style of Tacitus. Accordingly he has all kinds of alliterations,
except the right ones, for they are quite different from, and,
indeed, the very reverse of those of Tacitus; sometimes they are
twofold (I. 6); sometimes threefold (I. 5); sometimes even four
together--"posita, puerili praetexta principes" (I. 8);--from
which last Tacitus would have shrunk with horror at the sight, as
Mozart is stated to have rebounded and swooned at the discordant
blare of a trumpet. As to using in the middle of sentences words
that differ in length as a rule they do not, from the first of the
kind, "_ortum octo_" (I. 3), to the last of the kind, "_voce vultu_"
(XVI. 29); at the end of sentences, he uses words that, instead of
not differing, do differ in from the first of the kind, "_Augustum
adsumebatur_" (I. 8), to the last of the kind "_sortem subiret_"
(XVI. 32) and "_sestertium singulis_" (XVI. 33).

After this overwhelming proof of forgery, I need not press another
syllable upon the reader. If not convinced by this, he will be
convinced by nothing; for here is just that little blunder which a
forger is sure to make: so far from being insignificant it is all-
important; it swells out into proportions of colossal magnitude,
at once disclosing the whole imposture, it being absolutely
impossible that Tacitus should have so systematically adhered to a
particular kind of alliteration in that part of his history which
deals with Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian, and have so
suddenly and utterly neglected or ignored it in that part of the
history which deals with Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.


END OF BOOK THE FIRST.