to admit of passages into the side aisles, which consist | the kingdom of Damascus was the principal. Afte of the north and south porticoes of the ancient peri- the fall of the Assyrian monarchy it came under te b style. Cicero is diffuse in his description of this an- Chaldean yoke; it shared the fate of Babylonia w cient edifice, which, though spared by Marcellus, was conquered by the Persians; and was again subdet stripped to the bare walls of all its splendid ornaments by Alexander the Great. At his death, B.C. 33, by the infamous Verres. Upon the summit of its roof was erected into an independent monarchy under the there was elevated an enormous gilded shield, that Seleucida, and continued to be governed by its was consecrated to Minerva. This object, which was sovereigns till, weakened and devastated by civil war | visible a great way off in the reflection of the sun, between competitors for the throne, it was finally was beheld with religious respect; and the mariner at duced by Pompey to a Roman province, abo sea made an offering when he took leave of its last B.C., after the monarchy had subsisted two handel; glimmerings. In that quarter of the city which was and fifty-seven years. The Saracens, in the decla called Achradina there are also vestiges of the walls of the Roman empire, next became the masters d once defended by the genius of Archimedes. Here Syria, about A.D. 622. When the crusading as and there the rock itself is chiselled into battlements; poured into Asia, this country became the grand and, wherever there are remains of gateways, they are tre of the contest between the armies of the cross ant found so placed that they must have obliged the as- the crescent, and its plains were deluged with Caresailant to approach them for a great length of way with tian and Moslem blood. Antioch, under the Rom his unshielded right side unprotected. The Hexapy-empire the magnificent and luxurious capital of lon of Syracuse was not, as many commentators on Livy have supposed, a mere part of the wall, but a noble fortress, constructed with such consummate skill as to have excited the admiration of the best modern judges of military architecture. Its ruins still exhibit the size and extent of its subterranean passages, whence both infantry and cavalry might make their sallies, and retreat again under protection of the fort; the huge, square towers of its solid masonry are still to be traced; and the ground is strewn with the vast blocks of parapets, which are bored with grooves for pouring melted pitch and lead on the heads of the assailants. Such was ancient Syracuse. The fullest sympathy need not prevent our repeating a doubt as to the vast population of old ascribed to it. True, the circuit of its walls was twenty-two miles; and Thucydides, long before its era of prosperity under Dionysius, allows that it was equal to Athens; but the increase of its population after Thucydides' time is merely conjectured, and the inhabitants of all At-Acre, and Panias were episcopal sees in the pro tica scarcely exceeded half a million."

East, and, next to Rome and Alexandrea, the gras
city in the empire, was the first object of the invades
It sustained, in 1098, a protracted siege unapre
during which the Christian camp experienced ad
horrors of famine: carrion was openly dressed, and s
man flesh is said to have been eaten in secret.
at length through treachery in the silence of
night, the crosses commenced their indiscrim
butchery of its sleeping inhabitants. The digita
age, the helplessness of infancy, and the beauty of
weaker sex, were, say the historians, alike disregarde
by the Latin savages; and Greeks and Arm
were for some time, equally with the Mussulmans,
posed to their fury. More than ten thousand victims
perished in this massacre. In the following
Jerusalem shared the same fate. On the erection
the transitory Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the cou
try of Tripoli formed a distinct but dependant pre
pality. In the ecclesiastical division, Berytus, Sou

