Monsieur RAPIN'S Comparison OF THUCYDIDES AND LIVY.  
Translated into English.  
OXFORD, Printed by L. Lichfield, for Anthony Peisley, Bookseller. 1694.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
There is now in the Press, and will speedily be Published, Rapin's Reflections upon History, Translated by the same Hand.   

TO William Inge OF THORP, IN STAFFORD-SHIRE, Esq.  
Dear SIR,  
WHat I here Offer You, I choose to Pay as an Instance of my Gratitude, and as Part of the Debt I owe to the Honour of your long-continued Friendship and Acquaintance; Notwithstanding you might reasonably Demand it on your own Personal Account and Merit; as being able to pass Sentence both on the Author and Translator, and to determine whether the Criticisms are well grounded, or the Translation just and proper. For you have not failed to Improve the Talon Nature has given you, by the Advantages of Study and Education; having a Mind Inquisitive and Curious, Penetrating, Solid and Retentive, averse to Sloth, and always Busy and Industrious: So that you brought to the University, a greater Stock of Sense, than many Gentlemen carry from it; and Built successfully upon the Grammar-Foundation, so well laid by your Excellent Master, a Superstructure of sound, rather than superficial Acquisitions. It was your distinguishing Prudence, forthwith to make Choice of the best Company, as well as Books, thereby seasoning your Mind with a true sense of Learning, and good Manners; which thing alone, were there no other Engagements on you, had made you a Friend to the University and the Church, and a worthy Member of both; whilst others bringing nothing but Ignorance and their hereditary Vices hither; and Conversing with none, but those of the like Stamp and Character, make the Debauchery of the College the chief Topick of their Discourse when they have left it: Those being ever most forward to Revile the Universities, when from them, who in them were their greatest Scandal and Reproach. And now, Sir, though a plentiful Estate calls off some part of your Thoughts and time from your Study, yet the choiceest of both are still employed upon your own Improvement; since you think it no less becoming a Gentleman to enlarge his Mind, than his Fortune, and to have his Head, than his House, richly Furnished; upon which Account I shall not pretend, by the Present I here make you, to Inform you so much as Divert you, whenever you shall please to allow some of your leisure-minutes, in comparing the Copy with the Original. But if this Comparison of the Two Best Historians, and Reflections upon History, shall either Provoke you to take Pen in Hand, or Assist you hereafter in Projecting a Piece of that Nature, I shall Merit more of the Public, than will at first View be discovered: However it may happen, I shall not fail of my Design, which was my own Satisfaction, in making, tho' a Poor, yet Real Acknowledgement of the frequent Favours you have Conferred on,  
SIR, Your Most Obedient Humble Servant, T. TAYLOR. Magd. Coll. Oxon. Apr. 12. 1694.   

THE PREFACE.  
I Must beg leave to Acquaint the Reader, in Two or Three words, with the Reason that induced me to enter on the Translation of Rapine; which probably might seem Unnecessary, since it had been formerly done, and was in the Hands of most People. But understanding it was Performed by several Persons, at several Times, and some of it carelessly enough, and that which was better out of Print; and being informed some parts of it had not hitherto been Translated, and desired to go over with it again, to make it all of a Piece, and of more general Use, I thought my▪ Pains would not be very ill Employed, if I Collected the scattered Parts of so excellent a Book, and reduced them into a Body: Especially since I might Advantage myself by the Failings and Mistakes of Others, and possibly, by imitating what was Good, and avoiding what was Bad in in them, make a tolerable Translation. I began with the Author's Treatises upon History, in his Comparison and Reflections; upon the Booksellers Information they had not been Attempted before: And because nothing was more seasonable than a Comparison of Thucydides and Livy, at a time when the former was Printing, in an excellent Edition at the Theatre; nothing being more necessary to the thorough understanding any Author, than the Reading, together with him, the best Censures and Critics that have been Wrote upon him. But it was a kind of Surprise to me, when I had finished the Reflections, to find they had been ventured on before, by One Davis de Kidwelli, apprehending it would cost me a fresh Trouble, where I fell in with his Expression, to Change my own: But finding the Copy he went by to be the Original rough-cast and incomplete, before the Author had put his last hand to it; and that we seldom agreed in the way of expressing the same thing, I let Mine pass without any Alteration. I have been told too, by a Gentleman, he thought he had seen the other Part done; but not being able to get a Sight of it, I leave the Comparison to take its Chance: If it meets with a kind Reception, the rest shall speedily be Published; if not, I am not not so great an Enemy to the Bookseller and myself, as as to throw my Pains, and his Money away to no Purpose. I have only this to add, That I would not be thought, because I have Translated the whole, to Believe it all: There are some few Reflections that smell too strong of the Jesuit; who, in Favour of his Church, falls into Partiality, whilst he is Declaring against it; but the Instances serve his Purpose as well as if they were True; and 'tis a Fault which must be Pardoned him, since it cannot be avoided, be the Man never foe Learned, without abandoning his Religion.   

The AUTHOR'S Preface.  
MY Design in Comparing these Two Authors, is only to make their Value better known; since I take them to be the most Proper of all others, to form a Man's Sense and Reason, in an Age, where both are better Cultivated and Improved, than in any other. Wherein, this may be said to the Commendation of our own Times, That we understand the Character of Ancient Authors better, and are more intimately Acquainted with their Mind and Meaning than our Predecessors.  
The Difference between them and us is this, That greater Pretensions were made to Learning in their Age, than ours. This was formerly so much in Fashion, that Elizabeth, Queen of England, Translated several of Sophocles' Tragedies; and Mary Stuart the Queen Dauphine, recited at the Lovure, in the great Guard-Hall, before the whole Court, a Latin Oration of her Own making, and the Chancellor of the Hospital, in the Reign of Charles the Ninth, was as well skilled in Languages as a Professor of the Colledge-Royal. 'Twas the Genius of those Times, in which nothing was so much in Vogue, as a great Capacity and profound Reading: The Tongues were thoroughly Studied, and Men betook themselves to reform the Text of Ancient Authors, by far-fetched Interpretations; to subtilise upon an equivocal Term, and to found a Conjecture for the establishing a Correction. In short, they scrupulously adhered to the literal Sense, because they were not able to reach the Spirit of the Author, and his Meaning; which now adays is done, Men being become more Rational, and less Learned; and greater account is made of good Sense, in the greatest Simplicity, than of an awkward and perverse Capacity of Mind.  
Hereby it is we are arrived to a greater Intimacy with the Sentiments of the Ancients, and a more thorough Knowledge of their Writings: Which is so true, that all Men, never so little Impartial, must agree to it; and I may say without Vanity, I give a better Idea of the Spirit of Livy, for instance, in this little Piece I have drawn, than Gronovius has done in his last Edition, Printed at Amsterdam in the Year 1665; which contains a long, and exact History of the Manuscripts of the Historian, of the Editions put out from time to time, and of a Catalogue of those Men who have endeavoured, by their Notes or Corrections, by their Reflections or Criticisms, to re-estalish or augment him. There is not to be found, in all the Assistances he affords us, for the understanding this Historian, nor in all his other Commentators, so exact a Knowledge of his Character, as that which I give in this Volume, as little as it is. At least, I shall not spoil the fine Relish the World begins to have of good Sense, upon Reason's displaying its self to the Learned, in all the Extent of Solidity and Delicacy: Which is so thoroughly settled in the Minds of Men at this day, that in all the Works, Recommended to us by the Merit of their Antiquity, the Preference is without Scruple given to a Man of good Sense, and little Learning, before a Man of Learning of an injudicious Character.  
I am fearful however of Discouraging those who have no Genius for Writing, by desiring to Encourage those that have. For whatever Rules may be given for History, none can be prescribed more severe than those Thucydides and Livy have observed. After all, That which I shall say may be Serviceable to many Things; being designed to destroy the Remainder of that Love of false Lustre, which still obtains, even in this Age, amongst Men whose Taste is not throughly purged and purified; to enlighten those who pretend to write with a Ray of sober Reason, which makes the Solid Character; to stop that current of Repute, some sort of Men still attribute to Flash and Words; to show that 'tis from Things rather than Words, the Nobleness of Expression should be sought; to avoid that empty greatness of Discourse, as contrary to the real Dignity of Expression, as a too naked Simplicity; and to write in a sensible manner, by the right use of a correct and sober Reason, which is no where better learned, than from the Acquaintance with these Two Authors; for I know very few that are more proper to make a Man Rational, that reads them, if he reads them well: And though I should only say, that all the majesty of the Roman Commonwealth still reigns in Livy, after it has been more than 1500 Years destroyed; and all the Purity of Reason of the Ancient Greeks appears the same still in Thucydides, as it was 2000 Years ago; yet this would be enough one would think, to excite the Curiosity of a generous Soul to know the Bottom of them, according to their Merits. For in short, there probably never appeared in any Work, more solid Reasons, accompanied with all the Force and Dignity of Discourse; nor good Sense delivered with a more exquisite Judgement, than in these Two Authors.   

THE COMPARISON OF THUCYDIDES and LIVY.  

CHAP. I.  
The Design of the Work, and the Difficulties of the Undertaking.  
BEsides that vast Difficulty there is, to establish standing Rules, whereby to judge of the Beauty of such Works as these which I am going to compare: There are many whose Opinion will be contrary to mine in the very Choice I have made of these Two Historians, as the most Accomplished in both Languages; because men are different in their Judgements, and humoursome in their Tastes of things: and 'twill be hard to convince them that a just Comparison can be made betwixt Two Authors, whose Works have nothing of Relation or Proportion to each other. For that of Livy is an Universal History, of a People who had the Sovereignty of the World, that takes in a space of more than Seven Hundred Years; and that of Thucydides is only a Fragment of a History, relating to a particular Nation, and of a War that lasted not Thirty Years in all: Such are the Difficulties that immediately offer themselves in the Execution of my proposed Design; and it is troublesome to engage in't before this Point be cleared.  
For the first we need only understand what is the end of History, to be able to judge with some kind of certainty and distinction, of the excellency of a work of that nature. And for the second difficulty which respects the choice I have made of these two Authors, nothing can better justify it, than what I shall say in Commendation of them both. For not to tie myself to the testimonies of the Learned who have given their judgement of them before me, upon which I might build my own; not to mention Dionysius Halicarnassensis, the most judicious Critic of them all; who calls Thucydides, the most perfect of the Greek Historians, assuring us that the ingenious of his time took him for the true pattern of writing History: Not to call in the evidence of Quintilian in favour of Livy whom he prefers before all the Latin Historians; nor to allege the admiration they have both been had in, by all ages, where sound Sense hath had any sway or dominion; nothing can possibly afford us a better view of the ascendant these two Historians have above all others, than the Parallel which may be drawn betwixt them, to convince those that are doubtful in the matter. For the only Greeks that can pretend to completion with Thucydides, are in my opinion Herodotus, Xenophon and Polybius: The rest deserve not to enter the Lists with him, as rising not to that grandeur and dignity which History requires.  
Herodotus, indeed took a greater flight: His design including all that was nobly transacted in Europe and Asia, by the Greeks and Barbarians for the space of two Hundred Years was more fortunate than that of Thucydides; but the performance is no way answerable to the grandeur of the Subject. The too great ambition that Author had to please made him so careless of Truth, that Plutarch concludes his Falsehoods alone would make a Volume: and his Integrity has been extremely run down, by all that have examined it. He was of a temper too agreeable to have a Character that was solid, laborious, and fit for the discovery of Truth. He's of a superficial Genius that lays not stress enough on things to carry our Mind to the bottom of them. As to Xenophon, he is admirable for the sweetness of his Style; but is too smooth, and too much upon the level; he hardly makes a step out of that middle way, which yet carries in it something noble and natural. Polybius is a kind of Philosopher of a penetrating Spirit, who lays out himself in Reasonings, and generally divests himself of the character of Historian to put on the Politician. The rest of the Greeks have nothing in them comparable to Thucydides.  
There is still less Difficulty in respect of Livy among the Latins, the most accomplished of whose Historians come not near him. Sallust has scarce any thing that is finished: What we have remaining of his History, is in-sufficient to give us a just notion of his Merit. There remains indeed enough to give us a good Opinion of him; but too little to found a Comparison on with Livy. Cesar (that in the most familiar way of expressing himself has retained that Dignity which became him, and writing in the lowest kind of middle Style, wants nothing of the fineness of the most exact) is no Historian. Paterculus' Piece, howbeit of a noble and delicate taste has too little Body, because it has too much Soul. Tacitus has an admirable genius; but he generally out-shoots the sublime: He is noble enough in his Thoughts; but is not Natural in what he thinks. 'Tis true he has abundance of Wit, but such sort of Wit that can not speak of plain things in a plain manner: for he is still politic and artificial in every thing he says. His work is not so much an History as Reflections on History: he busied himself in making Reflections, 
Fabius. Cluvias. Plin.  being forestalled by others, who left nothing new for him to say, which determined him to that way he took, wherein he succeeded, and made himself considerable. Quintus Curtius has handled a noble Theme with too florid and gay an air, in terms too exquisite and far fetched, and too studied figures. In some places he sport's a little with his Subject, forgetting the importance was such as required more Gravity. Livy alone has filled up all the parts of a complete Historian The greatness of his Subject is answerable to his Style: he has matched the Grandeur of a People, whose History he writes, with as noble a Genius: That matter could not be treated, as became its greatness, but in that manner he has done it; who has been Master of all the Beauties of Composition in such height of perfection, as no Man else has ever been so happy as to arrive to.  
So then, all things well considered, Thucydides has not only stood unparallelled among those Greek Historians, which have been handed down to us, and Livy been unrivalled amongst the Latins; but both the one and the other have arrived to such a pitch of Excellency as has appeared in no Historian ever since. And all succeeding Ages have as it were fallen prostrate at their Feet, acknowledging them to be Genius's of the highest Order, destined to be Rules and Models to all others. Which will be made out, in that which follows, so as to be unexceptionable to all those who will have a little patience and attention.  
For the third Difficulty I own it impossible to make a just Comparison of two Authors, and their History who have no relation to each other. But in respect of their wit and of their temper, of their ways and manner of writing, and all that belongs to Composition they may be compared: 'tis only herein they can be made the subject of a Comparison, and it is in this only that I compare them: But let us consider their Persons before we enter upon their Works.   

CHAP. II.  
A Comparison of their Persons.  
THO' Impartiality, Fidelity, Honesty, and other moral Virtues, are not always necessary Qualifications of an Author in general: we may say notwithstanding they are extremely requisite to an Historian whose Sentiments should ever be honest and well-meaning. 'Tis necessary his Zeal for Truth be as Sacred to him as his Religion; that Integrity be his indispensable Rule; that Honour, love of Equity, and a disinterested Meaning shine in every thing he writes, and every thing he thinks. So that although it requires a prodigious stock of Parts to write History well; yet an Historian that is in search of Glory, and thinks to make himself Immortal, should be more solicitous to avoid the imperfections of Will than Understanding; the one being more Essential than the other. For 'tis not so much the Parts and great Capacity, as the Faithfulness of an Author which is regarded, when Men desire to be instructed how things have been managed and transacted in former times; since the best wrote History, take away the Credit of it, is no better than a Fable. But an Historian cannot himself be Faithful, unless he is an Honest man, disengaged of Prejudice, Interest and Passion. And these Qualifications require a niceness of Conscience, a greatness of Soul, and a Courage above the common rate. Which probably gave occasion to that Roman to admire how it came into the head of one of Pompey's Freedmen named Otacilius to undertake, 
Primus omnium libertinorum scribere Historiam orsus non nisi ab honestissimo quoque scribi solitam. Corn. Nep. in Fragmentis.  the first of his Rank, to write an History; because to carry on such an Attempt successfully there is required a sort of liberty inconsistent with any thing slavish or cringing. A dishonest Man whose Soul is not of a make capable to distinguish false Glory from true, and who can be sensibly affected with other Interests than those of Truth and Reason, is the unfittest in the world to write an History. He will never be admitted into the belief of Mankind, who first gains not their good opinion of his Probity. So that sincerity stands him instead of all things, if he would be well received, and if Wit should sometimes chance to fail him, yet Principles of Honour and Honesty should never be deficient. This then is the first foundation for an Historian, as to his own concern. And these are the Principles on which I intent to examine these two Authors in what respects their Persons in order to compare them.  
We know nothing of certainty concerning the Person of Thucydides but what he himself has delivered in his History, 
The Person of Thucydides.  that he was a Citizen of Athens, and General of the Army in Thrace, where he Married; that his Possessions were very great there, and that he purchased much esteem by the largeness of his Expenses. For the rest Antiquity is almost silent in the matter. There is no question to be made but that he was of an honourable Extraction, which, Marcellinus who has left us a Fragment of the Life of this Great Man, deduces from the Kings of Thrace pretending that his Grandfather married a Daughter of that Family, whence his Father took the Name Olorus, and that he reckoned amongst his Ancestors Miltiades and Cimon those Two celebrated Generals of the Athenians. Suidas and Photius relate that Thucydides when a Youth hearing Herodotus read his History, at the Solemnity of the Olympic Games, fell a Crying, through a gallant Jealousy, and a sense of Emulation. Which gave occasion to Herodotus to Compliment the Father of the young Gentleman, as giving an infallible earnest of his future Glory: In short he was an honest Man; the severity of his Morals and his Piety are to be seen in several places of his Works, where he ever talks like a man of excellent Principles, never advancing of his own Head any Maxim of dangerous consequence. And his Discourse carries always in it a Masculine air of Virtue. Take for an Instance what he says of a famous Commander, that was put to Death by the Syracusians after his Defeat. Thus fell Nicias, 
Libro 7. De Bello. Pelop.  who of all his Cotemporaries lest deserved to die in such a manner as having always been a zealous Worshipper of the Gods. And by the Character of his Integrity, which appears in all his Writings he discovers the true bottom of his Heart, and the Purity of his Manners, which is the Quality Aristotle chiefly requires in a Discourse: 
Rhet. l. 3. c. 7.  when he says it can never be agreeable to the Subject, when 'tis insufficient to give you the manners of the Speaker: and a Discourse is nothing worth where the manners of the man are naught; for 'tis a Rule that one should be conformable to the other. Which is the particular Character of this Author who never fails to create a good Opinion of himself in the Minds of those that read him.  
Anaxagoras was his Master in Philosophy, and Antiphon in Rhetoric, by both which his Mind was formed in that solid and sensible manner to those Studies which lay the main Foundation of his Character. But as excellent as he was at these Sciences, he however knew the World better than Books. The Acquaintance he had with Socrates, Plato, Critias, Alcibiades, Pericles, and all the Great Men of that Age, which was the Politest, and of the finest Taste that has ever been among the Greeks, gave the finishing stroke, so as to fit his Mind with these noble Ideas and Principles, which make an absolute Gentleman, and an accomplished Historian: For besides that no man ever wrote in a more brave and disinterested manner, without the least reserve to his Resentment: he has moreover said nothing, but withal imaginable Candour. He was so utter an Enemy to all manner of disguise that he could not away with any thing that should, I don't say wound, but give the least Offence to Truth, never advancing any Maxim that looked not towards the Good of the Public, the Love of which was engraven in his Heart. He was so tender and scrupulous of honour, that he has not failed in his History to treat the Athenians well, even those at whose Hands he had received the greatest Indignities: concealing nothing which might be to the Advantage of Cleon and Brasidas the principal Authors of his Banishment.  
