because a man who so writes, writes thus unconsciously and
unavoidably, and even when engaged in a forgery, striving to
imitate the style and manner of another, he could not escape
from so marked and distinctive a mannerism. Bracciolini,
accordingly, is found adhering in the Annals to this uniformity of
manner: many passages more forcibly illustrative of this
peculiarity might be quoted; but I select the sham sea-fight in
the XIIth book, for two reasons, because it is pretty much of the
same length as the burning of Jerome of Prague, and because it is
of a similar nature,--descriptive:--

"Sub idem _tempus_, inter _lacum_ Fucinum amnemque Lirin perrupto
monte, quo magnificentia _operis_ a pluribus _viseretur, lacu_ in
ipso navale _proelium_ adornatur; ut quondam Augustus, structo cis
Tiberim stagno, sed levibus navigiis et minore copia _ediderat._
Claudius triremes quadriremesque et undeviginti hominum millia
armavit, cincto _ratibus_ ambitu, ne vaga effugia forent; _ac_
tamen spatium amplexus, ad _vim_ remigii, gubernantium artes,
impetus _navium_, et _proelio_ solita. In _ratibus_ praetoriarum
cohortium manipuli turmaeque adstiterant, antepositis propugnaculis,
ex quis catapultae ballistaeque tenderentur: reliqua _lacus_
classiarii tectis _navibus_ obtinebant. Ripas et colles, _ac_
montium _edita_, in modum theatri _multitudo_ innumera complevit
_proximis_ e municipiis, et alii urbe ex ipsa, _visendi cupidine_
aut officio in _principem_. Ipse insigni paludamento, neque procul
Agrippina chlamyde aurata, praesedere. _Pugnatum_, quamquam inter
sontes, fortium virorum animo; _ac_, post multum vulnerum, occidioni
exempti sunt. Sed perfecto _spectaculo_ apertum _aquarum_ iter.
Incuria _operis_ manifesta fuit, haud satis depressi ad _lacus_
ima vel media. Eoque, _tempore_ interjecto, altius effossi specus,