Читать книгу The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated онлайн

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I have observed already, that when the superlative is employed, the things compared are referred to one aggregate; and that when the comparative is used, they are contradistinguished by a different reference. This distinction obtains uniformly, unless when we compare only two individuals, or two classes, both referred to one aggregate, as “the elder of the Catos,” “of these two nations (speaking of the Greeks and Romans), the latter were the more warlike.” In such examples as these, the comparative, while it retains its own distinctive character, denoting simple excess, partakes also of the nature of the superlative, the objects compared being referred by the preposition to one and the same aggregate. But as the superlative is always followed by of, and the comparative, in every case except the one now mentioned, followed by than, some writers say, “the eldest of the two,” “the latter were the most warlike.” This phraseology, however conformable to the generally distinguished usage of the comparative and superlative, is repugnant to the characteristic power of these degrees, by which one denotes simple excess, while the other heightens or lessens the quality to its highest or lowest degree.