For it was principally through the Intriegue of Cleon his Rival, that he was Banished his Country, for not having succoured Amphipolis whither he was commanded: and it was during his Exile that he wrote his History, finding more leisure, and better instructions in the Enemy's Affairs, amongst whom he lived, as he declares in his Fifth Book; in which he speaks of his Banishment, and his Retirement among the Lacedæmonians, by whose means he got acquainted with the Mystery of Affairs, which he had no possibility of knowing any other way. His Lady that he Married bringing him a vast Fortune, he made use of it to collect his Memoirs; and he disbursed considerable Sums to the Lacedaemonian Commanders to be instructed in the Truth of those things which his own Party for their own Interest had disguised. The Passion he had for Study, and the Pleasure he took in it, made his ill Fortune sit easier upon him, by giving him Resolution: 'Tis not known that he ever attempted his Restoration; the Honours that were due to him seemed odious, since he thought it a shame to ask them; and having through Modesty never been forward, before his Exile, to make his way up to the Helm, he thought himself now utterly incapable of doing it, being suspected by the Citizens. He retreated to Egina a small Island of Peloponnesus, where he began to work upon his History: His Exile lasted Twenty Years, and he Died before he had finished it. 'Tis his great Glory to have said nothing against his Conscience, as Dionysius Hallicarnassensis assures us in his own words, 
Dion. Halic. in Jud. de Thucyd. Num. 9  and that was One of his more special Qualities. Cicero gives him almost the same Encomium: 
Thucydides rerum gestarum pronunciator sincerus.  and 'tis the Testimony the Learned of all Antiquity have given of him, who have extolled his Sincerity above his other Virtues. He had the Fortune to serve his Country both with his Sword and Pen; being engaged in most of the Expeditions he Describes. And having, through the Employs the Republic had entrusted him with, obtained an entire Knowledge of the Affairs of his own Country, as well as the Interests of the Lacedaemonian Commonwealth, for the Particulars of which he was wholly obliged to his Exile: This gave him opportunity of preparing himself for his Undertaking with a Diligence which scarce had its Precedent. And it may be said, never Historian took Pen in hand better furnished with Instructions, which he collected out of the different Interests of the Two Nations whose History he undertook. It may be farther added, that never Author had a greater Passion for Virtue, or a greater Aversion to Injustice than Thucydides. He Died in Thrace in the Fiftieth Year of his Age, before his Work was finished. Xenophon, who Completed it, adjoined the War of Sicily, and the other Wars of Greece, to enlarge his History. This is all we have been able to gather concerning the Person of Thucydides; for his Historian Marcellinus has rather given us the History of his Mind, than of his Life.  
We are still more in the dark as to the Particulars of Livy's Life than that of Thucydides: 
The Person of Livy.  For whether he had a greater Unconcernedness for Public Business, and his own Promotion; or had more of the Philosopher than Thucydides; whether he was of a more studious Constitution, and was destined to live retired in Silence and Obscurity: certain it is we know very little of his Origin, his Employments, his Adventures, or the condition of his Fortune in general. Only thus much, that he was of Milan, contrary to Sigonius' Opinion, who would have him Born in a Village near that Town, called Apona, producing for this the pretended Testimony of Martial in one of his Epigrams. 'Tis plain too he was of an honourable Family, since it had the Honour of sending out Consuls of the Roman Commonwealth. That he lived under the Empire of Augustus; that he Dedicated some Dialogues to him, upon the Questions debated in those Times relating to Philosophy, whereby he got into that Emperor's acquaintance, and good opinion; that he after wrote a Treatise of Eloquence to his Son, which Quintilian made great account of; that he began his History at Rome for the convenience of such Memorials as were necessary, which were Recorded in the Annals in the Capitol; and for the better distinguishing Truth from fabulous Traditions, wherewith the Originals of the City of Rome abounded; that he retired some time after to Naples, to avoid disturbance in his Study; that he recited to Augustus and Maecenas some parts of his History, wherewith they were sensibly affected: that Augustus upon the esteem he conceived of him, made choice of him for a Tutor to form the Mind of his young Son Claudius who afterwards was Emperor. 
Súcton. in Claud. c. 42.  Pliny Junior says the reputation of this great Man began already to make such a noise in the World, 
Gaditanum quendam Titi Livii nomini gloriaque Commotum ad visendum eum ab ultitimo terrarum orbe venissi statimque ut viderat abyss. Plin. s. 2. Epist. l. 3.  that a Stranger came to Rome from the farthest part of Spain purposely to see Livy, whose Renown had spread itself far and near in his own Country.  
After the death of Augustus he returned to Milan, where the Citizens received him with extraordinary honours. He died in the fourth Year of the Reign of Tiberius. His abode at Rome, and the Favour of Augustus, gave him opportunity of furnishing himself with Knowledge necessary to his Design. The Zeal for his Undertaking, which was great and extraordinary, so fixed him to his Closet, and gave him so little disquiet for the Concernments of his Fortune, that his Life thereby became a little obscure: being he was Obliged to sequester himself from a more public Conversation, and live private, that he might give himself wholly up to that grand Work he had in hand. He must needs have had a Soul prodigiously great, to form the project of so vast and laborious an Enterprise. For in short what ever Genius a man has; 'tis only a greatness of Spirit can produce those exalted and generous Sentiments that make the beauty and excellency of a noble Work.  
Livy also was One of the Worthiest Men of all Antiquity. We need only read him, to think well of him, his manner of Writing ever giving us a great Idea of his Probity. You would conclude from his air of Speaking that he knew not what vanity was. He has not only never spoken of himself, nor any thing that belongs to him, in his History: but likewise we had been ignorant in what times he Wrote, had it not been for a word that by chance escaped him, concerning the Temple of Janus, 
Janus post Numae Regnum Clausus semel Y. Manlio consul, iterum quod nostrae aetati dii dederint ut videremus post bellum Actiacum ab imperatore Caesare Augusto pace terra marique paita. etc. Hist. Rom. l. 1.  which was now shut, says he, by Augustus, having been so but once before, since the Reign of Numa. He began his History in a strain of Modesty, which seems so Admirable to me, that I cannot believe a discreeter Author ever appeared in the World. 
Facturusne operae pretium sim si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim nec satis scio nec si sciam, dicere ausim: quip qui etc. Proaem Hist. Rom. Tit. Livii.  See what is the Scope of that History which has been the most absolute Masterpiece of Antiquity, and the Admiration of all Ages. I am uncertain whether the History I write of the Actions of the Roman People, since the Foundation of Rome, will be a Work worth any consideration, and tho' I were persuaded of it, I durst not say it: for it is a matter etc. The rest of that Exordium, which I offer not to Copy, since 'tis in the hands of all Men, is answerable to the beginning, and is sufficient to show the Spirit of the Author. Never Man promised so little in Beginning a Work that promised so much. He comes not without trembling to the opening his Design, Diffident of his own strength, in the sustaining so great an Enterprise. But 'tis only in order to give us more that he suffers us to hope so little: he is not timorous, but because he is wise, and ordinarily a Man is no farther Modest than he is Judicious. And this Character of Modesty is the finest amongst all the Qualities of an Author, that is Meditating some great thing; nothing creates a greater notion of his Judgement than his Distrust. It is a proof of his Capacity that he is sensible of the weightiness of his Subject, and 'tis the greatest Testimony can be given of the Honesty of an Historian. For what a Fund of Discretion and good manners must he needs have that can stifle all Pride so natural to Mankind, and do himself Justice without Flattery. See wherein Livy is worthy of Admiration as soon as he opens his Lips. But after he has given us so mean an Opinion of himself by the small Regard he makes of his own Performances, he lets us into a multitude of Lights, he discovers a profoundness of Mind, an extent of Genius, a fruitfulness of Imagination; in fine, a Thousand Beauties, and infinite Treasures, which we attend not to, when we only reckon upon what he promised us.  
For his Sincerity it Underwent the severest Trial, that possibly could be, without being Corrupted. The Reputation he was in with Augustus, and that Favour to which he had advanced him, were not Motives sufficient to hinder his speaking Honourably, not only of Pompey, but also Cassius and Brutus, the greatest Enemies of that Emperor; honouring the Memory of the Conquered in the Face, as one may say, of the Conqueror: and Recommending to the World, as Honest Men, the Murderers of Caesar, in the Presence of Augustus: because they were Lovers of their own Country. 'Tis this which Cremutius Cordus thought impossible to be sufficiently Praised in Titus Livy, 
Cornel. Tacit. de Cremutio Cordo lib. 4. Annal.  as we are assured by Tacitus.  
Such was Livy for his Moral Accomplishments, and what respects his Person: and it seems that something had been wanting to the glory, or rather the good fortune of a People that was Master of the World, had they failed of so great a Man for their Historian. 'Tis that which has doubtless occasioned that Famous Inscription found at Milan in the Year One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirteen, in the Church of St. Justina. Ossa Titi Livii Patavini omnium mortalium judicio digni, cujus prope invicto calamo, invicti populi Romani res gestae conscriberentur.  
Thus than we see Two truly Virtuous Historians: But to conclude this Head, the Virtue of Thucydides seems more Admirable than that of Livy. The former has afforded a kind Treatment even to his Enemies, who could not make him abate the least of his Integrity: and the Virtue of the later soared not quite so high, since it went no farther, than causing him to speak well of the Enemies of Augustus his Protector. This is what may be Collected of the Persons and Morals of both Historians: Let us now examine their Intellectual Virtues, which we cannot know better than by a Comparison of their Characters.   

CHAP. III.  
The Comparison of their Characters.  
AS the Lines of a Face are exposed to view, so 'tis no hard matter to discover them; but the lineaments of a Mind from whence proceed the differences of a Style, and Character, are so Obscure and Imperceptible, that without a very singular insight, nothing of them can be known. Take however what Ancient Authors have left us of Thucydides, who were best able to know his Character.  
He has a mind so Solid, 
The Character of Thucydides.  and well Founded, that he speaks nothing but what is well thought, and correct; nothing but what has all the Nerves and Strength, his Subject is capable of receiving. And whereas he always arrives at the truest Sense, and purest Reason, troubling not his Head about the Ornaments of Discourse, his way is usually somewhat dry, yet strong and lively, because he is concise and close in his Expression. 'Twas from that great strength of Parts that he Studied to include so much Sense in so few words, and talking less than others, that he often said a great deal more. Take Cicero's Opinion of him in these words. 
Thucydides omnes dicendi artificio mea sententia facile vincit, qui ita creber est rerum frequentia ut verborum prope numerum sententiarum numero consequatur. Ita porro verbis aptus & pressus ut nescias utram res oratione an verba sententiis illustrentur Cic. lib. 3. de Orat.  Thucydides in dignity of Style, and the art of Eloquence, in my Opinion goes far beyond all that have Wrote: he abounds so with Matter, that his thoughts are almost equal in number to his Words, and he is so expressive and close in what he says, that 'tis hard to say whether his words set off the things, or the things his words, the most. This is what makes him so very Sententious in respect of other Historians; and is the cause that his Sense, straitened and confined in so few words, becomes something Obscure, because it wants that Liberty and Compass required to make it Natural and Easy.  
His Style is Exalted, Noble and Sublime, which is the reason of his using so frequent and so bold Metaphors, in pure Political terms, yet better managed than those of Plato: and hence he arrived to that grandeur of Expression which reigns so strongly in his Writings: in which he is ever great, without being extravagant, in his Thoughts; always Natural, yet falls not into any thing vulgar or common. This he took from Homer, whose Imitator he perfectly was. He proposed him for a Pattern in his simple, though noble Expression, and almost in the whole Order of his Discourse, that is lively and animated. Marcellinus adds, that he betook himself to one Prodicus of the Island Cos, for the exact Choice of Words, and to Gorgias of Leontium for Order and Disposition. And besides that, this Historian formed himself upon Pindar for the Sublime Style, and the Greatness of Expression, which was his Excellence.  
He had also learned of Socrates, by the acquaintance he had with him, the Art of a Frank, and Ingenuous Narration, which he was so well accustomed to, and which procured him the gift of persuasion in so high a measure: true it is that never any Man knew how to use his Reason better, or to make it more prevalent by those natural, but strong and pressing Turns he gave it: 'tis in this likewise he so far Transcends the rest of Authors, speaking nothing but what was Essential to his Design. This it is that gives that Weight, Force and Dignity to his Discourse. He is indeed sometimes a little irregular in his Narrations, but 'tis always an Effect of art more than disorder. 'Tis only to inspirit what he says, and to paint things in a more lively manner, that he expresses as present, what is past, and as careless as he seems in certain places, he still preserves a justness of Expression couched in his words, so as nothing in the World is more natural than his Eloquence, or more finely Natural: His way of reasoning by frequent Enthymems, which Demosthenes has so well Copied, is strong and vehement; and nothing can be more lively or more engaging, than that Air of his which makes his distinguishing Character. Dionysius Halicarnassensis concludes him to be the first Inventor of that way, which has set him so far above all other Writers. We find in the end of that Critics Discourse, to Tubero, the places wherein Demosthenes has best expressed the force and grandeur of Thucydides in his imitation. 'Twas upon this great Model that noble Orator was formed, to which he applied himself with that exceeding Industry, as to Transcribe this Author's History eight times over, to take his Character, and Copy out his Excellence, as we are assured by his Commentator Ulpian the Rhetorician. And it was chiefly in his Declamations against Philip of Macedon that Demosthenes imitated that Historian; and in the places where he speaks of the Republics of Corinth, Corcyra, and of the King of Persia, and in such other Subjects as had reference to those Demosthenes had to treat of.  
In fine Thucydides had a nobleness of Thought, a choice of Words, a boldness of Imagination, a vigour of Discourse, a profoundness of Reasoning, a neatness of Conception, a fineness of Stroke, Colour and Expression, which none of the other Greek Historians have been Masters of; which gave the most Ingenious Critics amongst the Ancients reason to acquaint us, he took the true Style, History ought to be Wrote in: And indeed whatever he says, whatever passes through his Mind, receives a Turn of Greatness and Beauty beyond what any others can afford us. He is a Genius of an order above the common Standard, that conceives every thing Nobly, and gives a sort of Elevation to the most ordinary things. This so solid Character of mind gave him an exquisite relish for what was excellent, an admirable sagacity in the choice of things, an obstinate adherence to Truth, (which made him a Critical observer of every thing any ways conducible to the discovery of it) and an incredible aversion to any thing that was an offence to probability; ever endeavouring more to profit than please, as he declares himself at the beginning of his Work. Hence he became so careful and scrupulous as to throw off many of those Ornaments his Subject might have wore; as his Historian has observed, 
Marcellin. in vita Thucyd.  to the end he might avoid those famous Rocks, on which want of Discretion cast Herodotus, as Arion and his Dolphin, with the rest of his fabulous Adventures. 
Dionys. Halic. in Judicio de Thucyd. Num. 9  And 'tis on this account also that all Antiquity has had so great an Opinion of Thucydides.  
But after all, this great Man seems to be in nothing worthier of Admiration, than in his Treating of the manners of Men, as one that excellently understood Mankind, and had all the penetration requisite to unfold the most intricate doublings of the Heart: 'Twas from this profound Knowledge, he could so well discover the springs and motives of the nicest Interests, and the most imperceptible movements of the secretest Passions that set Mankind on work: 'twas through the shrewdness of his view, that he stored his mind with those grand Maxims of the public good, and all those political Considerations wherewith his History abounds: and upon which he built his principal Reasonings for the establishing of States, and continuing them established. From this so vast, and rich Fund, it is he draws out those noble sentiments, and admirable reflections he makes upon the management of the People, and conduct of their Governors, and from whence he deduces those excellent principles that are the first Foundations of that Equity and Honesty which make flourishing States; and those sound political and moral Maxims, which serve for Rules to guide Men in their duty. Hence it is he Circumstantiates every thing with so much Distinction, keeping close to necessary▪ Particularities, and cutting of what is useless or superfluous to the Subject. Hence he takes those lively, affectionate and pathetical descriptions, that Embellish his Discourse: from hence it is he forms the project of his Narratives of Battles, Sieges, Assaults, Defences, warlike Expeditions, popular Commotions, and all those Agitations that usually happen in Commonwealths, through the nature of their Government, which are ever judiciously Circumstanced. To conclude, 'tis from that rich treasury of the knowledge of men's manners he has taken all those Rules of decency, which teach him to represent all Conditions, Persons and Actions as their Quality and Capacity demand; and from whence he has formed that wonderful art of Eloquence that renders him absolute Master of those he speaks to, in persuading them whatever he desires. 'Tis by this Art he engages and fixes the mind of his Reader upon the action he describes, by so dazzling Colours and lively Images representing to his Eyes, as it were, rather than his Understanding the things he speaks of, moving his Passion, raising his Attention, and filling him full of the matter he's expressing: whilst the Mind dragged along with a pleasing kind of violence, le's go its hold, and is willingly carried away by the Impetus of the current, for the better attending to the Impression.  
But though all Authors indifferently make use of the same Terms and the same Expressions, 
The Character of Livy.  yet each has a peculiar Character, because the order and management of his Discourse is different; as every Painter has a particular way, tho' all have the same Colours. Take then the Character of Livy. He had, together with all the Accomplishments of Thucydides, in which he equally excelled, an advantage of Birth above him, a natural Felicity for all things fine and great, wherein he had a Palate extraordinary delicate. He had an exquisite Faculty of expressing his Thoughts nobly, an admirable Genius for Eloquence in general, that is, for the purity of Discourse; for a fineness of Speech, for the dignity of Expression, and a certain elevation of Soul, that made him most fortunate in his Imagination. He was to complete these Qualifications, choice in his Words, just in the order of his Discourse, great in his Sentiments, noble and proportionate in the Disposition and universal Oeconomy of his Design: he was in short Master of all the Rhetoric of History: For History has a peculiar Rhetoric of its own, and this Rhetoric has its Rules. 
Illa Livii lactea ubertas satis docebit eum qui non speciem expositionis sed fidem quaerit. Instit. l. 10. c. 1.  Quintilian says his Style is sweet and fluent, that it has a greater Tendency to Solidity, than flash and lustre; and is most pleasing to those who had rather be Affected, than Dazzled and Amazed. His Air is great and noble in its simplicity, and he has a softness of Expression, ever supported with much force and Majesty. His Discourse is animated, in so lively a manner, as suffers nothing to droop or languish. And the turn, the cadency, the graces he gives to all he says, the justness of his Words, the clearness of his Sense, every thing he has is admirable. Perhaps there was never Historian more Engaging by the Talon he had of Expressing Nature to the Life, and giving her a different Face, as became her several Conditions, painting her always in her proper Colours, making every Passion speak its Genuine Language that it might have its effect upon the Mind. Hence it is he's so incomparable at painting the manners, that his Potraictures are so like, that he expresses every thing in the features that become it, never confounding those Beauties which Nature has distinguished.  
