Affirmative Final Clauses in the Latin Historians

R. B. Steele discusses the number of occurrences and some of the most noticeable examples of the different forms used by the Latin historians to express purpose, mostly those subjunctive clauses introduced by 'ut'. Such constructions are quite common in Latin prose and are of particular importance in historiography, where the shade of the construction expressing purpose can carry a great weight of meaning to the narrative. The results of his survey show a movement from variety to a more limited range of constructions from Sallust to later authors, allowing other pieces of prose to be more easily dated. This is both a helpful supplement to a student of the Latin language and a stylistic piece for readers of Latin history.