of Tyre. Tyre itself was a royal domain. The SYRIA, a country of Asia, bounded on the east by tle of Tiberias, in 1186, made the illustrious St the Euphrates and a small portion of Arabia, north by the master of these places; Jerusalem capitulated the range of Taurus, west by the Mediterranean, and following year, and Antioch submitted to the Mos south by Arabia. The name Syria has been trans- conqueror, who thus became lord of both Syra mitted to us from the Greeks. Pococke conjectures Egypt. Syria remained subject to the suitas f that it might possibly come from Sur, the ancient name Egypt till, in 1517, Selim I. overthrew the Ma of Tyre, the chief city of the whole country. It is louk dynasty, and Syria and Egypt became absced more natural, however, to suppose that the name in the Ottoman empire.-The situation of Syna, Syria is a corruption or abridgment of Assyria, and distance from the seat of government, and the that the form in question was first adopted by the of the country, have rendered it difficult to keep Ionians, who frequented these coasts after the Assyri-regular subjection; and the power of the Porte in th ans of Nineveh had made this country a part of their empire, about 750 B.C. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 6, pt. 1, p. 432, seqq.)—It was divided into several districts and provinces, including, besides Syria Proper, Phoenicia, Palestine, and, according to Pliny, Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Syria is called in Scripture Aram, and the inhabitants Aramæans, a name derived from Aram, the fifth son of Shem, the father of the Syrians. Mesopotamia is also called Aram in the sacred text; but the appellation Naharim, i. e., between the rivers, is always added, for distinction' sake, to the latter. The name transmitted to us by the Greeks is, as above stated, a corruption or abridgment of Assyria. The Greeks, however, were not unacquainted with the term Arameans, but they gave it a wide appellation, making it comprehend the Syrians, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Assyrians, and the White Syrians, or Leuco-Syrii, as far as Pontus, because they saw that all these nations used a common language, the same customs, and the same religious faith. The history of Syria is included in that of its conquerors. It appears to have been first reduced by Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, about 750 B.C.; previously to whose invasion it was divided into petty territories, of which

country has been for some time on the decline, este cially since the time of Djezzar Pacha. A number of petty independent chiefs have sprung up, who have se the power of the sultan at defiance. Burckhard: states that Badjazze, Alexandretta, and Antakia (Art) had each an independent aga. Berber, a formidabe rebel who had fixed his seat at Tripoli, where be had maintained himself for six years, had been but recess subdued (in 1812) by the Pacha of Damascus A tab (to the north of Aleppo), as well as Edip and Shogre (between Aleppo and Latikia), had also f own chiefs. Throughout Syria, as is the case, deed, with respect to the whole of Asiatic Tarser, the Turks do not form more than two fifths of the p ulation. All civil and military employments, however, are in their hands. Besides Turks, and those natives who may claim to be considered as of genume Syra extraction, the country is inhabited by Kourds, Tarcomans, Bedouin Arabs, Chinganes, and other made hordes; by Druses, Enzairies, and Motocalis by Maronites, Armenians, Greek Christians, and Jews No country, perhaps, exhibits a greater variety in the character of its population. The old Syrian language is said to be spoken in a few districts, chiefly in th

neighbourhood of Damascus and Mount Libanus. The Arabic predominates both in the country and the towns. A corrupt mixture of Syriac and Chaldee is spoken in some parts by the peasantry, while the Turkish is spoken by the Osmanlis and the nomade hordes of the north. These various nations and tribes will come more particularly under our notice in describing the districts to which they respectively belong. The most natural division of the country is that which corresponds to its present political distribution into pashalics, to which we shall accordingly adhere. The coast from Akka to Djebail, with the mountains inhabited by the Druses, is comprehended under the pashalic of Seide and Akka. Near Djebail, the pashalic of Tarabolos (Tripoli) begins, and extends along the coast to Latikia. The north of Syria, from the Levant to the Euphrates, is included within that of Haleb (Aleppo). The remainder of the country, including by far the largest territory, is the viceroyalty of the Pacha of Sham (Damascus). (Mod. Trav., pt. 3, p. 1.)

SYRINX, a nymph of Arcadia, daughter of the river Ladon. (Vid. Pan, page 967, col. 2.)

(Amm. Marcell., 16, 2.)-II. A city of Gallia Belgica, between Argentoratum (Strasburg) and Divodurum (Metz). The modern name is Berg-Zabern.-III. Triboccorum, a town in the territory of the Tribocci, now Elsass-Zabern. (Bischoff und Möller, Wörterb. der Geogr., p. 942.)

TABOR, a mountain of Galilee. (Vid. Itabyrius.) TABRACE, a city on the coast of Numidia, and near the limits of the Provincia Zeugitana, now Tabarca. (Polyb., 12, 11.) Ptolemy writes the name Thabraca; and Pliny, Tabracha. (Plin., 5, 3.)

