three like beginnings as "_a_dhuc Augustum _a_pud" (I. 5), which
is in the style of Livy or Cicero, but not Tacitus. At the same
time no writer is so fond of alliteration as Tacitus; yet he
resorts to it with so much judgment, that it never grates on the
ear, and with so much art that it all but passes notice. It is
perceptible in the Germany and the Agricola as well as the
History; though in the latter work it is carried to greater
perfection, and is more systematically used, being found in almost
every paragraph. The rule with Tacitus is this:--When he resorts
to alliteration in the middle of a sentence where there is no
pause, he uses words that differ in length, as "_justis
judiciis_ approbatum" (Hist. I. 3), "_tot terrarum_ orbe"
(I. 4), "_pars populi_ integra" (6); and so throughout the
History, till at the close, we find the same thing uniformly going
on:--"_miscebantur minis_ promissa" (V. 24); "_poena
poenitentiam_ fateantur" (V. 25); "_Vespasianum vetus_
mihi observantiam" (V. 26). But--and particular attention is
called to this--when the alliteration is found at the end of a
sentence, or (where there is a pause) in the middle of a sentence,
he prefers words of the same length, but different quantities, as,
at the beginning of the History;--_senectuti seposui_ (I. l);
"_plerumque permixta_; "_sterile saeculum_" (ibid); and so
throughout the work to the end, where we still find the same
regularity of identical alliteration: "_clamore cognitum_"
(V. 18); "_coepta coede_" (V. 22); "_oequoris electum_"
(V. 23); "_merito mutare_" (V. 24). This peculiarity of
composition, so distinctive of Tacitus, unfortunately for his
forgery, ENTIRELY escaped the attention of the author of the
Annals; he seems to have thought that any kind of alliteration, so
long as it was constantly carried on, would sufficiently mark the