Chapter IV: Part 4
_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 Grüber, 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 Död. 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_, § 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_. Gün.
_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 § 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. Gün. 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. Gün.
_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, § 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. Böt. 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, Bötticher 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. Böt. Lex. Tac. It marks a transition to a topic of special importance. Cf. H. 1, 2. See Död, in loc.
_Recessisse_. All the best Latin writers are accustomed to use the preterite after pudet, taedet, and other words of the like signification. Gün. 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_, Gün. 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. Gün.
_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. § 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, Gün.). 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). Gün. 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; Gün. 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 § 4.==forma corporis.
_Saepius, oftener_ than the _men_, who also wore linen more or less. Gün.
_Purpura_. Facta e succo plantis et floribus expresso. Gün.
_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 Gün. 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, § 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. Bötticher'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, § 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; Bötticher'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 Döderlein'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. Gün. _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_. Gün. understands this of personal filth. But this is inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned, § 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 Död., Gün. 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 Död. 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. Gün.-- _Nec_==non tamen.--_Homicidium_. A post-Augustan word.
_Armentorum ac pecorum_. For the distinction between these words, see note, § 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 Gün. 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. Gün.
_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. Gün. 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. Gün.
_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, § 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, § 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. Död.
_Adhuc. To this day_, despite the degeneracy and dishonesty of the age. So Död. 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 Bötticher, 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. Böt. 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 Gün. 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_). Gün.
_Apparatu. Luxurious preparation.--Blandimentis. Dainties_.
_Haud minus facile_. Litotes for multo facilius.
_Ebrietati_. Like the American Aborigines, see note, § 15.
XXIV. _Nudi_. See note, § 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 Död. 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 § 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. Gün.
_Familiam_. Here the entire _body of servants_, cf. note, § 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 Döderlein'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 master, _libertinus_==one in the _condition_ of a freedman without reference to any master. At the time of the Decemvirate, and for some time after, liberti==emancipated slaves, libertini==the descendants of such, cf. Suet. Claud. 24.
_Quae regnantur. Governed by kings_. Ex poetarum more dictum, cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 794: regnata per arva. So 43: Gothones regnantur, and 44: Suiones. Gün.
_Ingenuos_==free born; _nobiles_==high born.
_Ascendunt_, i.e. ascendere possunt.
_Ceteros_. By synesis (see Gr.) for ceteras, sc. gentes.
_Impares_, sc. ingenuis et nobilibus.
_Libertatis argumentum_, inasmuch as they value liberty and citizenship too much to confer it on freedmen and slaves. This whole topic of freedmen is an oblique censure of Roman custom in the age of the Emperors, whose freedmen were not unfrequently their favorites and prime ministers.
XXVI. _Fenus agitare. To loan money at interest_.
_Et in usuras extendere. And to put out that interest again on interest_. The other explanation, viz. that it means simply to put money at interest, makes the last clause wholly superfluous.
_Servatur. Is secured_, sc. abstinence from usury, or the non-existence of usury, which is the essential idea of the preceding clause.
_Ideo--vetitum esset_, sc. ignoti nulla cupido! Cf. 19: boni mores, vs. bonae leges. Gün. The reader cannot fail to recognize here, as usual, the reference to Rome, where usury was practised to an exorbitant extent. See Fiske's Manual, § 270, 4. and Arnold's His. of Rome, vol. 1, passim.
_Universis. Whole clans_, in distinction from individual owners.
_In vices. By turns_. Al vices, vice, vicis. Död. prefers in vicis; Rit. in vicos==for i.e. by villages. But whether we translate by turns or by villages, it comes to the same thing. Cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 22.
_Camporum, arva, ager, soli, terrae_, &c. These words differ from each other appropriately as follows: _Terra_ is opposed to mare et coelum, viz. _earth_. _Solum_ is the substratum of any thing, viz. _solid ground or soil_. _Campus_ is an extensive plain or level surface, whether of land or water, here _fields_. _Ager_ is distinctively the territory that surrounds a city, viz. _the public lands_. _Arvum_ is ager _aratus_, viz. _plough lands_. Bredow.
_Superest_. There is enough, and more, cf. § 6, note.
_Labore contendunt_. They do not strive emulously to equal the fertility of the soil by their own industry. Passow.
_Imperatur_. Just as frumentum, commeatus, obsides, etc., _imperantur, are demanded or expected_. Gün.
_Totidem_, sc. quot Romani, cf. idem, 4, note. Tacitus often omits one member of a comparison, as he does also one of two comparative particles.