TABURNUS, a lofty mountain in Samnium, the southern declivities of which were covered with olive grounds. It closed in the Caudine Pass on the southern side. The modern name is Taburno or Tabor. It derives celebrity from Virgil. (Æn., 12, 715. – Georg., 2, 307.)

TACAPE, a town of Africa, at the head of the Syrtis Minor. It is now Cabes or Gaps. Near it were some medicinal waters, called Aque Tacapine, now ElHamma. (Plin., 5, 4. - Itin. Anton., 50, 59, 74, &c.)

TACFARĪNAS, a Numidian by birth, and the leader SYROS, an island in the Ægean Sea, one of the Cyc-of a revolt in Africa against the Roman power, in the lades, situate between Cythnus and Rhenea. It was reign of Tiberius. He had served among the Roman celebrated for having given birth to Pherecydes, the auxiliaries, and acquired in this way some knowledge philosopher, a disciple of Pittacus. (Diog. Laert., 1, of military discipline. Deserting, subsequently, from 119.-Strabo, 487.) It is singular that Strabo should the forces among which he had been enrolled, he colaffirm that the first syllable of the word Syros is pro-lected together some predatory bands, whom he acnounced long, whereas Homer, in the passage which customed to discipline, and finally appeared as the leadhe quotes, has made it short. (Od., 15, 402.) Syros, er of the Musulani, a powerful nation on the borders now Syra, is said by Pliny to be twenty miles in cir- of the desert. The Mauri also were drawn into the cumference. (Pliny, 4, 12.-Cramer's Anc. Greece, confederacy, and the Cinithii too were forced to join vol. 3, p. 409.) it. Furius Camillus, the proconsul of Africa, marched against and defeated him. He afterward, however, renewed the war, and was again defeated by Apronius, and driven into the desert. Still unsubdued in spirit, he appeared a third time as an enemy, and was defeated by Blæus. He again carried on the war, after this, with renewed strength and vigour, but was again overcome by Dolabella, and fell fighting bravely. (Tacit., Ann., 2, 52.-Id. ib., 3, 20.—Id. ib., 3, 74. —Id. ib., 4, 23, seqq.)

SYRTES, two gulfs on the northern coast of Africa, one called Syrtis Minor, on the coast of Byzacium, and now the Gulf of Cabes; the other called Syrtis Major, on the coast of Cyrenaica, now the Gulf of Sidra. The former is supposed to derive its modern name from the city of Tacape, which was at the head of it. The latter is called by the natives Syrte-al-Kibber, i. e., "The great Syrtis," which the sailors have corrupted into Sidra. The Syrtis Minor is about 45 geographical miles in breadth, and runs up into the TACHAMPSO, an island in the Nile, near Philæ. The continent about 75 miles. It is still an object of ap- Egyptians held one half of this island, and the rest was prehension to sailors, in consequence of the variations in the hands of the Ethiopians. (Consult Herod., 2, and uncertainties of the tides on a flat and shelvy 29.)-The name Tachampso is thought to signify "the coast. The Syrtis Major is about 180 geographical island of crocodiles," the Egyptian term for these animiles between the two capes, and penetrates 100 miles mals being xúuvai, according to Herodotus (2, 70.into the land. The name Syrtis is generally derived Consult Creuzer, Comment. Herod., p. 83.-Jablonfrom the Greek oúpa, "to drag," in allusion to the agi-ski, Voc. Egypt., p. 388.- Champollion, l'Egypte tation of the sand by the force of the tides. (Compare Sallust, Bell. Jug., c. 78.) It is more than probable, however, that the appellation is to be deduced from the term Sert, which still exists in Arabic as the name for a desert tract or region: for the term Syrtis does not appear to have been confined to the mere gulfs themselves, but to have been extended also to the desert country adjacent, which is still, at the present day, called Sert. (Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. 1, p. 929, 2d ed.)

T.

TABELLARIE LEGES, laws passed at various times for the purpose of enabling the Roman commons to vote by ballot, and no longer viva voce. The object of these laws was to diminish the power of the nobility. Voting by ballot was allowed by the Gabinian law, A.U.C. 614, in conferring honours; two years after, at all trials except for treason, by the Cassian law; in passing laws, by the Papirian law, A.U.C. 622; and, lastly, in trials for treason, also by the Cœlian law, A.U.C. 630.

sous les Pharaons, vol. 1, p. 152). Mannert makes it answer to the modern Derar (Geogr., vol. 10, pt. 1, p. 231); but Heeren is in favour of Calaptsché (Ideen, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 359.-Consult Bähr, ad Herod., 2, 29).

