From what has been already said it will be seen that some at least of the qualifications of an historian will not be found in any high degree in Livy. He draws his narrative too readily at second hand from earlier writers, and fills in the meagre outlines with rhetorical details, which are often the common-places of the schools, more than the results of independent study. He is too little on his guard against the patriotic bias of the Roman chroniclers, and the party spirit of patrician informants, and so treats unfairly both the statesmanship of Flaminius and the policy of Carthage. There was monumental evidence ready to his hand on every side in the inscriptions to be found in every place of national resort, but there are scanty signs to show that he recognized their value. A few weeks of travel would have given him a personal knowledge of the scenes of the campaigns, which combined with his undoubted powers of description, would have left few questions still unsettled in connection with the battlefields and movements of the armies. The archives of the Priestly Colleges, whose formularies he sometimes copied, would have told him much about the characteristic features of the old religion, which he leaves almost unexplained, as if it were still unaltered in his own days. His language tends often to confuse the customs of Italy with those of other races. Thus he ascribes to Carthage the distinctive name of the Jupiter of Rome, as well as those of the political and military systems of her rival. The lengthy speeches inserted by him in

the narrative are convenient vehicles for his theories
of political causation, but have often little semblance
of reality; while the annalistic form, suggested as it
was by the yearly change of consuls, fatigues the
memory and disturbs the judgment in tracing the
natural connection of events. But these defects be-
long in a great measure to the literary standards of
his age and country, and we should not fail to re-
cognize the merits which are peculiarly his own, his
high moral tone and honesty of purpose, the eloquence
and pathos of his speeches, the vivid powers of por-
traiture, and the varied beauties of his style, which
have given his history so high a place among the
works of classical antiquity.

he makes so mas the military.

w

gret by mi the inspected

scenes of com

INTRODUCTION. III.

ON THE LANGUAGE AND STYLE OF LIVY '.

In order to illustrate the peculiarities of Livy's style, a list is now given of those forms of expression which, though for the most part found elsewhere, recur more often in his pages than in those of earlier writers such as Cicero and Cæsar.

SUBSTANTIVE. Concrete for collective, e. g. eques, pedes, Pœnus; abstract for concr.: in sing. levis armatura, remigium; plur. servitia, dignitates, robora legionum. Large number of verbals in us: trajectus, saltatus, effectus; and in tor: concitor, ostentator; the same used adjectively, domitor ille exercitus.

:

ADJECTIVES used substantively in sing. acc. or abl. neut. in medium, in publico, in immensum altitudinis, in majus vero, in multum diei, per Europa plerumque, hoc tantum licentia; plur. neut.: per aversa urbis, per patentia ruinis, per cetera pacata, tædio præsentium; plur. masc. less frequent: potiores,

1 Compare Nägelsbach, Lat. Stilistik. Kühnast, Liv. Syntax. Fabri, Liv. XXI. XXII.

docti, mortales, cum expeditis militum; forms in osus frequent procellosus, facinorosus; and in bundus: contionabundus, tentabundus; predicative adj. used adverbially repens nuntiatur clades, conferti pugnabant.

:

PRONOUN. Aliuso aλos: alia acies, alius exercitus; alter for alteruter XXI. 8. 7; nullus for nemo; quicunque, qualiscunque, quantuscunque, &c., without a verb.

ADVERB instead of attributive adj.: omnibus circa solo æquatis, postero ac deinceps aliquot diebus; use of ceterum for sed, ferme for fere, juxta for pariter, adhuc for past time; unde, ibi, inde for persons; admodum with numerals; large number of forms in im, e.g. casim, generatim.

VERB. Affection for frequentatives, often in sense of simple verb: frequent recurrence of vadere, currere, trahere; form of perf. pass. with fui and pluperf. with fueram; forem in place of essem; use of pres. and perf. subj. in Or. obliqua, to give vivid colour to description.

PREPOSITION. Common use of circa, not only for space, but for time and mode.

IN CONSTRUCTION Frequent forms of σχῆμα κατὰ σúveσw: pars magna...nantes, millia... eosdem, R. legiones...ulti, civitas...oriundi, Senatus populusque voluit, Gallia...iis xxi. 20. 1, equestre prælium...qua parte copiarum 41. 4, scriba pontificis...quos vocant 57. 3; in pregnant sense: blandientem ut ducere

tur, in orbem pugnantes, in prælium rediit; irregularities in the use of pronouns : remisso id quod erepturi erant, id de quo ambigebatur...eventus belli...victoriam dedit, quod quidam auctores sunt, quibus si videretur denuntiarent; quicquid used adverbially-quo longius; interrog. within a final sentence: quid ut a vobis sperent; or participial: quid credentes; suus referring to an oblique case of a subordinate sentence.

GENITIVE. Of possession extensively used: plebs Hannibalis erat, alterius totus exercitus erat, dicionis facere, H. annorum novem erat. Of object with relative adj. like improvidus, nimius, ager; or without, ancipitis certaminis victoria, moris sui carmine.

ABLATIVE. Large use of instrumental, modal and local abl. without prepos., but Livy constantly has prepos. with abl. for motion from a town; frequency of comparatio compendiaria, as spe celerius, solito magis.

DATIVE. In predicative sense : caput Italiæ, auctor rebellionis Sardis, quibusdam volentibus erat bellum.

ACCUSATIVE. With adj. or partic. pass.: cetera tereti, sollicitus omnia, paratus omnia, ictus femur, longam indutæ vestem, assueti devia; omission of object with verbs used absolutely: transmittere, movere, superare, jungere, incolere, fallere, &c.

ADJECTIVE. Expressing the object of subst. with which it agrees: dictatoria invidia, consularia impedimenta; with infin.: dignus, obstinatus, dubius.

INDICATIVE. In hypothetical construction, fames quam pestilentia gravior erat ni.

impred.

of deser