This great pageant of history is presented by Tacitus in a style which, in its sombre yet gorgeous colouring, is unique in literature. In mere grammatical mechanism it bears close affinity to the other Latin writing of the period, but in all its more intimate qualities it is peculiar to Tacitus alone; he founded his own style, and did not transmit it to any successor. The influence of Virgil over prose reaches in him its most marked degree. Direct transferences of phrase are not infrequent; and throughout, as one reads the _Histories,_ one is reminded of the _Aeneid,_ not only by particular phrases, but by a more indefinable quality permeating the style. The narrative of the siege and firing of the Capitol, to take one striking instance, is plainly from the hand of a writer saturated with the movement and language of Virgil's _Sack of Troy_. A modern historian might have quoted Virgil in a note; with Tacitus the Virgilian reminiscences are interwoven with the whole structure of his narrative. The whole of the three fine chapters will repay minute comparison; but some of the more striking resemblances are worth noting as a study in language. _Erigunt aciem_, says the historian, _usque ad primas Capitolinae arcis fores ... in tectum egressi saxis tegulisque Vitellianos obruebant ... ni revolsas undique statuas, decora maiorum, in ipso aditu obiecissent ... vis propior atque acrior ingruebat ... quam non Porsena dedita urbe neque Galli temerare potuissent ... inrumpunt Vitelliani et cuncta sanguine ferro flammisque miscent_. We seem to be present once more at that terrible night in Troy-- _Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus ... Evado ad summi fastigia culminis ... ... turres ac tecta domorum Culmina convellunt ... ... veterum decora alia parentum Devolvunt ... nec saxa, nec ullum Telorum interea cessat genus ... ... armorumque ingruit horror ... ... et iam per moenia clarior ignis Auditur, propiusque aestus incendia volvunt ... Quos neque Tydides, nec Larissaeus Achilles, Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae ... Fit via vi; rumpunt aditus primosque trucidant Inmissi Danai, et late loca milite complent._ These quotations indicate strikingly enough the way in which Tacitus is steeped in the Virgilian manner and diction. The whole passage must be read continuously to realise the immense skill with which he uses it, and the tragic height it adds to the narrative.