TACHOS, a king of Egypt in the time of Artaxerxes Ochus. Having revolted against the Persians, he drew the Greeks over into his interests, especially the Athenians and Spartans. The former sent Chabrias to his aid; the latter, Agesilaus. A misunderstanding soon arose between the Spartan leader and Tachos, on account of Agesilaus having offered advice which was rejected by Tachos, and also because the former had merely the command of the mercenaries, whereas Chabrias had charge of the fleet, while Tachos exercised, supreme control over all the forces. Agesilaus, in consequence of this, espoused the interests of Nectanebis, cousin to Tachos, and had him proclaimed king while Tachos was absent in Phoenicia with the Egyptian forces. Tachos, upon this, fled to the Persians, B.C. 361. He reigned about two years. (Corn. Nep., Vit. Ages.-Diod. Sic., 15, 92. — Id., 16, 48, seqq.)

TABERNE, I. Rhenanæ, a city of Gallia Belgica, in TACITUS, C. CORNELIUS, a celebrated Latin historithe territory of the Nemetes, now Rhein-Zubern. | an, born in the reign of Nero. The exact year cannot

be ascertained; but as Pliny the Younger informs us
that he and Tacitus were nearly of the same age, it is
supposed that Tacitus was born A.U.C. 809 or 810,
about the sixth year of Nero's reign. The place of his
nativity is nowhere mentioned, but it is generally
thought to have been Interamna (now Terni), in Um-
bria. He was the son of Cornelius Tacitus, a procu-
rator appointed by the prince to manage the imperial
revenue and govern a province in Belgic Gaul. The
person so employed was, by virtue of his office, of
equestrian rank. The place where Tacitus received
his education, Massilia, now Marseille, was at that
time the seat of literature and polished manners.
Agricola was trained up there; but there is no reason
to think that Tacitus formed and enlarged his mind at
the same place, since, when he relates the fact about
his father-in-law, he is silent respecting himself. If
he was educated at Rome, we may be sure that it
was a method very different from the fashion then in
vogue. Tacitus, it is evident, did not imbibe the
smallest tincture of that frivolous science and that
vicious eloquence that debased the Roman genius.
He most probably had the good fortune to be formed
upon the plan adopted in the time of the republic; and
with the help of a sound scheme of home discipline,
and the best domestic example, he grew up, in a course
of virtue, to that vigour of mind which gives such an-
imation to his writings. It is reasonable to suppose
that he attended the lectures of Quintilian, who, in op-
position to the sophists of Greece, taught for more
than twenty years the rules of that manly eloquence
which is so nobly displayed in his Institutes. Some
critics have applied to Tacitus the passage in which
Quintilian, after enumerating the writers who flourish
ed in that period, says, "There is another person who
gives additional lustre to the age; a man who will de-
serve the admiration of posterity. I do not mention
him at present: his name will be known hereafter" (10,
1).If this passage relates to Tacitus, the predictioned Trajan for his successor.
has been fully verified. When Quintilian published his
great work, in the reign of Domitian, Tacitus had not
then written his Annals or his History. Those im-
mortal compositions were published in the time of Tra-
jan.—The infancy of Tacitus kept him untainted by
the vices of Nero's court. He was about twelve
years old when that emperor finished his career of guilt
and folly; and in the tempestuous times that ensued, he
was still secured by his tender years. Vespasian re-
stored the public tranquillity, revived the liberal arts,
and gave encouragement to men of genius. Our au-
thor's first ambition was to distinguish himself at the
bar.-Agricola was joint consul with Domitian, A.U.C.
830, for the latter part of the year. Tacitus, though
not quite twenty, had given such an earnest of his fu-
ture fame, that Agricola chose him for his son-in-law.
Thus distinguished, our author began the career of
civil preferment. Vespasian had a just discern-
ment of men, and was the friend of rising merit.
Rome at length was governed by a prince who had
the good sense and virtue to consider himself as the
chief magistrate, whose duty it was to redress all
grievances, restore good order, and give energy to the
laws. In such times, the early genius of Tacitus at
tracted the notice of the emperor. The foundation of
his fortune was laid by Vespasian. Tacitus does not
tell the particulars, but it is probable that he began
with the functions of the Vigintivirate; a body of
twenty men commissioned to execute an inferior ju-
risdiction for the better regulation of the city. That
office, according to the system established by Augus-
tus, was a preliminary step to the gradations of the
magistracy. The senate had power to dispense with
it in particular cases, and accordingly we find Tibe-
rius applying to the fathers for that indulgence in fa-
vour of Drusus, the son of Germanicus.

