Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 95 



" Servitia perinde ac ingenua plebes raptim extingxii, inter con- 

 " jugum et liberorum lamenta, qui dum amdent, dum deflent, 

 " fsepe eodem rogo cremabantur. Equitum fenatorumque inte- 

 " ritus, quamvis promifcui, minus flebiles erant, tanquam.com- 

 ' muni mortalitate, faevitiam principis praevenirent." 



THIS defcription we muft own to be inferior to that of the 

 plague at Athens by THUCYDIDES* But the Greek hiilorian (it 

 muft be remembered) had fuffered from the difeafe himfelf ', 

 had feen its direful effects, combined with thofe of war j and 

 had refolved to enumerate its fymptoms, for the benefit of po- 

 fterity, in the courfe of fix chapters. TACITUS means to relate 

 only what he had heard. He does not feem to have copied 

 THUCYDIDES ; though he, too, mentions, that numbers of car- 

 cafes lay neglected in private houfes, upon the ftreets, at the 

 fides of fountains, and in the temples. " 'o $%&> t 



' a\>.a xai i/ixjoi or aAXnXcif ,ir<tQtr,rxwr({ exiuro. xai ti> rt( o^oi; 



TJ TK VdKTOS tVtVVfMK. TOt, Tf I 



irXix w, aura fvan-oSuKrxovTw* *." 



LUCRETIUS, in the defcription he gives of the plague at the 

 end of his fixth book, has copied THUCYDIDES clofely, but 

 feems to have come fliort of the fimplicity and mafterly ele- 

 gance of the hiftorian. 



THE iituation of OCTAVIA, after her divorce from NERO, 

 forms one of the moft highly finimed defcriptions in the writings 

 of TACITUS. After the tyrant had efpoxifed POPPJEA, under 

 the appearance of gratifying the wifhes of his people, whofe re- 

 fentment he in fact dreaded, he took back his injured wife. 

 By the arts of POPPJJA, however, which were fkilfully direct- 

 ed againft his weaknefles, he difmiffed OCTAVIA again, and 

 bribed one of his minions, to fcreen his injuftice, by declaring 

 that flie had been guilty with him. Upon this, the innocent 

 OCTAVIA was banifhed to the ifland of Pandateria, and the fen- 

 timents of the fpectators upon this undeferved feverity, are the 

 ground of the defcription mentioned. " Non alia exfulvifen- 



"" tiuoa. 



XI?. A, 