He eminently exceeds the rest of the Historians in that perfect Knowledge he has of all decorums, which is a Science indispensably necessary to a Man that will write History, since nothing carries a face of Truth, but from an exact Observation of what is agreeable to each particular. See how he distinguishes the different Ages of the Commonwealth, by the difference of Spirit and Manners that reigned in it. 'Tis by this Principle Hannibal and Scipio preserve their Characters so well in this Author; where nothing is touched in the same manner, or wrote in the same tenor. From hence it is that Rome could speak otherways under Kings and Tribunes, than in the Reigns of the last Consuls and Emperors: that every one in that History stands marked with a distinguishing Character. The Historian often changes the Style its self. His Discourse has authority when it Instructs, it has sweetness and condescension when it Persuades, neatness when it Relates, is graceful and Elegant when it would Please, is fervent, moving and pathetical when it would Affect. He is moral and instructive where it is required, giving Lessons to the whole World, and at the same time seeming to do nothing less.  
Finally the length of his period, which many are apt to reproach him with, is in my Judgement one of his greatest Advantages: 'tis this only that makes him majestical. For a long and ample Style never wants majesty when it is, like his, bore up with good Sense, and an exquisite Choice of Words. After all, the World has never been able to discern his Method. He has a secret Art couched under a seeming Plainness and simplicity, which makes him appear natural throughout his Work. He is particularly sure to practise that Art, in that which seems to have its dependence most on Nature; carefully shunning all manner of affectation, and Studying always to be simple: 'tis by this stately and familiar way together, which is the most usual Ornament of his Discourse, that he strikes the Soul with those wonderful impressions, that he shakes and Agitates it as he pleases, that his sentiments break in upon you through the force of his words, (the strength of which he very well understood,) and that he always moves those whom he is speaking to by the natural energy of his Expression. This Quality renders him as vehement in his great passions, as soft and agreeable in the less, giving the former a more active and lively Mein, and smoothing over the latter with a gentle and tender Touch. Indeed the Genius he had for the Nobleness of Expression, and the Art he had to manage it so dextrously, and employ it upon occasion, accustomed him to raise himself upon any great Event. 'Twas here he took a kind of Pride to set forth, as one may say, and show the most rare and concealed Riches of his Soul, in their full Capacity. What Draughts, what Paintings, does he then give you, when the Greatness of his Theme, at once excites him, and furnishes him with those admirable Opportunities, he knew how to make the best of! And it is in those favourable and naturally lofty Topics, that he raises and ennobles his Discourse, by those great Ideas with which his excellent Genius, for the sublime and majestic Style inspires him, which is his very Character. 'Tis in fine, by the natural and proper Choice of Words, the most in use, but the most Glittering and Harmonious, which add a Lustre to all the other Beauties of Discourse, He excites in the Mind of his Readers, an admiration mingled with Surprise, which is quite another thing than the Pleasure that accrues from mere Persuasion.  
I acknowledge Thucydides has much of this Character, I know likewise that Longinus reckons him amongst the Models he proposes of the sublime, that he has a natural Happiness at Expressing things nobly, that he even stamps the image of the Object he describes upon the very Words: that the frequency of his figures, especially the hyperbaton, which he uses in his narration, gives more heat and action to his Discourse, by transposing things, and changing the natural order of the time, as a means to keep the Mind close to the Subject he represents in so lively Colours; that his sublime is ever sustained by a greatness of Sense, and a vigour of Expression; and that he has throughout his manner of Writing, a kind of loftiness that strikes the Mind. For none but those who have a solid way of Thinking are able to elevate a a Discourse. But it must be confessed that the sublime of Thucydides is less managed than that of Livy, who knows as well to stoop in lesser things, as to mount and soar in greater, and to give those Flourishes and Graces to his Discourse, which Thucydides never thought of. Which made Dionysius Halicarnassensis say, 
Lib. de Collec. Verb. numb 29.  That Thucydides was always beautiful indeed, but scarce ever agreeable: for he distinguishes the gracefulness from the beauty of a Discourse. 'Tis the cadence, the harmony, the elegance, the fineness, the sweetness, the lustre and order, and the proper decorum of a Subject, that he will have to make a Discourse graceful; and 'tis in the grandeur, the nobleness, the majesty, and the gravity, he makes the beauty to consist: the grace and Mein is generally the effect of Parts and Nature, beauty is often the Product of Art; the one is the gift of Heaven, and the other the effect of Study.  
'Tis herein, almost, consists the difference there is betwixt our two Historians. 
Titus Livius in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique candoris. Quin. l. 10. c. 1.  Livy is fine and agreeable to a Miracle; he knew how to strew his flowers in the places that needed them: he had likewise a happy Faculty of managing his Ornaments, and embellishing his Discourse; which Advantage Nature had not bestowed upon Thucydides, who is fine without caring to be agreeable; that austerity of Temper, which is so natural to him, that severity of Way, that exactness of Sense, that correctness of Reason, and that prodigious seriousness he Wrote with, made him diligently avoid those charms of Language, which he disapproved in Herodotus. The beauty of Livy is of a lovely and tender make: The beauty of Thucydides, is stately, austere, and ancient, as Dionysius himself calls it: 
Dionys. Halic. in Jud. de Thucyd.  The one is always noble, and the other taking. The one ties himself dryly to his Matter, which he precisely pursues; the other gives an agreeable Form to every thing that goes through his Mind. And this is it wherein the essential Difference of their Characters consists. Let us examine the subjects, both of them have worked upon, and compare them likewise in that particular, that nothing may be wanting to a just Comparison.   

CHAP. IU.  
The Comparison of the Subjects of their History.  
THucydides having so great a Genius, 'twas impossible he should conceive any mean Design. So lofty a Mind could not admit low and grovelling Ideas. The Peloponesian War, which he undertook to Write, 
The Subject of Thucydides.  was at that time, the most curious Subject of History in being; Dionysius Halicarnassensis assures us too, that he preferred it before that of Herodotus. And he says, That having laid before him for a Model, the Two most celebrated Historians of his Time, Herodotus and Hellanicus, he found fault with the subjects each of them had taken. Hellanicus' Design, who had attempted to write the History of Athens, looked too uncompounded, too narrow, and of too little Action. Herodotus' History, which contained the Wars the Grecians waged against the Kings of Persia, that is to say, all the Memorable Actions that happened in Europe and Asia, for Two Hundred Years space, seemed too vast and unwieldy. He thought so great an Object very disproportionate to the Mind of Man, unable to comprehend in his Thought so mighty a Project: Upon which he mistrusted his own Abilities, despairing in the thread of a Discourse, to give that due Connexion so different Matters would require, which of themselves seemed too Extravagant and Incoherent.  
So having thought upon his Design, he pitched upon a middle and a moderate way, choosing a Subject capable of being bounded in a less compass than that of Herodotus; and of receiving a greater extent than Hellanicus': Engaging Himself in the History of the Peloponesian War, which continued Seven and Twenty Years. But to ascend to the Fountain head of that War; it Commenced upon the occasion of the War betwixt Corinth and Corcyra. Peloponesus is a kind of Peninsula in the Archipelago, formerly going by the name of the Country of Argos, and now of the Morea. The Corinthians, the more potent People of the Two, being attacked by the Corcyreans, who were the ancient Phaeacians, the Athenians engaged in their Interest, and the Lacedæmonians took the Corinthians into their Protection. The two Republics Athens and Lacedaemon, were then in the most flourishing Condition they were ever known in; and as their Power was arrived to the highest pitch, and their respective Grandeur gave a mutual Jealousy of each other, that War was a kind of Dispute betwixt them for the Empire of Greece.  
The Athenians began to be suspected by the Lacedæmonians, under the government of Pericles, who was become the Favourite of the People, by his popular Behaviour. He had the absolute Administration of the Affairs of Peace and War in the Republic for Forty Years together, and by that admirable Talon he had in Oratory, becoming an incontroulable Sovereign in Athens, he made that City formidable to the rest of the Commonwealths of Greece, by the several Embassies he caused it to depute either upon its real, or pretended Interests: which thing rendering that Republic so highly considerable in all the Countries round about, caused the Lacedæmonians first to take the Alarm; and these two States exasperated by a long Emulation, began to dispute the Sovereign Power, by a formal War they declared, for which the War of Corcyra and Corinth was only a Pretence. All Greece was concerned, and most of the Neighbouring People engaged in the Quarrel, which became the most Famous in the World, and they sided according as their different Interest, or different Pretensions carried them, to this or that Party.  
Thucydides reflecting in his Exile on that famous Dispute betwixt Two of the most polite and warlike People in the World, found nothing that could better employ his Leisure than the Writing of their History: And being resolved upon it, consulting his own Breast, he found he had sufficient Strength to write what he knew himself, and what he could collect from those who had boar a part in Affairs in a Controversy of that Importance, so as to give a good Account of it to Posterity. It is true, the different Temper of the Spartans' and Athenians, that uniform Conduct he observed in Lacedaemon, for the continuance of the same Form of Government, without the least Alteration, which made that Republic so powerful, as to be able to give Laws to its Neighbours; that severity of Discipline, rigidness of Morals, frugality of Living, modesty of Habit, all opposite to the luxary, pompousness, and politeness of Athens: besides the consideration of that people, always giddy and wavering in their Sentiments; which was a true Image of Lightness and Inconstancy, compared with the Constancy and Resolution of the Lacedæmonians, promised him fair Ideas for the completing such Pieces as were likely to please, from their Diversity and Opposition: those great Generals Themistocles, Pericles, Theramenes, Alcibiades, Nicias, with so many others that had the principal Commands on both sides, and all the Grandees, who signalised themselves more eminently by their glorious Actions in that War, whose Names have all along been magnified in so high a manner, furnished him with noble Subjects, whereby he might recommend himself by representing them to the Life.  
Add to all this the strange Accidents that War was disturbed with, as extraordinary Earthquakes, frequent Eclipses of the Sun, Droughts, Famines, Plagues, and other more fatal Adventures, which gave him a Privilege of diversifying his Work, mingling it with terrible Subjects, and most frightful Occurrences. There might probably be other more engaging Prospects than these forementioned, that determined this Author in the Choice of his Subject, which seemed worthy to employ his Pen, from such a Retail of mighty Circumstances as rendered that War, (as he himself in the beginning of his Work confesses) the most remarkable Enterprise in all Antiquity: Especially since Athens and Lacedaemon were at their highest Point of Glory, and all Greece interested itself in that Expedition. Sure it is also, that Xenophon, who was a Man of a singular Judgement, found the Peloponesian War so fine a Subject, that he quitted those other Works he had before him, to Accomplish that History Thucydides had left imperfect, by reason of his Death, that took him unexpectedly.  
As great, 
The Subject of Livy.  notwithstanding, as this subject seemed to this Author, it must not come at all in Competition with that which Livy went upon. There is so great a Disproportion betwixt them, that there's no room for Deliberation concerning the Pre-eminence. This is the entire History of many Ages, of a people almost always Victorious, and that made itself Master of the World. 'Tis a vast, and unfathomed Ocean, a Career of so unbounded an Extent, that it may be said, such a grand Design never entered the Head of any Historian besides him. Others who have undertaken as longwinded Pieces, in proper speaking, are Compilers, not Historians. In fine, 'tis one of the greatest Attempts of an humane Mind; and possibly never Author appeared in a vaster Theatre, as one may say, than Herald But 'tis not only from the long succession of Time, and the multitude of Years, the Subject is so great: 'Tis through the Grandeur▪ of a People that was Sovereign of all others: 'tis by the glorious actions of this People, in their warlike Expeditions, and Treaties of Peace, which they dispatched so Honourably for the Interest of their State; 'tis from a Thousand almost incredible events, wherewith Fortune exercised their Virtue; 'tis in that prudence they manifested in their Counsels, the Maturity of their Deliberations, diligence in executing their Designs, their secrecy and faithfulness in the most important Affairs, and in their resolution in unavoidable Dangers, and the greatest Extremities. In short, every thing seems strange and wonderful in that admirable Design. The Originals of that State, which grew so mighty from so small beginnings, its progress, its changes, its Vicissitudes, the Revolutions of its Power and Greatness, its exaltation, and almost inconceiveable pitch of glory it arrived to; by its patient enduring hardships, by its perseverance in labours, by the exact Observation of laws, by the inviolable severity of its discipline in the duties of Peace and War, and by training up a well regulated and martial Soldiery, encouraged, and exalted, with the only Thoughts, and prospect of Aggrandizing the Roman Name.  
Thus than this design, considered well in all its Circumstances, is the most glorious Subject History ever had. 'Tis a long train of the Adventures of a People that being scandalous, as it was, in its Origine, coming of an Extraction in a manner infamous, Born and Nursed in plunderings and murders, trained up to villainies; became wise, frugal, just, passionately studious of glory, faithful to its Allies, and professing uprightness in all things. 'Tis the Story of the Fate and Fortunes of a City that raised itself to Universal Empire, and became the Metropolis of the whole World; from a Troop of vagabond Shepherds, accidentally packed together upon the Banks of Tiber: 'tis the Conduct of a Government wherein the Observation of a rigid Discipline, concurring with a ready and faithful obedience, was had in greatest Honour and Regard; though the Principles thereof were very Lame and Defective. For the Senate of Rome having subdued other nations, could no longer suffer equivocations, or Disguises in its consultations: lose, unresolved, feeble, interessed, dishonest Counsels were no more heard of. 'Twas a Nation that was virtuous through a principle of Honour; whose valour was the product more of the head, than heart; That courted or avoided Danger, from a result of Prudence; and knew as well when to expose itself, as when to retreat by the Dictates of Reason; and obtained the Sovereignty over the rest of the World, more by the Reputation of its virtue, than the force of its Arms. This is the true Character of the Romans, whose History Livy undertook to write. And as nothing seems finer amongst all the works of Reason, than the Relation of a great Enterprise, happily conducted to a glorious End, through a thousand Obstacles and Oppositions: as nothing is so pleasant, as to see the Progress of that Conduct, through the successive Degrees of its Augmentation and Strength it gathers by little, and little, from Poor, Mean, and Contemptible Beginnings; so nothing is more proper to be related, because it will appear agreeable in all its retail of Circumstances.  
The History of a people, or a Prince, that is always successful, can never itself Succeed: it will have too much uniformity; and nothing is more insipid in a relation than too long a Prosperity, and a perpetual Success. There must be variety of Events, changes of Fortune, contrariety of Adventures, all sorts of Objects that are fit to attract the Mind of the Reader, by their Diversity. And all this abounding in Titus Livy's History, far more than in any other, it is undoubtedly the most absolute Subject an Historian could have fallen upon. 'Twas from this view that Livy forthwith pitched upon it, as finding in it those favourable Advantages for his Genius, which he knew how to dispose of to their best Use, in the Execution of his Work. This Subject so Noble, so Great, so Rich, through so many different Adventures it included, seemed a weight not too heavy for his Shoulders. He found a means of confining himself in so Immense a Matter without launching into needless Digressions, and Amplifications, as the generality of Historians do. The greatness of his Subject, which he so well gave us to Understand, by his natural distrust, in showing only his own Weakness, and the Disproportion of his Strength, at the entry of his Work, did not at all discourage him; because he saw that compass it took in, as vast as it was, reduced to the unity of a single State, whose Fortunes he described. That darkness likewise, and uncertainty he found under the first Consuls, which perplexed the coherence of the Subject, in the beginnings of the Republic, prevented not his Resolutions: For he knew how in those confusions to do his part sincerely, not vouching any thing for certain but what he found to be so; and Doubting himself the first, of that which was Doubtful and Suspicious.  
Besides that strength of Genius which he found capable of so great a Design, in the ordering and management of its Parts, in the just proportions of an accomplished Piece; besides that thorough understanding he had of his Subject, wherewith he had stored his Mind: the Knowledge he got of the World in Augustus' Court by his acquaintance with all the most accomplished Persons in the Empire; Rome that magazine of Virtue, that seat of Grandeur and Majesty, as Cicero Styles it, 
Roma Domus virtutis, imperii dignitatis, domicilum 〈◊〉, lux orbis terrarum etc. Cic. de Orat.  began to furnish him with lofty Ideas, which he all along displays in the several places of his History: He began to polish himself in a Court the most delicate that ever was: where all that had a Genius for Learning, had a most exquisite palate for what ever was fine and excellent. He was Instructed by the Commanders that were about the Emperor in Military Discipline, in the Marches, of Armies, Incampments, Sieges, and all that belongs to the art of War, which is best understood by practice. He observed the humour that prevailed most in that Court, and the Taste of the People, who were become very Polite: He formed himself upon all this, discovering by degrees infinite things, of which he had been altogether ignorant, without this Correspondence. The Familiarity he had with the Twelve Tables, which were contained in the Fasti of the Capitol, taught him the Ancient Romans manner of Life. The Succours he elsewhere hoped to receive through the Emperor's Favour, as of having Memorials necessary for his History, and the hopes his Friends gave him of their Assistance, Encouraged him to conquer the wearisomeness, and surmount the Uneasiness, which are the general Attendants of such tedious, and almost endless Undertake.  
But as soon as he had made all sufficient Preparations for his Work, and was assured of such Succours, and Encouragements, as he thought necessary for its Execution, he bade Farewell to all the World, that he might give himself wholly up to his Enterprise; having nothing in his Thoughts but the Work he was about, to which he Sacrificed his Fortune, his Pretensions, the Preferments he might hope for from his Prince's Favour, and his own Merit; his Pleasures, his Hopes, his Ease, his All. And never Author had that Zeal and Industry, to accomplish what he had proposed.   

CHAP. V.  
A Comparison of the History of THUCYDIDES, with that of LIVY.  
THe Attempt of Comparing these two Historians, as to their Performances, and of drawing a just Parallel betwixt them, is so Rash, and so much above my Capacity, that I am so far from Imagining, I shall be able to content the Public in this Point, as to be sensible▪ I can never satisfy myself in that Particular. And I must confess, to speak sincerely, it is rather a project of a Comparison of the two Works than a Comparison itself. But I hope this project will suffice for my Design, which is to give the learned leave to determine of the Preferrence of these two Authors, and their Works, by the Essay I shall make thereof, which can pass but for a very imperfect part of this Piece. Here is the Abridgement of Thucydides.  
He begins his History with an Universal Notion he gives us of Greece in general, 
An Abridgement of Thucydides' History.  and with Pelops' Descent into Peloponnesus, (from whom it derived its name) after the War of Minos; thence he enters on his Matter, and so passes to the War of Troy. This is to ascend too high: and this beginning is not suitable, and proportioned to the body of the History, which is only a particular War betwixt Athens, and Lacedaemon. However he had his Reasons wherewith to justify it; and that exordium is a kind of platform, to represent the state of his Country, on which it was expedient for him to insist, to make it understood; he descends there, probably, to too many Particulars, which give us reason to believe he more Studied to satisfy the inclination he had for his Country, than the taste of an indifferent Reader. He gives there too much Reins to his Career: For he might have reduced that long Digression into narrower Bounds, as not being altogether so necessary for the understanding his History as he Imagined it. But he had a Mind to engage his Readers, by giving them great Matters, and to accustom them by little and little to embrace his Opinions, and Sense, by filling them with his Ideas. Notwithstanding one shall be hard put to it to forgive him that vast Excursion, where he immediately falls upon the Trojan War, as also, the Relation of the Transactions of Greece since that time, the different Adventures of the Country, the several Expeditions by Sea, the Trading of the City Corinth that grew so Rich by Commerce.  
