Poe 
ed 
SYNONYMOUS TERMS. 11t 
that fpecified belongs. It furpaffes the power of maximus, the 
fuperlative from magnus, as the latter marks the greateft only 
among the objects of a fpecies, in refpe@ to a quality, which, 
though exifting in different degrees in each, admits comparifon 
in all. The fuperiority of that denominated ingens, again, is 
fo decided, as to eclipfe the reft that participate in its nature. 
Scilicet et fluvius qui non eft maximus, ei eft, 
Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit : —— 
et omnia de genere omni, 
Maxima que vidit quifque hc ingentia fingit *. 
He, Quid jubeam? Er. Ignem ingentem fieri. 
He. Ignem ingentem? ER. Ita dico magnus 
Ut fit t. 
INGENs agrees with magnus in admitting an application to 
objects, of which quantity is not an attribute. 
Turas. Magnas vero agere gratias Tu ats mihi? 
Gnatu. Ingentes t. 
CrcERO comments upon this paflage in a way that puts the 
precife difference between the terms in the cleareft light poffi- 
ble. “ Satis erat refpondere magnas » ingentes inquit. Semper 
“ auget affentatio id, quod is, cujus ad voluntatem dicitur, vult 
effe magnum §.”’ 
Durine the Auguftan age, the profe-writers never ufed de- 
grees of comparifon from ingens. When Vireit {tyles ZENEAS 
“ fama ingens, ingentior armis,” his doing do muft be confider- 
ed as a poetical licence, fuch as that of Mitton {peaking of 
the leviathan. 
&c 
Hugeft of. living creatures, in the deep 
Stretch’d like a promontory, fleeps or fwims, 
And feems a moving land. 
THE 
* Lucret. 6. 674. f Ter. Eun. 3.1. x. 
+ Plaut. Capt. 4. 2, 64, §, Cic. in Lel. 26.. 
