Germania and Agricola
by
Caius Cornelius Tacitus
Part 2 out of 4
occuparet: et cetera utcumque facilius dissimulari: ducis boni
imperatoriam virtutem esse. Talibus curis exercitus, quodque saevae
cogitationis indicium erat, secreto suo satiatus, optimum in praesentia
statuit reponere odium, donec impetus famae et favor exercitus
languesceret: nam etiam tum Agricola Britanniam obtinebat.
XL. Igitur triumphalia ornamenta et illustris statuae honorem et quidquid
pro triumpho datur, multo verborum honore cumulata, decerni in senatu
jubet; addique insuper opinionem, Syriam provinciam Agricolae destinari,
vacuam tum morte Atilii Rufi consularis et majoribus reservatam.
Credidere plerique libertum ex secretioribus ministeriis missum ad
Agricolam codicillos, quibus ei Syria dabatur, tulisse cum praecepto, ut,
si in Britannia foret, traderentur: eumque libertum in ipso freto Oceani
obvium Agricolae, ne appellato quidem eo, ad Domitianum remeasse: sive
verum istud, sive ex ingenio principis fictum ac compositum est.
Tradiderat interim Agricola successori suo provinciam quietam tutamque.
Ac, ne notabilis celebritate et frequentia occurrentium introitus esset,
vitato amicorum officio, noctu in urbem, noctu in palatium, ita ut
praeceptum erat, venit: exceptusque brevi osculo et nullo sermone turbae
servientium immixtus est. Ceterum, ut militare nomen, grave inter
otiosos, aliis virtutibus temperaret, tranquillitatem atque otium penitus
auxit, cultu modicus, sermone facilis, uno aut altero amicorum comitatus;
adeo ut plerique quibus magnos viros per ambitionem aestimare mos est,
viso aspectoque Agricola, quaererent famam, pauci interpretarentur.
XLI. Crebro per eos dies apud Domitianum absens accusatus, absens
absolutus est. Causa periculi non crimen ullum aut querela laesi
cujusquam, sed infensus virtutibus princeps et gloria viri ac pessimum
inimicorum genus, laudantes. Et ea insecuta sunt reipublicae tempora,
quae sileri Agricolam non sinerent: tot exercitus in Moesia Daciaque et
Germania Pannoniaque, temeritate aut per ignaviam ducum amissi: tot
militares viri cum tot cohortibus expugnati et capti: nec jam de limite
imperii et ripa, sed de hibernis legionum et possessione dubitatum. Ita,
cum damna damnis continuarentur atque omnis annus funeribus et cladibus
insigniretur, poscebatur ore vulgi dux Agricola: comparantibus cunctis
vigorem, constantiam et expertum bellis animum cum inertia et formidine
ceterorum. Quibus sermonibus satis constat Domitiani quoque aures
verberatas, dum optimus quisque libertorum amore et fide, pessimi
malignitate et livore, pronum deterioribus principem exstimulabant. Sic
Agricola simul suis virtutibus, simul vitiis aliorum, in ipsam gloriam
praeceps agebatur.
XLII. Aderat jam annus, quo proconsulatum Asiae et Africae sortiretur, et
occiso Civica nuper nec Agricolae consilium deerat, nec Domitiano
exemplum. Accessere quidam cogitationum principis periti, qui, iturusne
esset in provinciam, ultro Agricolam interrogarent: ac primo occultius
quietem et otium laudare, mox operam suam in approbanda excusatione
offerre: postremo non jam obscuri, suadentes simul terrentesque,
pertraxere ad Domitianum; qui paratus simulatione, in arrogantiam
compositus, et audiit preces excusantis, et, cum annuisset, agi sibi
gratias passus est: nec erubuit beneficii invidia. Salarium tamen,
proconsulari solitum offerri et quibusdam a se ipso concessum, Agricolae
non dedit: sive offensus non petitum, sive ex conscientia, ne, quod
vetuerat, videretur emisse. Proprium humani ingenii est, odisse quem
laeseris: Domitiani vero natura praeceps in iram, et quo obscurior, eo
irrevocabilior, moderatione tamen prudentiaque Agricolae leniebatur: quia
non contumacia neque inani jactatione libertatis famam fatumque
provocabat. Sciant. quibus moris illicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis
principibus magnos viros esse: obsequiumque ac modestiam, si industria ac
vigor adsint, eo laudis excedere, quo plerique per abrupta, sed in nullum
reipublicae usum, ambitiosa morte inclaruerunt.
XLIII. Finis vitae ejus nobis luctuosus, amicis tristis, extraneis etiam
ignotisque non sine cura fuit. Vulgus quoque et hic aliud agens populus
et ventitavere ad domum, et per fora et circulos locuti sunt: nec
quisquam audita morte Agricolae aut laetatus est aut statim oblitus.
Augebat miserationem constans rumor, veneno interceptum. Nobis nihil
comperti affirmare ausim: ceterum per omnem valetudinem ejus, crebrius
quam ex more principatus per nuntios visentis, et libertorum primi et
medicorum intimi venere: sive cura illud sive inquisitio erat. Supremo
quidem die, momenta deficientis per dispositos cursores nuntiata
constabat, nullo credente sic accelerari, quae tristis audiret. Speciem
tamen doloris animo vultuque prae se tulit, securus jam odii, et qui
facilius dissimularet gaudium, quam metum. Satis constabat, lecto
testamento Agricolae, quo cohaeredem optimae uxori et piissimae filiae
Domitianum scripsit, laetatum eum velut honore judicioque: tam caeca et
corrupta mens assiduis adulationibus erat, ut nesciret a bono patre non
scribi haeredem, nisi malum principem.
XLIV. Natus erat Agricola, Caio Caesare tertium consule, Idibus Juniis:
excessit sexto et quinquagesimo anno, decimo Kalendas Septembris, Collega
Priscoque consulibus. Quod si habitum quoque ejus posteri noscere velint,
decentior quam sublimior fuit; nihil metus in vultu, gratia oris
supererat bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter. Et ipse quidem,
quanquam medio in spatio integrae aetatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam,
longissimum aevum peregit. Quippe et vera bona, quae in virtutibus sita
sunt, impleverat, et consulari ac triumphalibus ornamentis praedito, quid
aliud adstruere fortuna poterat? Opibus nimiis non gaudebat; speciosae
contigerant. Filia atque uxore superstitibus, potest videri etiam beatus;
incolumi dignitate, florente fama, salvis affinitatibus et amicitiis,
futura effugisse. Nam sicuti durare in hac beatissimi saeculi luce ac
principem Trajanum videre, quod augurio votisque apud nostras aures
ominabatur, ita festinatae mortis grande solatium tulit, evasisse
postremum illud tempus, quo Domitianus non jam per intervalla ac
spiramenta temporum, sed continuo et velut uno ictu rempublicam exhausit.
XLV. Non vidit Agricola obsessam curiam, et clausum armis senatum, et
eadem strage tot consularium caedes, tot nobilissimarum feminarum exsilia
et fugas. Una adhuc victoria Carus Metius censebatur, et intra Albanam
arcem sententia Messalini strepebat, et Massa Bebius jam tum reus erat.
Mox nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus: nos Maurici Rusticique
visus, nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit. Nero tamen subtraxit
oculos jussitque scelera, non spectavit: praecipua sub Domitiano
miseriarum pars erat videre et aspici: cum suspiria nostra
subscriberentur; cum denotandis tot hominum palloribus sufficeret saevus
ille vultus et rubor, quo se contra pudorem muniebat. Tu vero felix,
Agricola, non vitae tantum claritate, sed etiam opportunitate mortis. Ut
perhibent qui interfuerunt novissimis sermonibus tuis, constans et libens
fatum excepisti; tanquam pro virili portione innocentiam principi
donares. Sed mihi filiaeque ejus, praeter acerbitatem parentis erepti,
auget moestitiam, quod assidere valetudini, fovere deficientem, satiari
vultu, complexu, non contigit: excepissemus certe mandata vocesque, quas
penitus animo figeremus. Noster hic dolor, nostrum vulnus: nobis tam
longae absentiae conditione ante quadriennium amissus est. Omnia sine
dubio, optime parentum, assidente amantissima uxore, superfuere honori
tuo: paucioribus tamen lacrimis compositus es, et novissima in luce
desideravere aliquid oculi tui.
XLVI. Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum
corpore exstinguuntur magnae animae, placide quiescas, nosque, domum
tuam, ab infirmo desiderio et muliebribus lamentis ad contemplationem
virtutum tuarum voces, quas neque lugeri neque plangi fas est:
admiratione te potius, te immortalibus laudibus, et, si natura
suppeditet, similitudine decoremus. Is verus honos, ea conjunctissimi
cujusque pietas. Id filiae quoque uxorique praeceperim, sic patris, sic
mariti memoriam venerari, ut omnia facta dictaque ejus secum revolvant,
formamque ac figuram animi magis quam corporis complectantur: non quia
intercedendum putem imaginibus, quae marmore aut aere finguntur; sed ut
vultus hominum, ita simulacra vultus imbecilla ac mortalia sunt; forma
mentis aeterna, quam tenere et exprimere non per alienam materiam et
artem, sed tuis ipse moribus possis. Quidquid ex Agricola amavimus,
quidquid mirati sumus, manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in
aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. Nam multos veterum, velut inglorios, et
ignobiles, oblivio obruet: Agricola posteritati narratus et traditus
superstes erit.
NOTES
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS.
Several words, which occur most frequently in the Notes, are abbreviated.
Of these the following classes may require explanation. The other
abbreviations are either familiar or sufficiently obvious of themselves.
1. WORKS OF TACITUS.
A. Agricola.
Ann. Annals.
G. Germania.
H. Histories.
T. Tacitus.
2. ANNOTATORS CITED AS AUTHORITIES.
Br. Brotier.
D. or Doed. Doederlein.
Dr. Dronke.
E. Ernesti.
Gr. Gruber.
Guen. Guenther.
K. Kiessling.
Ky. Kingsley.
Mur. Murphy.
Or. Orelli.
Pass. Passow.
R. Roth.
Rhen. Rhenanus.
Rit. Ritter.
Rup. Ruperti.
W. Walch.
Wr. Walther.
3. OTHER AUTHORITIES.
H. Harkness' Latin Grammar.
Beck. Gall. Becker's Gallus.
Boet. Lex. Tac. Boetticher's Lexicon Taciteun.
For. and Fac. Forcellini and Facciolati's Latin Lexicon.
Tur. His. Ang. Sax. Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons.
Z. Zumpt's Latin Grammar.
GERMANIA.
The Treatise DE SITU, MORIBUS ET POPULIS GERMANIAE, was written (as
appears from the treatise itself see Sec. 37) in the second consulship of
the Emperor Trajan, A.U.C. 851, A.D. 98. The design of the author in its
publication has been variously interpreted. From the censure which it
frequently passes upon the corruption and degeneracy of the times, it has
been considered as a mere satire upon Roman manners, in the age of
Tacitus. But to say nothing of the ill adaptation of the whole plan to a
satirical work, there are large parts of the treatise, which must have
been prepared with great labor, and yet can have no possible bearing on
such a design. Satires are not wont to abound in historical notices and
geographical details, especially touching a foreign and distant land.
The same objection lies against the _political_ ends, which have been
imputed to the author, such as the persuading of Trajan to engage, or
_not_ to engage, in a war with the Germans, as the most potent and
dangerous enemy of Rome. For both these aims have been alleged, and we
might content ourselves with placing the one as an offset against the
other. But aside from the neutralizing force of such contradictions,
wherefore such an imposing array of geographical research, of historical
lore, of political and moral philosophy, for the accomplishment of so
simple a purpose? And why is the purpose so scrupulously concealed, that
confessedly it can be gathered only from obscure intimations, and those
of ambiguous import? Besides, there are passages whose tendency must have
been directly counter to either of these alleged aims (cf. note Sec. 33).
The author does indeed, in the passage just cited, seem to appreciate
with almost prophetic accuracy, those dangers to the Roman Empire, which
were so fearfully illustrated in its subsequent fall beneath the power of
the German Tribes; and he utters, as what true Roman would not in such
forebodings, the warnings and the prayers of a patriot sage. But he does
this only in episodes, which are so manifestly incidental, and yet arise
so naturally out of the narrative or description, that it is truly
surprising it should ever have occurred to any reader, to seek in them
the key to the whole treatise.