Hereupon indeed he enters upon a Narrative of the Advantages of the People of Greece, who became so Potent by Sea: whence he passes to the several ways of building their Vessels and Galleys and gives an Account of the Use of them. And that narration tends directly to his Point; for these are the Preparatives of the War he is to describe. But methinks he has crowded too much Matter in his first Book, out of a desire of prefixing a too stately portal to his History. He has not confined himself enough in assigning the several Reasons of the breach of Treaty, betwixt the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, to give a very exact Account of the Causes of that War he undertook to write. He has not always so cleverly opened the Particulars of that Affair, as his Subject demanded. But he has shown himself Profoundly skilled in the different Interests of Greece: and the general Notion the Historian gives of the Forces of the Country, both by Sea and Land; the Description he adjoins of the Ancient Greeks, and of those of his own Age; the Abridgement he makes of the Persian War, is an happy Beginning for his History, in as much as there is something great in those Particulars.  
But the Subject of the second Book becomes still more Material, by the List of the Allies who engaged in that War, on both sides: For he reckons up almost all the Commonwealths of Greece one after another, which took contrary Parts, they were disposed by their Interests, and Relations to the two Republics, Athens and Lacedaemon, of which they were either Allies or Favourers. And the Historian bestirs himself here exceedingly, by reason of the different Embassies the several States deputed to each other, which put the whole Country in Ferment and Commotion by their Factions and Intrigues: and all this is still made Greater by the Art he has of Interessing in that War, which at the bottom was but of small Moment, all the Countries of Greece, Sicily, and part of Italy, the Generals also of the King of Persia, who make all a grand Figure in that Expedition; and engaging as one may say Heaven and Earth and all the Elements in that Quarrel, to make it more Considerable, through those prodigious Circumstances, of Eclipses, Earthquakes, Plagues, Famines, Mortality's, and other Prodigies, of which I have already spoken: and which he introduces in his History to give a greater Idea of his Subject. It must be acknowleged the Wit of the Historian is very Apparent in that part: and that so inconsiderable a War as that of two petty Nations could never have been of much importance, but by means of that Pompous Retinue of Circumstances it came attended with. And herein he can never be sufficiently admired, whilst we reflect upon the Art he had of supporting a little Subject by Treating it in a Method great and noble.  
He continues his Second Book with the Description of the Condition the Town of Athens was in, when the Enemy made a Descent into the Country, by Oenoe the first Frontier Garrison on the Coast of Boeotia, as also of the Havoc Archidamus made about Eleusine; whence passing through Acarne, he came and posted himself within two Leagues of Athens: The Alarm being spread abroad, Pericles, who at that time had the Administration of Affairs, refused to convene the People, lest the Fright they were in should put them upon some Absurdity or Extravagance, through too much weakness. He relates next the several Erterprises of each People upon one another, without escaping any memorable Action, the rest of the Summer; as also the Funeral Solemnities the following Winter, paid to the Honour of those who were slain in this first Campaign; and he Describes the Ceremonies thereof: wherein Pericles who had advised the War, made an Elegy upon those who had lost their Lives in it. Probably never Man succeeded more happily than he in infusing Courage into the living, by celebrating the memory of the dead, and setting before their Eyes the Glory of dying for their Country with their swords in hand, especially for a Country so Glorious in all things as was then the Commonwealth of Athens. There is nothing in that Discourse but is set off with all that Dignity, which shines so Eminently in this Historian. The Description of the plague in all its particulars, which comes after, stands rightly placed, for the intermixing that Variety which is requisite to make a History taking.  
The Athenians crushed almost at the same time with a War and Pestilence, which laid their Country desolate, began to murmur against Per●cles, who hereupon assembled them, in order to encourage them, by justifying his management. That Harangue, howsoever Forcible, by those Masterly and Engaging Strokes he gave it, had but little Effect upon their Minds, who were sensible of nothing but their Misfortunes: he was discarded presently, and as suddenly restored. The inconstancy of that People over whom he had gained all the Authority his Merit and his Eloquence deserved, hastened his Death, which happened not long after. The Encomium the Historian makes upon that Great Man, affords us a very fine Idea of his Virtue: His loss was none of the least Disgraces that fell on Athens in the second Campaign. For there being no one left behind of so Eminent a Quality to fill up his place; his Successors as equal perhaps in Merit, and rivals in Dignity, wanting sufficient Power to rein up a People with an absolute hand, were Obliged for their interests to manage them remissly, and to Sooth and Flatter them into Obedience.  
After the Death of Pericles the posture of Affairs was more untoward than formerly. Sicily began to be in Commotion, and to Arm for Lacedaemon: the Siege of Platea was formed in Boeotia, the Assault was Vigorous, and the Defence as Resolute. That Siege described at length in the second Book, falls into a Blockade: thence follows the Attempt of the Athenians upon Chalcis, to give a Diversion to the Lacedæmonians, which occasioned them to enter Acarne, to make themselves Masters of the Isles Zacynthus and Cephalenia, as also of Naupactus, in order to prevent the Athenians Sailing about Peloponnesus. But as perplexed and embroiled as Affairs were through the heat which was diffused in the minds of the People, and their several engagements with each other, in the end of the second Book, they are cleared off by the Historian with that Easiness and Perspicuity, as renders that an Admirable Piece: the Naval Battle of the Athenians against the Corinthians at Naupactus, and that of the Lacedæmonians against the Athenians, are described in such a retail of Circumstances as is wonderfully taking with the Reader. The Advantages they had over each other, being reciprocal; there was an endeavour on the Enemy's side to surprise the Pirean Haven near Athens; which proved unsuccessful for want of due Measures in taking the Advantage of the Occasion.  
This Book, and the third Campaign, conclude with the Thracian War in Macedonia. Never History comprised so much Matter in so little Room, nor so much Action in so few Words. If any thing can be found fault with, 'tis that the Exploits are too closely wound with one another, so that the coherence seems somewhat intricate and confused; and that multiplying of Objects tends only to dissipate the attention of the Reader.  
He begins the Third Book with the Revolt of Lesbos from the Athenians, and the Attempt of the Athenians upon Mitylene, which sent Ambassadors to Lacedaemon to demand supplies. That Oration is so insinuating, and full of Artifice, that the Lacedæmonians could no way resist it. Mitylene is received into the Alliance of Peloponnesus. The Harangue of Cleon upon the Affair of the Prisoners of Mitylene, which some were for putting to Death at Athens, of which Opinion he himself was; and that of Diodotus who was for having them Pardoned, are very strong and persuasive. Platea being at last surrendered up to the Athenians, that Town sent to justify its conduct to Lacedaemon. There are to be seen in the Discourse of that Embassy fine and curious Strokes of Eloquence; nothing can be more moving, or founded on more substantial Reasons, yet all to no purpose: The Plateans fell a Sacrifice to the Revenge of the Thebans: which makes a notable incident in the History. The Historian, taking the Hint from the Troubles of Corcyra, makes a Digression upon the Factions that grow in a State, and the disorders that spring from them which is a very good Lesson for Governors. That which follows of the Affairs of Sicily, the Warlike Exploits of the Athenians in that Country, their Defeat in Etolia; the Lacedæmonians Attempt upon Naupactus; the Purification of the Isle of Delos; and the Description of that mysterious Ceremony performed by the Athenians, is expressed in a Noble, Great and Stately manner.  
The Author quits the War of Peloponnesus in the Fourth and Fifth Book, to enter upon the Affairs of Sicily, which occasioned several Erterprises upon Megara, Boeotia, Thrace; the Battle of Delia, the taking of Amphipolis, Thoronus; and several Expeditions which are related in one and the same strain. The Business of Sicily gave Birth to a Truce betwixt the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, whereupon was formed a Treaty of Peace betwixt them, which lasted Seven Years: the Historian is here Obliged to make a kind of an Apology to justify the Continuation of his History, pretending that League was broken, and renewed, done and undone several times, that the War was never interrupted, that the Treaty was never put in Execution, by reason of manifest Trespasses; the Lacedæmonians having never quitted Amphipolis, which their Articles obliged them to do. To speak Truth, that Treaty was never ratified by the Allies, which gave rise to several other Leagues amongst them, and many other Affairs. But all that Campaign was spent in Negotiations of Peace, which were put an end to, by the Battle of Mantinaea, from which was dated the Renovation of the Alliance betwixt Argos and Lacedaemon.  
The Sixth Book is a large Digression upon the Wars of Sicily, which begins with a long Description of the Country, and the Founding of Syracuse by Archias the Corinthian. He shows a great deal of Ancient and far-fetched Learning in that Description, but it is not pleasant and agreeable: it is too remote from the main Subject, and falls not rightly in, unless it be that the Sicilians thought of coming to maintain the League of Peloponnesus. Alcibiades' Discourse to persuade the Athenians to a War with Sicily, and that of Nicias on the other hand to dissuade them, are Two of the chiefest Masterpieces of Eloquence in their kind. The Description of the Athenian Fleet, and all the Equipage of War, in their Preparations against Syracuse, is very handsome. Alcibiades' Oration to the Lacedæmonians in his Banishment, advising them to send a Reinforcement into Sicily, that was attacked by the Athenians, is a piece of lofty, lively, strong and generous Eloquence.  
The Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, and the Description of the Battle, is the finest part of the Seventh Book; nothing is better drawn, or more absolute, than the Picture the Historian makes of it: 'tis handled throughout with abundance of Art and Mastery. The Destruction of the Power of the People of Athens, on occasion of a Negotiation with Alcibiades, who had thrown himself into the hands of Tisaphernes, Lieutenant-General of the King of Persia, because he had interfered with the Lacedæmonians, who received him in his Banishment, is described in this Book particularly enough. He was sought to in his Disgrace for an Accommodation, which he disdained to hearken to, but upon Condition the people should not be consulted; only the Officers of the King of Persia, who were honourable Gentlemen: The Reluctance he showed in exposing himself to the inconstancy and humours of the people, occasioned the Destruction of Democracy; which is very well opened and related.  
The Digression upon the change of Government in Athens, and Samos, where it was attempted to humble the too excessive power of the People, has very little relation to the principal Design of the History, which is the War of Peloponnesus: and this last Book is generally very confused, and has nothing finished; which has given reason to some Critics to think Thucydides was not the Author. This is the Abridgement of his History: now for that of Titus Livy, that we may make the Parallel.  
There is nothing that can give us a better notion of the difference betwixt these two Authors, 
An Abridgement of Livy's History.  than the different ways of Writing they have taken: For Livy takes a course quite contrary to that of Thucydides. The Entrance to his History is great, suitable to the greatness of his Subject, but it is modest and humble: it may be said too not to want simplicity, though it is Pompous and Majestic. With what admirable Discretion does he introduce that ancient Tradition, 
Quae ante conditam urbem poeticis decora Fabulis ea nec affirmare nec ref●llere in animo est. Hist. Rom. l. 1.  which makes Aeneas, the first Parent of Rome, of a Divine descent. He Treats it as a fable that he would neither mantain, nor overthrow, intimating there is so much deference and respect to be paid to antiquity, as to give her leave to mingle something divine with humane Affairs, to recommend the Originals of Cities and Empires, as more august, and venerable to Mankind by such a mixture. He hence descends to something of a more solid Consideration; and to give us an Idea of his Work, He begins it with an Elegy upon the Virtue and Probity of the People whose History he is Writing, yet still preserving himself from being blinded with self-love, and carried away with the inclination a Man naturally has for his own Country. For he scruples not to give you their ill Qualities as well as their good, that is, the remissness as well as severity of the Roman manners; but without any prepossession of Interest or Passion, and with all the Prudence in the World. That beginning of the History, where the Author fetches the Origine of Rome quite from the Destruction of Troy, and the whole Pedigree of the Kings of Alba, is in itself a little cumbered and confused, both in the words and things, and has a Style that has hardly any thing Great in it. One may see the Author avoided flashing at the first: The things he speaks are great, but his way of speaking is low and humble; and there is much Artifice in that entrance, which the Author debases on purpose to show that the Beginnings of the Roman Grandeur were but small, 
Debebatur fatis tantae origo iuris, maximique secundum deorum opes imperii Hist. Rom. l. 1.  and the better to observe the Progress of that State. He however fails not to relieve the destiny of that Empire, from the nobleness of its Extraction, deducing it from the God Mars, whom he makes the Father of Romulus.  
The haughty and fiery Temper of Romulus is finely drawn, but the Picture of his Successor Numa, and his Government, makes that Founder of Rome seem more haughty than he really is: That opposition is very Advantageous in those two Characters. The fierceness of the first, however softened it seems by the Religion of the second, is set off the more by that kind of contrast, which is pleasanter in History than in painting. Those petty Battles under the first Kings, and kinds of Apprenticeships, the Roman People served in War against their Neighbours, are heightened by the Expression of the Historian, who can, when he pleases, animate little things with an Air of Grandeur. The Engagement of the Horatij and Curiatij, for the Decision of the Fate of Rome and Alba, is an Adventure that Beautifies all that part; for 'tis admirably related. The expulsion of Kings, which is the greatest Event in the two first Ages of Rome, is rendered more remarkable by Lucretia's Exploit, who Stabbed herself before her Husband's face, for having been dishonoured by young Tarquin▪ and the making that Circumstance the most material in that Revolution, recommends the Relation more effectually to the Reader, interessing his Affection, by so surprising an Adventure. All the Consequences of that Revolution become more considerable, by a Foundation so Solid, and of so great a Lustre.  
Scaevola's attempt is Painted in the Second Book, with all the Colours, so great, Heroic, and extraordinary a Design, is capable of. The love of his Country, to which that Design owed its Conception, the contempt of Life upon which it was formed; the Proposition that Gallant Gentleman offered the Senate in ambiguous Terms, that so he might Merit their Approbation, without incurring Disgrace; that undauntedness of Action, and Resolution of Soul, and Courage in revenging on himself the miscarriage of his Blow; all is of that Spirit and Elevation as is hardly to be paralleled. And 'tis impossible a description of a like Enterprise should be supported with more astonishing Circumstances, with more disdainful Language, or greater Sentiments. Porsenna King of Clusium, who was besieging Rome, amazed at so prodigious an instance of Valour, demanded Peace of the Romans; and that Peace was the product of so desperate an Undertaking. But finally, that Probity he attributes to a People grown Fierce and Untractable by the constant practice of Arms; that justice and clemency they exercised in the very pride and height of their Victories; that love of glory he ascribes to them; that noble Pride from whence he draws their principal Character: that greatness of Soul, & loftiness of Thoughts, the Dignity of the Roman Name inspired them with; the Ingenuity of the Senate in its Suffrage, instanced in their taking Generals from the Plough: That Spirit of Wariness, Frugality, Innocence, and Equity so much practised, and had in Honour in the raw and unpolisht Beginnings of the Commonwealth: The public Spiritedness of Brutus, who Sacrificed his Childen to the Safety of his Country: The Poverty of Curius, who after he had enriched the Republic with the Spoils of the Enemy, had not wherewith to Bury him: Moreover those grand Maxims, engraved in all Hearts, truly Roman never to brook Disgrace: The Resolve of the Senate after the Defeat, by Hannibal, at Cannae, never to hearken to a Proposal of Peace: those Ideas of Equity, intimately impressed on their Minds: that great Sense of Honour, Fidelity, love of their Country, and Liberty: Their incomparable Knowledge in the Art of War, the Severity of preserving the Laws of War in their utmost Extent: that invincible Patience in Dangers and Hardships; and all those other Virtues wherewith the Author has stored his History, in innumerable Examples, are the most usual Strokes he gives for the completing of their Character. This was the Spirit that reigned in the Commonwealth in those troublesome Times, when the Power of the first Consuls was balanced by the Institution of Tribunes, to bear up the people against the Encroachments of the Nobles.  
After the Second Carthaginian War, and the Defeat of Hannibal, the taking of Numantia, the Conquests of Sicily, and all Greece, we may observe other sort of Manners, and a quite different Spirit introduced in the Republic, through that abundant Prosperity their Arms brought in. Politeness, and love of Gentile Arts, a delicacy of Palate, and the Study of Learning began to be established in Rome, and to give quite another Countenance, Mode, and Lustre to the Government, which the Historian has admirably laid open in all its Circumstances. The Second Part also that remains of his History, or rather the Two last Decades, are incomparably better than the First. For as to the Second, which contains the Succession of Wars against the Samnites, against the People of Etruria, and Lucania; against the Gauls, against King Pyrrhus, against the Tarentines; the first Punic War made by Attilius Regulus, and that against the rest of the People of Italy, we can say nothing of, since all that Decade is entirely lost.  
Finally, Scipio and Laelius, who were the perfectest Models of that Politeness which was, through the Study of Learning, set up at Rome, and who were themselves the Worthiest Gentlemen of the Republic, completed the Perfection of that State, already so far advanced; causing the love of Eloquence and Poetry, and all Arts and Sciences to flourish in it; and 'twas by their Example, and the Converse and Familiarity with the Greeks, which the Romans had just Conquered, that they Civilised themselves, utterly banishing out of their Republic that rude, surly and unmannerly Carriage, their constant dealing in Arms had introduced. 'Twas then this Victorious People began to Plume itself upon the Notion their Prosperity and Success had inspired them with, that they were born to be Lords and Governors of the rest of the World. And from thence it was that the love of Liberty, and the thirst of Glory, so much possessed them: This is the Image Livy gives us of them after the Second Punic War, and during the Third: these are the principal Ingredients of their Character. For Plenty had not as yet debauched the Minds of a People, Virtuous, upon so good Principles, as the Romans were. There runs through the whole Character of Scipio, who was at the Head of Affairs, a Spirit of Religion, which shows that Virtue alone was in greater Reputation at Rome than ever; one need only see the Air the Historian makes him speak in, in his African Voyage; the Discourse he makes in the Twenty-ninth Book in his Departure from Sicily, abounds with all the Sense of Piety, an honest Man is capable of. Cato gives his Voice in the Senate against the Luxury, and Dress of Women in the Thirty-fourth Book, 
Marcus & Attilius Roman cum verissentis & nulla re magis gloriarentur quam decepto per inducias & spem pacis Rege Peri●o. Hist. Rom. lib. 42.  with the same rigour he would have done in Plato's imaginary Republic. Every thing savours of Virtue, both in the People, and in the Senate: 
Veteres & moris antiqui memores negabant se in ea legatione Romanas agnoscere artes ut astu magis quam vera virtute gloriarentur. Hist. Rom. lib. 37.  And nothing better manifests the Spirit, wherewith the Senate governed the Republic at that time, than the Verdict it passed upon the two Ambassadors, Marcius and Attilius, Commissioned to the King of Persia; who gave some uneasy Suspicions to the Romans, as being a Man of Courage and Understanding. They said, in accounting for their Negotiation, they had amused that Prince with the Proposals of a Treaty, and the Hopes of a Peace; that they had thereby prevented him from making Warlike Preparations, and took off his Allies from making their necessary Preparatives, and putting themselves in readiness. The young Senators had nothing to object to his Proceedings, which seemed novel to those who had grown Grey in the Government, and were highly disapproved by the Ancient Sages; who alleged, it was not by these Methods their Ancestors arrived to the Sovereignty of the World: but by Virtue alone, and Fidelity towards their Enemies, no less than that they exercised towards their Friends. Insomuch that that sort of Disguise, and Tricking, which had a tendency to Treachery, were ever held as Means not to be practised, and Paths their Probity and Virtue knew not how to tread in.  
