origines fuas retulit, 

 " paucis antequam mortuus eft, an diebus, an menfibus f." 

 The orator knew not whether CATO tranfcribed his oration a 

 few days or a few months before his death ; but, feeling that 

 either alternative did not affect the leading circumftance, which 

 was his great age, he only ftates the queftion which he had no 

 defire to refolve. 



IN fome other paflages, TACITUS ufes An and She together, 



as if they were fynonymous particles. He tells us, that no fo- 



licitations of PLAUTUS'S friends could prevail upon him to fly 



from the deftruction threatened by NERO. " Sed PLAUTUM 



" ea non movere. She nullam opem providebat inermis atque 



' exul ; feu tsedio ambiguae fpei ; an amore conjugis et libero- 



' rum, quibus placabiliorem fore principem rebatur, nulla foli- 



" citudine turbatum $." 



AN and She are analogous only when the former expreffes 

 doubt, and not when in its interrogative and ironical accepta- 

 tions. With all the feeming likenefs, however, that occafional- 

 ly takes place between them, She requires no term to intimate 

 doubt upon ,the part of the fpeaker, becaufe no doubt exifts. 

 Thus, LIVY tells us, " Turn dictator cenfuram minuere parat : 

 " feu nimiam poteftatem ratus, feu non tarn magnitudine ho- 

 " noris quam diuturnitate offenfus jj." 



c c AN 



* Cic. Ep. ad ATT. lib. i. cap. 2. f Cic. in BRUTO, 89. 



J Ann. lib. 14. cap. 59. \ Liv. lib. 4. cap. 24. . 



