In another example from the same paragraph of the 2nd Philippic, with alternation of M, R, and L, Cicero says: "that by dying I may leave the Roman people free." Some orators evidently used alliteration too much, however, causing the author of the (c. 80 BC) to complain about "the excessive use of the same letter". Among historians Nepos, according to Rolfe, used it "to excess". The following sentence is an example: "We approve especially of the same historian Thucydides, who says that he (Themistocles) died in Magnesia of an illness, but he does not deny that there is a rumour that he took poison of his own accord when he was despairing that he would be able to deliver what he had promised the King concerning the conquering of Greece." Tacitus did not make great of use alliteration generally, but was fond of alliterative pairs of words such as "generosity and extravagance" or "by laziness of the generals, and insurrection of the legions". Alliteration became very frequent again in north African authors of the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.: "It occurs on almost every page of Apuleius, Fronto, and Tertullian, and is very common in Cyprian." An example from Apuleius, in which the alliteration is reinforced by the rhythm of the line: "Not even the god of Delphi himself would easily discern which of the two of us lying there was the more dead" Another example from Apuleius, using compound alliteration of Pr and Pl, is the following: "So the news spread through the nearest islands and a good part of the mainland and most of the provinces" Kenney compares the following sentence of Tacitus, with similar alliteration but less extensive: "from where his fame, having been carried to the islands and having spread through the nearest provinces, was celebrated throughout Italy also." Statistical studies Some scholars have performed statistical studies on different poets. Clarke (1976) compared Virgil and Ovid, finding minor differences in their usage. For example, Ovid tends frequently to put alliterating words in the first half of the verse, while Virgil is more likely to put them in the second half. In both poets, the most likely position for an alliterating word is after the 3rd-foot caesura, and the second most common the beginning of the verse. Often there is alliteration in both of these places at once, as in the following line of Ovid: "flesh