Moreover nothing is more bright and dazzling, in this History, than the Idea Livy gives us in the Fourth Decade, and in the beginning of the Fifth, of the Dignity, and Power of the Senate, which was grown the absolute Master of the Republic; all things stood to its Resolves, and submitted to its Orders. If King Antiochus restores to Scipio his Son, whom he had taken Prisoner, and petitions him for a Peace, Scipio answers in Capacity of a private Person, and a Father, that nothing in the World could more Oblige him to it than the Present he had made him of his Son; but in Quality of a Roman and General of the Troops of the Republic, he could no ways grant the Peace he demanded, for that lay only in the Breast of the Senate. And after the Defeat of Perseus, the Senate grew so absolute, that all stooped to its Authority, Consuls, Generals, Armies were obedient to it. The Ambassadors of Antiochus King of Syria, Ptolemy King of Egypt, and Cleopatra his Sister, make it the Umpire of their Quarrels. King Massinissa sends his Two Sons to Rome, to compliment the Senate from him, upon their Defeat of King Perseus. Prusias King of Bythinia dispatches his Son Nicomedes to Rome, to put him under the Protection of the Senate: But how must the Historian Treat the People of that Republic, 
Positis jam adversus omnes mortales certaminibus haud secus quam Deos consulere, & parcere vos generi humano oportet Hist. Rom. lib. 37.  whereof that King Styles himself a Freedman, glorying in so magnificent a Title; and whose Clemency, 
Maximo semper animo victis regibus populisque ignov●stis, quanto majore vos animo dec●t facere in hac Victoria quae vos dominos orbis terrarum facit  Antiochus' Ambassadors, (who came to beg Peace of Scipio) implored, as if it had been from the Gods themselves: If, say these Ambassadors, out of a greatness of Soul you have Pardoned those Kings and People you have Vanquished, what ought you not to do in that Victory which makes you Masters of the World? And this was it, that made this People, in their Victories, take upon them the glorious Title of Deliverer of other Nations. To conclude, nothing is so Great and Majestic as the Image the Historian gives us of the Republic in those happy Times. There you may see King Perseus chained to the Chariot of Paulus Emilius, to enhance the Glory of the Triumph. Next is to be seen Gentius King of Illyricum, with his Wife and Children Vanquished by the Praetor Anicius, and led Captive along the Streets of Rome. There are the Ambassadors of Attalus King of Pergamus, and of his Brother Eumenes, in Posture and Quality of Supplicants before the Senate of the people. Thus possibly never Historian had so great a Subject, nor supported the Grandeur of it better by the Dignity of Expression, and loftiness of Ideas. See then the end of what we have remaining of Livy's History. For after follow the Successful and Victorious Times of Sertorius, who subdued Spain; of Pompey who subjected to the Republic Mitridates, Tigranes, Armenia, Sicily, and the other Provinces of Asia; and of Cesar who Triumphed over the Belgians, the Gauls, and most part of the Northern People, as Pompey had over those of Asia. This is then the Abridgement, or rather the Extract of Livy's Roman History, which it was necessary to reduce into this Form, the better to apprehend the Nature of it; and thus this History is Preferable to that of Thucydides, because it represents a mighty Design carried on by regular Methods to the top of its Perfection, and a Republic grown up to be Mistress of the Universe, from so small and inconsiderable a Foundation: but now let us observe the Imperfections and Beauties of these two Histories: That which is still behind, for the Accomplishment of the Comparison.   

CHAP. VI  
A Comparison of the Faults of the Two Historians.  
'TIs a very bold Undertaking to inquire into the Failures of so accomplished Authors as Thucydides and Livy: For to find fault with those which a Man sets up for Models and Exemplars, is to destroy what he would establish, and Undermine the Credit of that he desires to Confirm. Besides that it seems unmannerly to Criticise upon these Two great Men, when Antiquity recommends them to us as the Perfectest and most Absolute of all others. But as nothing is more Essential to Man than to Err and slip sometimes; and those who pretend to be most Infallible, have their Faults; I Presume the Criticisms I shall make upon these Two Historians, will make not a little for their Praise; and that the World will be better satisfied of their Excellence, when I have examined their Faults, which may serve to set off the greatness of their Merit. For 'tis not so much by avoiding Faults, as by a direct tendency to his Point, without any Deviation, that an Author shows himself: he that proceeds in the directest Line, and wanders out of his Way the least, as does Thucydides, is the most accomplished in Dionysius Halicarnassensis' Opinion. 
Dionys. Halicarn. ad Aelium Tuberon. Num. 3.  Let us see what it is wherein Thucydides' History may be reprehended.  
He is not so Fortunate in the management of his Subject, 
Thucydide ' s Failings.  as in his Invention, which always bottoming upon a great Fund of Reason, never fails him. He often confounds his Subject by anticipating or else Suspending, or lastly Interrupting his Narrations, which break off the Course of the History, and dissipate the Mind of the Reader, by the multitude of Objects that present themselves. For instance, in the Third Book he begins a Matter relating to the Mitylenians, and before he has finished it, he skips to an Expedition of the Lacedæmonians: from that Expedition, which he leaves Imperfect, he undertakes a Relation of the Siege of Platea, which he abandons, to return again to the Mitylenians. And upon their Account, he touches upon something of a Sedition happening at Corcyra, wherein the People divided themselves, some siding with Athens, and some taking the Part of Lacedaemon. Thence he passes to the business of Sicily, and again pursues other Affairs without concluding any. And the whole Book is stuffed with such a multitude of Matters, and so different from one another, that a Man is quite lost, and can never be able to discover the natural Thread of the Principal History. And this is one kind of Fault in a Narration, which should ever have Union and Connexion, and be still endeavouring at the Scope it Proposes; that so it may fix and determine the Mind of the Reader to the same Object, without offering any thing to disengage him from it.  
Again, 'tis pretended, he has not Explained, so cleverly as he might have done, the Cause of the War he goes to Write: Dionysius Halicarnassensis is of Opinion he has not given us the True one, at least that he has mingled together with the True one, (which was the Lacedæmonians Jealousy, of the too great Power of the Athenians) other Causes which are not True. Undoubtedly he is somewhat Dark in that Place. The occasion of that War is much finer Explained in the Life of Pericles in Plutarch; where that Author makes it appear that is was Pericles who first Inspirited the Athenians, by the frequent Embassies he advised them to Depute, in order to persuade all. Greece to enter into a Confederacy against the King of Persia; which gave the Lacedæmonians Reason to suspect them: For thereby Athens gave itself a considerable Regard, which it never had before, and by that Distinction seemed to take a kind of Pre-eminence above all other People.  
That large Amplification upon the different Characters of the People of Greece in the Proem, their several Expeditions, which he drives up as high as the Trojan War; the Luxury of the Athenians, which he is too curious in Describing, talking even of their Curling their Hair: what he says of the Modesty and Frugality of the Spartans', and what he add● concerning one Aminocles, a Corinthian, who first taught the Art of Building Ships: and such other Loose and Unconnected Matters he Treats of as a Preface to his History, are nothing to his Purpose in Dionysius Halicarnassensis' Opinion. He thinks he might have let all that alone, and have entered on his Subject without making so great a Ramble from his Design: he concludes likewise that his History has for its Subject not only the War of Peloponnesus, but all the Affairs of Greece; for he brings in the Erterprises of the Athenians in Chalcis, the Breaking in of the Thracians into Macedonia in the Second Book, the War of the leontin's and the Concerns of Sicily in the Third Book: and thus he seeks out Matters that are Foreign, because his own Subject is unable to furnish him with Variety enough out of its self; which is the Reason there is so little Accord and Union in his Work: There are two Wars, one of Peloponnesus, and the other of Syracuse, without any Reference to, or Connexion with one another.  
That Celebrated Funeral-Oration in the Second Book, which he makes Pericles to speak, is neither Agreeable, nor Proportioned to the Occasions and Persons that it concerns; and the Historian himself confesses, that Affair had nothing memorable in it, in Respect of that which he Describes in the Fourth Book under Demosthenes near Pylus; where the Athenians were Routed both by Sea and Land: and those who fell, Signalised themselves much more than in the former Defeat, in which only a few of the Cavalry were slain; and all the Circumstances of the former Battle, have nothing comparable to the other, which he slightly passes over unregarded. But that the Historian might add greater Weight and Moment to his Discourse, he puts it into the mouth of Pericles, who indeed was alive at the first Expedition, but was dead at the Second; in which a little Fault may be found with the Sincerity of the Author so Celebrated elsewhere for his Integrity: He is Upbraided too with his so long and frequent Harangues, and for having so little Variety. It is true, the Number of them is great; but since the Humour of Athens and Lacedaemon was to have every thing done by Haranguing, whilst the People were in Power, he must avoidable Harangue them, since they would have it so. After all, the Historian knows how to abate that Heat of his Eloquence, when he Divests himself of the Orator, and puts on the Historian.  
The Athenians dejected by their Losses, and the wast the Plague had made in their Country, having the first dispatched a famous Embassy to demand a Peace of the Lacedæmonians, Dionysius Halicarnassensis blames the Historian for passing so considerable a Point so superficially over; and reprehends him for not so much as naming the Ambassadors, (which seemed very Material in that War, through so considerable an Alteration in their Characters;) nor making mention of one Tittle of the Embassy: He that at other times would diligently Court every Occasion, to Introduce Towns and States, Discoursing by so frequent Deputations. It is certain he is guilty of a little Negligence in so notable an Opportunity, where he might have made his Country speak so fine Things, and have added more Renown to his History, by the Talon he had of Haranguing so excellently well.  
I Omit several other Places Dionysius Halicarnassensis dislikes in this Author; because he runs into an Excess, overstraining his Criticisms through a Spirit of Animosity, against that Historian, whose Reputation he endeavours to lessen, that he may with more Ease set up Herodotus against him, who was his Countryman, wherein his Proceedure has a Tincture of Partiality; not but that he had just Reason for it in many Particulars, but he had not in all. He is frequently too rigidly Censorious, so that it is necessary sometimes to Correct Spleen, at least not to be carried away with it without Examination. These following are the other Faults the generality of the Learned find with Thucydides. He leaves too much to his Readers Conjecture, whether for want of Care to Explain himself clearly, or whether through an earnestness to Express things nobly, he does it in fewer Words; by which he often falls into such Obscurities as the whole World can never reach his Meaning, because his Sense is as it were choked with the multitude and force of his Images, which he crowds into his Expression. But by that affected loftiness that everywhere abounds in him, he without Scruple over-bears all the rules and decency of Construction; which he seems very little to Regard, provided he can express himself with more Grandeur. 'Tis also through the selfsame Principle, that the figures he makes use of, are for the most part violent; that the colours he Paints things in, are too strong; that his strokes are too deep; that he has a theatrical air diffused through his Discourse, by means of Expressions, that sound tragically, and of a Character not much different from that which Pindar took by his too closely following Eschylus; that the Historians which preceded him, were more careful of Expressing things plainly; that he is too Figurative in his Speech; that he affects an uncouth ancient way, in Words worn out of use, or Inauthentick; that there is nothing of sweetness in his Expression; that he can not Paint a thing with any softness; that his Discourse is disagreeable; that he was utterly unacquainted with those Graces and Charms his Predecessor Herodotus so well understood; and that in fine, by the natural Prosperity of his Genius, he runs into a dryness of Style, which renders his Discourse harsh and impoverished.  
There are those who push their Criticisms farther still; pretending he has not sufficient care to search into the bottom of Things; that he is too superficial; that he simply relates Transactions, without giving us the Reasons of them, or explaining the Motives that led to them: they add, there is no turn in his Periods, no harmony in the Cadence, no agreeableness in the Words, no fineness in his Discourse: that there is very little variety in his Harangues; that there are perpetual Embassies, wherein are large Discourses, excellent indeed, but too prolix, and too Studied: 'Tis thought he took that Method from Homer, who to make his Narration the more lively, makes those, he introduces in his Poem, talk everlastingly. The Dialogue he makes between the Athenians and the Melians, upon their different Interests, in the Fourth Book of his History, has something of the Nature of a Dramatic Poem, where things are Played by several Persons that are introduced; for which there is no Precedent in any History, which ought to be united, and continued in a Thread, without Interruption: in short, this is not suitable to Thucydides' Character of Simplicity. 'Tis supposed too, that he makes the Greeks have more Courage than Strength: their Ability is not answerable to their Pride; and one can not always have an opinion of their Merit great enough to support that presumptuous Arrogance he puts into their Character. For their Warlike Exploits went no farther often, than the Plundering a Village, or overturning the side of a Wall: He is a little deficient too, by giving petty Things more Stress than they can well bear, and in not giving the greater so much Weight as they require.  
Besides that, the Distinction he makes of the Campaigns, by the Seasons, is not always neat enough; it is moreover tedious, because he is obliged to use the same Terms, and the same Transitions, which cause a disagreeableness in a Discourse: and by too Scrupulous and superstitious an Adherence to his Method, he leaves his Matter unfinished, and his Narrations interrupted. Others carp at I know not what abstruseness of Style, that wants a little clearing. I pass by that Digression in his Eighth Book, upon the Change of the Government in Athens and Samos, when there was a necessity of curbing the Power of the People, who abused their Authority, and carried things to an excess of dangerous Consequence to the State. The Critics have not, without good reason, reflected on the too great Length of that Digression, for the little Relation it has to the principal Design. The Reconciliation of Alcibiades, with the People of Athens, who had Banished him, without declaring the reason why; and how he broke with the Republic, and was reconciled again; which is a Subject of the same Book, is methinks a little defective. Something more had been due to so considerable a Man: many other of the like Faults are to be met with in Dionysius Halicarnassensis, whom it is but turning to, to find them.  
But for my own part, if I thought the Failings that are laid to the Charge of great Men, were to their Dishonour, I could easily vindicate Thucydides in the greatest part of those they object against him. I could say he was possessed with so high a Notion of the sublime Style, that he affected it in all Things; that all besides seemed inconsiderable, even so far, as to trample on the most common Rules of Grammar, by the change of Tenses, Numbers, Genders and Persons; provided he could thereby exalt his Expression, and add more heat and vehemence to his Discourse: I could mantain, that the little Connexion there is in some of his Narrations, is more the fault of his Subject, than his Understanding. For at the bottom, the War he describes, has nothing in it of a continued and premeditate Design: one shall not see any Enterprise regularly formed, well contrived, and well executed: 'Tis all tumultuously Transacted, according to the different Movements or Passions of the People engaged in the War; and 'twere easy to make an Apology for the Author, in his other Faults imputed to him, if a Man would have the Patience to Reflect, that he was only Careless in some things, to add greater Perfection to others, which he thought of more Importance. For it was often on the account of Elevating his Style, and writing Majestically, that he overlookt some little Negligences he has been Reproached with. Thus I would take care to excuse those Faults of his, by which he arrived to so great Perfection.  
As for Livy, 
The Faults of Livy.  he has been more Happy than Thucydides, in that he has not fallen into the Hands of so morose a Critic, as Dionysius Halicarnassensis: and that Antiquity has ever had so great a Deference to his Merit; upon which no one has so impertinently Criticised as on other Authors, of as established a Reputation as himself. But since nothing is so Absolute, but some Men will find fault with, take what they Reprehend in this Historian. 
Livium ut verbosum in Historia & negligentem carpebat. Suet. de Calig.  'Tis said that his Style is too diffusive, and that by his continual amplifications he wants that vigour and strength which is admirable in Thucydides. 
Poet. c. 2. l. 2. de Conse. Hist.  And they are Beny and Bodin in particular who find the most to carp at; since they judge not of Livy by the general Consideration of his Work, which demands Grandeur. He may be censured for that extent of his Style, but that Fault is readily pardoned, if it be a fault, upon Consideration, that 'tis only that diffuseness that makes him Stately and Majestic. The dignity of his Design, and the nobleness of his Thoughts required a copious Style, and 'tis in that this Author's Majesty principally consists.  
It must be owned, he is sometimes Obscure, as well as Thucydides; but there is no necessity of absurdly troubling ones Head to understand him all; for there are many Places in him which are, in their own Nature, Difficult: As the Explication of Ceremonies, Customs, and Matters of Fact; of which we have neither any Knowledge, nor Idea. He affects too, the usuage of very ancient Latin Words, which now are Obsolete; and he has peculiar ways of speaking, unknown to the other Authors, & only Proper to himself. Besides all this, 'tis probable he has been Corrupted in many places, whether by those who were the first Copyers, or by the ancient Editions; whether by the Moderns, or by the false Conjectures of unskilful Critics; who pretending to correct him, where they have not understood him, have quite spoiled what they would have mended; so that we are far from having Livy such as he was at first. Turnebius will have Sigonius to be the only Man amongst the Critics, who has used him well, and set him best to rights.  
There are those who disapprove some bold Expressions and Thoughts he has, whereby he over-leaps the Bounds of Modesty, to which he is a great Pretender. I confess he sometimes ventures such sort of Sallies, but always with the greatest Prudence; for as much as he knows how to make good use of them in the moving part of his Discourse, wherein nothing succeeds better than that which is least contrived. That too great Inclination of observing nicely, whatever he found Monstrous in his way, and attributing the Reasons of it to supernatural Causes, as to the Anger of the Gods, smells strongly of the Heathen, somewhat too Superstitious. St. Gregory the Great taxes him with this Fault, in Causabon's Preface to Polybius, being persuaded he only intermixed these prodigies in his History, to authorise his Religion; which I fancy was less in his Thoughts than the seeking Variety, to enliven the dulness and melancholy of his Narrations. That Rustical air, Asinius Pollio finds fault with in this Author, which has given occasion for the Niceties and different Opinions of the Critics, is in my Judgement only an ill Pronunciation that sounded a little Country-like, and was Offensive to the Courtier's accustomed to all the Delicacy of Augustus' Court: at least it is the Sentiment of Quintilian, who was too piercing a Wit himself, 
In Tito Liulo mirae facundiae viro putat inesse Pollio quandam Patavinitatem: quare si sieri potest verba omnia & vox hujus alumnum urbis oleant ut oratio Romana plane videatur non civitate donata. lib. 8. c. 1.  and too near a Neighbour of those Times to be ignorant of the Mystery, which he wholly imputes to the Pronunciation.  
Others assure us he was not exact enough in furnishing himself with Instructions, by diving to the bottom of his Subject; that he only Wrote from the Memoirs of the Conquerors, who had undoubtedly suppressed what made for their Disadvantage; and that he has not justly Distinguished one from th'other. They add, that if Livy had been at the same Expense to Purchase the memorial of Carthage, as Thucydides to obtain those of Lacedaemon, he had not expatiated so largely upon the Glory of the Roman People: he would doubtless have found some particulars where to have done more Justice to Hannibal and his Republic than he did. For opposing Rome and Carthage, as two City's Rivals in Glory, it lay upon him to display the Grandeur, Riches and Power of the Carthaginian Government, and he had done more Honour to his Country, by extolling the Merit of those who disputed with it the Empire of the World.  
Some men blame him for taking the main Instructions of his first Decades from the ancient Origins of Rome, which are full of Forgeries, and scarce have any thing else but Fabulous Traditions; since the use of Annals what but of a late Date in that Republic, as Sigonius observes. Moreover Mascardi in his Treatise on History, lays much Negligence to the Charge of this Author, for not having opened the greatest Events in all their Circumstances, especially such as were principally necessary to the understanding the Importance of Affairs; which are found elsewhere, as in Appian, and other less exact Historians. But let us see the Faults of Livy more in particular.  