The entire warp and woof of the work is obviously _historical_ and
_geographical_. The satire, the political maxims, the moral sentiments,
and all the rest, are merely incidental, interwoven for the sake of
instruction and embellishment, inwrought because a mind so thoughtful and
so acute as that of Tacitus, could not leave them out. Tacitus had long
been collecting the materials for his Roman Histories. In so doing, his
attention was necessarily drawn often and with special interest to a
people, who, for two centuries and more, had been the most formidable
enemy of the Roman State. In introducing them into his history, he would
naturally wish to give some preliminary account of their origin, manners,
and institutions, as he does in introducing the Jews in the Fifth Book of
his Histories, which happens to be, in part, preserved. Nor would it be
strange, if he should, with this view, collect a mass of materials, which
he could not incorporate entire into a work of such compass, and which
any slight occasion might induce him to publish in a separate form,
perhaps as a sort of forerunner to his Histories. [It has even been
argued by highly respectable scholars, that the Germania of Tacitus is
itself only such a collection of materials, not published by the Author,
and never intended for publication in that form. But it is quite too
methodical, too studied, and too finished a work to admit of that
supposition (cf. Prolegom. of K.).] Such an occasion now was furnished
in the campaigns and victories of Trajan, who, at the time of his
elevation to the imperial power, was at the head of the Roman armies in
Germany, where he also remained for a year or more after his accession to
the throne, till he had received the submission of the hostile tribes and
wiped away the disgrace which the Germans, beyond any other nation of
that age, had brought upon the Roman arms. Such a people, at such a time,
could not fail to be an object of deep interest at Rome. This was the
time when Tacitus published his work on Germany; and such are believed
to have been the motives and the circumstances, which led to the
undertaking. His grand object was not to point a satire or to compass a
political end, but as he himself informs us (Sec. 27), to treat of the
origin and manners, the geography and history, of the German Tribes.
The same candor and sincerity, the same correctness and truthfulness,
which characterize the Histories, mark also the work on Germany. The
author certainly aimed to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, on
the subject of which he treats. Moreover, he had abundant means of
knowing the truth, on all the main points, in the character and history
of the Germans. It has even been argued from such expression as _vidimus_
(Sec. 8), that Tacitus had himself been in Germany, and could, therefore,
write from personal observation. Bnt the argument proceeds on a
misinterpretation of his language (cf. note in _loc. cit_.). And the use
of _accepimus_ (as in Sec. 27), shows that he derived his information from
others. But the Romans had been in constant intercourse and connection,
civil or military, with the Germans, for two hundred years. Germany
furnished a wide theatre for their greatest commanders, and a fruitful
theme for their best authors, some of whom, as Julius Caesar (to whom
Tacitus particularly refers, 28), were themselves the chief actors in
what they relate. These authors, some of whose contributions to the
history of Germany are now lost (e.g. the elder Pliny, who wrote twenty
books on the German wars), must have all been in the hands of Tacitus,
and were, doubtless, consulted by him; not, however, as a servile
copyist, or mere compiler (for he sometimes differs from his authorities,
from Caesar even, whom he declares to be the best of them), but as a
discriminating and judicious inquirer. The account of German customs and
institutions may, therefore, be relied on, from the intrinsic credibility
of the author. It receives confirmation, also, from its general
accordance with other early accounts of the Germans, and with their
better known subsequent history, as well as from its strong analogy to
the well-known habits of our American aborigines, and other tribes in a
like stage of civilization (cf. note, Sec. 15). The geographical details are
composed with all the accuracy which the ever-shifting positions and
relations of warring and wandering tribes rendered possible in the nature
of the case (cf. note, Sec. 28). In sentiment, the treatise is surpassingly
rich and instructive, like all the works of this prince of philosophical
historians. In style, it is concise and nervous, yet quite rhetorical,
and in parts, even poetical to a fault (see notes passim, cf. also,
Monboddo's critique on the style of Tacitus). "The work," says La
Bletterie, "is brief without being superficial. Within the compass of a
few pages, it comprises more of ethics and politics, more fine
delineations of character, more substance and pith (_suc_), than can be
collected from many a ponderous volume. It is not one of those barely
agreeable descriptions, which gradually diffuse their influence over
the soul, and leave it in undisturbed tranquillity. It is a picture in
strong light, like the subject itself, full of fire, of sentiment, of
lightning-flashes, that go at once to the heart. We imagine ourselves
in Germany; we become familiar with these so-called barbarians; we pardon
their faults, and almost their vices, out of regard to their virtues; and
in our moments of enthusiasm, we even wish we were Germans."
The following remarks of Murphy will illustrate the value of the
treatise, to modern Europeans and their descendants. "It is a draught of
savage manners, delineated by a masterly hand; the more interesting, as
the part of the world which it describes was the seminary of the modern
European nations, the VAGINA GENTIUM, as historians have emphatically
called it. The work is short but, as Montesquieu observes, it is the work
of a man who abridged every thing, because he knew every thing. A
thorough knowledge of the transactions of barbarous ages, will throw more
light than is generally imagined on the laws of modern times. Wherever
the barbarians, who issued from their northern hive, settled in new
habitations, they carried with them their native genius, their original
manners, and the first rudiments of the political system which has
prevailed in different parts of Europe. They established monarchy and
liberty, subordination and freedom, the prerogative of the prince and the
rights of the subject, all united in so bold a combination, that the
fabric, in some places, stands to this hour the wonder of mankind. The
British constitution, says Montesquieu, came out of the woods of Germany.
What the state of this country (Britain) was before the arrival of our
Saxon ancestors, Tacitus has shown in the life of Agricola. If we add to
his account of the Germans and Britons, what has been transmitted to us,
concerning them, by Julius Caesar, we shall see the origin of the
Anglo-Saxon government, the great outline of that Gothic constitution
under which the people enjoy their rights and liberties at this hour.
Montesquieu, speaking of his own country, declares it impossible to form
an adequate notion of the French monarchy, and the changes of their
government, without a previous inquiry into the manners, genius, and
spirit of the German nations. Much of what was incorporated with the
institutions of those fierce invaders, has flowed down in the stream of
time, and still mingles with our modern jurisprudence. The subject, it is
conceived, is interesting to every Briton. In the manners of the Germans,
the reader will see our present frame of government, as it were, in its
cradle, _gentis cunabula nostrae_! in the Germans themselves, a fierce
and warlike people, to whom this country owes that spirit of liberty,
which, through so many centuries, has preserved our excellent form of
government, and raised the glory of the British nation:
------Genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae
moenia Romae."
CHAP. I. _Germania_ stands first as the emphatic word, and is followed by
_omnis_ for explanation. _Germania omnis_ here does not include Germania
Prima and Secunda, which were Roman provinces on the left bank of the
Rhine (so called because settled by Germans). It denotes _Germany
proper_, as a _whole_, in distinction from the provinces just mentioned
and from the several tribes, of which Tacitus treats in the latter part
of the work. So Caesar (B.G. 1,1) uses _Gallia omnis_, as exclusive of
the Roman provinces called Gaul and inclusive of the three _parts_, which
he proceeds to specify.
_Gallis--Pannoniis_. People used for the countries. Cf. His. 5,6:
_Phoenices. Gaul_, now France; _Rhaetia_, the country of the Grisons and
the Tyrol, with part of Bavaria; _Pannonia_, lower Hungary and part of
Austria. Germany was separated from Gaul by the Rhine; from Rhaetia and
Pannonia, by the Danube.--_Rheno et Danubio_. Rhine and Rhone are
probably different forms of the same root (Rh-n). Danube, in like manner,
has the same root as Dnieper (Dn-p); perhaps also the same as Don and
Dwina (D-n). Probably each of these roots was originally a generic name
for river, water, stream. So there are several _Avons_ in England and
Scotland. Cf. Latham's Germania sub voc.
_Sarmatis Dacisque_. The Slavonic Tribes were called Sarmatians by the
ancients. _Sarmatia_ included the country north of the Carpathian
Mountains, between the Vistula and the Don in Europe, together with the
adjacent part of Asia, without any definite limits towards the north,
which was terra incognita to the ancients--in short, Sarmatia was
_Russia_, as far as known at that time. _Dacia_ lay between the
Carpathian mountains on the north, and the Danube on the south, including
Upper Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia.
_Mutuo metu_. Rather a poetical boundary! Observe also the alliteration.
At the same time, the words are not a bad description of those wide and
solitary wastes, which, as Caesar informs us (B.G. 6, 23), the Germans
delighted to interpose between themselves and other nations, so that it
might appear that _no one dared to dwell near them.--Montibus_. The
Carpathian.--_Cetera_. Ceteram Germaniae partem.
_Sinus_. This word denotes any thing with a curved outline (cf. 29, also
A. 23); hence bays, peninsulas, and prominent bends or borders, whether
of land or water. Here _peninsulas_ (particularly that of Jutland, now
Denmark), for it is to the author's purpose here to speak of land rather
than water, and the ocean is more properly said to _embrace peninsulas_,
than _gulfs_ and _bays_. Its association with _islands_ here favors the
same interpretation. So Passow, Or., Rit. Others, with less propriety,
refer it to the _gulfs_ and _bays_, which so mark the Baltic and the
German Oceans.--_Oceanus_ here, includes both the Baltic Sea, and the
German Ocean (Oceanus Septentrionalis).
_Insularum--spatia. Islands of vast extent_, viz. Funen, Zealand, &c.
Scandinavia also (now Sweden and Norway) was regarded by the ancients as
an island, cf. Plin. Nat. His. iv. 27: quarum (insularum) clarissima
Scandinavia est, incompertae magnitudinis.
_Nuper--regibus_. Understand with this clause _ut compertum est_. The
above mentioned features of the Northern Ocean had been _discovered_
in the prosecution of the late wars, of the Romans, among the tribes
and kings previously unknown. _Nuper_ is to be taken in a general
sense==recentioribus temporibus, cf. _nuper additum_, Sec. 2, where it goes
back one hundred and fifty years to the age of Julius Caesar.--_Bellum_.
War in general, no particular war.--_Versus_. This word has been
considered by some as an adverb, and by others as a preposition. It is
better however to regard it as a participle, like _ortus_, with which it
is connected, though without a conjunction expressed. Ritter omits _in_.
_Molli et clementer edito. Of gentle slope and moderate elevation_ in
studied antithesis to _inaccesso ac praecipiti, lofty and steep_. In like
manner, _jugo, ridge, summit_, is contrasted with _vertice, peak,
height_, cf. Virg. Ecl. 9, 7: _molli clivo_; Ann. 17, 38: _colles
clementer assurgentes_. The _Rhaetian_ Alps, now the mountains of the
Grisons. _Alp_ is a Celtic word==hill. _Albion_ has the same root==_hilly
country. Mons Abnoba_ (al. Arnoba) is the northern part of the
Schwartzwald, or Black Forest.--_Erumpat_, al. erumpit. But the best MSS.
and all the recent editions have _erumpat_: and Tacitus never uses the
pres. ind. after _donec, until_, cf. Rup. & Rit. in loc. Whenever he uses
the present after _donec, until_, he seems to have conceived the relation
of the two clauses, which it connects, as that of a means to an end, or a
condition to a result, and hence to have used the subj. cf. chap. 20:
_separet_; 31: _absolvat_; 35: _sinuetur_; Ann. 2, 6: _misceatur_. The
two examples last cited, like this, describe the course of a river and
boundary line. For the general rule of the modes after _donec_, see H.
522; Z. 575. See also notes H. 1, 13. 35.--_Septimum_. According to the
common understanding, the Danube had _seven_ mouths. So Strabo, Mela,
Ammian, and Ovid; Pliny makes six. T. reconciles the two accounts. The
_enim_ inserted after _septimum_ in most editions is not found in the
best mss. and is unnecessary. Or. & Rit. omit it.
II. _Ipsos_ marks the transition from the country to the people--_the
Germans themselves_. So A. 13: _Ipsi Britanni_.
_Crediderim_. Subj. attice. A modest way of expressing his opinion, like
our: I should say, I am inclined to think. H. 486, I. 3; Z. 527.
_Adventibus et hospitiis. Immigrants and visitors. Adventibus_ certae
sedes, _hospitiis_ preregrinationes significantur. Guen. Both abstract for
concrete. Doed. compares [Greek: epoikoi] and [Greek: metoikoi].
_Terra--advehebantur_. Zeugma for _terra adveniebant_, classibus
advehebantur. H. 704, I. 2; Z. 775.
_Nec--et_. These correlatives connect the members more closely than
et--et; as in Greek oute-te. The sentiment here advanced touching
colonization (as by sea, rather than by land), though true of Carthage,
Sicily, and most _Grecian_, colonies, is directly the reverse of the
general fact; and Germany itself is now known to have received its
population by land emigration, from western Asia. The Germans, as we
learn from affinities of languages and occasional references of
historians and geographers, belonged to the same great stock of the human
family with the Goths and Scythians, and may be traced back to that hive
of nations, that primitive residence of mankind, the country east and
south of the Caspian Sea and in the vicinity of Mount Ararat: cf. Tur.
His. Ang. Sax. B. II. C. 1; also Donaldson's New Cratylus, B. I. Chap. 4.
Latham's dogmatic skepticism will hardly shake the now established faith
on this subject. The science of ethnography was unknown to the ancients.
