si* On the UTlLlTT of defining 



The fuperlative .ingentijjimu s is not found but in fuch writers 

 as Symmachus and^ Vegetius, who lived late, and whofe 

 practice fhould not be regarded as a ftandard. The ab- 

 furdity, at the fame time, is equal, in giving ingens either a 

 comparative or a fuperlative degree ; as the eflence of hugenefs 

 depends on there being nothing in nature in which the quality 

 that it is made to denominate, is to be found in a fuperior de- 

 gree. 



Amplus differs from magnus and ingens, in being limited to 

 that kind of greatnefs among material objects which confifts in 

 fuperficial capacity. It properly denotes fuch an extenfion of a 

 furface as fits it for receiving what it is defigned to contain. 

 " In qua amplijfima curia, amplijfimum gymnafium et complures 

 " aedes facrae : coliturque ea pars et habitatur frequentifli- 



" me*" 



Illos porticibus rex accipiebat in amplis f. 



u Ad earn multitudinem urbs quoque amplificatida vifa eft :£." 

 In this laft example, the compounded verb marks the power of 

 the adjective very diftinctly. It denotes the neceffary extenfion 

 of the precincts of the city, fo as to afford commodious habi- 

 tations for the growing multitude. u Loci praeter modum 

 " ampli vagas imagines reddunt, et nimis angufti faepe non vi- 

 " dentur poffe capere imaginum collocationem §." 



Amplus, like the two words defined, is often transferred 

 from material to immaterial objects. " Suofque omnes per fe 

 " effe ampliores volebat **." 



Procerus differs from all the words ftated, in never being 

 transferred from material to immaterial objects, and in imply- 

 ing, 



* Cic. in Ver. 228. a. § Auft. ad Her. 22. a. 



f Virg. ./En. 3. 353. ** Cic. Am. 109. a. 



% Liv. 1. 44. 