He is obscure in some places of his Beginnings, as for Example, in the line of Descent of the Kings of Alba, which he has not unravelled plain enough. The Revelation of Romulus, after his Death, that Rome should become the Capitol City of the World, and all the Particulars of that Apparition, seen by Proculus, and which he related to the People, has something so Enthusiastic in it, that one is amazed an Author, of so solid a Character, should suffer such a Story to pass, without giving it a more plausible Turn; yet he relies upon it, and gives it not out for a Tale or a Fable. The Adventure of Lucretia, as wondrous as it is, is not so admirably put together, there is something wanting to its Probability; a Man knows not upon what Grounds she Kills herself. If she has suffered Violence, why does she punish herself since she could not resist it? Why would she not die before she was Ravished? Is it modesty or vanity, is it wisdom or despair, is it love of virtue or glory that makes her Stab herself? All things rightly considered, one knows not what it is. If she could not open her Eyes at the Horror of her Condition, her Virtue is either too nice or too self-interessed: in short, that wants a little Neatness. And St. Austin, who examines that Action, in all its Circumstances, in the Nineteenth Chapter of his Book De Civitate Dei, has much ado to discover what his Thoughts are of it. Is not that Audaciousness of Clelia too, a little Extravagant? and considering the make of Tiber, was it a thing Practicable: could a Maid, naturally Timorous, ever think of attempting so dangerous a Passage in a River that had Brinks almost inaccessible. For though Dionysius Halicarnassensis agrees with Livy, in the Description of that Adventure, Val. Maximus expounds it in a manner that looks much more probable.  
'Tis pretended also, that the Historian shows too much Partiality in the Ninth Book of the first Decade, in the Comparison he makes of Alexander with the Romans in Point of Valour: He seems to divest himself too much of the Character of an Historian in that place, impertinently to play the Declamer; giving the Preference to his Countrymen before the Conqueror of Darius, upon uncertain Conjectures, and without examining the Matter any farther than by extravagant Suppositions, and a List of Consuls which the Commonwealth of Rome had set up in Competition with him. 
On Pompejum tantis laudibus extulit Livius, ut Pompejanum Augustus appellaret. Tacit. An. lib. 4.  Tacitus Reproaches Livy with the same Fault, in respect of Pompey, for whom he was too Partial against Cesar; which Augustus objected to him without taking it amiss: On the contrary he commends him, for that instead of flattering the Victorious Party in the Civil-War, he could not prevail with himself to condemn those Worthy Gentlemen, who were engaged on Pompey's side.  
That Train of Affairs, of Philip King of Macedon, spun out to such a length in the Fortieth Book, the Intrigues of his Family, the Adventures of Theoxena, a Princess of Thessaly, and her Children; the Cruelty of the King; the Quarrels of Demetrius and Perses his Two Sons; and all that Retinue of Circumstances relating to that Monarch, seems of an Extent disproportioned to the principal Subject of the History, which an exact Historian should always keep in view: And that long Digression has, methinks, something Foreign in it to the business of the Roman Story; for what is it to the purpose of the War the Romans wage with that Prince, that we must necessarily know all those Particularities? Was it not enough to have related those that concerned the Controversy betwixt him and the Republic; and the War the Romans made upon him. Perses' Speech to his Father Philip, to justify himself, that long Exaggeration of his Brother Demetrius' Crimes, together with his Answer, is too Studied an Amplification, and is a sort of Declamation that has a relish of the Desk or Bar in it. One might to this add, that the Historian suffers his Eyes to be dazzled with that Triumphant and Victorious Air he gives the People, whose History he writes, towards the end of the Wars of Asia; where he represents, in two Arrogant and Lordly a Style, Captive Kings chained to the Chariot of the Conqueror, and dragged with their Queens along the Streets of Rome. There is an unaccountable Pride in those Strokes of Glory he gives the Victors; wherein he makes the People too vain, and is not himself so Modest as he might be. It is a false Clemency, or a real Vanity, to treat Sovereign Princes so shamefully, and to pardon their Subjects: Would it not have been much better to have had some Veneration for Crowned Heads? Does not that Respect which is due to Mankind, claim some consideration for the Governors thereof? And that Greatness of Soul, which is the Character of the Romans, that Nicety in Glory, upon which they Plumed themselves, would have been more conspicuous, by their replacing the Crowns on the Heads of those they had Vanquished, than by their ignominious Treatment of them, and their contemptuous sporting on their Grandeur. To conclude Livy with that sound Sense he had so natural and inbred, desiring to give us a good Opinion of the Romans Virtue by their Conquests, gives us as scurvy a one as may be by their Triumphs; for as much as he makes a People, when forgetting itself, so far forgetful of its real Glory, as to abandon itself, to all the Pride of its Conquests, and the Extravagance of its Vanity. It had at least been a Prudential part in him, to have seemed to dislike that sort of Management. There are doubtless, other like Observations to be made upon this Author, if a Man would Cavil. Let this suffice, whereby to Judge of the rest, since 'tis necessary to fix Bounds to a Subject, that will not bear too many Particulars.   

CHAP. VII.  
A Comparison of the Excellencies of both Authors.  
AS the Faults of a thing strike more upon one, than the Perfections, so doubtless there is required a greater insight to discover what is good, than what is bad therein. They are oftentimes the narrowest Souls, that are the most forward Censurers; for nothing is more easy than to find fault, witness that impertinent Fellow mentioned by the Poet, 
Qui ut putentur sapere, coelum vituperant Phaed. Fab.  who could Reproach the most Absolute thing in Nature; I mean the Structure of the Heaven, to create an Opinion of his Sufficiency: and indeed it is the Prerogative of the most exalted Capacities, to know what is Praiseworthy, and to praise it as it should be. I am very sensible I am not one of that Order, nor sufficiently Enlightened to discern, myself, the greatest Beauties in these Two Authors, or discover them to others: But possibly by attempting these little Essays, I may be instrumental to others to exercise themselves in greater; and by opening the lesser Excellencies make the Understanding sort of Men sensible of the greatest. Here then is, in my Mind, a part of that which is remarkably fine in both One and the Other; for I pretend not to give an account of all that is so.  
It must be acknowledged in general, 
The Beauties of Thucydides.  that Thucydides had one of the most admirable Genius's that ever was, Relating what he had a mind to, with all Nobleness, and Dignity imaginable. As he was Eloquent before Aristotle had wrote his Rules of Eloquence, he was Industrious of improving, with all manner of Application and Study, that wonderful Talon of Speech he had received from Nature; and he made that Art of his, wherein he excelled, consist in employing every thing that could any ways ennoble his Discourse, and giving all those impresses, and turns to Reason, whereof it was capable, in order to persuade; laying upon it all the weight it would sustain, to make the deeper impression on the Mind; tending directly always to the bottom of Affairs, without staying on the surface; and by a Profoundness of Reasoning, peculiar to him, reducing every thing to the fountainhead from whence it came. But though he bestows nothing upon the ornaments of Style, or the Charms of Elocution, yet he is sure to please, because he is throughly sound in his Discourse, altogether clear in his Thoughts, and solid in all his Reflections. And there is nothing but what is Natural in his Expression, and 'tis by these ways he tends directly to the Soul. 'Tis also the frequent use of the Enthymeme, which Demosthenes learned of him, that in some measure, renders him lively, strong and powerful in his Discourse. It is by this Art he domineers over the Resolutions of those he speaks to, that he seizes the Soul of his Readers, and hurries it away with the same vehemence as if it were an Heavenly inspired Motion: he carries away the Mind with the Spirit, and force of such kind of Reasoning, as give it not leisure to be sensible of his Faults. 'Tis herein he is so successful in engaging, in the Interests he is carrying on, all that hear him. That seriousness, gravity and austerity of his Character, makes his Style noble, masculine, vigorous and abounding in Sense; and that vehemence of Expression, which sets him so far above other Authors, proceeds only from the Greatness of his Genius. For it is not so much the glittering of his Words, as the solidity of Sense, and the nobleness of his Thoughts, and the propriety of Terms, that gives weight to his Speech. All this is completed with the utmost height of so clear and sober Reason, so exact a Judgement, and so noble a Style, that nothing seems more capable of giving a true relish of what is Excellent, than an Acquaintance with this Author.  
Besides, he is ever so full of his Subject, through his profound Contemplation of it, that he leaves nothing for his Readers to desire, by the way he has of circumstantiating things. 'Tis merely by this Art his Narration is so delightful, in that he omits no one Particularity, that might be serviceable to the understanding the Business he is about. Thus he so strongly engages the Mind, by the lively images of things, that he Paints the ghastlyness or beauty of those dismal or agreeable Objects he represents, and 'tis by this Art of representing to your eyes the things he speaks of, he enforces upon his Reader the same Impressions those feel who have been Actors, Sufferers, Spectators or Witnesses of the things related.  
I say no more of those admirable Orations than I have said already, wherein the Historian so Personates every Man as to make him speak in his proper Character; having composed them by Pericles' Model, who could Charm the People of Athens even in Declaiming against them, and opposing their Opinions. For Thucydides had often heard that Oracle of Greece, upon whose Lips dwelled the Charms of Eloquence, as Cicero says. Upon this Model he formed himself, 
Cujus in labris leporem habitasse dixerunt comici. Cic. l. 3. de Orat.  and by proposing so great an Example, carried the Art of Speech to its highest Perfection, in the Orations that he made. It is certain that Author gave a prodigious Lustre to his History by those Orations: It must likewise be acknowleged those so Studied and exact Discourses, had quite another Beauty when Extemporary, and spoken in the heat of Action and Business. To all this we may add those most solid Principles and Virtues, Reason and sound Sense; those most established Maxims of Morality and Politics, and that general decorum which runs through all he says, by pursuing particular Circumstances up to universal Ideas; and giving Energy to his Reasons, by tracing them to their first Principles, and Sources from which they were derived, which is the thing that gives that substantial Form and Solidity to his Discourse: These are the main Beauties of that Author in general; let us observe now his Excellencies in particular.  
The Harangue of Pericles, who Persuaded only by obtaining a Magisterial Authority over his Auditors, speaking ever in an imperial Strain, and as one may say, with Thunder in his hand; which occasioned him to be styled Olympian Jove: that admirable Discourse that Great Man makes in the First Book of his History, in counselling the Athenians to a War, is of a noble Spirit, and abounds with lofty Thoughts. For instance, when he says to encourage them to take up Arms, Let us not be concerned at the loss of our Lands, or Country-seats; but our Liberty is that which ought nearly to concern us: We are not made for our Estates, but our Estates for us: I am more afraid of our own Vices, than all the Advantages of our Enemy: great Glory and a mighty Name is only to be purchased by great and dangerous Undertake: all the rest of that Discourse is of an equal Force and Exaltation.  
But what Wisdom, what Dignity is there is that of Archidamus King of Sparta, dissuading the Lacedæmonians from War in the same Book. Let us not suffer ourselves, says he, to be blinded by those men's Flatteries, who only Praise that they may Destroy us: Let us preserve our Modesty, which is the Source of our Valour: We are the only Greeks whom Prosperity has not as yet puffed up with Vanity.  
What is there Comparable to those Beauties we find in the Funeral Panegyric in the Second Book, upon those who lost their Lives the first Campaign of that War; especially where he speaks of the Manners that prevailed in Athens, and of the government? Our Government says he, is popular, because the end we propose is the happiness of the Republic, not the making of some few particular Persons; and Honour is the Reward of Merit, not the Privilege of Birth. We love Politeness without being fond of Luxury; we apply ourselves to the Study of Philosophy, without giving up ourselves to Effeminacy and Laziness, the ordinary Companions of that Study: We take the estimate of Riches from their Uses, and not from their Pomp; and we think it no shame to be Poor, but not to do what is necessary to avoid Poverty, this is Disgrace. The Interests of each People are examined in that Discourse, where Pericles gives his Sentence for the War, with all the Sagacity, the most subtle and curious Politics are capable of. That is a Place worthy of their Study who have the management of Affairs: Nothing can be better explained.  
That terrible Pestilence, described in the Third Book is so particularly Circumstanced, is so elaborate and exact, that Lucretius has almost entirely Translated it into his Poem; 
Lucret. lib. 6. versus finem.  and Demetrius, the Phalerian, has Commended it as one of the Chiefest Works of Art, though Lucian finds fault with it in his Treatise of History: because that Description falls into too great a Retail of Circumstances. The Description Livy gives us in his Seventh Book of a Plague that happened at Rome, like that at Athens, is more succinct, and has a Style more serious. The Discourse of the Inhabitants of Platea, who in the same Book justify their Conduct to the Lacedæmonians, after they had Surrendered to the Enemy, is a piece of Excellency, that Dionysius, the declared Censurer of Thucydides, could not choose but admire: There is a justness of Sense, and a force of Eloquence that penetrates the Soul, and causes a kind of Admiration mingled with Surprise. 'Tis in these Discourses the Models for the method of Persuasion are to be sought, as being such masterly Strokes of Eloquence as are no where else to be found.  
The Sea-fight, in the Port of Syracuse, described in the Seventh Book, so highly valued by Plutarch, is expressed so much to the Life, and the Motions of the Two Fleets of Athens and Sicily are so clearly distinguished by their different Circumstances, that Plutarch himself calls that Description, a lively Image of the Passions of the Soul; 'tis all drawn in so lively and sensible a manner: Nothing can be touched with a finer Hand, or be more absolute than that Piece; which manifests the Excellence of the Art, and the Greatness of the Master. There is likewise, in the Sixth Book, an Oration of Alcibiades, to persuade the Athenians; to resolve upon a War with Sicily; which is remarkable for those Draughts of Eloquence and Politics it is stored with: As for instance, when he introduces that great Man, saying, That Turbulent Spirits, such as were the Athenians, made greater advantage of Commotions than they could of Settlement: and that it was more convenient to stick to the Ancient Maxims, though possibly not so Good, than to change them for those that are better; because Nature, says he, is a Principle of an higher extract than Reason; this being but the common Operation of Man's Soul, and the other proceeding from the Decree of God Almighty. There is a profound Wisdom, an admirable Sense in that Reflection. 'Tis much the same Reasoning that he attributes to Cleon, a Citizen of Athens, upon the Case of the Prisoners of Mitylene; saying, That ill Laws, well observed, were better than good Laws that were despised or neglected: and that a well-meaning and regular Ignorance, was preferable to disorderly and inconstant Knowledge: For nothing is more dangerous in a State, than change of Conduct.  
Again, what is there more wise or rational, than the Dialogue of the Melians with the Athenians Deputies, in the Fourth Book. The Melians talk in a submissive way, which is however noble and ingenuous; they preserve well the Character which became the Vanquished, without losing that of Worthy Men, who knew how to employ their reason well, when their sword head failed them. But the Athenians Lord it in too insolent a manner. The Historian gives them too contemptuous a Carriage, not very agreeable to Persons charged with a Negotiation? It must be confessed, nevertheless, that nothing is more sensible or solid than that Intercourse. And the Reproach, wherewith the Ambassadors of Platea urge the Lacedæmonians, in the Third Book, of which I have already spoken, is very noble. If you measure, say they, Justice by your Interests, you will give us reason to believe your Interests are dearer to you than your Glory. All the Arguments the Historian employs in that Discourse are like the Flashing and Darting of Thunder and Lightning, as his most severe Censurer Dion. Halicarnassensis acknowledges; 'tis all Divine, even in his Opinion. But if a Man would set down all the Excellencies he shall find in this Author's Orations, he must entirely Transcribe them, as did Demosthenes. What can be imagined more pressing, than that which he makes his Hero of Eloquence, Pericles to speak; when he endeavours to persuade the Athenians to the War in the First Book. If it were possible (says he to them) you should be discouraged by the labour and hazard there is in Conquering; I would advise you to bid farewell to Glory; For 'tis only by Pains and Hardships, ye can become worthy of that Honour. The Argument is there expressed in all its Force and Dignity.  
Finally, those Grand Principles of Honour, Equity, Honesty and Glory, to which he knows how to give their due enforcement, are the most usual Characters he imprints upon his Discourse. 'Tis herein he makes use of the purest Reason, not laying more weight on it than it will bear, as the Sophists endeavour to do, nor desiring through a counterfeit Eloquence to carry it beyond its natural bounds. 'Tis in these Harangues that all things shine and glitter, with the Lustre of a noble strong and vehement Eloquence, which he had formed from the lively Sense he had of Things, and a thorough Understanding of the Subjects that he Treated on. Let us then Pardon him those Discourses, for which we see some Critics have Censured him, since they are fraught with so many Excellencies. For, besides that the Greeks, as I have observed before, were Devoted to that Haranguing Humour, and their Republican Spirit Authorised that way: This Great Man was very sensible of his own Qualifications, for making States and Commonwealth's discourse; by which means he makes his History, of so little and inconsiderable a Subject, to be of so important Consideration: And here he delivers those grand Maxims of Morality and Policy, he understood so well. And though Cicero is of Opinion, that the Rhetoric of the Bar, through its too great Loftiness, is improper for civil Affairs; I maintain that for Reasoning, in the great Affairs of Treaties, and the Negotiations of Peace and War, and in all weighty & important Interests, Controverted by States, Thucydides is the greatest Master that can be Consulted; and 'tis impossible to find, elsewhere, Reason better wrought, by all the wisest Maxims of Government, than in Thucydides. And all things well considered, there is not to be found, in other Works, that Force of Eloquence that appears in his.  
What Wit, 
The Beauties of Livy.  what Understanding, what Views must not a Man have, to discover the Excellencies of a Work, conceived in the very purest Reign of the Roman Eloquence; and to distinguish those Beauties, that so highly transcend the common Rules as Livy's do: He had an Elevation of Soul, that gave him a noble Conception of things; and it proceeded more from the Nobleness of his Thoughts, than that of his Language, that he was so Happy in his Expression. He was intimately acquainted with Nature and all her Movements; of which he gave us such lively Draughts, that there is ever a surprising Sprightliness of Soul in his Discourse: And as he had contrived a sublime Style, by the Greatness of his Expression, which he diffuses through his Work▪ tho' he manages it with all that Prudence, which was Natural to him, so he has placed all the Objects he Represents, in the finest Light imaginable. His Discourse is clear, ever tending to its Purpose, without making those Starts and Excursions other Authors are so Subject to. His Logic is exact, his Diction pure, his Narration full of variety: His Order looks so Natural, as if the most curious Images of things, so Postured themselves in his Mind, as to fall each in its proper Place, to make an absolute Picture, both in all he thinks, and all he says. He disposes of those Images, which he unfolds in his Narration, by a great Diversity of Ideas; and 'tis by the Disposal and Order of them he is so Engaging: And as he speaks more to the Understanding, than the Eye or Ear, so he ever tends more directly to the Soul.  
