98 ESSAY upon the PR I NCI PL E S, &c. 



' tiam, minantibus intrepidus, adverfus blandientes incorrup- 



" tus." 



IN point of imagination, then, the genius of TACITUS is by 

 no means deficient. Though he ufes figurative language fpa- 

 ringly, yet he is highly fuccefsful when he does. Many of his 

 defcriptions may be held perfect in their kind, and will bear a 

 comparifon with thofe of the moft diftinguifhed hiftorians of 

 Greece. In all of them brevity is ftudied, and flriking circum- 

 ftances judicioufly feized. Thefe are held forth to the reader 

 with fuch art, as neither to check the operations of his fancy, 

 by fuggefting too extenfive a fubjec"l, nor to ftop thofe operations 

 completely, by fuggefting one that is too narrow. 



IN the fequel of this paper, I fhall produce fome proofs of 

 that foundnefs of judgment in TACITUS, which is the diflinguim- 

 ing quality of a great hiflorian. I mall afterwards point out 

 his fuppofed faults, in certain refpecls, by an application of that 

 criterion which may have evinced his merits in others ; and 

 fhall try to mark particular deviations in his ftyle, from that 

 pure ftandard which was exhibited during the Auguftan age *. 



* SEE the Second Part of this Paper afterwards. 



V. 