and, consequently, that the road of honour was hi
open to him. The death of Vespasian did not check
him in his progress. Titus was the friend of virae.
The office of quæstor was, in the regular course, thi
next public honour; and it qualified the person wis
discharged it for a seat in the senate. Titus reigned
little more than two years. Domitian succeeded ta
the imperial dignity. Suspicious, dark, and sullen, be
made the policy of Tiberius the model of his gover
ment. He saw public virtue, and he destroyed it
and yet, in that disastrous period, Tacitus rose to pre
erment. The historian himself furnishes a sclatan
of this enigma. Agricola, he tells us, had the address
to restrain the headlong violence of the tyrant by b
prudence and moderation. Tacitus imitated this le
of conduct, and, instead of giving umbrage to the
prince and provoking the tools of power, he was c
tent to display his eloquence at the bar. Tacitus
a talent for poetry, and his verses, most proba
served to ingratiate him with the tyrant, who affected
to be a votary of the Muses. If, in addition to th
he was the author of a book of apophthegms called Fr
cetia, that very amusement could not fail to pre
successful in gaining for him the notice of Doman
By this emperor Tacitus was made prætor, A.D
he was also appointed one of the college of ande
cimviri. In A.D. 78 he married the daughter of Je
lius Agricola. On the death of his father-in-law. AD
93, he quitted Rome, but returned to it in the year St.
when Nerva was on the throne. This prince named
him successor in the consulship to Virginius Ratus,
who had just died. In honour of Virginius, the s
ate decreed that the rites of sepulture should be p
formed at the public expense. Tacitus delivered di
funeral oration from the rostra.
Praise from such a
orator, Pliny says, was sufficient to crown the p
ry of a well-spent life. (Epist., 2, 1.) Nerr
A.U.C. 851, having about three months before copt-
In that short interval

able that Tacitus became one of the

the critics have agreed to place the publication of the
life of Agricola; and their reason is, because T
mentions Nerva Casar, but does not style him
the deified Nerva, which, they say, would have tes
the case if the emperor was then deceased; but the
forget that, in the same tract (c. 44), our author tela
us how ardently Agricola wished to see the elevation
of Trajan to the seat of empire, and that wish woul
have been an awkward compliment to the reg
prince. It seems therefore probable that the Life f
Agricola was published in the reign of Trajan-The
production just mentioned is one of the most perfeci
specimens of biography that any language can show
and the noblest monument ever erected by any we
to any individual. We know not, on perusing
which most to admire, the exalted and amiable char
acter of the hero, or the truth, sensibility, and tome of
calmness that prevail throughout the piece. The
fortunes of the times had imparted
choly to the style of Tacitus, which gives the work a
question a sombre and touching character. His friend
ship towards his father-in-law never renders him
faithful to the truth, nor does he attempt to conceal
his indignation at the policy of the Roman goes
ment, of which Agricola was sometimes compelled to
be the instrument. The Treatise on the Manners of
the Germans (De situ, moribus, et populis Gersonal
it is generally agreed, made its appearance in the year
of Rome 851.

