The Latin 4?, and the Greek AE. 119 



is not formally dated, /'. e. AT, the conjunction, is moft common- 

 ly applied, " Aulam tyranni frequentabat, AT patriam amabat ;" 

 literally, " He frequented the court of the tyrant ; joined EVEN 

 " TO that, he loved his country." " He was a courtier and a 

 " patriot TOO." By means of AT, the circumftance of loving 

 his country is ftated as united /o the other, viz. his frequenting the 

 court of the tyrant. The character of a patriot is reprefented as 

 united to that of a courtier in the fame perfon. 



CICERO, in his addrefs to CJESAR in behalf of MARCELLUS*, 

 has the following fentence : " Nihil eft opere aut manu fadum, 

 " quod aliquandononconficiat et confumat vetuftas ; AT vero haec 

 " tuajuftitiaetlenitas animi florefcet quotidie magis." Here firft 

 one truth is ftated " There is nothing made by the labour or 

 " hand of man which length of time may not wafte and deftroy." 

 Then, by means of AT, another circumftance is ftated &s joined 

 EVEN TO this truth, viz. " That CESAR'S juftice and gentlenefs 

 " of difpofition lhall flourim every day more and more." It 

 is r\otjimply aflerted, that " CESAR'S juftice fhall flourim," but 

 that it fhall flourim, conjoined even to the truth of the other po- 

 fition " That every work of the hand muft perim" a pofition 

 which we conceive to be almoft incompatible with it. Inftead 

 of AT vero, CICERO might have ufed AT tamen. " Every work 

 " muft perifh, yet JOINED EVEN TO THAT, your juftice fhall 

 " flourim." The former circumftance lhall not prevent the truth 

 of the latter. In thefe, and in all fimilar examples, the two 

 objects or events, however incongruous they mnyjeem to be, 

 are actually united ; and of their union, AT appears to be the 

 fymbol f. 



THE 



* Cap. 4. 



J- THE frequent application of AT, to mark the union of incongruous objefts, firft gave rife 

 to the habit of annexing an emphatic meaning to it ; and, when once this habit was form- 

 ed, the word neceflarily raifed an expectation of fomething incongruous to follow. And 

 hence it has come at laft to be miftaken for a fymbol of incongruity or oppofition. 



IT would be difficult to collect examples of all the various applications of the word 

 AT, that may be met with in the Latin authors. In thofe, however, that moft frequently 



occur, 