Tacitus had not the remotest idea, that all mankind were sprung from a
common ancestry, and diffused themselves over the world from a common
centre, a fact asserted in the Scriptures, and daily receiving fresh
confirmation from literature and science. Hence he speaks of the Germans
as _indigenas_, which he explains below by _editum terra_, sprung from
the earth, like the mutum et turpe pecus of Hor. Sat. 1. 3, 100. cf.
A. 11.
_Mutare quaerebant. Quaerere_ with inf. is poet. constr., found, however,
in later prose writers, and once in Cic. (de Fin. 313: quaeris scire,
enclosed in brackets in Tauchnitz's edition), to avoid repetition of
_cupio_. _Cupio_ or _volo mutare_ would be regular classic prose.
_Adversus_. That the author here uses _adversus_ in some unusual and
recondite sense, is intimated by the clause: _ut sic dixerim_. It is
understood by some, of a sea _unfriendly to navigation_. But its
connexion by _que_ with _immensus ultra_, shows that it refers to
_position_, and means _lying opposite_, i.e., belonging, as it were, to
another hemisphere or world from ours; for so the Romans regarded the
Northern Ocean and Britain itself, cf. A 12: ultra _nostri orbis_
mensuram; G. 17: _exterior_ oceanus. So Cic. (Som. Scip. 6.) says:
Homines partim obliquos, partim aversos, partim etiam _adversos_, stare
vobis. This interpretation is confirmed by _ab orbe nostra_ in the
antithesis. On the use of _ut sic dixerim_ for _ut sic dicam_, which is
peculiar to the silver age, see Z. 528.
_Asia_, sc. Minor. _Africa_, sc. the Roman Province of that name,
comprising the territory of Carthage.--_Peteret_. The question implies a
negative answer, cf. Z. 530. The subj. implies a protasis understood: if
he could, or the like. H. 502.
_Sit_. Praesens, ut de re vera. Guen. _Nisi si_ is nearly equivalent to
_nisi forte: unless perchance_; unless if we may suppose the case. Cf.
Wr. note on Ann. 2, 63, and Hand's Tursellinus, 3, 240.
_Memoriae et annalium_. Properly opposed to each other as _tradition_ and
_written history_, though we are not to infer that written books existed
in Germany in the age of Tacitus.
_Carminibus_. _Songs, ballads_ (from cano). Songs and rude poetry have
been, in all savage countries, the memorials of public transactions,
e.g. the runes of the Goths, the bards of the Britons and Celts, the
scalds of Scandinavia, &c.
_Tuisconem_. The god from whom Tuesday takes its name, as Wednesday from
Woden, Thursday from Thor, &c., cf. Sharon Turner's His. of Ang. Sax.
app. to book 2. chap. 3. Some find in the name of this god the root of
the words Teutonic, Dutch (Germ. Deutsche or Teutsche &c.,) Al. Tuistonem,
Tristonem, &c. More likely it has the same root as the Latin divus,
dius, deus, and the Greek theios, dios, theos, cf. Grimm's _Deutsche
Mythologie_, sub v.
_Terra editum==indigena_ above; and gaegenaes and autochthon in Greek.
_Originem_==auctores. It is predicate after _Mannum_.
_Ut in licentia vetustatis. As in the license of antiquity_, i.e. since
such license is allowed in regard to ancient times.
_Ingaevones_. "According to some German antiquaries, the _Ingaevones_ are
die _Einwohner_, those dwelling inwards towards the sea; the _Istaevones_
are die _Westwohner_, the inhabitants of the western parts; and the
_Hermiones_ are the _Herumwohner_, midland inhabitants," Ky. cf.
Kiessling in loc. Others, e.g. Zeuss and Grimm, with more probability,
find in these names the roots of German words significant of _honor_
and _bravery_, assumed by different tribes or confederacies as epithets
or titles of distinction. Grimm identifies these three divisions with
the Franks, Saxons, and Thuringians of a later age. See further, note
chap. 27.
_Vocentur_. The subj. expresses the opinion of others, not the direct
affirmation of the author. H. 529; Z. 549.
_Deo_==hoc deo, sc. Mannus--Germ. Mann, Eng. Man.
_Marsos, Gambrivios_. Under the names of Franci and Salii these tribes
afterwards became formidable to the Romans. Cf. Prichard's Researches
into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol. III. chap. 6, sec. 2.--
_Suevos_, cf. note, 38.--_Vandalios_. The Vandals, now so familiar in
history.
_Additum_, sc. esse, depending on _affirmant_.
_Nunc Tungri_, sc. vocentur, cf. His. 4, 15, 16. In confirmation of the
historical accuracy of this passage, Gr. remarks, that Caes. (B.G. 2, 4)
does not mention the Tungri, but names four tribes on the left bank of
the Rhine, who, he says, are called by the common name of _Germans_;
while Pliny (Nat. His. 4, 31), a century later, gives not the names of
these four tribes, but calls them by the new name _Tungri_.
_Ita--vocarentur_. Locus vexatissimus! exclaim all the critics. And so
they set themselves to amend the text by conjecture. Some have written
_in nomen gentis_ instead of _non gentis_. Others have proposed _a
victorum metu_, or _a victo ob metum_, or _a victis ob metum_. But these
emendations are wholly conjectural and unnecessary. Guenther and Walch
render _a victore, from_ the victorious tribe, i.e. _after the name of_
that tribe. But _a se ipsis_ means _by_ themselves; and the antithesis
doubtless requires _a_ to be understood in the same sense in both
clauses. Grueber translates and explains thus: "In this way the name of a
single tribe, and not of the whole people, has come into use, so that
all, at first by the victor (the Tungri), in order to inspire fear, then
by themselves (by the mouth of the whole people), when once the name
became known, were called by the name of Germans. That is, the Tungri
called all the kindred tribes that dwelt beyond the Rhine, Germans, in
order to inspire fear by the wide extension of the name, since they gave
themselves out to be a part of so vast a people; but at length all the
tribes began to call themselves by this name, probably because they were
pleased to see the fear which it excited." This is, on the whole, the
most satisfactory explanation of the passage, and meets the essential
concurrence of Wr., Or. and Doed.--_Germani_. If of German etymology,
this word==gehr or wehr (Fr. guerre) and mann, _men of war_; hence the
_metus_, which the name carried with it. If it is a Latin word
corresponding only in _sense_ with the original German, then==_brethren_.
It will be seen, that either etymology would accord with Grueber's
explanation of the whole passage--in either case, the name would
inspire fear. The latter, however, is the more probable, cf. Ritter in
loc. A people often bear quite different names abroad from that by which
they call themselves at home. Thus the people, whom we call _Germans_,
call themselves _Deutsche_ (Dutch), and are called by the French
_Allemands_, cf. Latham. _Vocarentur_ is subj. because it stands in a
subordinate clause of the oratio obliqua, cf. H. 531; Z. 603.
_Metum_. Here taken in an _active_ sense; oftener passive, but used in
both senses. Quintilian speaks of _metum duplicem_, quem patimur et quem
facimus (6, 2, 21). cf. A. 44: nihil metus in vultu, i.e., nothing to
inspire fear in his countenance. In like manner admiratio (Sec. 7) is used
for the admiration which one excites, though it usually denotes the
admiration which one feels. For _ob_, cf. Ann. 1, 79: _ob moderandas
Tiberis exundationes_.
_Nationis--gentis. Gens_ is often used by T. as a synonym with _natio_.
But in antithesis, _gens_ is the whole, of which _nationes_ or _populi_
are the parts, e.g. G. 4: populos--gentem; Sec. 14: nationes--genti. In
like manner, in the civil constitution of Rome, a _gens_ included several
related _families_.
III. _Herculem_. That is, Romana interpretatione, cf. Sec. 34. The Romans
found _their_ gods everywhere, and ascribed to Hercules, quidquid ubique
magnificum est, cf. note 34: _quicquid--consensimus_. That this is a
Roman account of the matter is evident, from the use of _eos_, for if
the Germans were the subject of _memorant_, _se_ must have been used. On
the use of _et_ here, cf. note 11.
_Primum_--ut principem, fortissimum. Guen.
_Haec quoque_. _Haec_ is rendered _such_ by Ritter. But it seems rather,
as Or. and Doed. explain it, to imply nearness and familiarity to the mind
of the author and his readers: _these_ well known songs. So 20: _in haec
corpora, quae miramur_. _Quoque_, like _quidem_, follows the emphatic
word in a clause, H. 602, III. 1; Z. 355.
_Relatu_, called _cantus trux_, H. 2, 22. A Tacitean word. Freund. Cf. H.
1, 30.
_Baritum_. Al. barditum and barritum. But the latter has no ms.
authority, and the former seems to have been suggested by the bards of
the Gauls, of whose existence among the Germans however there is no
evidence. Doed. says the root of the word is common to the Greek, Latin,
and German languages, viz. _baren_, i.e. _fremere_, a verb still used by
the Batavians, and the noun _bar_, i.e. carmen, of frequent occurrence
in Saxon poetry to this day.
_Terrent trepidantve. They inspire terror or tremble with fear, according
as the line_ (the troops drawn up in battle array) _has sounded_, sc. the
_baritus_ or battle cry. Thus the Batavians perceived, that the _sonitus
aciei_ on the part of the Romans was more feeble than their own, and
pressed on, as to certain triumph. H. 4, 18. So the Highlanders augured
victory, if their shouts were louder than those of the enemy. See Murphy
in loco.
_Repercussu_. A post-Augustan word. The earlier Latin authors would have
said _repercussa_, or _repercutiendo_. The later Latin, like the English,
uses more abstract terms.--_Nec tam--videntur. Nor do those carmina seem
to be so much voices_ (well modulated and harmonized), _as acclamations_
(unanimous, but inarticulate and indistinct) _of courage_. So Pliny uses
_concentus_ of the acclamations of the people. Panegyr. 2. It is often
applied by the poets to the concerts of birds, as in Virg. Geor. 1, 422.
It is here plural, cf. Or. in loc. The reading _vocis_ is without MS.
authority.
_Ulixem_. "The love of fabulous history, which was the passion of ancient
times, produced a new Hercules in every country, and made Ulysses wander
on every shore. Tacitus mentions it as a romantic tale; but Strabo seems
willing to countenance the fiction, and gravely tells us that Ulysses
founded a city, called Odyssey, in Spain. Lipsius observes, that Lisbon,
in the name of Strabo, had the appellation of Ulysippo, or Olisipo. At
this rate, he pleasantly adds, what should hinder us inhabitants of the
Low Countries from asserting that Ulysses built the city of Ulyssinga,
and Circe founded that of Circzea or Ziriczee?" Murphy.
_Fabuloso errore. Storied, celebrated in song_, cf. fabulosus Hydaspes.
Hor. Od. 1, 227. Ulysses having _wandered westward_ gave plausibility to
alleged traces of him in Gaul, Spain and Germany--_Asciburgium_. Now
Asburg.
_Quin etiam_, cf. notes, 13: _quin etiam_, and 14: _quin immo.--Ulixi_,
i.e. ab Ulixe, cf. Ann. 15,41: Aedes statoris Jovis Romulo vota, i.e. by
Romulus. This usage is especially frequent in the poets and the later
prose writers, cf. H. 388, II. 3; Z. 419; and in T. above all others, cf.
Boet. Lex. Tac. sub _Dativus_. Wr. and Rit. understand however an altar
(or monument) consecrated to Ulysses, i.e. erected in honor of him by the
citizens.
_Adjecto_. Inscribed with the name of his father, as well as his own,
i.e. [Greek: Laertiadae].
_Graecis litteris. Grecian characters_, cf. Caes. B.G. 1, 29: In castris
_Helvetiorum_, tabulae repertae sunt _litteris Graecis_ confectae; and
(6, 14): _Galli_ in publicis privatisque rationibus _Graecis utuntur
litteris_. T. speaks (Ann. 11, 14) of alphabetic characters, as passing
from Phenicia into Greece, and Strabo (4, 1) traces them from the Grecian
colony at Marseilles, into Gaul, whence they doubtless passed into
Germany, and even into Britain.
IV. _Aliis aliarum_. The Greek and Latin are both fond of a repetition
of different cases of the same word, even where one of them is redundant,
e.g. [Greek: oioden oios] (Hom. II. 7, 39), and particularly in the
words [Greek: allos] and _alius_. _Aliis_ is not however wholly
redundant; but brings out more fully the idea: _no intermarriages, one
with one nation, and another with another_. Walch and Ritter omit
_aliis_, though it is found in all the MSS.
_Infectos_. Things are said _infici_ and _imbui_, which are so penetrated
and permeated by something else, that that something becomes a part of
its nature or substance, as inficere colore, sanguine, veneno, animum
virtutibus. It does not necessarily imply corruption or degeneracy.
_Propriam--similem_. Three epithets not essentially different used for
the sake of emphasis==_peculiar, pure, and sui-generis. Similis_ takes
the gen., when it expresses, as here, an internal resemblance in
character; otherwise the dat., cf. Z. 411, H. 391, 2. 4.