-

an air of melan

The new emperor, whose adoption and succession had been confirmed by a decree of the senate, was at the head of the legions of Germany when he received the intelligence of the death of Nerva and his own accession to the empire. Being of a warlike disposition, he was not in haste to leave the army, but remained there during the entire yest It is prob. In such a juncture, a picture of German manners cock

The

second consulship of Trajan is mentioned in the tract |isfaction of the house. The cause was tried A.U.C. (c. 37), and that was A.U.C. 851, in conjunction with 853, in the third year of Trajan's reign. From that Nerva, who died before the end of January. It is time Tacitus dedicated himself altogether to his Histherefore certain that the description of Germany saw tory. Pliny informs us (Ep., 4, 13), that our author the light in the course of that year. In this treatise was frequented by a number of visiters, who admired but little reliance can be placed on the geographical his genius, and for that reason went in crowds to his notices of Tacitus, which are very defective. His re- levée. From that conflux of men of letters Tacitus marks on the manners, usages, and political institu- could not fail to gain the best information. Pliny tions of this people are, on the other hand, peculiarly sent a full detail of all the circumstances attending the valuable. The historian is supposed by the best crit- death of his uncle, the elder Pliny, who lost his life in ics to have derived his principal information relative the eruption of Vesuvius, in order that an exact relato the Germans from persons who had served against tion of that event might be transmitted to posterity. them, and, in particular, from Virginius Rufus, who, Trajan reigned nineteen years. He died suddenly as we learn from the Letters of Pliny, was the friend in Cilicia, A.U.C. 870, A.D. 117. The exact time of Tacitus. The great work, also, of the elder Pliny when Tacitus published his History is uncertain, but on Germany, now lost, must have been an important it was in some period of Trajan's reign. He was reaid. As to the object of the historian in composing solved to send his work into the world in that happy this work, some have even gone so far as to suppose age when he could think with freedom, and what that his sole intention was to satirize the corrupt mor- he thought he could publish with perfect security. als of his contemporaries, by holding forth to view an (Hist., 1, 1.) He began from the accession of Galba, ideal and highly-coloured picture of barbarian virtue. A.U.C. 822, and followed down the thread of his narAccording to these same writers, his object was to bring rative to the death of Domitian, in the year 849; the back his countrymen to their ancient simplicity of man- whole comprising a period of seven-and-twenty years, ners, and thus oppose an effectual barrier to those en- full of important events and sudden revolutions, in emies who menaced the safety of their descendants. which the prætorian bands, the armies in Germany, But a perusal of the work in question destroys all this and the legions in Syria claimed a right to raise fanciful hypothesis. The analogy between many of whom they thought proper to the imperial seat, withthe rude manners of the early Germans and those of out any regard for the authority of the senate. Such the aborigines of North America at once stamps the was the subject Tacitus had before him. The sumwork with the seal of truth. What if Tacitus dwells mary view which he has given of those disastrous with a certain predilection upon the simple manners times is the most awful picture of civil commotion of Germany? It surely is natural in one who had be- and the wild distraction of a frantic people. It is not come disgusted with the excesses of Italy. We are exactly known into how many books the work was dinot to suppose, however, that this work of Tacitus is vided. Vossius makes the number no less than thirfree from errors. The very manner in which he ac- ty; but, to the great loss of the literary world, we quired his information on this subject must have led have only the first four books, and the commencement to misconceptions and mistakes. Religious prejudi- of the fifth. The work must have been a large one, ces also served occasionally to mislead the historian, if we may judge from the portion that has reached us, who beheld the traces of Greek and Roman mytholo- since this contains the transactions of little more than gy even in the North.-The friendship that subsisted a single year. The reign of Titus, "the delight of between Tacitus and the younger Pliny is well known. human kind," is totally lost, and Domitian has escaIt was founded on the consonance of their studies and ped the vengeance of the historian's pen. The Histheir virtues. They were both convinced that a stri-tory being finished, Tacitus did not think that he had king picture of former tyranny ought to be placed in completed his portraiture of slavery. He went back contrast to the felicity of the times that succeeded. to Tiberius, who left a model of tyranny for his sucPliny acted up to his own idea of this in the panegyric cessors. This second work he called by the name of on Trajan, where we find a vein of satire against Domi- Annals. It included a period of four-and-fifty years, tian running throughout the whole piece. It appears from the year 767 to the death of Nero in 821. Duin his letters that he had some thoughts of writing a ring the period embraced by the History the whole history on the same principle; but he had not resolu- empire was convulsed, and the author had to arrange tion to undertake that arduous task. Tacitus had the operations of armies in Germany, Batavia, Gaul, more vigour of mind; he thought more intensely, and Italy, and Judæa, all in motion almost at the same with deeper penetration than his friend. We find time. This was not the case in the Annals. The that he had formed, at an early period, the plan of his Roman world was in a state of general tranquillity, History, and resolved to execute it in order to show and the history of domestic transactions was to supthe horrors of slavery, and the debasement of the Ro-ply Tacitus with materials. The author has given us, man people through the whole of Domitian's reign. (Vit. Agr., c. 3.) He did not, however, though employed in a great and important work, renounce immediately all his practice in the forum, but continued to be employed there until the trial of Marius Priscus, who had been proconsul of Africa, and stood impeached before the senate at the suit of the province. Priscus had presented a memorial, praying to be tried by a commission of select judges. Tacitus and Pliny, by the special appointment of the fathers, were advocates on the part of the Africans. They thought it their duty to inform the house that the crimes alleged against Priscus were of too atrocious a nature to fall within the cognizance of an inferior court. The case was therefore heard at an adjourned meeting of the senate, and the eloquence of Pliny and Tacitus, but more particularly of the latter, succeeded in establishing the guilt of the accused. The senate concluded the business with a declaration that Tacitus and Pliny had executed the trust reposed in them to the full sat