The Ornaments, which he mixes with his Discourse, and those Flourishes he bestows upon it, are so well Husbanded, as to appear only in those Places that demand them, and can bear them well; wherein he shows himself Liberal without Profuseness. As for the rest, 'tis generally the Plenty of his Matter, that makes him so Copious in his Style; the native Richness of his Subject causes that Luxuriance in his Speech: And his Narration becomes taking, by means of its Diffuseness, growing thereby better Circumstantiated, and more Probable. For nothing is more effectual, to render a thing Credible, than the Knowledge of the Particularities how 'twas Acted: Besides, a Man gives a steadier View of the Objects represented, by standing a little upon the Turn of a Narration, without precipitating, or exhibiting things in a transient Glance. To all which may be added, the admirable Discretion he has, to dissever and separate the Sentiments of Men, & to make them speak and act according to the Decorum, of their several Conditions, in which Nature has instated them. I am dazzled with that Lustre which reflects from his Discourse, by the Choice, the Harmony, and Elegance of the Words he uses, and those softer Passions, that abound in his History, of which Quintilian speaks so favourably: 
Affectus quidem praecipue eos qui sunt dulciores nemo commendavit magis. Quint. l. 10. c. 1.  those moving and delicate Affections, which he treats with all the Art and Nature imaginable, perfectly Enchant me, by those wonderful Commotions they raise in my Soul.  
Perhaps never Man came furnished with better Parts, or those more improved, to the Writing of a History, than he: For he was formed in a City, at that time, the Empress of the World; in which all the most important Affairs of the Universe were Decided: and in the politest Reign that ever was, having had scarce any other school than the Court of Augustus. There it was he learned the Language of the Genteelest part of Mankind, and that lively, fine, subtle and natural Air, then in Fashion; that exquisite Taste, that purity and nobleness of Expression, which was the Character of that Age; and of which there were so great Models in all sorts of Writing, perfecting and polishing himself upon them. Thence it was he took that Softness, necessary to please, and that Force which renders him moving, wherein peculiarly consists his essential Character: For never Man united all the Grace and Beauty, with all the Vehemence of Discourse, so much as he; so much does the sweetness of Beauty Temper the Masculine Force and Energy of what he says: that there falls not any thing from his Pen too strong, but is softened with a Term more nice and delicate. He prepares whatever is Bold, and heightens whatever is Low, with the Brightness of his Speech: These than are part of his Beauties in general; let us now see those he has in particular.  
He immediately procures a great Attention, and much Inquisitiveness, by that great Idea he gives his Subject, at the Entrance to his Work, when he says, the Destiny of a City, designed for the Empire of the World, aught to have something of Divinity in its Original; and when he gives so great an Opinion, of the Virtue of the People, whose History he undertakes.  
In the First Book, wherein Events are little, and proportioned to the strength of a State in its Infancy, nothing is better related than the Battle of the Horatij and Curiatij; the Adventure is Great and Extraordinary. Two little States, which make War, and Dispute for Sovereignty, give up their Interests and Destinies into the Hands of Two Families, to decide them. What Colours, what Expressions does not the Historian employ in that Combat, where he Paints with all his Art, the Fears, the Hopes, and the rest of the Passions of the Armies, who were concerned in that Affair, where the Dispute in hand was, who should be Masters or Subjects of each other. Is there any thing to be seen more strongly Painted, or better Represented? Does not a Man feel what the Historian says, and take in the very Sentiments he inspires, by the Impressions his Narration makes upon the Soul? The Adventure of Lucretia is finely introduced in the same Book, for as much as it renders the Revolution of the Government, which it occasioned, more Remarkable. The Banishment of Tarquin, and his Family; the Revolt of the People against the King, whose very Name was abhorred; which is one of the greatest Adventures in the History, and all that grand Enterprise, is made much more considerable and surprising, by so illustrious and virtuous a Motive.  
This dethroned Tarquin, who so Pathetically implores the Assistance of his Neighbours to Re-establish him; that Image of the growing Liberty, of the novel State, after the slavery it had escaped from; that Pleasure in the mighty Hopes of a lasting Settlement, wherewith they flattered the Desires of the People; that ease and quiet they sensibly enjoyed: Those Proceedings Brutus put them upon, 
Plebs soluta Regio metu, agitari coepta Tribunitiis procellis. Hist. Rom. lib. 2.  to make them still more sensible, they had the Power in their own Hands, as desirous of Ruling as he was himself: The several Accessions of the love of that Liberty, that ripened daily through the Pleasure they began to take in Dominion: and which still increased by the Disturbances of those tempestuous Assemblies held under the Tribunes: those popular Commotions caused by the Excess of Power they had left them, which it was necessary to repress by the Creation of Decemviri, accustoming them insensibly to use no other Authority but that of Laws. Those petty Wars they waged against their Neighbours; their Successes proportioned to their Valour and their Strength; and those Essays wherewith Fortune delighted to exercise that growing Republic, to exalt it to the height of Glory, which it arrived to: All these, I say, Painted in those Colours, the Historian knew how to order so admirably well, are the greatest Beauties of the first Decade; the Events whereof are mostly contained in Rome, and amongst the Neighbouring People, without going out of Italy: And though all is mean and little in the Beginning, according to the Nature or Fate of Things of no long Date; yet the Historian sails not to Elevate his Subject, by the Greatness of his Expression, and to inspire several Persons, he introduces, with noble Thoughts, as Brutus and Manlius, who Sacrifice their Lives to the Security and Glory of their Country. There are divers Occurrencies, in the Third Book, set in a fine Light: As the Transport of young Appius, who so furiously carried off Virginius' Daughter, and that had like to have destroyed Rome; and such Indignation the People conceived at so Brutal an Action: The Havoc of that horrible Attempt, is described in a very passionate Air. The Adventure of the Old Senator Quintius Cincinnatus; taken from the Plough, to be made Dictator; and the Diligence of his Wife, to make him Neat and Cleanly, and look something like a Gentleman, and all the Circumstances of that Adventure, are very Naturally Painted. The Historian, who makes Camillus take up Arms against the Commonwealth, and to do himself Justice on a People jealous of his Power, but insensible of the Merit of Brave and Courageous Men, makes him speak with all the Disdain a noble Roman was capable of, when fired with Glory. 'Tis Rome (says he) that calls me back, not to reinstate me in my Place, but that I may re-establish her in hers: Which he did by the Conquest of the Vientes, and the taking Veii after Ten Years War. The Encomium, the Historian bestows upon that Great Man, in the Seventh Book, is full of exquisite Sense; and there is somewhat very singular and rare in the Praises he gives him. The Magnanimity of young Curtius, who all in Armour, threw himself headlong, into a vast Chasm of the Earth, which happened in the City, to close it up, and Appease the Gods by such a Sacrifice, is an extraordinary Ornament in the same Book. In fine, we see in the First Part of this History, a rising Neatness, that makes large Advances to its Perfection, without doing any thing unlike itself. And that One thing, well laid open, is of a singular Excellence.  
The Second Decade▪ which is the constant Succession of that growing Glory, and of all its Progress, is entirely lost: which contained the Wars against Pyrrhus' King of Epirus, who broke into Italy to Succour the Tarentines; and all that happened in those Wars, concerning the Valour and Probity of the Romans: Amongst which was that high Principle of Honour, which appeared in Fabricius, who Heading the Roman Army, in Quality of Consul, sent back to Pyrrhus his Physician, that made an Offer to the Romans of Poisoning his Prince, who had engaged them in a bloody War, and was become their most terrible Enemy. Here was the first Punick-War, wherein Attilius Regulus so highly Signalised his Virtue, when having been made Prisoner by the Carthaginians, he was dispatched to Rome, to treat of the Exchange of Prisoners of both Parties; and who out of an heroic, disinteressed Principle, was the First that Advised them not to do it, because that Exchange must needs be Disadvantageous to the Commonwealth, though he himself might have enjoyed his Life and Liberty as the Fruits of it. These are the principal Subjects of the Second Decade, as appears by Freinshemius' Supplement, who hits his Character exactly, and succeeds much better in making up the Loss of Livy, than he has done in the Supplement of the History of Alexander the Great, Wrote by Quintus Curtius; as may be seen, if any one will give himself the trouble to Compare them.  
But Livy's History takes another sort of Flight, in the Third Decade, which is come to us entire; with the Fourth, and half of the Fifth. The Scene grows more lively and animated, and more astonishing, through those mightier Movements, and more important Conjunctures: For now comes the second Punick-War, and that Famous Expedition of Hannibal, Marching from his Country at the Head of an Hundred Thousand Men; to make an Assault upon the Romans, ever▪ at Rome itself▪  
There is nothing in other Histories comparable to the Portraiture this Author makes of the March of this General; 'Tis all of a Force and Expression above the common level: 'Tis the noblest Scene of the whole History, and the Consequences perfectly answer the Beginning; where the Historian, after having Pictured Hannibal, and Represented him more Terrible, through his Virtues than his Vices, as taken up as he is with that mighty Object, he falls upon his Matter, that he may express the Particulars, and lose nothing at all of it; every step he makes him take, in despite of Danger, as he passes the Alps, is terrible: All the Circumstances are dismal and ghastly, and the Picture of Danger is imprinted almost in every Word, and every Syllable. Thence he soars in the Expansion that his Subject gives him, which is so spacious, so copious, as to give him Scope for the following Books, and all the Third Decade: For Hannibal is the Leading Subject of it all. The most notorious Adventures of that War, are the Battle fought upon the Banks of the Trasymenian Lake in Tuscany, wherein there were above Fifty Thousand Romans killed upon the spot, and the rest of the Army taken or routed: The Battle of Cannae far more Bloody than the former, in which were above Forty-five Thousand slain. Nothing in Nature is described in so moving a Strain; the Terror and Confusion Hannibal casts in the Face of Rome, by those bloody Victories, are expressed in such a way, as never any other History could reach. There are such Draughts, and such Colours, as were unknown to all Historians besides. The Consequences of those Two Battles were still more Terrible, a general consternation run through the Heart of Italy; the Romans were Deserted by all their Allies; the People was Alarmed, and the whole Body of that great Republic, till that time Victorious, was in a violent Commotion, except the Nobility and Chief Men, whom Scipio caused to Swear with a Dagger at their Throat, that neither any of them, nor the remaining Officers, should abandon the Republic in that present Conjuncture: and there was that Fierceness at Rome, after that last Defeat, that it was not lawful to make mention of a Peace with Hannibal. 
Nulla timoris significatio, nulla mentio, pacis. Off. l. 3.  Their Minds were shaken, but not dejected; and 'twas the Resolution of the Great Men which inspirited the People, and re-establisht Affairs.  
The Wars of Sicily against Hieron and his Sons, that of Numidia against Syphax, were the Consequents of the Second Punick-War. But in the Twenty-sixth Book the Historian describes the new impressions of Fear, Hannibal caused in Rome, when he pitched his Camp before the City, and advanced as far as the Porta Collina near the Temple of Hercules, whence he took a Turn upon the Walls, to take the Model of it. But the Conqueror of Rome Retreated on his own accord, and he whom the Virtue of his Enemies could not Vanquish, was subdued by his own Vices, and the Pleasures of Capua, where he was for some time Posted; and he was heard to say in his Retreat, that one while he only wanted an Inclination, and other time good Fortune, to make him Master of Rome. The Idea the Historian gives us in that Place of a Veteran General hardened to the Fatigues of War, 
Potiundae sibi urbis Romanae modo mentem non dari, modo fortunam Hist. Rom. lib. 28.  and coming to soften himself in Italy in the Embraces, as one may say, of Pleasure, is very agreeable, and of an extraordinary Beauty. The Affairs of Sicily having obliged Marcellus to Besiege Syracuse, Archimedes was there killed by Two blundering Soldiers, who took the Diagram of a Geometrical Demonstration he was drawing upon the Sand to be Conjuring; which is a singular and surprising Incident in that place.  
But after all, nothing is Comparable to the Picture the Author gives us of young Scipio, in the End of the Twenty-sixth Book; where he Represents him, Commissioned General of the Roman Army into Spain, to give a Diversion to the Progress of Hannibal in Italy. That Victorious Youth, at Twenty Four Years of Age, was of a ripe and consummate Prudence; And though he performed Exploits of Arms, that astonished his Enemies, tho' in One Day he took New Carthage, in which the Carthaginians had a numerous Garrison; He yet obtained greater Victories by his Virtue than his Valour. For when he was presented with Mandonius' Lady, a Prince of Spain, and Two of his Nieces, exceedingly Beautiful, he sent them back with these Words, That though, for the sake of his own Integrity and the public Discipline of Rome, 
Meae populique Romani disciplinae causa facerem ne quid quod sanctum usquam esset, apud nos, vialoretur: nunc ut id curem impensius, vestra quoque virtus & dignitas facit: quae ne in malis quidem oblitae decoris matronalis estis. Lib. 26.  it lay upon him to secure from Violence whatever was Sacred: yet their own Consideration, was still a greater Engagement to do them Justice, since in their Misfortunes they were not forgetful of themselves, nor of their Virtue: And having showed the same Respect to another Spanish Prince, whose Princess was presented to him, of a more accomplished Beauty than the other, he sent her back to her Husband with a great sum of Money offered for her Ransom. That Prince charmed and amazed, with so great Bounty, Proclaimed in his Country, There was arrived in Spain, 
Venisse diis simillimum juvenem vincentem omnia quum armis, ●ion benignitate ac benificiis. Ibid.  a Young Roman, Qualified like the Gods, that carried on his Conquests as well by his Virtues as his Arms. Nothing can be finer; and the image the Historian gives us, of the Young Victor, produces an admirable Effect, through the Opposition he makes of his Virtue against Hannibal's Vices. 'Tis only by his good Nature and Clemency that Scipio Triumphs over the Carthaginians, whereas Hannibal Triumphs over the Romans by Savageness and Violence. The one is Plundering Provinces, and Battering Towns, whilst the other is winning the Hearts of the People, and Captivating their Souls by his Beneficence and Goodness.  
The last Books of this Decade contain the mighty Progress of Scipio's Arms in Africa: Hannibal is recalled to the Succour of Carthage, where he was Defeated, Carthage taken, and Scipio Triumphantly returned from Africa to Rome. Thus the End of this Decade, by its Opposition to the Beginning, where Hannibal drives on his Victories uncontrolled, is one of the finest Places of the History; especially by the new Road the Young Roman takes to Glory; contributing more to the Conquests of the Republic, by setting in the Minds of the People the Reputation of the Roman Virtue, than by giving Battle: For that Reputation becoming the Admiration of the Conquered Nations, was more Victorious than their Arms.  
After the Defeat of Carthage, the Glory of the Roman Name soared to a greater Height. The Victorious People, whose Renown was spread far and near, began to be looked upon as the Deliverer of other Nations. Thus Gloriously it is Represented by Livy, in the Fourth Decade. The Athenians Oppressed by Philip (the last of the Name) King of Macedon, implored the Assistance of the Senate. Publius Sulpitius was sent thither, who having Subdued all Greece, Proclaimed Peace to all the People by his Lieutenant Quintius, and restored them their Liberty; and in a Public Assembly for the Celebration of this Festival, was heard that saying, That, 
Esse gentem in terris, quae sua impensa ac pericu●o bella gerat pro libertate aliorum maria tra●iciat, ne quod toto orbe terrarum injustum imperium sit▪ ubique jus, f●ts, ●er potentissima sint. Lib. 33.  at last, there was a People in the World, born for the safety of all others, that crossed Seas, made Wars at its own Cost and Peril, to revenge the Oppressed, to establish Laws, causing them to be observed through the whole Earth, and to maintain the public Security.  
The Historian afterward opens the mystery how Hannibal became suspected by his Countrymen, upon advice that he entertained a constant Correspondence with King Antiochus, to oblige him to declare War against the Romans: That was it which this Great Man Banished out of his Country, and as it were a Vagabond abroad, voted in that King's Council; that if he would make War as he should do, with the Romans, he must attack them in their own Territories, and Fight them at Rome as he himself had done: There is a greatness of Soul, and a loftiness of Thought in what the Historian makes him speak, and suiting with the Character of Hannibal: 'tis in the Thirty-fourth Book. There is something Rare and Uncommon in point of Adventure in the accidental meeting of this Commander, and Scipio who was made Lieutenant to his Brother, as it is related in the following Book. Undoubtedly it creates a very agreeable surprise, as it needs must, to see two Great Generals who had disputed the Empire of the World at the head of two potent Armies meeting by chance at Ephesus, and coldly giving their Opinion as two private Men, in a Sedate, and unpassionate Discourse of the pre-eminence of the Greatest Officers, who have made the most noise in the World. In fine, Hannibal suspected by his Citizens, and hated by all the World, is constrained to fly to Ephesus: his flight contains several Adventures, which render that part of the History very Curious, as being of a Man of so great Importance, that every Step he makes is Considerable.  
But the Adventure of Scipio, accused before the People by Q. Petilius for having Converted part of the Spoils of King Antiochus to his own Coffer, is more surprising and remarkable through the giddiness of Fortune, and the injustice of the Roman People; and 'tis represented by the Historian with all the dignity so strange an Adventure does require. That Man of incomparable Virtue as well as Valour, made his Appearance at the Day prefixed by his Accuser. But instead of making his Defense to his Accusation, presumptuous upon his own Innocence, he spoke to the People assembled, to Condemn him, with a bold and undaunted Gallantry, and the Voice of a Conqueror: 
Celebratior is prope dies favore hominum, & aestimatione vere magnitudinis ejus fuit, quam quo triumphans de Syphace & Carthaginensibus urbem invectus. Lib. 38.  Such was the day wherein I took Carthage, beat Hannibal, and Vanquished the Carthaginians; let us go to the Capitol, and thank the Gods. The People surprised at so magnanimous a Carriage, left the Accuser, and followed Scipio: and that Day, says the Historian, was infinitely more Glorious to him, and advanced his Honour higher in the Opinion of the People, than that wherein he Triumphed over King Syphax, and the Carthaginians. Dissatisfied however with that Treatment, which manifested so much Disesteem, he Retreated to Linternum, a Countryseat of his towards Capua, where he died, sometime after, in the Embraces of his Family, as a private Person. The Portraiture of Cato, delineated in the Thirty-ninth Book, on occasion of the Dignity of Censor, which he Canvased with the Scipio's, Valerius Flaccus, Furius, and other Persons of note in the Senate, is a Masterpiece. 'Tis pleasant to see how Resembling it all is, upon the Notion a Man has of the Austerity of Virtue in that Great Man: For that portraiture is so singular, in all the features that compose it, that whether it is like nothing, or whether it resembles its original, all is touched off with an admirable Air. That which the Historian brings him in speaking, against the Luxury of Women, in the Thirty-fourth Book, to put in Execution the Oppian Law, which regulated the Expense of Habits, and retrenched the Prodigality therein; and against the Nocturnal Devotion, described in the Thirty-ninth Book, wherewith they mixed all the Horror of the most dissolute Practices, and abominable Debauchery in the World, has much of the Spirit of a rigid Censor of Manners. The Speeches he makes against the Disorders, which the Wars of Asia had brought into Rome, by infusing Effeminacy, Licentiousness, and a Prostitution of Youth, which tended to its utter Ruin, bear the Stamp of a sincere and Great Man, who contributed with the Old Senators, to the Preservation of that Wisdom, Probity, Hatred of Injustice, love of Equity, and horror of Vice, which prevailed in the Senate at that time: And all this has its Effect in the End of that Decade; where the Historian presents us with the Spirit and Character of the Republic, then subsisting. The Death of Annibal, who had retired to Prusias, King of Bythinia, after the Defeat of Antiochus (having Poisoned himself to avoid falling into the Hands of Flaminius) is very moving at the End of the Thirty-ninth Book: One is concerned to see so great a Man Die in such a manner; and that Particular prepared so finely, with such remarkable Events, is of a singular Excellence.  