_Habitus_. Form and features, external appearance. The physical features
of the Germans as described by Tacitus, though still sufficient to
distinguish them from the more southern European nations, have proved
less permanent than their mental and social characteristics.
_Idem omnibus_. Cf. Juv. 13, 164:
_Caerula_ quis stupuit _Germani lumina? flavam
Caesariem_, et madido torquentem cornua cirro?
Nempe quod haec illis natura est _omnibus una_.
_Magna corpora_. "Sidonius Apollinaris says, that, being in Germany and
finding the men so very tall, he could not address verses of six feet to
patrons who were seven feet high:
Spernit senipedem stilum Thalia,
Ex quo septipedes vidit patronos." Mur.
Skeletons, in the ancient graves of Germany, are found to vary from 5 ft.
10 in. to 6 ft. 10 in. and even 7 ft. Cf. Ukert, Geog. III. 1. p. 197.
These skeletons indicate a _strong_ and _well formed_ body.
_Impetum. Temporary exertion_, as opposed to _persevering toil and
effort, laboris atque operum_.
_Eadem_. Not so much _patientia_, as _ad impetum valida_. See a like
elliptical use of _idem_ Sec. 23: eadem temperantia; Sec. 10: iisdem nemoribus.
Also of totidem Sec. 26.
_Minime--assueverunt_. "Least of all, are they capable of sustaining
thirst and heat; cold and hunger, they are accustomed, by their soil and
climate, to endure." Ky. The force of _minime_ is confined to the first
clause, and the proper antithetic particle is omitted at the beginning of
the second. _Tolerare_ depends on _assueverunt_, and belongs to both
clauses. _Ve_ is distributive, referring _coelo_ to _frigora_ and _solo_
to _inediam_. So _vel_ in H. 1, 62: strenuis _vel_ ignavis spem metumque
addere==strenuis spem, ignavis metum addere.
V. _Humidior--ventosior. Humidior_ refers to _paludibus, ventosior_ to
_silvis_; the mountains (which were exposed to sweeping _winds_) being
for the most part covered with forests, and the low grounds with marshes.
_Ventosus_==Homeric [Greek: aenemoeis], windy, i.e. lofty. H. 3, 305:
[Greek: Ilion aenemoessan].
_Satis ferax. Satis==segetibus_ poetice. _Ferax_ is constructed with
abl., vid. Virg. Geor. 2, 222: ferax oleo.
_Impatiens_. Not to be taken in the absolute sense, cf. Sec. 20, 23, 26,
where fruit trees and fruits are spoken of.
_Improcera_ agrees with _pecora_ understood.
_Armentis. Pecora_--flocks in general. _Armenta_ (from _aro_, to plough),
larger cattle in particular. It _may_ include horses.
_Suus honor_. Their proper, i.e. usual size and beauty.
_Gloria frontis_. Poetice for _cornua_. Their horns were small.
_Numero_. Emphatic: _number_, rather than _quality_. Or, with Ritter,
_gaudent_ may be taken in the sense of enjoy, possess: _they have a good
number of them_. In the same sense he interprets _gaudent_ in A. 44:
_opibus nimiis non gaudebat_.
_Irati_, sc. quia _opes_ sunt _irritamenta malorum_. Ov. Met. 1, 140.--
_Negaverint_. Subj. H. 525; Z. 552--_Affirmaverim_. cf. note, 2:
_crediderim_.
_Nullam venam_. "Mines of gold and silver have since been discovered in
Germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable, but the latter valuable."
Ky. T. himself in his later work (the Annals), speaks of the discovery of
a silver mine in Germany. Ann. 11, 20.
_Perinde. Not so much as might be expected_, or as the _Romans_, and
other civilized nations. So Gronovius, Doed. and most commentators. See
Rup. in loc. Others, as Or. and Rit. allow no ellipsis, and render: _not
much_. See Hand's Tursellinus, vol. IV. p. 454. We sometimes use _not so
much, not so very, not so bad_, &c., for _not very, not much_, and _not
bad_. Still the form of expression strictly implies a comparison. And the
same is true of _haud perinde_, cf. Boet. Lex. Tac.
_Est videre. Est_ for _licet_. Graece et poetice. Not so used in the
earlier Latin prose. See Z. 227.
_Non in alia vilitate_, i.e. eadem vilitate, aeque vilia, _held in the
same low estimation.--Humo_. Abl. of material.
_Proximi_, sc. ad ripam. Nearest to the Roman border, opposed to
_interiores_.
_Serratos_. Not elsewhere mentioned; probably coins with serrated edges,
still found. The word is post-Augustan.
_Bigatos_. Roman coins stamped with a biga or two-horse chariot. Others
were stamped with a quadriga and called quadrigati. The bigati seem to
have circulated freely in foreign lands, cf. Ukert's Geog. of Greeks and
Romans, III. 1: Trade of Germany, and places cited there. "The serrati
and bigati were old coins, of purer silver than those of tho Emperors."
Ky. Cf. Pliny, H. N. 33, 13.
_Sequuntur_. Sequi==expetere. So used by Cic., Sal., and the best
writers. Compare our word _seek_.
_Nulla affectione animi. Not from any partiality for the silver in
itself_ (but for convenience).
_Numerus_. Greater number and consequently less relative value of the
silver coins. On _quia_, cf. note, H. 1, 31.
VI. _Ne--quidem_. _Not even_, i.e. iron is scarce as well as gold and
silver. The weapons found in ancient German graves are of _stone_, and
bear a striking resemblance to those of the American Indians. Cf. Ukert,
p. 216. Ad verba, cf. note, His. 1, 16: _ne--fueris_. The emphatic word
always stands between _ne_ and _quidem_. H. 602, III. 2; Z. 801.--
_Superest_. Is over and above, i.e. _abounds_. So superest ager, Sec. 26.
_Vel_. Pro _sive_, Ciceroni inauditum. Guen. Cf. note, 17.
_Frameas_. The word is still found in Spain, as well as Germany.
_Lancea_. is also a Spanish word, cf. Freund.
_Nudi_. Cf. Sec. 17, 20, and 24. Also Caes., B.G. 6, 21: magna corporis
parte nuda.
_Sagulo_. Dim. of sago. A small short cloak.--_Leves_==Leviter induti.
The clause _nudi--leves_ is added _here_ to show, that their dress is
favorable to the use of missiles.
_Missilia spargunt_. Dictio est Virgiliana. K.
_Coloribus_. Cf. nigra scuta, Sec. 43. "Hence coats of arms and the origin
of heraldry." Mur.
_Cultus_. Military equipments. Cultus complectitur omnia, quae studio et
arte eis, quae natura instituit, adduntur. K.
_Cassis aut galea_. _Cassis_, properly of metal; _galea_ of leather (Gr.:
galen); though the distinction is not always observed.
_Equi--conspicui_. Cf. Caes. B.G. 4, 2, 7, 65.
_Sed nec variare_. _But_ (i.e. on the other hand) _they are not even_
(for _nec_ in this sense see Ritter in loc.) _taught to vary their
curves_ (i.e. as the antithesis shows, to bend now towards the right and
now towards the left in their gyrations), _but they drive them straight
forward or by a constant bend towards the right in so connected a circle_
(i.e. a complete ring), _that no one is behind_ (for the obvious reason,
that there is neither beginning nor end to such a ring). Such is on the
whole the most satisfactory explanation of this difficult passage, which
we can give after a careful examination. A different version was given in
the first edition. It refers not to battle, but to equestrian exercises,
cf. Gerlach, as cited by Or. in loc.
_Aestimanti_. Greek idiom. Elliptical dative, nearly equivalent to the
abl. abs. (nobis aestimantibus), and called by some the dat. abs. In A.
II. the ellipsis is supplied by _credibile est_. Cf. Boetticher's Lex.
Tac. sub _Dativus_.
_Eoque mixti. Eo_, causal particle==for that reason. Caesar adopted this
arrangement in the battle of Pharsalia. B.C. 3, 84. The Greeks also had
[Greek: pezoi amippoi]. Xen. Hellen. 7, 5.
_Centeni_. A hundred is a favorite number with the Germans and their
descendants. Witness the hundred _pagi_ of the Suevi (Caes. B.G. 4, 1),
and of the Semnones (G. 39), the _cantons_ of Switzerland, and the
_hundreds_ of our Saxon ancestors in England. The _centeni_ here are a
military division. In like manner, Caesar (B.G. 4, 1) speaks of a
_thousand_ men drafted annually from each _pagus_ of the Suevi, for
military service abroad.
_Idque ipsum_. Predicate nominative after a verb of calling, H. 362,
2. 2; Z. 394. The division was called a _hundred_, and each man in it a
_hundreder_; and such was the estimation in which this service was held,
that to be a hundreder, became an honorable distinction, _nomen et
honor_==honorificum nomen.
_Cuneos_. A body of men arranged in the form of a wedge, i.e. narrow in
front and widening towards the rear; hence peculiarly adapted to break
the lines of the enemy.
_Consilii quam formidinis_. Supply _magis_. The conciseness of T.
leads him often to omit one of two correlative particles, cf. note on
_minime_, 4.
_Referunt. Carry into the rear_, and so secure them for burial.
_Etiam in dubiis proeliis_. Even while the battle remains undecided. Guen.
_Finierunt_. In a present or aorist sense, as often in T. So
_prohibuerunt_, Sec. 10; _placuit_ and _displicuit_, 11. cf. Lex. Tac. Boet.
VII. _Reges_, civil rulers; _duces_, military commanders. _Ex_==
secundum. So _ex ingenio_, Sec. 3. The government was elective, yet not
without some regard to hereditary distinctions. They _chose (sumunt)_
their sovereign, but chose him from the royal family, or at least one of
noble extraction. They chose also their commander--the king, if he was
the bravest and ablest warrior; if not, they were at liberty to choose
some one else. And among the Germans, as among their descendants, the
Franks, the authority of the commander was quite distinct from, and
sometimes (in war) paramount to, that of the king. Here Montesquieu and
others find the original of the kings of the first race in the French
monarchy, and the _mayors of the palace_, who once had so much power in
France. Cf. Sp. of Laws, B. 31, chap. 4.
_Nec_ is correlative to _et. The kings on the one hand do not possess
unlimited or unrestrained authority, and the commanders on the other, &c.
Infinita_==sine modo; _libera_==sine vinculo. Wr. _Potestas_==rightful
power, authority; _potentia_==power without regard to right, ability,
force, cf. note, 42. Ad rem, cf. Caes. B.G. 5, 27. Ambiorix tells Caesar,
that though he governed, yet the people made laws for him, and the
supreme power was shared equally between him and them.
_Exemplo--imperio_. "_Dative_ after _sunt==are to set an example, rather
than to give command_." So Grueber and Doed. But Wr. and Rit. with more
reason consider them as ablatives of means limiting a verb implied in
_duces: commanders_ (command) _more by example, than by authority_
(official power). See the principle well stated and illustrated in
Doederlein's Essay on the style of Tacitus, p. 15, in my edition of the
Histories.
_Admiratione praesunt. Gain influence, or ascendency, by means of the
admiration which they inspire_, cf. note on metus, Sec. 2.
_Agant_. Subj., ut ad judicium admirantium, non mentem scriptoris
trahatur. Guen.
_Animadvertere_==interficere. Cf. H. 1, 46. 68. _None but the priests are
allowed to put to death, to place in irons, nor even_ (ne quidem) _to
scourge_. Thus punishment was clothed with divine authority.
_Effigies et signa. Images and standards_, i.e. images, which serve for
standards. Images of wild beasts are meant, cf. H. 4, 22: depromptae
silvis lucisve ferarum imagines.--_Turmam_, cavalry. _Cuneum_, infantry,
but sometimes both. _Conglobatio_ is found only in writers after the
Augustan age and rarely in them. It occurs in Sen. Qu. Nat. 1, 15, cf.
Freund.
_Familiae_ is less comprehensive than _propinquitates. Audiri_, sc.
solent. Cf. A. 34 _ruere_. Wr. calls it histor. inf., and Rit. pronounces
it a gloss.
_Pignora_. Whatever is most dear, particularly mothers, wives, and
children.--_Unde_, adv. of place, referring to _in proximo_.
_Vulnera ferunt_, i.e. on their return from battle.
_Exigere. Examine_, and compare, to see who has the most and the most
honorable, or perhaps to soothe and dress them.--_Cibos et hortamina_.
Observe the singular juxtaposition of things so unlike. So 1: _metu aut
montibus_; A. 25: _copiis et laetitia_; 37: _nox et satietas_; 38:
_gaudio praedaque_.
VIII. _Constantia precum==importunate entreaties_.
_Objectu pectorum. By opposing their breasts_, not to the enemy but to
their retreating husbands, praying for death in preference to captivity.
