Chapter III: Part 3

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 Död. Döderlein. Dr. Dronke. E. Ernesti. Gr. Gruber. Gün. Günther. 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. Böt. Lex. Tac. Bötticher'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 § 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 § 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 (§ 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_ (§ 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 § 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, § 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, § 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_, § 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. Gün. Both abstract for concrete. Död. 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. Gün. _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. Günther 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. Grüber 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 Död.--_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 Grüber'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 (§ 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; § 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. § 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. Gün.

_Haec quoque_. _Haec_ is rendered _such_ by Ritter. But it seems rather, as Or. and Död. 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. Död. 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. Böt. 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_ § 23: eadem temperantia; § 10: iisdem nemoribus. Also of totidem § 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. § 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, Död. 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. Böt. 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, § 26.

_Vel_. Pro _sive_, Ciceroni inauditum. Gün. 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. § 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, § 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. Bötticher'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. Gün.

_Finierunt_. In a present or aorist sense, as often in T. So _prohibuerunt_, § 10; _placuit_ and _displicuit_, 11. cf. Lex. Tac. Böt.

VII. _Reges_, civil rulers; _duces_, military commanders. _Ex_== secundum. So _ex ingenio_, § 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 Grüber and Död. 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 Döderlein'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, § 2.

_Agant_. Subj., ut ad judicium admirantium, non mentem scriptoris trahatur. Gün.

_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. Gün. 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, § 43), upon the gods of other nations, cf. § 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. Gün.

_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_ § 7. _Ex magnitudine_ is predicate after _arbitrantur: they deem it unbecoming the greatness_, etc.