3. When some one asked Diogenes at what hour a man ought to dine if he is rich, he said, when he will; if he is poor, when he can.

:

4. Accius said, there are many unjust and faithless men in a kingdom, and few good men.

As the style acquires peculiar elegance from the order and arrangement of words, so it must be observed that variety itself gives great beauty to sentences. Thus: As medicine is the art of health, pilotage of navigation, so prudence is the art of living: Ut medicina valetudinis, navigationis gubernatio, sic vivendi ars est prudentia.

One clause ends with the genitive, and the next begins with it, to give greater variety to the sentence. This varied order should in general be observed in the enumeration of several particulars.

1. Friendship is a real pleasure in prosperity; a resource in adversity; quietness in private life (in mediis).

2. These are the pleasing effects of philosophy; it pours balm into our minds (medetur animis), removes all imaginary anxieties, it delivers us from inordinate desires, and dispels every alarm.

What

The arrangement of words depends also upon our ideas: the order and succession of which being closely observed will give greater perspicuity and elegance to the style: the neglect of this method in modern languages, and especially in the English, is apt to lead the scholar into error. arises first, or is supposed, upon mature consideration, to arise first, in the natural order of our thoughts,' should, as much as possible, be placed first in the sentence; except harmony, or a climax, which, in order to raise the attention, throws back the most emphatical words, should require the contrary.

In the Latin language, then, the arrangement most commonly observed is, to place first in the sentence that word which expresses the principal object of the discourse, together with its circumstances; and afterwards the person or the thing that acts upon it. This order, besides the natural succession of the ideas, gratifies more the rapidity of the imagination, which naturally runs first to that which is

its chief object; and, having once named it, carries it in view through the rest of the sentence.

1. We make most use of the direction of the soul and of the service of the body.

2. It is impossible for me to pass over in silence such remarkable mildness, and singular and unheard-of clemency, and such unusual moderation, in the exercise of supreme power.

3. For thou hast lost with thy life not a kingdom, but banishment, poverty, and all those afflictions which now overwhelm me.

The person to which the nominative refers, as the object of its agency, that is, as the case of the verb, is in the nature of the thoughts before the verb itself, and therefore should be so in the structure of the sentence.

1. My brother promised me, that he would send me some books. 2. I know that the whole weight of this difficult and dangerous task will be imposed on you; for the whole people have fixed their eyes on you; they regard you as their protector and guardian.

The same may be said of a thing, or word, which comes in the place of the person; as,

1. Your father has forgiven your crimes.

2. You basely flattered their supine indifference, by which the_state was nearly brought to the brink of ruin; and turned into ridicule our firmness of mind, which resolutely stemmed the opposing dangers.

The reason for which a thing is done being, in the order of the ideas, thought of before the verb, should be placed before it.

1. I beseech you to succour my misery, in consideration of our friendship.

2. But you had presented him with a golden crown, on account of his great virtue.

3. Again and again most earnestly do I entreat you, on account of our strict intimacy, and your own distinguished benevolence.

4. Of which friends you have a great number, owing to your very great and exemplary virtues.

Let it not, however, be understood that these words, to which we assign this precedence, are always to be in the very beginning of a sentence; for, generally, either the nominative or the case of the verb, or some other words are prefixed, and then these words, if there be more than one clause in the sentence, form the first periodical circuit, or transposition.

Thus; Cæsar said that he would receive them into his friendship, for the sake of the Edui: we shall say, Casar, Eduorum causá, sese eos in fidem recepturum dixit, with greater elegance than Æduorum causâ, Cæsar.....

In mentioning several things, from which one is excepted, or particularized, the particles denoting that exception, with their cases, as præter nisi, will be placed before the others.

1. I greatly admire your benevolence and liberality, besides your

other virtues.

2. For if we should exhibit to your view the whole tissue of this man's vices and iniquities, except this foul transaction, which delicacy obliges me to pass over in silence, we shall not find his life distin guished by one single trait, that can retrieve his name from eternal disgrace.

