thereby reducing the influence of thrust changes on longitudinal control.
A bit of thread drift....
And also, lateral control, in the case of an engine failure. Having the (most commonly two) engines very close to the centerline also means that if power is lost on one, the yawing moment created by the remaining engine is much less than it would be for a much more outboard under wing engine, so a smaller fin and rudder may be adequate for yaw control.