_Monstrata--captivitate_. _Cominus_ limits _captivitate_, pointing to
captivity as just before them.--_Impatientius_. _Impatienter_ and
_impatientia_ (the adv. and the subst.) are post-Augustan words. The adj.
(impatiens) is found earlier. Cf. Freund.
_Feminarum--nomine_, i.e. propter feminas suas. Guen. So Cic.: tuo nomine
et reipublicae==on your account and for the sake of the republic. But it
means perhaps more than that here, viz. in the person of. They dreaded
captivity more for their women than for themselves. _Adeo==insomuch
that_.
_Inesse_, sc. feminis. _They think, there is in their women something
sacred and prophetic_. Cf. Caes. B.G. 1, 50, where Caesar is informed by
the prisoners, that Ariovistus had declined an engagement because the
_women_ had declared against coming to action before the new moon.--
_Consilia, advice_ in general; _responsa, inspired answers_, when
consulted.
_Vidimus_, i.e. she lived in our day--under the reign of Vespasian.--
_Veledam_. Cf. H. 4, 61. 65.
_Auriniam_. Aurinia seems to have been a common name in Germany for
prophetess or wise woman. Perhaps==Al-runas, women knowing all things. So
_Veleda_==wise woman. Cf. Wr. in loc.
_Non adulatione_, etc. "Not through adulation, nor as if they were
raising mortals to the rank of goddesses." Ky. This is one of those
oblique censures on Roman customs in which the treatise abounds. The
Romans in the excess of their adulation to the imperial family _made_
ordinary women goddesses, as Drusilla, sister of Caligula, the infant
daughter of Poppaea (Ann. 15, 23), and Poppaea herself (Dio 63, 29). The
Germans, on the other hand, really thought some of their wise women to be
divine. Cf. His. 4, 62, and my note ibid. Reverence and affection for
woman was characteristic of the German Tribes, and from them has diffused
itself throughout European society.
IX. _Deorum_. T. here, as elsewhere, applies Roman names, and puts a
Roman construction (Romana interpretatione, Sec. 43), upon the gods of other
nations, cf. Sec. 3.
_Mercurium_. So Caes. B.G. 6, 17: Deum maxime Mercurium colunt. Probably
the German _Woden_, whose name is preserved in our Wednesday, as that of
Mercury is in the French name of the same day, and who with a name
slightly modified (Woden, Wuotan, Odin), was a prominent object of
worship among all the nations of Northern Europe. _Mars_ is perhaps the
German god of war (Tiw, Tiu, Tuisco) whence Tuesday, French Mardi, cf.
Tur. His. Ang. Sax. App. to B. 2. chap. 3. _Herculem_ is omitted by
Ritter on evidence (partly external and partly internal) which is
entitled to not a little consideration. Hercules is the god of strength,
perhaps Thor.
_Certis diebus_. Statis diebus. Guen.
_Humanis--hostiis_. Even _facere_ in the sense of _sacrifice_ is
construed with abl. Virg. Ec. 3, 77. _Quoque_==even. For its position in
the sentence, cf. note, 3.
_Concessis animalibus_. Such as the Romans and other civilized nations
offer, in contradistinction to _human_ sacrifices, which the author
regards as _in_-concessa. The attempt has been made to remove from the
Germans the stain of human sacrifices. But it rests on incontrovertible
evidence (cf. Tur. His. Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2. cap. 3), and indeed
attaches to them only in common with nearly all uncivilized nations. The
Gauls and Britons, and the Celtic nations generally, carried the practice
to great lengths, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 15. The neighbors of the Hebrews
offered human victims in great numbers to their gods, as we learn from
the Scriptures. Nay, the reproach rests also upon the Greeks and Romans
in their early history. Pliny informs us, that men were sacrificed as
late as the year of Rome 657.
_Isidi_. The Egyptian Isis in Germany! This shows, how far the Romans
went in comparing the gods of different nations. Gr. Ritter identifies
this goddess with the Nertha of chap. 40, the Egyptian Isis and Nertha
being both equivalent to Mother Earth, the Terra or Tellus of the Romans.
_Liburnae_. A light galley, so called from the Liburnians, a people of
Illyricum, who built and navigated them. The _signum_, here likened to a
galley, was more probably a rude crescent, connected with the worship of
the moon, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 21: Germani deorum numero ducunt Solem et
_Lunam_.
_Cohibere parietibus_==aedificiis includere, K. T. elsewhere speaks of
temples of German divinities (e.g. 40: templum Nerthi; Ann. 1, 51:
templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove or any other sacred place was
called _templum_ by the Romans (templum from [Greek: temno], cut off, set
apart).
_Ex magnitudine_. _Ex_==secundum, cf. _ex nobilitate_, _ex virtute_ Sec. 7.
_Ex magnitudine_ is predicate after _arbitrantur: they deem it unbecoming
the greatness_, etc.
_Humani--speciem_. Images of the gods existed at a later day in Germany
(S. Tur. His. of Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2. cap. 3). But this does not
prove their existence in the days of T. Even as late as A.D. 240 Gregory
Thaumaturgus expressly declares, there were no images among the Goths. No
traces of temple-walls or images have been discovered in connection with
the numerous sites of ancient altars or places of offering which have
been exhumed in _Germany_, though both these are found on the _borders_,
both south and west, cf. Ukert, p. 236.
_Lucos et nemora_. "Lucus (a [Greek: lukae], crepusculum) sylva densior,
obumbrans; nemus ([Greek: nemos]) sylva rarior, in quo jumenta et pecora
pascuntur." Bredow.
_Deorumque--vident. They invoke under the name of gods that mysterious
existence, which they see_ (not under any human or other visible form,
but) _with the eye of spiritual reverence alone_. So Gr. and K. Others
get another idea thus loosely expressed: They give to that sacred recess
the name of the divinity that fills the place, which is never profaned by
the steps of man.
_Sola reverentia_, cf. _sola mente_ applied by T. to the spiritual
religion of the Jews, H. 5, 5. The religion of the Germans and other
northern tribes was more spiritual than that of southern nations, when
both were Pagan. And after the introduction of Christianity, the Germans
were disinclined to the image-worship of the Papists.
X. _Auspicia sortesque_. _Auspicia_ (avis-spicia) properly divination by
observing the flight and cry of birds; _sortes_, by drawing lots: but
both often used in the general sense of omens, oracles.
_Ut qui maxime_, sc. _observant_. Ellipsis supplied by repeating
_observant_==to the greatest extent, none more.
_Simplex_. Sine Romana arte, cf. Cic. de Div. 2, 41, K. The Scythians had
a similar method of divining, Herod. 4, 67. Indeed, the practice of
_divining_ by _rods_ has hardly ceased to this day, among the descendants
of the German Tribes.
_Temere_, without plan on the part of the diviner.--_Fortuito_, under the
direction of chance. Gr.
_Si publice consuletur_. If the question to be decided is of a public
nature. _Consuletur_, fut., because at the time of drawing lots the
deliberation and decision are future. Or it may refer to the consultation
of the gods (cf. Ann. 14, 30: _consulere deos_): _if it is by the state
that the gods are to be consulted_. So Ritter in his last edition.
_Ter singulos tollit_. A three-fold drawing for the sake of certainty.
Thus Ariovistus drew lots three times touching the death of Valerius
(Caes. B.G. 1, 53). So also the Romans drew lots three times, Tibul. 1,
3, 10: sortes ter sustulit. Such is the interpretation of these disputed
words by Grueber, Ritter and many others, and such is certainly their
natural and obvious meaning: _he takes up three times one after another_
all the slips he has _scattered_ (_spargere_ is hardly applicable to
_three_ only): if the signs are twice or thrice favorable, the thing is
permitted; if twice or thrice unfavorable it is prohibited. The language
of Caesar (in loc. cit.) is still more explicit: _ter sortibus
consultum_. But Or., Wr. and Doed. understand simply the taking up of
three lots one each time.
_Si prohibuerunt_ sc. sortes==dii. The reading _prohibuerunt_ (aL
prohibuerint) is favored by the analogy of _si displicuit_, 11, and other
passages. _Sin (==si--ne)_ is particularly frequent in antithesis with
_si_, and takes the same construction after it.
_Auspiciorum--exigitur. Auspiciorum_, here some other omens, than lots;
such as the author proceeds to specify. _Adhuc_==ad hoc, praeterea, i.e.
in addition to the lots. The sense is: _besides drawing lots, the
persuasion produced by auspices is required_.
_Etiam hic_. In Germany also (as well as at Rome and other well known
countries). _Hic_ is referred to Rome by some. But it was hardly needful
for T. to inform the Romans of that custom at Rome.
_Proprium gentis. It is a peculiarity of the German race_. It is not,
however, exclusively German. Something similar prevailed among the
Persians, Herod. 1, 189. 7, 55. Darius Hystaspes was indebted to the
neighing of his horse for his elevation to the throne.
_Iisdem memoribus_, Sec. 9.--_Mortali opere_==hominum opere.--_Contacti_.
Notio contaminandi inest, K.--_Pressi curru_. Harnessed to the sacred
chariot. More common, pressi jugo. Poetice.
_Conscios_ sc. deorum. _The priests consider themselves the servants of
the gods, the horses the confidants of the same_. So Tibullus speaks of
the _conscia_ fibra _deorum_. Tibul. 1, 8, 3.
_Committunt_. Con and mitto, send together==_engage in fight_. A
technical expression used of gladiators and champions.
_Praejudicio. Sure prognostic_. Montesquieu finds in this custom the
origin of the duel and of knight-errantry.
XI. _Apud--pertractentur. Are handled_, i.e. discussed, among, i.e. _by
the chiefs_, sc. before being referred to the people.
_Nisi_ refers not to _coeunt_, but to _certis diebus_.
_Fortuitum_, casual, unforeseen; _subitum_, requiring immediate action.
_Inchoatur--impletur_. Ariovistus would not _fight_ before the new moon,
Caes. B.G. 1, 50.
_Numerum--noctium_. Of which custom, we have a relic and a proof in our
seven-_night_ and fort-_night_. So also the Gauls. Caes. B.G. 6, 18.
_Constituunt_==decree, determine; _condicunt_==proclaim, appoint. The
_con_ in both implies _concerted_ or public action. They are forensic
terms.
_Nox--videtur_. So with the Athenians, Macrob. Saturn. 1, 3.; and the
Hebrews, Gen. 1, 5.
_Ex libertate_, sc. _ortum, arising from_. Guen.
_Nec ut jussi. Not precisely at the appointed time_, but a day or two
later, if they choose.
_Ut turbae placuit. Ut_==simul ac, as soon as, _when_. It is the _time of
commencing their session_, that depends on the will of the multitude; not
their sitting _armed_, for that they always did, cf. _frameas concutiunt_
at the close of the section; also Sec. 13: nihil neque publicae neque
privatae rei nisi armati agunt. To express this latter idea, the order of
the words would have been reversed thus: _armati considunt_.
_Tum et coercendi_. When the session is commenced, _then (tum)_ the
priests have the right not merely to command silence, but _also (et) to
enforce it_. This use of _et_ for _etiam_ is very rare in Cic., but
frequent in Livy, T. and later writers. See note, His. 1, 23.
_Imperatur. Imperare_ plus est, quam _jubere_. See the climax in Ter.
Eun. 2, 3, 98; jubeo, cogo atque impero. _Impero_ is properly military
command. K.
_Prout_ refers, not to the order of speaking, but to the degree of
influence they have over the people. Gr.--_Aetas_. Our word _alderman_
(elderman) is a proof, that office and honor were conferred on _age_ by
our German ancestors. So _senator_ (senex) among the Romans.
_Armis laudare_, i.e. armis concussis. "Montesquieu is of opinion that
in this Treatise on the manners of the Germans, an attentive reader may
trace the origin of the British constitution. That beautiful system, he
says, was formed in the forests of Germany, Sp. of Laws 11, 6. The
_Saxon_ Witena-gemot (Parliament) was, beyond all doubt, an improved
political institution, grafted on the rights exercised by the people in
their own country." Murphy, cf. S. Tur. His. of Ang. Sax. B. 8. cap. 4
XII. _Accusare--intendere. To accuse and impeach for capital crimes_.
Minor offences were tried before the courts described at the end of the
section.--_Quoque_. In addition to the legislative power spoken of in the
previous section, the council exercised _also_ certain judicial
functions. _Discrimen capitis intendere_, lit. _to endeavor to bring one
in danger of losing his life_.
_Ignavos--infames. The sluggish, the cowardly, and the impure_; for so
_corpore infames_ usually means, and there is no sufficient reason for
adopting another sense here. _Infames_ foeda Veneris aversae nota. K. Gr.
understands those, whose persons were disfigured by dishonorable wounds,
or who had mutilated themselves to avoid military duty. Guen. includes
both ideas: _quocunque_, non tantum _venereo_, corporis abusu contempti.
_Insuper_==superne. So 16: multo _insuper_ fimo onerant.
_Diversitas_ is a post-Augustan word, cf. Freund, sub v.