But it must be acknowleged, that nothing is more pompous or magnificent than the Entrance of the Forty-third Book, where Livy sets forth the Generality of the People of Greece, and Asia after the subduing Macedonia, sending their Ambassadors to Rome, to implore the Protection of the Senate, and to submit themselves to the Republic: All that Part is described in that Triumphant Character, which usually accompanies the happy Conquerors. The Historian himself there strikes on such a Key, as lets us know he is Apprehensive of the good Fortune of his Country and the Merit of his Subject. The Defeat of Perses in the Forty-fourth Book, happening upon occasion of an Horse, that escaped the Hands of his Servants, and was the Cause of the Battle, which the Two Armies, encamped upon the opposite Banks of a little River, would willingly have avoided, has something surprising in it; and indeed nothing is finer in an History than great Events, caused by trifling Accidents, as this, which is very Remarkable upon the Wonder it raises.  
The Oration the Ambassadors of Rhodes make before the Senate, in the Forty-fifth Book, is fine, lofty and eloquent; nothing comes nearer the Discourses Thucydides attributes to the Deputies of States and Commonwealths, in his History of the Peloponnesian War: Nothing can be more fitly compared with him, in that very Kind in which his Excellence lay; nor is there any thing more like that manner of speaking, he gives the Towns and States whose History he Writes. Paulus Emilius' Voyage through Greece, after he had Conquered it, his Visiting the Provinces to observe what was Remarkable for Antiquity, or for the Rarity and Excellence of the Work, is handsomely Described in the Forty-fifth Book. Every Town has its peculiar Character, its Order and Distinction; and the Historian, by giving us a fine Notion of the Country, heightens the Victories and Advantages of his own.  
All this receives an additional Greatness in the remainder of that History, after the Defeat of Perses, which was the concluding Blow of that long and hazardous War of Macedonia; and the Roman Name was exalted to its highest Pitch of Glory. In effect, the Senate had scarce any other Employment, than the answering the Requests of Kings, and ordering their Destinies. 'Tis no longer the Ambassadors of Kings and Crowned Heads: Here are the Kings of Syria and Egypt, of Bythinia and Pergamus; here is Ptolemy, and his Sister Cleopatra, who make the Senate the Arbiter of their Difference; here's King Massinissa sending his Two Sons to Rome, to Congratulate the Republic, in his Name, for the Defeat of Perses: Here's Prusias King of Bythinia, accompanying his Son Nicomedes, and presenting him to the Republic, to take him under its Protection: Here's Perses fastened to Emilius' Chariot, with his Two Sons, to render the Triumph of the Conqueror, more Arrogant and Glorious, as had done Gentius King of Illyricum, with his Wife and Children, overcome by the Praetor Anicius. In fine, not to repeat what I have already observed, at the End of the Abridgement I have made of the History in the Fifth Chapter, we may say, there is nothing Comparable to the Idea Livy gives of the Grandeur and Glory of the Republic in those Times: That never History went upon so great a Subject; nor ever Historian supported the Dignity of the Matter with a greater Majesty and Force of Expression. That Picture the Author draws of Prusias King of Bythinia, who takes Pride in being a Denizen of the Roman People, which he Treats, according to Polybius, 
Polybius eum regem indignum majestate neminis tanti tradit. R●mae quoque cum veniret in cu●tam summisisse se, & osculo limen curiae contigisse & Deos servatores nos Senatum appellasse, aliamque orationem non tam honorificam audientibus quam sibi deformem habuisse Tit Liv. 45. sub finem.  with the most prostituted Flattery, is well worthy of him and that Purity of of Morals he so highly Professes: Herewith he concludes the Forty-fifth Book; for the rest of it is lost.  
How Glorious, would it be, should we have the Residue of the History which is lost, and the Description of those great Transactions of the following Times, I would say the Particulars of Scipio's Victories, the adopted Son of Paulus Emilius, who subdued Africa to the Romans: those times wherein Thebes, Calcis, Corinth, Numantia, were seen levelled to the Ground, and following the Destiny of Carthage? Those Celebrated Wars against Jugurtha and Mithridates? Those terrible Seditions, that began to make Head in the Republic through Cinna, Marius and Sylla's abusing their Power, which the Success of their Arms conspiring with that Degeneracy, Abundance and Luxury had infused into the Generality, and their own Fortune had given them?  
What should we say, did there but remain in this mighty Work, any Track of those great Expeditions of Sertorius into Spain, of Marius upon the Cimbri and Teutons, and of Pompey into Asia, Cesar amongst the Gauls, and in all the North? The mutual Jealousy of those Two Great Generals who caused a Civil War? The Sequels of that War, so fatal to the Romans, which went near the Destruction of Rome, by the Revolution of the Government? Finally, should we see in this Historian, those ghastly Representations of the Republic, ripped open to her very Bowels, by the Hands of her own Children? Of the Senate broken into Parties, of Italy in Distraction, and of all the Universe almost in Disorder and Confusion? Should we see the establishment of the Empire, the Death of Cesar, stabbed by the Senate, the Triumvirate of Octavius, the Defeat of Antony, the Triumph of Augustus, and all the great Objects of those unfortunate Times, which doubtless made the finest part of Livy's History, as being the most memorable Events of the Roman Commonwealth; For why should we not reckon up all the Beauties and excellent Works that came from his Hands, and were only lost through the Negligence or perhaps Ignorance, and corrupt Palate of the succeeding Ages.  
But I pretend not to have Remarked all the Delicacies of this Author; I have only mentioned those I myself was most Affected with; a Man must go quite through with him, that would do the Historian Justice. And to speak more freely upon the Point, he must fetch a vaster compass, than the Bounds I have prescribed myself would admit. This may suffice for an Essay, to Judge of the rest by, without being mistaken.   

CHAP. VIII.  
The Decision of the Comparison.  
ANd now having examined the Advantages and Disadvantages of these Two Historians, Their Persons, their Genius, their Subjects, their Histories, and the Faults and Excellencies of each; it may be determined which ought to have the Preference. But seeing they mutually Excel each other, in several Particulars, to hold the Balance even, and do them all the Justice that is possible, here is, in my Opinion, what we ought to think, and say of One and the Other. They are both Equally above that exact and scrupulous Niceness, which too Studiously affects a perfect Regularity; since they were only made for great Things, and the Elevation of their Genius, would not permit them to stoop to so mean Regards. They had in the same degree of Perfection, an admirable Judgement in the Choice of their Thoughts, and in expressing them Nobly: They had an exquisite sense for the natural Turn of Expression, which is the effect of a mature Judgement, and they were skilled in the choice of Words, which enlivened the Expressions most, and were most proper to declare their Meaning; they were equally industrious to avoid flashy and glittering Words, and to stick to the more ordinary and significant: Both of them have more of a figurative, than a proper Style, knowing that one made greater impression than the other; but their Discretion in this Practice was equally admirable in both, being ever happy in the Images and Representations of their Thoughts, wherein we may always discover the Footsteps and Tracks of Nature. Thus there has been but very few Authors, every way so Accomplished, as these Two Historians; for there is nothing but is judiciously and happily Imagined in them both.  
They have both a Sublimity, ever maintained with, and founded on Reason; a thing not known to other Historians. They both endeavoured to copy Nature, and this they proposed as their main End. They are just in their Comparison, Easy in their Figures, and happy in their Metaphors. Livy is richer in his Expression, is more Copious, and fuller of Variety, and has more of those passionate Strokes that affect the Mind. But Thucydides has Expressions more strong, Colours more terrible, and Strokes more lively, and seems to make more forcible Impressions on the Thoughts: He likewise gives more Action and Motion to his Speech; and by enclosing a great deal of Sense in a little room, he leaves more to the Imagination and Conjecture of his Reader. But Livy is sure to please more, because to the force and vehemence of Expression, he adds all the sweetnesses, and graces of Art, he is as Florid and Agreeable as he pleases, by the Art he has of Tempering his Discourse, with such fine and delicate Airs; by giving it those enchanting Turns; and by the Method he found out of joining to that Dignity, upon which he ever bottoms his Discourse, all the Easiness and Simplicity requisite to make it Natural. Besides that Livy has a greater abundance of Matter, and more order and variety in the Events he represents, there is moreover something unaccountably sweet and insinuating in his Transitions, which renders him so smooth and easy, that in Reading him, a Man is conveyed from one Subject to another, without being sensible of the Motion; so dextrously he order his Matters, and threads his Discourse. He marches, or makes a halt, advances, or takes breath, as his Occasion or his Pleasure is, and no Man is aware of it. The Greek is great in his Words, and little in his Events, which are generally inconsiderable. The Roman is great in both, and is very singular in the Art he has of drawing out at length extraordinary Events, in all their train of Circumstances. For he postures them with Design, and collects them with Discretion, by avoiding all Superfluous Particulars; and herein it is he is generally so Alluring; for nothing engages a Reader more, than that Choice of necessary Circumstances, singled out from those that are less useful.  
Nor are only his Ideas more noble, but also the Affairs he treats of, and the Adventures he describes; are of more weight and moment; and the Persons he introduces, are of a more exalted Character: For what can a Man find in Thucydides a Match for Hannibal, and the Scipio's; for Pompey or Cesar; and all those mighty Names the Roman History abounds with? Again, the Virtues which Livy proposes, present themselves in all their formalities, that is in their beginnings and their progress; than which nothing can be more Delightful in an History; which is neither so distinct, nor sufficiently observed in Thucydides. Livy has a more rich, a more embellished, and a more fruitful Imagination; he has more fire and liveliness in his Expression: His Project is greater, and the contrivance of his Design more magnificent. That Majestic Strain of Talking, which is Natural to him; that Elegance he shows in little Subjects; all that admirable Art of Rhetoric, with an exquisite Choice of Words; and all those other Qualities, which distinguish him from the Rest of the World, give him a vast Advantage over Thucydides; who by a dry, unsavoury and austere way of Speaking, has nothing by way of Show and Ostentation: Whereas the other knows how to manage all this to his use, and practise it according to the necessity of his Subject, without any Appearance of Study or Affectation. And those favourable places of Eloquence, where one may play the Passions, and all those secret Engines, which move the Soul, are much frequenter in Livy, by reason of those great Concerns he is engaged in, and which furnish his History.  
There seems too to be in Livy, more Purity, better Construction; greater Order and Regularity, throughout his Discourse: Which Thucydides troubled not his Head with; nay, in some measure, he affected to be disorderly in his Expressions: And indeed, he talks best of War, especially of the Sea, and Naval Expeditions, having made that his Exercise and Employment. But it must be confessed, that Livy gives us a better Opinion of the Romans, than Thucydides of the Greeks; though at the same time they have both pursued the Truth of the History; and the Greek Historian is not to be blamed, if the Portraitures he copies, want that Beauty which the others have; for as much as he makes not the Characters, but represents them only. It must be owned too that the Athenian People were more intractable, and headstrong than the Romans; because their Power was not poised, with such Politic Mediums, as was that of Rome: And that which was haughtiness in the Greeks, was true virtue in the Romans, and a Nobleness of Soul. Livy too had a great Advantage over Thucydides, from the Nature of his Subject; which was not only more Fortunate, but more Stately also and Magnificent: For 'tis the Empire of the World, 'tis all the Universe he grasps into his History, whilst Thucydides is confined to a little piece of a Continent, an inconsiderable Spot of Ground: But this may be said in his Commendation, that he has expressed more Artifice in supporting the Meanness of his Subject; he has shown a great deal of Dexterity, in improving so harsh and barren a Soil, into so rich, and, in some measure, fertile a capacity; and herein consists the Greatness of his Merit, that he has raised so Disadvantageous a Subject; to so high a Value as it bears. It is true, Livy takes Pleasure to open the growing Grandeur of the Republic by degrees, striking always at his Mark, which is his Country's Glory. Thucydides had scarce such Thoughts in's Head; he follows the beaten Road, without turning to the Right-hand, or the Left.  
Livy's Beginning bears more Proportion to the rest of his History; but however great was his Design, there is nothing haughty in the Proposition of it. Thucydides' Entrance on a particular History, is too universal. It would have served for an Exordium to a general History of all Greece, and have given us a complete Notion of it.  
After all, they are Both of them mighty Artists, Admirably skilled in expressing the Passions in their proper Characters, and natural Colours. Livy has a softer, and a sweeter Hand; Thucydides has something strangely serious and grave in his way of Painting. The Morals of them both are uncorrupt, pure, exact and honest; they have great Principles of Virtue, admirable Maxims of the Public Good, a noble Taste of Things, and are very experienced in Decency and good Breeding. To this may be added that they are Equals, and Rivals in the Love of Truth; they are Men of an untainted Honesty, of an inviolable Fidelity and Sincerity on all Occasions.  
One might possibly, to push the Comparison as far as it will go, compare Thucydides' Description, in the beginning of the Eighth Book, of the Event, the News of the entire Rout of the Athenian by the Syracusian Army had, with the Effect the News of the Battle at Canna caused at Rome. The Picture Livy makes of the Consternation the People of Rome were in, after that Defeat, is not so Circumstantiated as that of Thucydides, but it is more greatly Expressed. There appears not that Resolution in the Athenians, as in the People of Rome, supported by the Senate, and the Grandees of the Republic; and all well considered, the Latin Historians Genius seems to have the Ascendant over the Grecians.  
After all, 'tis confessed, Thucydides is much exacter in his Logic, that he is more Elevated in his Reasonings, that he has greater Principles and nobler Thoughts, in several places, than Livy, and that he makes greater Impressions on the Soul; but the other is always more agreeable and moving; the one gives his Colours Strength, the other Charms and Liveliness. What Masterly Strokes, what bold Expressions are in the former, what variety in the latter? Thucydides chooses rather to be Solid than Polite; Livy has found the Method of being Solid and Polite together; and of joining all the Elegance and fineness of Words, with the Solidness of Things: The one is great on no other Bottom than himself; the other is so, through the nature of his Subject, and his manner of treating it. The one has nothing but Strength and Vigour; The other has the Art of Tempering that Masculine Vigour with the softest Charms, such a Work as his is capable of.  
Finally, to draw to a Conclusion, Livy has been incomparably Happier in his choice, in his project, in the performance and success of his Work; which leads the Reader step by step, from contemptible Beginnings, through extraordinary, and sometimes miraculous Events, to a Glorious end; that represents the Roman People, risen from a base and scandalous Extraction, to such a Pinnacle of Glory, as never People yet arrived to: This History displays all the Motions and Progress of that Glory, through its Obstacles and Oppositions, which make it appear the brighter; and it displays that growing Greatness, conducted to its highest Pitch and Elevation, through all the several Degrees of its Perfection. This is the thing wherein it is so Admirable: For nothing is so Charming and Delightful, as to see the Representation of the Beginnings and birth of things, gradually increasing, and a great Design methodically accomplished, and brought to its Perfection: In which point, Thucydides's History is nothing Comparable: The Peloponnesian War, which is the principal Design, aims at nothing but the weakening the Two States that strove for the Empire of Greece. The succession of that War has nothing of Connexion or Coherence; it is interrupted by a multitude of Occurrencies that have no Analogy to the End of it; and that End is neither happy for the One nor the other: Thus it leaves the Reader's Mind discontented, at least very little satisfied with a Story, whereof it retains no Idea, but of Battles and Orations.  
But if so, than the Comparison of these Two Authors is very unequal, and Livy has much the better of Thucydides; which yet I cannot absolutely Agree to, if a Man considers them by themselves, and in their Personal Merit: I add too, that probably Thucydides had Excelled Livy, had he been equally Happy in the Choice of a Subject: For he is not at all Inferior to him, in the natural Solidity of good Sense; in that exactness, or rather severity of Reason that accompanies all he says: I question too, whether Livy argues always in the Justness of Thucydides; 'tis true, he has always a nobleness of Expression in his Narration; but 'tis to be doubted, whether he has all that Simplicity, which should go into the Character of a perfect Historian.  
Thus then, to decide the Controversy, and precisely to Declare the Preference, it is requisite we return to the Stating the essential Character of an Historian, and determine whether Truth is all that is required in him; whether it is enough merely to recommend Truth to our Understanding, & not endear it to our Affections, by His manner of speaking and describing it; for Simplicity is all that's required to a Discourse, to discover the Truth of it: But to make the Reader in love with it, when presented to him, there must be a great deal more; there must be purity of Language, nobleness of Expression, loftiness of Thought, and much variety in his Narration: It ought to be known, whether Truth is not charming and attractive enough, through its own native Brightness, and naked Simplicity, without the assistance of Paint and Artifice; and whether she is not spoiled of her natural Ornaments, and such as really become her, by that customary Wash and Dress they bestow on her. For if so, then Thucydides, who has the most Plainness and Simplicity, is to be preferred before Livy: And on the contrary, if Truth ought to become Agreeable and Lovely, by the Charms and Beauty of Discourse, Livy must be awarded the Precedence. Here is something to exercise nice and curious Wits, to whose Sentence I refer my own, being not Confident and bold enough, myself, to pass the Verdict.   
FINIS.   

A Catalogue of Books Printed for, and Sold by Anthony Peisley in Oxford.  
DOctor Campion's Sermon of National Providence. Oxf. 1694.  
Dr. Hody's Letter to a Friend in Defense of the Baro●cian Manuscript. Oxf. 1692.  
Pliny's Panegyric upon Folly, Englished by Mr. Kennet.  
Barrow in Euclidem. Lond. 1678.  
Walker ' s Antidote on Rom. 13. 1.  
Pia Desideria in Engl. Lond. 1690.  
Tullii Enchiridion. Oxon. 1683.  
Plain Discourses on the Lord's Supper. Oxford, 1684.  
Boil of Cold, in Quarto.  
Stierii Philosophia, Lond. 1679.  
boil's Sceptical Chemist. Oxf. 1680.  
Smith & Brerewoodi Logica. 12o.  
Barnesii Catholicus Romanus Pacificus. 8o.  
Burgersdicii Metaphysica. 12o.  
Carpenterii Decades. Octavo.  
Ashwel de Socino.  
A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of John Earl of Rochester by Mr. Parsons.  
Ellis' Gentile Sinner. Twelve.  
Dr. Bohun of Winds. Octavo.  
Absalon and Achitophel, in Latin. 4o.  
Frazer's Sermon.  
Lysimachus Nicanor' s Epistles. 4o. o  
Pasquin's Voyage to the other World. 8o.  
Gardineri Orationes. 12o.  
Burgersdicii Idea Philosophia, 12o.  
Des Cartes Ethicae. 8o.  
Cassandrus de Officio. 8o.  
Holland's Globe Notes. 8o.  
Winstanley's Lives of the Engl. Poets. 8o.  
Bertram on the Sacrament. 8o.  
Jackson's Pueriles Confabulatiunculae. 8o.  
Novum Test. Beza Lat. 12o.  
Livii Orationes 12o.  
Virgilius Notis Minellii.  
Cole de Secretione. 12o.  
Cosin's Tabulae. Fol.  
Willis Pharmacenticae. Cum Figuris, 8o.  
Lactantii Opera, cum Notis Tho. Sparks, Oxon è Theatro, 1684.  
Smith Epist. Quatuor.