88 Humboldt's Letters. 



I abhor) ; or, 2 " As far as civilization and commerce 

 ennobled mankind ;" or, 3, " Made mankind suscepti- 

 ble ;" or, 4, " United mankind." 



Would No. 4 (the last), not be the better ?" Per- 

 haps you have an inspiration. Put clandestinely, to- 

 night at Staegemann's, a bit of paper in my hand. Per- 

 haps the first conception is the best. 



A.HT. 



" Humanity" I give up at any rate, having just read 

 so many mockeries regarding it in the last volume of 

 Campe's dictionary. 



" Sed quamquam, pritno statim beatissimi saeculi ortu, 

 Nerva Caesar res olim dissociabiles miscuerit, principa- 

 tum ac libertatem; augeatque quotidie felicitatem im- 

 peril Nerva Trajanus." Tacitus in Agricola, cap. 3. 

 Also, of the same old Nerva (noble and gifted with 

 literary taste) : 



" Quod si vita suppeditet, principatum divi Nervae, et 

 imperium Trajani, uberiorem securioremque materiam 

 senectati seposui : rara temporum felicitas, ubi sentire 

 quoB velis, et quce sentias dicere licet." Tacit. Hist. I. 

 1. I, of course, in order to avoid all detail, shall give 

 only the numerical quotations, sic : Tacit. Vita Ag. c. 3 



Hist. I. 1. 



HT. 



