Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 97 



tigue and of thirft, they feem driven to a kind of frantic de~ 

 fpair. Though the ftream in which they then flood was pol- 

 luted with mud, and with the blood of their countrymen, yet 

 they are reprefented as fighting about the water in this corrupted 



ftate. " KI TO uVwj Eu9uj <fip9af TO XA vrhv r.osov trrmro re o'juou TU injXw u' ( 



CO!/ Xat TTlplfAKjyiTOV HV T5I{ 



TACITUS paints, in the moft lively colours, the diftrefs of 

 VITELLIUS upon the fuccefs of the Flavian party, and the di- 

 ftracted ftate of his mind upon returning to his palace, which 

 he had before left, and then found deferted. " Dein mobilita- 

 " te ingenii, et quse natura pavoris eft, cum omnia metuenti 

 " praefentia maxime difplicerent, in palatium regreditur, vaftuin 

 " defertumque ; dilapfis etiam infimis fervitiorum, aut occur- 

 " fum ejus declinantibus. Terret folitudo, et tacentes loci ; 

 " tentat claufa ; inhorrefcit vacuis : FefTufque mifero errore, et 

 " pudenda latebra femet occultans, ab JULIO PLACIDO tribuno 

 " cohortis, protrahitur. Vinctae pone tergum manus, laniata ve- 

 " fte, fcedum fpectaculum ducebatur, multis increpantibus, 

 " nullo illacrymante. Deformitas exitus mifericordiam abftu- 



" lerat-f-." 



BUT the uncommon talent for defcription pofTefTed by TA- 

 CITUS, is often manifeft from his judicious felection of a fingle 

 anecdote, as explanatory of character. Of this we have a remark- 

 able inftance in the 35th chapter of the ift book of the Hiftory. 

 When the old emperor GALBA was ftill fitting in his palace, and 

 hearing expreffions of loyalty, which, after the fuccefs of OTHO, 

 he fufpecled to be infincere, one JULIUS ATTICUS comes up to him, 

 declaring that he had flain the ufurper with the bloody dagger 

 which he then held in his hand. The emperor's reply was fuch 

 as could hardly have been expected. " Commilito, inquit, quis 

 " juflit ?" This fingle anecdote is fo completely characteristic, 

 as almoft to fuperfede the neceflity of the judicious comment 

 that follows : " Infigni animo ad coercendam militarem licen- 



n " tiam, 



* 09t:/J. TO JCJ. xtp. -nl'. f Hift. 1. 3. c. 85. 