_Species. Parts_. Sometimes the logical divisions of a genus; so used by Cic. and Quin. (§ 6, 58): cum genus dividitur in species.
_Intellectum_. A word of the silver age, cf. note on voluntariam, 24. Intellectum--habent==_are understood and named_. "Quam distortum dicendi genus!" Gün.
_Autumni--ignorantur_. Accordingly in English, spring, summer and winter are Saxon words, while autumn is of Latin origin (Auctumnus). See Dübner in loc. Still such words as Härfest, Herpist, Harfst, Herbst, in other Teutonic dialects, apply to the autumnal season, and not, like our word harvest, merely to the fruits of it.
XXVII. _Funera_, proprie de toto apparatu sepulturae. E. Funeral rites were performed with great pomp and extravagance at Rome; cf. Fiske's Man., § 340; see also Mur. in loco, and Beck. Gall. Exc. Sc. 12.
_Ambitio_. Primarily the solicitation of office by the candidate; then the parade and display that attended it; then _parade_ in general, especially in a bad sense.
_Certis_, i.e. rite statutis. Gün.
_Cumulant_. Structura est poetica, cf. Virg. Aen. 11, 50: _cumulatque_ altaria donis. K.
_Equus adjicitur_. Herodotus relates the same of the Scythians (4, 71); Caesar, of the Gauls (B.G. 6, 19). Indeed all rude nations bury with the dead those objects which are most dear to them when living, under the notion that they will use and enjoy them in a future state. See Robertson's Amer. B. 4, &c., &c.
_Sepulcrum--erigit_. Still poetical; literally: _a turf rears the comb_. Cf. His. 5, 6: Libanum _erigit_.
_Ponunt_==deponunt. So Cic. Tusc. Qu.: ad ponendum dolorem Cf. A. 20: posuere iram.
_Feminis--meminisse_. Cf. Sen. Ep.: Vir prudens meminisse perseveret, lugere desinat.
_Accepimus_. Ut ab aliis tradita audivimus, non ipsi cognovimus. K. See Preliminary Remarks, p. 79.
_In commune_. Cic. would have said, universe, or de universa origine. Gr. Cic. uses _in commune_, but in a different sense, viz. for the common weal. See Freund, sub voc.
_Instituta_, political; _ritus_, religious.
_Quae nationes. And what tribes_, etc.; _quae_ for _quaeque_ by asyndeton, or perhaps, as Rit. suggests, by mistake of the copyist.-- _Commigraverint_. Subj. of the indirect question. Gr. 265, Z. 552.
German critics have expended much labor and research, in defining the locality of the several German tribes with which the remainder of the Treatise is occupied. In so doing, they rely not only on historical data, but also on the traces of ancient names still attached to cities, forests, mountains, and other localities (cf. note, § 16). These we shall sometimes advert to in the notes. But on the whole, these speculations of German antiquarians are not only less interesting to scholars in other countries, but are so unsatisfactory and contradictory among themselves, that, for the most part, we shall pass them over with very little attention. There is manifestly an intrinsic difficulty in defining the ever changing limits of uncivilized and unsettled tribes. Hence the irreconcilable contradictions between _ancient authorities_, as well as modern critiques, on this subject. Tacitus, and the Roman writers generally, betray their want of definite knowledge of Germany by the frequency with which they specify the names of mountains and rivers. The following geographical outline is from Ukert, and must suffice for the _geography_ of the remainder of the Treatise: "In the corner between the Rhine and the Danube, are the Decumates Agri, perhaps as far as the Mayne, 29. Northward on the Rhine dwell the Mattiaci, whose neighbors on the east are the Chatti, 30. On the same river farther north are the Usipii and the Tencteri; then the Frisii, 32-34. Eastward of the Tencteri dwell the Chamavi and the Angrivarii (earlier the Bructeri), and east or southeast of them the Dulgibini and Chasuarii, 34. and other small tribes. Eastward of the Frisii Germany juts out far towards the north, 35. On the coast of the bay thus formed, dwell the Chauci, east of the Frisii and the above mentioned tribes; on the south, they reach to the Chatti. East of the Chauci and the Chatti are the Cherusci, 36. whose neighbors are the Fosi. The Cherusci perhaps, according to Tacitus, do not reach to the ocean; and in the angle of the above bay, he places the Cimbri, 37. Thus Tacitus represents the western half of Germany. The eastern is of greater dimensions. There are the Suevi, 38. He calls the country Suevia, 41. and enumerates many tribes, which belong there. Eastward of the Cherusci he places the Semnones and Langobardi; north of them are the Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii, Varini, Eudoses, Suardones and Nuithones; and all these he may have regarded as lying in the interior, and as the most unknown tribes, 41. He then mentions the tribes that dwell on the Danube, eastward from the Decumates Agri: the Hermunduri, in whose country the Elbe has its source; the Narisci, Marcomanni and Quadi, 41-42. The Marcomanni hold the country which the Boii formerly possessed; and northward of them and the Quadi, chiefly on the mountains which run through Suevia, are the Marsigni, Gothini, Osi and Burii, 43. Farther north are the Lygii, consisting of many tribes, among which the most distinguished are the Arii, Helvecones, Manimi, Elysii and Naharvali, 43. Still farther north dwell the Gothones, and, at the Ocean, the Rugii and Lemovii. Upon islands in the ocean live the Suiones, 44. Upon the mainland, on the coast, are the tribes of the Aestyi, and near them, perhaps on islands, the Sitones, 45. Perhaps he assigned to them the immense islands to which he refers in his first chapter. Here ends Suevia. Whether the Peucini, Venedi and Fenni are to be reckoned as Germans or Sarmatians, is uncertain, 46. The Hellusii and Oxonae are fabulous."
The following paragraph from Prichard's Researches embodies some of the more general conclusions of _ethnographers_, especially of Zeuss, on whom Prichard, in common with Orelli and many other scholars, places great reliance. "Along the coast of the German Ocean and across the isthmus of the Cimbric peninsula to the shore of the Baltic, were spread the tribes of the Chauci and Frisii, the Anglii, Saxones and the Teutones or Jutes, who spoke the _Low-German_ languages, and formed one of the four divisions of the German race, corresponding as it seems with the _Ingaevones_ of Tacitus and Pliny. In the higher and more central parts, the second great division of the race, that of the _Hermiones_, was spread, the tribes of which spoke _Upper_ or _High-German_ dialects. Beginning in the West with the country of the Sigambri on the Rhine, and from that of the Cherusci and Angrivarii near the Weser and the Hartz, this division comprehended, besides those tribes, the Chatti, the Langobardi, the Hermunduri, the Marcomanni and Quadi, the Lugii, and beyond the Vistula the Bastarnae, in the neighborhood of the Carpathian hills. To the eastward and northward of the last mentioned, near the lower course of the Vistula and thence at least as far as the Pregel, were the primitive abodes of the Goths and their cognate tribes, who are perhaps the _Istaevones_." The fourth division of Prichard embraced the Scandinavians, who spoke a language kindred to the Germans and were usually classed with them. Those who would examine this subject more thoroughly, will consult Adelung, Zeuss, Grimm, Ritter, Ukert, Prichard, Latham, &c., who have written expressly on the geography or the ethnography of Germany.
XXVIII. _Summus auctorum_, i.e. omnium scriptorum is, qui plurimum _auctoritatis fideique_ habet. K. Cf. Sueton. Caes. 56. Though T. commends so highly the _authority_ of Caesar as a writer, yet he differs from him in not a few matters of fact, as well as opinion; owing chiefly, doubtless, to the increased means of information which he possessed in the age of Trajan.
_Divus Julius. Divus_==deified, _divine_; an epithet applied to the Roman Emperors after their decease.--_Tradit_. Cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 24: fuit antea tempus, cum _Germanos Galli_ virtute _superarent_, ultro bella inferrent, propter hominum multitudinem agrique inopiam trans Rhenum colonias mitterent. Livy probably refers to the same events, when he says (Lib. 5, 34), that in the reign of Priscus Tarquinius, two immense bodies of Gauls migrated and took possession, the one of the Hercynian Forest, the other of Upper Italy.
_Amnis. The Rhine.--Promiscuas. Unsettled, ill defined_.
_Quo minus_ after a verb of hindering is followed by the subj. H. 499; Z. 543.
_Nulla--divisas_, i.e. _not distributed among different and powerful kings_.
_Hercyniam silvam_. A series of forests and mountains, stretching from Helvetia to Hungary in a line parallel to the Danube, and described by Caesar (B.G. 6, 25), as nine day's journey in breadth and more than sixty in length. The name seems to be preserved in the modern _Hartz_ Forest, which is however far less extensive.
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Germania and AgricolaChapter IV: Part 4
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