twenty years, and that those should be _put out of the ranks and
into the reserve_, who had gone through sixteen years' service,
there to be kept as auxiliary troops, free from the other duties
which it was customary to render to the State, except that of
repelling the invasion of an enemy":--"missionem dari vicena stipendia
meritis; _exauctorari_, qui senadena fecissent, ac retineri sub
vexillo, ceterorum immunes nisi propulsandi hostis" (An. I. 36);--
here we have a meaning of the word "exauctorare" very different
from its sense of "a final discharge," in which it is understood
by Tacitus towards the opening of his History, when he is
describing the distracted state of Rome, and continues: "during
such a crisis tribunes were _finally discharged_, Antonius
Taurus and Antonius Naso, from the body guard; Aemilius Pacensis
from the troops garrisoned at Rome, and Julius Fronto from the
watch": "_exauctorati_ per cos dies tribuni, e praetorio
Antonius Taurus et Antonius Naso; ex urbanis cohortibus Aemilius
Pacensis; e vigiliis Julius Fronto" (Hist. I. 20);--nor would a
person desirous of writing graceful Latin use "destinari" for
being "elected" to an office, as "_destinari_ consules" (An. I. 3)
where Tacitus uses "designari,"--"consule _designato_"
(Hist I. 6).

Grammatical mistakes of the most extraordinary character are
sometimes made. There is neglect of indispensable attraction; "non
medicinam _illud_" (I. 49) for "_illam_," and "non enim, preces
sunt _istud_" (II. 38) for "_istae_;"--proper Latinity requires
that, in "nihil reliqui faciunt quominus invidi_am_, misericordi_am_,
met_um_ et ir_as_ _per_mov_erent_ (I. 21), the four nouns should
be in either the ablative or genitive, and the verb in the present,
with (as Dr. Nipperdey says) _moveant_ in preference to _permoveant_.