The Clausula in Aiuiuia)iiis Marcellinus. 



203 



I is equally common both at the end of the sentence and within it, 

 the tyjje I 6 is in slightly greater favor as an interior than as a 

 final clausula, and, strangely enough, I /3 (50/ aestimalur) is more 

 common as a final clausula than it is within the sentence. 



Beyond this slight contrast between interior and final clausulae, 

 there is little art superficially discernible in the arrangement and 

 the sequence of the cadences. In general they seem to follow one 

 another almost at hap-hazard, and there is little attempt to group 

 them on principles of balance and contrast. But passages that are 

 more carefully constructed sometimes occur. Far and away the 

 best of these is the lofty flight of rhetoric in which Ammianus epit- 

 omizes the rise and dechne of the Roman commonwealth (XIV. 

 6. 3—6). This is well worth quoting in its entirety. 



Tempore quo primis auspiciis in mundanum fulgorem 



surgeret ut victura dum erunt homines Roma, 



ut augeretur sublimibus incrementis 



foedere pacis eternae Virtus convenit atque Fortuna 



plerumqiie dissidentes, 



quorum si altera defuisset 



ad perfectam non venerat summitatem. 



eius populus ab incunabulis primis 

 adusque pueritiae tempus extremum 

 quod annis circumcluditur fere trecentis 

 circummurana pertulit bell^., 



deinde aetatem ingressus adultam 

 post multiplices bellorum aerumnas 

 Alpes transcendit et fretum, 



in iuvenem erectus et virum, 



ex omni plaga quam orbis ambit immensus 



reportavit laureas et triumphos, 



iamque vergens in senium 



et nomine solo aliquotiens vincens 



ad tranquilliora vitae discessit. 



ideo urbs venerabilis 



post superbas efferatarum gentium cervices oppressas 



latasque leges 



fundamenta libertatis et retinacula sempiterna 



velut frugi parens et prudens et dives 



Caesaribus tamquam liberis suis 



regenda patrimonii iura permisit : 