with his usual brevity, the true characters of this part of his work. "The detail," he says, "into which he was obliged to enter, while it gave lessons of prudence, was in danger of being dry and unentertaining. In other histories, the operations of armies, the situation of countries, the events of war, and the exploits of illustrious generals awaken curiosity and expand the imagination. We have nothing before us but acts of despotism, continual accusations, the treachery of friends, the ruin of innocence, and trial after trial, always ending in the same catastrophe. Events like these will give to the work a tedious uniformity, without an object to enliven attention, without an incident to prevent satiety." (Ann., 4, 33.) But the genius of Tacitus surmounted every difficulty. He was able to keep attention awake, to please the imagination, and enlighten the understanding. The style of the Annals differs from that of the History, which required stately periods, pomp of expression, and harmonious sentences. The Annals are written in a strain more subdued and

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in quick vicissitude; they mix and blend in variou combinations; we glow with indignation, we met za tears. The Annals, in fact, may be called an histo cal picture-gallery. It is by this magic power tha: T citus has been able to animate the dry regular g the chronologic order, and to spread a charin over the whole that awakens curiosity and unchains attention How different from the gazette-style of Sueto who relates his facts in a calm and unimpassioned tone, unmoved by the distress of injured virtue. never rising to indignation. Tacitus, on the cotta, sits in judgment on the prince, the senate, the corsa, and the people; and he finds eloquence to affect a heart, and through the imagination to inform the 23derstanding-Tacitus has been called the Father af Philosophical History; and the title is well bestowed if it be considered as confined to his acute and forme criticisms on individual character, and the moral p nity and pathos of his manner; but of Political po

traces. To this department of wisdom, the mes both those which Tacitus saw and those of which fathers could tell him, were fatally unpropitions. The