3. I beg of you, that you would send me some books, if not all.

The ablative, in expressions like these is more elegantly placed before the comparative :

1. Quicker than hope.

2. Longer than what was just.

3. More sad than usual.

4. He is a man much more illustrious in peace than in war.

5. So much easier is it to accuse, than to defend; to inflict, than to cure, a wound.

Adverbs should be placed before the verb, as the manner or degree, in which the nominative corresponds with its verb, arises first in the mind.

1. He came to me of his own accord.

2. Cicero has written excellently well on that subject.

3. They succeeded very ill in that business.

The vocative is usually thrown back; at least after several words of the sentence, except some sudden emotion of the mind is to be expressed; but, in order to avoid ambiguity, it should come immediately after some word to which it properly belongs; as,

Your uncle, O Brutus, has removed this doubt: Quam dubitationem avunculus tuus, Brute, sustulit.

1. It has long been a matter of great doubt with me, Brutus, whether it were more difficult, or a matter of greater importance, to refuse you

at once, when you repeatedly asked me the same thing, or to grant you your request at once.-(Here the vocative, coming with the verb, to doubt, which must be the last in the sentence, will be equally thrown back.)

2. It cannot but be a matter of astonishment to you, my lords, that, while there are so many men of the first dignity and eminence sitting here, I should claim the preference in rising to address you.

The verb sum has a peculiar elegance in the beginning of a sentence, or after negative words, as nullus, nihil, nemo, and after comparatives and superlatives; words of many syllables; after adjectives and verbals in dus.

1. For there is no misfortune, which does not seem to threaten us all, from the general disorder which prevails through the whole world.

2. For, if we must comply with the desires of our friends, they must no longer be called friendships, but real conspiracies.

3. It is a criminal and impious custom to dispute against the gods whether from design or caprice.

When two words come closely together, one of which is a monosyllable, and the other a word of many syllables, the monosyllable is always placed before the polysyllable; as, vir clarissimus; ars pulcherrima; me amat, &c.

Sentences are very elegantly closed by comparatives and superlatives, as indeed by any word, and chiefly verbs, of many syllables.

But, in the arrangement of words, care must be taken to avoid the too frequent recurrence of the same termination or cadence, as it has been observed before, which much offend the ear; as, nullo timore nec dolore.

1. For as men oppressed with a severe fit of illness, and labouring under the raging heat of a fever, are often at first seemingly relieved by a draught of cold water, but are afterwards afflicted with redoubled fury and vehemence; in like manner, this distemper, which has seized the commonwealth, eased a little by the punishment of this traitor, will, from his surviving associates, soon assume new force.

2. The nourishment and care of the body must have for its end the preservation of its health and strength, and not pleasure.

Sentences are also elegantly terminated by omnis, nullus, nemo, when the idea of universality is conveyed with a more particular stress; as,

There is either no virtue, or every pain must be despised: Aut nulla virtus est, aut contemnendus dolor omnis.

1. What great desire can move you to pass a law, which is attended with the greatest disgrace, and has not one merit ?

2. If sleep did not bring rest to our bodies, and as it were a medicine for our labours, we must think that it was unnatural, since it takes away our senses, and all action.

3. We perceive that, in this age, literature is patronised by no rich

men.

4. If you should arrive thither, like Ulysses you will not know one of your relations.

Sentences also receive peculiar elegance and force, when terminated by an accumulation of two or three emphatic words, more generally verbs, rising in a regular climax one above the other, sometimes with, but more frequently without, any conjunctions. But this mode of concluding sentences must be very sparingly used, and only when the subject requires a greater degree of animation and energy to be thrown into the language; as, For what did I ordain, what did I undertake, or what did I execute, but by the advice, authority and decision of this assembly? Quid enim constitui, quid gessi, quid egi, nisi ex hujus ordinis consilio, auctoritate, sen

tentiá?

1. For in proportion to any man's ignorance of antiquity, and Grecian literature, does he with the utmost petulance and contumely abuse, discard and deride those ancient illustrious heroes.

2. For is there a word in these letters, that is not full of politeness, good manners and benevolence?