_Illuc respicit. Has respect to this principle. Scelera==crimes;
flagitia==vices, low and base actions. Scelus_ poena, _flagitium_
contemptu dignum. Guen.
_Levioribus delictis_. Abl. abs.==_when lighter offences are committed_;
or abl. of circum.==_in case of lighter offences_.
_Pro modo poenarum_. Such is the reading of all the MSS. _Pro modo,
poena_ is an ingenious _conjecture_ of Acidalius. But it is unnecessary.
Render thus: _in case of lighter offences, the convicted persons are
mulcted in a number of horses or cattle, in proportion to the severity of
the sentence adjudged to be due_.
_Qui vindicatur. The injured party_, or _plaintiff_. This principle
of pecuniary satisfaction was carried to great lengths among the
Anglo-Saxons. See Turner, as cited, 21.
_Qui reddunt_. Whose _business_ or _custom_ it is to administer justice,
etc. E. proposes _reddant_. But it is without authority and would give a
less appropriate sense.
_Centeni_. Cf. note, Sec. 6: centeni ex singulis pagis. "Sunt in quibusdam
locis Germaniae, velut Palatinatu, Franconia, etc. Zentgericht
(hundred-courts)," cf. Bernegger.
_Consilia et auctoritas_. Abstract for concrete==_his advisers and the
supporters of his dignity_.
XIII. _Nihil nisi armati_. The _Romans_ wore arms only in time of war or
on a journey.
_Moris_, sc. est. A favorite expression of T. So 21: concedere moris
(est). And in A. 39.
_Suffecturum probaverit. On examination has pronounced him competent_
(sc. to bear arms). Subj. after _antequam_. H. 523, II.; Z. 576.
_Ornant. Ornat_ would have been more common Latin, and would have made
better English. But this construction is not unfrequent in T., cf. 11:
rex vel princeps audiuntur. Nor is it without precedent in other authors.
Cf. Z. 374. Ritter reads _propinqui_. The attentive reader will discover
here traces of many subsequent usages of _chivalry_.
_Haec toga_. This is the badge of manhood among the Germans, as the toga
virilis was among the Romans. The Romans assumed the toga at the age of
seventeen. The Athenians were reckoned as [Greek: Ephaeboi] at the same
age, Xen. Cyr, 1, 2, 8. The Germans (in their colder climate) not till
the 20th year. Caes. B.G. 6, 21.
_Dignationem. Rank, title_. It differs from _dignitas_ in being more
external. Cf. H. 1, 19: _dignatio Caesaris_; 8, 80: _dignatio viri_.
Ritter reads _dignitatem_.
_Assignant. High birth or great merits of their fathers assign_ (i.e.
mark out, not consign, or fully confer) _the title of chief even to young
men_.
_Gradus--habet_. Observe the emphatic position of _gradus_, and the force
of _quin etiam ipse: Gradations of rank, moreover the retinue itself
has_, i.e. the retainers are not only distinguished as a body in
following such a leader, _but_ there are _also distinctions_ among
_themselves. Quin etiam_ seldom occupies the second place. T. is fond of
anastrophe. Cf. Boet. Lex. Tac.
_Si--emineat. If he_ (cuique) _stands pre-eminent for the number and
valor of his followers. Comitatus_ is gen. _Emineat_, subj. pres. H. 504
et 509; Z. 524.
_Ceteris--aspici_. These noble youth, thus designated to the rank of
chieftains, _attach themselves_ (for a time, with some followers perhaps)
_to the other_ chiefs, who are _older and already distinguished, nor are
they ashamed to be seen among their attendants_.
_Quibus--cui_, sc. sit==_who shall have_, etc.
_Ipsa fama. Mere reputation_ or _rumor_ without coming to arms.
_Profligant_==ad finem perducunt. So Kiessling, Boetticher and Freund.
Ritter makes it==_propellunt_, frighten away. _Profligare bella,
proelia_, &c., is Tacitean. _Profligare hostes_, etc., is the common
expression.
XIV. _Jam vero_==porro. Cf. Boet. Lex. Tac. It marks a transition to a
topic of special importance. Cf. H. 1, 2. See Doed, in loc.
_Recessisse_. All the best Latin writers are accustomed to use the
preterite after pudet, taedet, and other words of the like signification.
Guen. The cause of shame is prior to the shame.
_Infame_. "When Chonodomarus, king of the Alemanni, was taken prisoner by
the Romans, his military companions, to the number of two hundred, and
three of the king's most intimate friends, thinking it a most flagitious
crime to live in safety after such an event, surrendered themselves to be
loaded with fetters. Ammian. Marcell, 16, 12, 60. There are instances of
the same kind in Tacitus." Mur. Cf. also Caes. B.G. 3, 22. 7, 40.
_Defendere, to defend him_, when attacked; _tueri, to protect him_ at all
times.
_Praecipuum sacramentum. Their most sacred duty_, Guen. and K.; _or the
chief part of their oath_, Gr.--_Clarescunt--tuentur_. So Ritter after
the best MSS. Al. _clarescant--tueantur_, or _tueare_.
_Non nisi_. In Cic. usually separated by a word or a clause. In T.
generally brought together.
_Exigunt. They expect.--Illum--illam_. Angl. _this--that_, cf.
_hinc--hinc_, A. 25.--_Bellatorem equum_. Cf. Virg. G. 2, 145.
_Incompti--apparatus. Entertainments, though inelegant yet liberal.
Apparatus_ is used in the same way, Suet. Vitel. 10 and 13.--_Cedunt_==
iis dantur. Guen.
_Nec arare_, etc. The whole language of this sentence is poetical, e.g.
the use of the inf. after _persuaseris_, of _annum_ for annuam mensem,
the sense of _vocare_ and _mereri_, &c. _Vocare_, i.e. provocare, cf. H.
4, 80, and Virg. Geor. 4, 76. _Mereri, earn, deserve_, i.e. by bravery.
_Pigrum et iners_. Piger est natura ad laborem tardus; iners, in quo
nihil artis et virtutis. K. Render: _a mark of stupidity and incapacity_.
_Quin immo. Nay but, nay more_. These words connect the clause, though
not placed at the beginning, as they are by other writers. They seem to
be placed after _pigrum_ in order to throw it into an emphatic position.
So _gradus quin etiam_, 13, where see note.--_Possis_. You, i.e., any one
can. Z. 524. Cf. note II. 1, 10: _laudares_. So _persuaseris_ in the
preceding sentence. The subj. gives a contingent or potential turn==_can
procure_, sc. if you will _would persuade_, sc. if you should try. An
indefinite person is always addressed in the subj. in Latin, even when
the ind. would be used if a definite person were addressed. Z. 524.
In the chieftains and their retainers, as described in the last two
sections, the reader cannot fail to discover the germ of the feudal
system. Cf. Montesq. Sp. of Laws, 30, 3, 4; also Robertson's Chas. V.
XV. _Non multum_. The common reading (multum without the negative) is a
mere conjecture, and that suggested by a misapprehension of the meaning
of T. _Non multum_ is to be taken comparatively. Though in time of peace
they hunt often, yet they spend _so much more time in eating, drinking,
and sleeping_, that the former is comparatively small. Thus understood,
this passage of T. is not inconsistent with the declarations of Caesar,
B.G. 6, 21: Vita Germanorum omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei
militaris consistit. Caesar leaves out of account their periods of
inaction, and speaks only of their active employments, which were war and
the chase. It was the special object of Tacitus, on the contrary, to give
prominence to that striking feature of the German character which Caesar
overlooks; and therein, as Wr. well observes, the later historian shows
his more exact acquaintance with the Germans. _Non multum_, as opposed to
_plus_, is nearly equivalent to _minus_.
_Venatibus, per otium_. Enallage for _venatibus, otio_, H. 704, III. This
figure is very frequent in T., e.g. Sec. 40: per obsequium, proeliis; A. 9:
virtute aut per artem; A. 41: temeritate aut per ignaviam, &c. Seneca,
and indeed most Latin authors, prefer a _similar_ construction in
antithetic clauses; T. seems rather to avoid it. In all such cases
however, as the examples just cited show, _per_ with the acc. is not
precisely equivalent to the abl. The abl. is more active and implies
means, agency; the acc. with _per_ is more passive and denotes manner or
occasion.
_Delegata, transferred_.
_Familiae. Household_, properly of servants (from famel, Oscan for
servant), as in chapp. 25 and 32: but sometimes the whole family, as here
and in chap. 7: _familiae et propinquitates_.
_Ipsi_. The men of middle life, the heads of the _familiae_.
_Diversitate. Contrariety.--Ament_. Subj. H. 518, I.; Z. 577.--
_Oderint_. Perf. in the sense of the pres. H. 297, I. 2; Z. 221.
_Inertiam. Inertiam==idleness_, freedom from business and care (from _in_
and _ars_); _quietem==tranquillity_, a life of undisturbed repose without
action or excitement. Cf. 14: _ingrata genti quies_. In this account of
the habits of the Germans, one might easily fancy, he was reading a
description of the manner of life among our American Indians. It may be
remarked here, once for all, that this resemblance may be traced in very
many particulars, e.g. in their personal independence, in the military
chieftains and their followers, in their extreme fondness for the
hardships and dangers of war, in their strange inactivity, gluttony and
drunkenness in peace, in their deliberative assemblies and the power of
eloquence to sway their counsels, in their half elective, half hereditary
form of government, in the spirituality of their conceptions of God, and
some other features of their religion (Robertson has drawn out this
comparison in his history of Charles V). All tribes in a rude and savage
state must have many similar usages and traits of character. And this
resemblance between the well-known habits of our wandering savages and
those which T. ascribes to the rude tribes of Germany, may impress us
with confidence in the truthfulness of his narrative.
_Vel armentorum vel frugum_. Partitive gen. Supply aliquid.--
_Vel--vel==whether--or_, merely distinctive; _aut--aut==either--or_,
adversative and exclusive. _Vel--vel_ (from _volo_) implies, that one
may _choose_ between the alternatives or particulars named; _aut--aut_
(from [Greek: au, autis]), that if one is affirmed, the other is denied,
since both cannot be true at the same time. Cf. note, A. 17: _aut--aut.
--Pecuniam_. An oblique censure of the Romans for purchasing peace and
alliance with the Germans, cf. H. 4, 76. Herodian 6, 7: [Greek: touto
gar (sc. chrusio) malista Germanoi peithontai, philargyroi te
ontes kai taen eiraenaen aei pros tous Romaious chrusiou kapaeleuontes].
On _et_, cf. note 11.
XVI. _Populis_. Dative of the agent instead of the abl. with _a_ or _ab_.
Cf. note 3: _Ulixi_.
_Ne--quidem_. These words are always separated, the word on which the
emphasis rests being placed between them. H. 602, III. 2; Z. 801. Here
however the emphasis seems to belong to the whole clause--_Inter se_, sc.
_sedes junctas inter se_.
_Colunt_==in-colunt. Both often used intransitively, or rather with an
ellipsis of the object,==_dwell_.
_Discreti ac diversi. Separate and scattered_ in different directions,
i.e. without regular streets or highways. See Or. in loc.
_Ut fons--placuit_. Hence to this day, the names of German towns often
end in bach (brook), feld (field), holz (grove), wald (wood), born
(spring). On the permanence of names of places, see note H. 1, 53.
_Connexis_, with some intervening link, such as fences, hedges, and
outhouses; _cohaerentibus_, in immediate contact.
_Remedium--inscitia. It may be as a remedy_, etc.--_or it may be through
ignorance_, etc. _Sive--sive_ expresses an alternative conditionally,
or contingently==it may be thus, or it may be thus. Compare it with
_vel--vel_, chap. 15, and with _aut--aut_, A 17. See also Ramshorn's
Synonyms, 138. _Remedium_ is acc. in app. with the foregoing clause.
_Inscitia_ is abl. of cause==per inscitiam.
_Caementorum_. Properly _hewn_ stone (from caedo), but in usage any
building stone.--_Tegularum_. Tiles, any materials for the _roof_ (tego),
whether of brick, stone, or wood.
_Citra_. Properly this side of, hence short of, or _without_, as used by
the _later_ Latin authors. This word is kindred to _cis_, i.e. _is_ with
the demonstrative prefix _ce_. Cf. Freund sub v.
_Speciem_ refers more to the _eye, delectationem_ to the _mind_. Taken
with _citra_, they are equivalent to adjectives, connected to _informi_
and limiting _materia_ (citra speciem==non speciosa, Guen.). Render:
_rude materials, neither beautiful to the eye nor attractive to the
taste_. _Materia_ is distinctively wood for building. Fire-wood is
_lignum_.
_Quaedam loca_. Some parts of their houses, e.g. the walls.
_Terra ita pura_. Probably red earth, such as chalk or gypsum.
_Imitetur. Resembles painting and colored outlines_ or figures.