temperate every phrase is a maxim; the narrative goes on with rapidity; the author is sparing of words, and prodigal of sentiment; the characters are drawn with a profound knowledge of human nature; and when we see them figuring on the stage of public business, we perceive the internal spring of their actions; we see their motives at work, and, of course, are prepared to judge of their conduct. The Annals, as well as the History, have suffered by the barbarous rage and more barbarous ignorance of the tribes that overturned the Roman empire. Of the sixteen books which originally composed the Annals, the following are lost a part of the fifth, from the seventh to the tenth both inclusive, the beginning of the eleventh, and the end of the sixteenth. We miss, therefore, three years of Tiberius, the entire four years of Caligula, the first six of Claudius, and the last two of Nero. And, on the other hand, we have the history of the reign of Tiberius, with the exception of the three years just mentioned, the latter years of Claudius, and the his-ophy we discover in this excellent writer but jew tory of Nero down to A.D. 67.—We find that Tacitus intended, if his life and health continued, to review the reign of Augustus (Ann., 3, 24), in order to detect the arts by which the old constitution was over-exhibited a frame of society (if we may disgrace turned, to make way for the government of a single expression by so applying it) suffering a course of ruler. This, in the hands of such a writer, would have periments too frightfully violent to issue in fine resul been a curious portion of history; but it is probable he In a nation thus tried with extremes, we could be did not live to carry his design into execution. The expect to meet with the refinements of political sc time of his death is not mentioned by any ancient au- ence; and supposing them there to exist, an histra thor. It seems, however, highly probable that he died account of such a nation affords little scope for in the reign of Trajan, and we may reasonably conclude display of them.-It may be expected that some that he survived his friend Pliny. Those two writers tice should be taken of the objections which have bee were the ornaments of the age; both men of genius; urged against Tacitus by the various writers w both encouragers of literature; the friends of liberty thought proper to place themselves in the char and virtue. The esteem and affection which Pliny criticism. The first charge exhibited against our 10 cherished towards our author is evident in many of thor is, that he has written bad Latin. This shall be his letters, but nowhere more than in the following pas-answered by a writer who was master of as d sage: "I never was touched with a more sensible elegance as can be attained in a dead language pleasure than by an account which I received lately Who," exclaims Muretus," are we moderns, e from Cornelius Tacitus. He informed me that, at the if all who have acquired great skill in the Lata last Circensian games, he sat next to a stranger, who, guage were assembled in a body; who are we after much discourse on various topics of learning, presume to pronounce against an author (Tac asked him if he was an Italian or a Provincial. Ta- who, when the Roman language still flourished a citus replied, 'Your acquaintance with literature must its splendour (and it flourished to the time of E have informed you who I am.' Ay!' said the man; an), was deemed the most eloquent orator of • pray, then, is it Tacitus or Pliny I am talking with?' time? When we reflect on the number of ar I cannot express how highly I am pleased to find that authors whose works have been destroyed, which our names are not so much the proper appellations of us can pretend to say that the words which app men as a kind of distinction for learning itself." (Ep., new in Tacitus were not known and used by the 10, 23.) Had Pliny been the surviver, he, who la- cients? and yet, at the distance of ages, when the mented the loss of all his friends, would not have fail-ductions of genius have been wellnigh extugused, ed to pay the last tribute to the memory of Tacitus. we of this day take upon us a decisive tone to c The commentators assume it as a certain fact that demn the most celebrated writers, whose cooks and our author must have left issue; and their reason is, mule-drivers understood the Latin language, and sk because they find that M. Claudius Tacitus, who was it, better than the most confident scholar of the pro created emperor A.D. 276, deduced his pedigree from ent age." The next allegation against Tact the great historian. (Vopisc., Vit. Tac.) That ex-grounded upon the conciseness and consequen cellent prince was only shown to the world. He was scurity of his style. The love of brevity, snatched away by a fit of illness at the end of six tinguishes Tacitus from all other writers, was pre months, having crowded into that short reign a num-bly the result of his early admiration of Seneca, and, ber of virtues. Vopiscus tells us that he ordered the perhaps, was carried farther by that constant bat image of Tacitus, and a complete collection of his close thinking, which could seize the principal works, to be placed in the public archives, with a spe- and discard all unnecessary appendages. Tacos s cial direction that ten copies should be made every sparing of words and lavish of sentiment. Mais year at the public expense. But, when the mutilated quieu says he knew everything, and therefore abridge state in which our author has come down to posterity everything. In the political maxims and moral re is considered, there is good reason to believe that the flections, which, where we least expect it, dar: a sud orders of the prince were never executed.-Tacitus den light, yet never interrupt the rapidity of the ra has well deserved the appellation that has been be- tive, the comprehensive energy of the sentence e stowed upon him of "the greatest historian of antiqui- all the pleasure of surprise, while it conveys a deep ty." To the generous and noble principle which gui- reflection. ded his pen throughout his work, he united a fund of knowledge and the colours of eloquence. Every short description is a picture in miniature: we see the persons acting, speaking, or suffering; our passions are kept in a tumult of emotion; they succeed each other

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The observations which Quintilian calls lumina sententiarum crowded fast upon the auther's mind, and he scorned to waste his strength in words: he gave the image in profile, and left the reader to take a round-about view. It may be asked. Is Tach tus never obscure 1. He certainly is: his own iscone