The Works of Cornelius Tacitus ... By A. Murphy. A new edition, with the author's last corrections

Front matter

. C t 1 S Tr\g> I io/,:;,o,i //f ,/,/'' ''. *.*.*/ //y/y//:. AN i 101 i \'-\y\ Plnladi*l|iliia Thomas Wanll* Is Minor Stitfl I 8 3 t? THE WORKS OF CORNELIUS TACITUS; WITH AN ESSAY ON HIS LIFE AND GENIUS, NOTES, SUPPLEMENTS, &c. By ARTHUR MURPHY, Esq. Præcipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque pravis dictis sactisque ex poatcritale et infamia metus sit. — Tacitus, Annales, iii. G5. A NEW EDITION WITH THE AUTHOR'S LAST CORRECTIONS. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY THOMAS WARDLE, No. 11 MINOR STREET. MDCCCXXXVI. DEDICATION. TO THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE. Sib, Yod will be surprised to see your name at the head of this address ; but 1 flatter myself that the liberty which I take, in violation of all preliminary forms, will not require an apology. As soon as I had finished a long and laborious work, with the ambition of adding to English literature (what seemed to be much wanted) a translation of a great historian, it was natural that I should look round for a person of genius and learning, from whose candour I can promise myself a just, but mild, decision.

This, Sir, was the practice in ancient times, when the republic of letters was considered as an honourable community, and the several members addressed their works to one another with a spirit of freedom and integrity, till the manners underwent a change, and, adulation diffusing its baneful influence, dedication became another word for servile flattery. It is not my intention to conform to the modern practice ; but, though I know what a small, if any, portion of ancient genius has fallen to my lot, I claim the privilege of imitating the disinterested manners of a liberal age. I beg leave to dedicate my labours to the person whose talents I have long admired ; to the man whom I saw many vears ago coming forth from the school of Quintilian, impressed with the great principle of that consummate master, ne futurum quidem oratorem, nisi bonum virum.

In the part which you have acted on the great stage of public business, the effect of that principle has been seen and acknowledged ; but in no instance with such distinguished lustre, as when we saw you, on a late occasion, with a patriot spirit, standing forth the champion of Truth, of your country, and the British constitution. Per obstantes catervas Explicuit sua victor anna. The regicides of Prance had the vanity to offer their new lights and wild metaphysics to a people who have understood and cherished civil liberty from the invasion of Julius Cæsar to the present hour ; but your penetrating eye pervaded the whole, and, in one book, demonstrated, that so far from being objects of imitation, the new politicians of France were no better than Architects of Rdin. The Friends of the People in that country have been for years employed in proving, by all their acts and decrees, the truth of your reasoning ; they have been, I may say, writing Notes on your book, and the Commentary has been fatally too often written in blood.