_Aperire_. Poetice==_excavate_. Cellars under ground were unknown to the
Romans. See Beck. Gal., and Smith's Dict. Ant.
_Ignorantur--fallunt. They are not known to exist, or else_ (though known
to exist) _they escape discovery from the very fact that they must be
sought_ (in order to be found). Guen. calls attention to the multiform
enallage in this sentence: 1. in number (_populatur, ignorantur,
fallunt_); 2. of the active, passive, and deponent verbs; 3. in the
change of cases (_aperta_, acc.; _abdita_ and _defossa_, nom.).
XVII. _Sagum_. A short, thick cloak, worn by Roman soldiers and
countrymen.
_Fibula_==figibula, any artificial fastening; _spina_==natural.
_Si desit_. Observe the difference between this clause, and _si quando
advenit_ in the preceding chapter. This is a mere supposition without
regard to fact; that implies an expectation, that the case will sometimes
happen.
_Cetera intecti. Uncovered as to the rest of the body_, cf. 6: nudi aut
sagulo leves.
_Totos dies_. Acc. of duration of time.--_Agunt_==vivunt. K.
_Fluitante_. The flowing robe of the southern and eastern nations;
_stricta_, the close dress and short clothes of the northern nations.
_Artus exprimente_. Quae tam arte artus includit, ut emineant, earumque
lineamenta et forma appareant, K. K. and Gr. understand this of coat and
vest, as well as breeches; Guen. of breeches only.
_Proximi ripae_. Near the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, so as to
have commercial intercourse with the Romans. These having introduced the
cloth and dress of the Romans, attached little importance to the manner
of wearing their _skins_. But those in the interior, having no other
apparel, valued themselves on the nice adjustment of them.
_Cultus_, artificial refinement. Cf. note, 6.
_Maculis pellibusque_, for maculatis pellibus or maculis pellium, perhaps
to avoid the concurrence of genitives.
_Belluarum--gignit. Oceanus_==terrae, quas Oceanus alluit; and
_belluae_==lutrae, mustelae, erminiae, etc., so K. But Gr. says _belluae_
cannot mean such small creatures, and agrees with Lipsius, in
understanding by it marine animals, seadogs, seals, &c. Freund connects
it in derivation with [Greek: thaer], fera (bel==ber==ther==fer), but
defines it as properly an animal remarkable for size or wildness.
_Exterior Oceanus_==Oceanus extra orbem Romanum, further explained by
_ignotum mare_. Cf. note, 2: adversus Oceanus.
_Habitus_, here==vestitus; in Sec. 4.==forma corporis.
_Saepius, oftener_ than the _men_, who also wore linen more or less. Guen.
_Purpura_. Facta e succo plantis et floribus expresso. Guen.
_Nudae--lacertos_. Graece et poetice. Brachia a manu ad cubitum; lacerti
a cubito ad humeros.
XVIII. _Quanquam_==sed tamen, i.e. notwithstanding the great freedom in
the dress of German women, yet the marriage relation is sacred. This use
of _quanquam_ is not unfrequent in T., and sometimes occurs in Cic.,
often in Pliny. See Z. 341, N.
_Qui ambiuntur_. This passage is construed in two ways: _who are
surrounded_ (ambiuntur==circumdantur, cf. II. 5, 12.) _by many wives not
to gratify lust, but to increase their rank and influence_ (_ob_ in the
sense _for the sake of_, cf. ob metum, 2). Or thus: _who_ (take many
wives) _not to gratify lust, but on account of their rank they are
solicited to form many matrimonial alliances_. For _ambio_ in this sense
and with the same somewhat peculiar construction after it, see H. 4, 51:
_tantis sociorum auxiliis ambiri_; also Virg. Aen. 7, 333: connubiis
ambire Latinum. The latter is preferable, and is adopted by Wr., K., Gr.,
&c. The former by Guen. and others. Ariovistus had two wives. Caes. B.G.
1, 53.
_Probant_, cf. probaverit, 13, note.--_Comatur_. Subj. denoting the
intention of the presents _with which she is to be adorned_. H 500, 1; Z.
567.
_Frenatum_, bridled, _caparisoned==paratus_ below.
_In haec munera_==[Greek: epi toutois tois dorois]. _In_==upon the basis
of, _on condition of_. So Liv.: in has leges, in easdem leges.
_Hoc--vinculum_, So, Sec. 13: haec apud illos toga. In both passages the
allusion is to Roman customs (for which see Becker's Gallus, Exc. 1.
Scene 1). In Germany, _these presents_ take the place of the
_confarreatio_ (see Fiske's Manual, p. 286. 4. ed.), and the various
other methods of ratifying the marriage contract at Rome; _these_, of
the religious rites in which the parties mutually engaged on the wedding
day (see Man., p. 287).--_Conjugales deos_. Certain gods at Rome
presided over marriage, e.g. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Jugatinus, Hymenaeus,
Diana, &c.
_Extra_. Cic. would have said _expertem_ or _positum extra_. But T. is
fond of the adv. used elliptically.
_Auspiciis==initiatory rites_.
_Denuntiant, proclaim, denote.--Accipere_ depends on _denuntiant_ or
_admonetur_.
_Rursus, quae--referantur_. Rhenanus conjectured; rursusque--referant,
which has since become the common reading. But _referantur_ is the
reading of all the MSS., and needs no emendation; and _quae_, with as
good authority as _que_, makes the construction more natural and the
sense more apposite. The passage, as Gr. well suggests, consists of two
parts (_accipere--reddat_, and _quae--accipiant--referantur_), _each_ of
which includes the _two_ ideas of _receiving_ and _handing down_ to the
next generation. Render thus: _she is reminded that she receives gifts,
which she is to hand over pure and unsullied to her children; which her
daughters-in-law are to receive again_ (sc. from her sons, as she did
from her husband), _which are to be transmitted by them to her
grand-children_.
_Referantur_. In another writer, we might expect _referant_ to correspond
in construction and subject with _accipiant_. But Tacitus is fond of
varying the construction. Cf. Boetticher's Lex Tac., and note, 16:
_ignorantur_.
XIX. _Septa_. So the MSS. for the most part. Al. _septae_. Meaning: _with
chastity guarded_, sc. by the sacredness of marriage and the excellent
institutions of the Germans.
_Nullis--corruptae_. Here, as every where else in this treatise, T.
appears as the censor of Roman manners. He has in mind those fruitful
sources of corruption at Rome, public shows, (cf. Sen. Epist. 7: _nihil
vero est tam damnosum bonis moribus, quam in aliquo spectaculo
desidere_), convivial entertainments (cf. Hor. Od. 3, 6, 27), and
epistolary correspondence between the two sexes.
_Litterarum secreta_==litteras secretas, _secret correspondence_ between
the sexes, for this limitation is obvious from the connexion.--
_Praesens. Immediate_.
_Maritis permissa_, sc. as a _domestic_ crime, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 19: Viri
in uxores, sicut in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem. Cf. Beck.
Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.
_Accisis crinibus_, as a special mark of _disgrace_, cf. 1 Cor. 11, 6. So
in the laws of the Lombards, the punishment of adulteresses was
_decalvari et fustigari.--Omnem vicum, the whole village_, cf. Germania
omnis, Sec. 1.--_Aetate==juventa_.
_Non--invenerit. She would not find, could not expect to find_. This use
of the perf. subj., for a softened fut., occurs in negative sentences
oftener than in positive ones. Cf. Arnold's Prose Comp. 417, Note.
_Saeculum_==indoles et mores saeculi, _the spirit of the age, the
fashion_.
_Adhuc_ (==ad-hoc) is generally used by Cicero, and often by Tacitus, in
the sense either of _still_ (to this day), or _moreover_ (in addition to
this). From these, it passed naturally, in Quintilian and the writers
after him, into the sense of _even more, still more, even_, especially in
connection with the comparative degree; where the authors of the Augustan
age would have used _etiam_. See Z. 486; Boetticher's Lex. Tac. sub. voce;
and Hand's Tursellinus, vol. 1. I. 165. _Melius quidem adhuc==still
better even_. For a verb, supply _sunt_ or _agunt_. Cf. note A. 19:
_nihil_.
_Eae civitates_. Such as the Heruli, among whom the wife was expected to
hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live
in perpetual infamy. At Rome, on the contrary, divorces and marriages
might be multiplied to any extent, cf. Mart. 6, 7: _nubit decimo viro_;
also Beck, as above cited.
_Semel_, like [Greek: apax], _once for all_.
_Transigitur_. Properly a business phrase. The business is _done up,
brought to an end_. So A. 34: transigite cum expeditionibus.
_Ultra_, sc. primum maritum. So the ellipsis might be supplied. _Ultra_
here is equivalent to _longior_ in the next clause, as T. often puts the
adverb in place of the adjective, whether qualifying or predicate.
_Ne tanquam--ament_, sc. maritum: _that they may not love_ a husband
_merely as a husband but as_ they love _the married state_. See this and
similar examples of _brachylogy_ well illustrated in Doederlein's Essay on
the style of Tacitus, H. p. 14. Since but one marriage was allowed, all
their love for the married state must be concentrated in one husband.
_Numerum--finire_. In any way contrary to nature and by design. Guen. _Quod
fiebat etiam abortus procuratione_. K.
_Ex agnatis. Agnati_ hoc loco dicuntur, qui _post familiam constitutam_,
ubi haeres jam est, _deinde nascuntur_. Hess. To put such to death was a
barbarous custom among the Romans. Cf. Ann. 3, 25; see Beck. Gall. Exc.
2. scene 1.
_Alibi_, e.g. at Rome.--_Boni mores_ vs. _bonae leges_. These words
involve a sentiment of great importance, and of universal application.
Good habits wherever they exist, and especially in a republic, are of far
greater value and efficacy than good laws.
XX. _Nudi_. Cf. 6: nudi aut sagulo leves. Not literally naked, but
slightly clad, cf. Sen. de benef. 5, 13: qui _male vestitum_ et pannosum
vidit, _nudum_ se vidisse dicit.
_Sordidi_. Guen. understands this of personal filth. But this is
inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned, Sec. 22. It
doubtless refers to the _dress_, as Gr. and K. understand it: _nudi ac
sordidi==poorly and meanly clad_. So also Or.
_Quae miramur_. Cf. 4: _magna corpora_. See also Caes. B.G. 1, 39, 4, 1.
On _haec_, see note, 3: _haec quoque_.
_Ancillis ac nutricibus_. So in the Dial. de Clar. Orat., T. animadverts
upon the custom here obliquely censured: nunc natus infans delegatur
Graeculae alicui ancillae. In the early ages of Roman History it was not
so, see Becker's Gall. Exc. 2. scene 1.--_Delegantur. Delegamus_, quum,
quod _ipsi_ facere debebamus, id per _alterum_ fieri curamus. E.
_Separet_. For the use of the subj. pres. after _donec_, see note, 1.
_erumpat.--Agnoscat_==faciat ut agnoscatur. So Doed., Guen. and K. But it
is better with Gr., to regard the expression as poetical, and _virtus_,
as personified: _and valor acknowledge_ them, sc. as brave men and
therefore by implication free born.
_Venus_==concubitus.--_Pubertas_==facultas generandi. Gr. Cf. Caes, B.G.
6, 21: qui diutissime impuberes permanserunt maximam inter suos ferunt
laudem.
_Virgines festinantur_==nuptiae virginum festinantur, poetice. The words
properare, festinare, accelerare are used in both a trans. and intrans.
sense, cf. Hist. 2, 82: festinabantur; 3, 37: festinarentur. Among the
Romans, boys of fourteen contracted marriage with girls of twelve. Cf.
Smith's Dic. Ant.
_Eadem, similis, pares_. The comparison is between the youth of the two
sexes at the time of marriage; they marry at the same age, equal in
stature and equal in strength. Marriages unequal in these respects, were
frequent at Rome.--_Pares--miscentur_. Plene: pares paribus, validae
validis miscentur. On this kind of brachylogy, see further in Doed. Essay
on style of T., H. p. 15. _Miscentur_ has a middle sense, as the passive
often has, particularly in Tacitus. Cf. note 21: _obligantur_.
_Referunt_. Cf. Virg. Aen. 4, 329: parvulus Aeneas, qui te tamen ore
_referret_. See note, 39: auguriis.
_Ad patrem_. _Ad_ is often equivalent to _apud_ in the best Latin
authors; e.g. Cic. ad Att. 10, 16: ad me fuit==apud me fuit. Rhenanus by
conjecture wrote _apud_ patrem to correspond with apud avunculum. But
Passow restored _ad_ with the best reason. For T. prefers _different_
words and constructions in antithetic clauses. Perhaps also a different
sense is here intended from that which would have been expressed by
_apud_. Wr. takes _ad_ in the sense, _in respect to: as in respect to a
father_, i.e. as they would have, if he were their father.
_Exigunt_, sc. hunc nexum==sororum filios.
