Note 131 — Chapter I · OF CONCORD. (continued 2)

In this and similar examples, the word only has been generally considered as an adjective, equivalent to solus. Thus, if we say, ille solum erat dives, it means, “he was only rich,” or “he was nothing but rich.” If we say, ille solus erat dives, it means, “he only,” or “he alone was rich.” In the latter example, the word only has been termed an adjective. It is from the equivalence of the words only and alone, in such examples as the latter, that several writers have employed them, as if, in all cases, synonymous. They are by no means, however, of the same import. Thus, if we say, “virtue alone is true nobility,” it means “virtue singly, or by itself, is true nobility;” if we say, “virtue only is true nobility,” it implies that nothing but virtue is true nobility. The expressions, therefore, are not equivalent. Both sentiments are conveyed in the following passage:

The same observations are applicable to the collocation of the numeral term first, as equivalent either to primus or primum; and also to the position of many other words, which are used adjectively and adverbially. The classical scholar needs not to be informed, that Annibal primus, and Annibal primum—Alpes transiit, are not expressions mutually convertible.