_Tanquam_. Like Greek os to denote the views of others, not of the
writer. Hence followed by the subj. H. 531; Z. 571.
_Et in animum_. _In_==quod attinet ad, _in respect to_. The commonly
received text has _ii et animum_, which is a mere conjecture of Rhen.
According to K., _teneant_ has for its subject not _sororum filii_, but
the same subject as _exigunt_. Render: _Since, as they suppose, both in
respect to the mind_ (the affections), _they hold it more strongly, and
in respect to the family, more extensively_.
_Heredes_ properly refers to property, _successores_ to rank, though the
distinction is not always observed.--_Liberi_ includes both sons and
daughters.
_Patrui_, paternal uncles; _avunculi_, maternal.
_Propinqui_, blood relations; _affines_, by marriage.
_Orbitatis pretia_. _Pretia==proemia_. _Orbitatis==childlessness_. Those
who had no children, were courted at _Rome_ for the sake of their
property. Vid. Sen. Consol. ad Marc. 19: in civitate nostra, plus gratiae
orbitas confert, quam eripit. So Plutarch de Amore Prolis says: the
childless are entertained by the rich, courted by the powerful, defended
gratuitously by the eloquent: many, who had friends and honors in
abundance, have been stripped of both by the birth of a single child.
XXI. _Necesse est_. It is their duty and the law of custom. Guen.--
_Nec_==non tamen.--_Homicidium_. A post-Augustan word.
_Armentorum ac pecorum_. For the distinction between these words, see
note, Sec. 5. The high value which they attached to their herds and flocks,
as their _solae et gratissimae opes_, may help to explain the law or
usage here specified. Moreover, where the individual was so much more
prominent than the state, homicide even might be looked upon as a private
wrong, and hence to be atoned for by a pecuniary satisfaction, cf. Tur.
Hist. Ang. Sax., App. No. 3, chap. 1.
_Juxta libertatem_, i.e. _simul cum libertate_, or inter liberos homines.
The form of expression is characteristic of the later Latin. Cf. Hand's
Tursellinus, vol. III. p. 538. Tacitus is particularly partial to this
preposition.
_Convictibus_, refers to the entertainment of countrymen and friends,
_hospitiis_ to that of strangers.
_Pro fortuna. According to his means_. So Ann. 4, 23: fortunae inops.
_Defecere_, sc. epulae. Quam exhausta sint, quae apparata erant, cf. 24:
omnia defecerunt.
_Hospes_. Properly _stranger_; and hence either _guest_ or _host_. Here
the latter.--_Comes. Guest_. So Guen. and the common editions. But most
recent editors place a colon after _comes_, thus making it _predicate_,
and referring it to the _host_ becoming the guide and _companion_ of his
guest to another place of entertainment.
_Non invitati_, i.e. etiam si non invitati essent. Guen.
_Nec interest_, i.e. whether invited or not.
_Jus hospitis. The right of the guest_ to a hospitable reception, So Cic.
Tus. Quaes., 1, 26: jus hominum.
_Quantum ad_ belongs to the silver age. In the golden age they said:
_quod attinet ad_, or simply _ad_. Gr. Cicero however has _quantum in_,
N. D. 3, 7; and Ovid, _quantum ad_, A. A. 1, 744. Cf. Freund sub voce.
_Imputant. Make charge or account of_. Nearly confined to the later
Latin. Frequent in T. in the reckoning both of debt and credit, of praise
and blame. Cic. said: _assignare_ alicui aliquid.
_Obligantur_, i.e. obligatos esse putant. Forma passiva ad modum medii
verbi Graeci. Guen. Cf. note, 20: _miscentur_.
_Victus--comis. The mode of life between host and guest is courteous_. For
_victus_==manner of life, cf. Cic. Inv. 1, 25, 35.
XXII. _E_ is not exactly equivalent here to _a_, nor does it mean simply
_after_, but immediately on awaking _out of_ sleep.--_Lavantur_, wash
themselves, i.e. bathe; like Gr. louomai. So aggregantur, 13;
_obligantur_, 21, et passim.
_Calida_, sc. aqua, cf. in Greek, thermo louesthai, Aristoph. Nub. 1040.
In like manner Pliny uses _frigida_, Ep. 6, 16: semel iterumque
_frigidam_ poposcit transitque. Other writers speak of the Germans as
bathing in their rivers, doubtless in the summer; but in the winter they
use the warm bath, as more agreeable in that cold climate. So in Russia
and other cold countries, cf. Mur. in loco.
_Separatae--mensa_. Contra Romanorum luxuriam, ex more fere _Homerici_
aevi. Guen.
_Sedes_, opposed to the triclinia, on which the Romans used to _recline_,
a practice as unknown to the rude Germans, as to the _early_ Greeks and
Hebrews. See Coler. Stud. of Gr. Poets, p. 71 (Boston, 1842).
_Negotia_. Plural==_their_ various _pursuits_. So Cic. de Or. 2, 6:
_forensia negotia. Negotium==nec-otium_, C. and G. being originally
identical, as they still are almost _in form.--Armati_. Cf. note, 11: _ut
turbae placuit_.
_Continuare_, etc. est diem noctemque jungere potando, sive die nocteque
perpotationem continuare. K.
_Ut_, sc. solet fieri, cf. ut in licentia, Sec. 2. The clause limits
_crebrae_; it is the _frequent occurrence_ of brawls, that is customary
among those given to wine.
_Transiguntur_. See note on transigitur, Sec. 19.
_Asciscendis_. i.e. assumendis.
_Simplices_ manifestly refers to the _expression_ of thought; explained
afterwards by _fingere_ nesciunt==_frank, ingenuous_. Cf. His. 1, 15:
_simplicissime loquimur_; Ann. 1, 69: _simplices curas_.
_Astuta--callida. Astutus_ est natura, _callidus_ multarum rerum peritia.
Rit. _Astutus_, cunning; _callidus_, worldly wise. Doed.
_Adhuc. To this day_, despite the degeneracy and dishonesty of the age.
So Doed. and Or. Rit. says: quae adhuc pectore clausa erant. Others still
make it==_etiam, even_. Cf. note, 19.
_Retractatur_. Reviewed, _reconsidered_.
_Salva--ratio est. The proper relation of both times is preserved_, or the
advantage of both is secured, as more fully explained in the next member,
viz. by _discussing when they are incapable of disguise, and deciding,
when they are not liable to mistake_. Cf. Or. in loc., and Boetticher,
sub v.
Passow well remarks, that almost every German usage, mentioned in this
chapter, is in marked contrast with Roman manners and customs.
XXIII. _Potui_==pro potu, or in potum, dat. of the end. So 46: Victui
herba, vestitui pelles. T. and Sallust are particularly fond of this
construction. Cf. Boet. Lex. Tac., sub _Dativus_.
_Hordeo aut frumento. Hordeo==barley; frumento_, properly fruit
(frugimentum, fruit [Greek: kat exochaen], i.e. grain), grain of any
kind, here _wheat_, cf. Veget. R.M. 1, 13: et milites pro frumento
hordeum cogerentur accipere.
_Similitudinem vini. Beer_, for which the Greeks and Romans had no name.
Hence Herod. (2, 77) speaks of [Greek: oinos ek kritheon pepoiaemenos],
among the Egyptians.
_Corruptus_. Cum Tacitea indignatione dictum, cf. 4: _infectos_, so Guen.
But the word is often used to denote mere change, without the idea of
being made worse, cf. Virg. Geor. 2, 466: Nec casia liquidi _corrumpitur_
usus olivi. Here render _fermented_.
_Ripae_, sc. of the Rhine and Danube, i.e. the Roman border, as in 22:
proximi ripae.
_Poma_. Fruits of any sort, cf. Pliny, N.H. 17, 26: arborem vidimus omni
genere _pomorum_ onustum, alio ramo _nucibus_, alio _baccis_, aliunde
_vite, ficis, piris_, etc.
_Recens fera. Venison_, or other game _fresh_, i.e. _recently taken_, in
distinction from the tainted, which better suited the luxurious taste of
the Romans.
_Lac concretum_. Called _caseus_ by Caes. B.G. 6, 22. But the Germans,
though they lived so much on milk, did not understand the art of making
cheese, see Pliny, N.H. 11, 96. "De caseo non cogitandum, potius quod
nostrates dicunt dickemilch" (i.e. _curdled milk_). Guen.
_Apparatu. Luxurious preparation.--Blandimentis. Dainties_.
_Haud minus facile_. Litotes for multo facilius.
_Ebrietati_. Like the American Aborigines, see note, Sec. 15.
XXIV. _Nudi_. See note, Sec. 20.
_Quibus id ludicrum. For whom it is a sport_; not whose business it is to
furnish the amusement: that would be _quorum est_ K. and Gr.
_Infestas_==porrectas contra saltantes. K.--_Decorem_. Poetic.
_Quaestum_==quod quaeritur, _gain_.--_Mercedem_, stipulated pay, _wages_.
_Quamvis_ limits _audacis_==_daring as it is_ (as you please).
_Sobrii inter seria_. At Rome gaming was forbidden, except at the
Saturnalia, cf. Hor. Od. 3, 24, 68: vetita legibus alea. The remarkable
circumstance (_quod mirere_) in Germany was, that they practised it not
merely as an amusement at their feasts, but when sober among (_inter_)
their ordinary every-day pursuits.
_Novissimo. The last_ in a series. Very frequently in this sense in T.,
so also in Caes. Properly newest, then latest, _last_. Cf. note, His. 1,
47. _Extremo_, involving the greatest hazard, like our _extreme: last and
final_ (decisive) _throw_. This excessive love of play, extending even to
the sacrifice of personal liberty, is seen also among the American
Indians, see Robertson, Hist. of America, vol. 2, pp. 202-3. It is
characteristic of barbarous and savage life, cf. Mur. in loco.
_De libertate ac de corpore_. Hendiadys==_personal liberty_.
_Voluntariam_. An earlier Latin author would have used _ipse, ultro_, or
the like, limiting the subject of the verb, instead of the object. The
Latin of the golden age prefers _concrete_ words. The later Latin
approached nearer to the English, in using more _abstract_ terms. Cf.
note on _repercussu_, 3.
_Juvenior. More youthful_, and therefore more vigorous; not merely
younger (_junior_). See Doed. and Rit. in loc. Forcellini and Freund cite
only two other examples of this full form of the comparative (Plin. Ep.
4, 8, and Apul. Met. 8, 21), in which it does not differ in meaning from
the common contracted form.
_Ea_==talis or tanta. _Such_ or _so great_. Gr.
_Pervicacia. Pervicaces_ sunt, qui in aliquo certamine _ad vincendum_
perseverant, Schol. Hor. Epod. 17, 14.
_Pudore_. Shame, _disgrace_. So also His. 3, 61; contrary to usage of
earlier writers, who use it for sense of shame, _modesty_.
XXV. _Ceteris_. All but those who have gambled away their own liberty, as
in Sec. 24.--_In nostrum morem_, &c., with specific duties distributed
through the household (the slave-household, cf. note, 15), as explained
by the following clause. On the extreme subdivision of office among
slaves at _Rome_, see Beck. Gall. Exc. 2. Sc. 2; and Smith's Dic. Antiq.
under Servus.
_Descripta_==dimensa, distributa. Guen.
_Familiam_. Here the entire _body of servants_, cf. note, Sec. 15.
_Quisque_. Each _servant_ has his own house and home.
_Ut colono_. Like the _tenant_ or _farmer_ among the Romans; also the
vassal in the middle ages, and the serf in Modern Europe.
_Hactenus. Thus far_, and _no farther_, i.e. if he pays his rent or tax,
no more is required of him.
_Cetera_. The _rest of the duties_ (usually performed by a _Roman
servant_), viz. those of the _house, the wife and children_ (sc. of the
master) _perform_. Gr. strangely refers _uxor et liberi_ to the wife and
children of the servant. Passow also refers _domus_ to the house of the
servant, thus making it identical with the _penates_ above, with which it
seems rather to be contrasted. With the use of _cetera_ here, compare
His. 4, 56: _ceterum vulgus_==the rest, viz. the common soldiers, and see
the principle well illustrated in Doederlein's Essay, His. p. 17.
_Opere. Hard labor_, which would serve as a punishment. The Romans
punished their indolent and refractory domestics, by sending them to
labor in the _country_, as well as by heavy chains (_vinculis_) and cruel
flagellations (_verberare_). They had also the power of life and death
(_occidere_). Beck. Gall. Exc. 2. Sc. 2; Smith's Dic. Ant. as above.
_Non disciplina--ira_. Hendiadys==non disciplinae severitate, sed irae
impetu. Cf. His. 1, 51: _severitate disciplinae_.
_Nisi--impune_, i.e. without the pecuniary penalty or satisfaction, which
was demanded when one put to death an enemy (_inimicum_). Cf. 21.
_Liberti--libertini_. These words denote the same persons, but with this
difference in the idea: _libertus_==the freedman of some particular
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