Chapter V: Part 5

_Igitur--Helvetii_==igitur _regionem_, inter, etc. See note on _colunt_, 16. _Igitur_ seldom stands as the first word in a sentence in Cicero. Cf. Z. 357; and Kühner's Cic. Tusc. Qu. 1, 6, 11. Here it introduces a more particular explanation of the general subject mentioned at the close of the previous chapter. So in A. 13. When so used, it sometimes stands first in Cic., always in T. Cf. Freund sub v. Touching the Helvetii, see Caes. B.G. 1, 1; T. His. 1, 67.

_Boihemi nomen_. Compounded of Boii and heim (home of the Boii), now Bohemia. _Heim==ham_ in the termination of so many names of towns, e.g. Framing_ham_, Notting_ham_. The Boii were driven from their country by the Marcomanni, 42. The fugitives are supposed to have carried their name into Boioaria, now Bavaria. Cf. Prichard's Physical Researches, Vol. III. Chap. 1, Sec. 6; and Latham's Germany of Tacitus in loco.

_Germanorum natione_, i.e. German in situation, not in origin, for this he expressly denies or disproves in 43, from the fact that they spoke the Pannonian language, and paid tribute. The doubt expressed here has reference only to their original _location_, not to their original stock, and is therefore in no way inconsistent with the affirmation in chapter 43.

_Cum==since_. Hence followed by subj. H. 518, I.; Z. 577.

_Utriusque ripae_. Here of the _Danube_, the right or Pannonian bank of which was occupied by the Aravisci, and the left or German bank by the Osi. So elsewhere of the _Rhine_, 37, and of both, 17, and 23.

_Treveri_. Hence modern _Treves_.

_Circa_. _In respect to_. A use foreign to the golden age of Latin composition, but not unfrequent in the silver age. See Ann. 11, 2. 15. His. 1, 43. Cf. Z. 298, and note, H. 1, 13.

_Affectationem_. _Eager desire_ to pass for native Germans. Ad verbum, cf. note, II. 1, 80.

_Ultro_. Radically the same with _ultra_==beyond. Properly beyond expectation, beyond necessity, beyond measure, beyond any thing mentioned in the foregoing context. Hence unexpectedly, freely, cheerfully, very much, even more. Here _very_, _quite_. Gr.

_Inertia Gallorum_. T., says Gün., is an everlasting persecutor of the Gauls, cf. A. 11.

_Haud dubie_==haud dubii. It limits Germanorum populi. _Undoubtedly German tribes_.

_Meruerint_. Not merely deserved, but _earned_, _attained_. For the subj. after _quanquam_, cf. note, 35.

_Agrippinenses_. From Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus and wife of Claudius. Ann. 12, 27. Now Cologne.

_Conditoris_. _Conditor_ with the earlier Latins is an epicene, conditrix being of later date. Here used of Agrippina. Of course _sui_ cannot agree with _conditoris_. It is a reflexive pronoun, the objective gen. after _conditoris_==the founder of _themselves_, i.e. of their state, cf. _odium sui_, 33.

_Experimento_. Abl. _on_ trial, not _for_; i.e. in consequence of being found faithful. In reference to the Ubii, cf. His. 4, 28.

XXIX. _Virtute_ sc. bellica.

_Non multum ex ripa_. _A small tract on the bank, but chiefly an island in the river_. Cf. His. 4, 12: extrema Gallicae orae, simulque insulam, occupavere.

_Chattorum quondam_. The very name Batavi is thought by some to be a corrupted or modified form of Chatti. See Rit. in loc.

_Transgressus. When_ is not known, but Julius Caesar found them already in possession of their new territory. B.G. 4, 10.

_Fierent_. Subj. after _eas--quibus==such that_. H. 500, 2; Z. 556.

_Nec--contemnuntur. Are neither dishonored_. So in His. 4, 17. the Batavians are called _tributorum expertes_.

_Oneribus. The burdens of regular taxation.--Collationibus. Extraordinary contributions_.

_Tela_, offensive; _arma_, defensive armor.

_In sua ripa_. On the right or eastern bank of the Rhine. _Agunt_ is to be taken with _in sua ripa_, as well as with _nobiscum_, which are antithetic to each other. Meaning: in situation Germans, in feeling Romans.

_Mente animoque. In mind and spirit. Mens_ is properly the understanding, _animus_ the feeling part, and both together comprehend the whole soul.

_Acrius animantur. Made more courageous by the influence of their very soil and climate even_ (_adhuc_, cf. note, 19).

_Numeraverim_. Subj. cf. note, 2: _crediderim_.

_Decumates--exercent. Exercent_==colunt, So Virg. tellurem, terram, humum, solum, &c., _exercere_.

_Decumates_==decumanos. Occurs only here. Tithe-paying lands. For their location, see note, 27.

_Dubiae possessionis_, i.e. _insecure_, till confirmed by _limite acto promotisque praesidiis_, i.e. _extending the boundary and advancing the garrisons or outposts_.

_Sinus. Extreme bend_ or _border_. Cf. note, 1. So Virg. (Geor. 2 123) calls India extremi _sinus_ orbis.

_Provinciae_. A province, not any particular one.

XXX. _Initium inchoant_. Pleonastic. So initio orto, His. 1, 76; initium coeptum, His. 2, 79; perferre toleraverit, Ann. 3, 3. _Ultra_ is farther back from the Rhine. Chattorum sedes ubi nunc magnus ducatus et principatus _Hassorum_, quorum nomen a Chattis deductum. Ritter. Cha_tt_i==He_ss_ians, as Germ. wa_ss_er==Eng. wa_t_er, and [Greek: prasso==pratto].

_Effusis. Loca effusa_ sunt, quae _latis campis_ patent. K. This use belongs to the later Latin, though Horace applies the word with _late_ to the sea: effusi late maria. Gr.

_Durant siquidem_, etc. On the whole, I am constrained to yield to the authority and the arguments of Wr., Or., Död., and Rit., and place the pause before _durant_, instead of after it as in the first edition. _Durant_ precedes _siquidem_ for the sake of emphasis, just as _quin immo_ (chap. 14) and _quin etiam_ (13) yield their usual place to the emphatic word. These are all departures from established usage. See notes in loc. cit. _Que_ must be understood, after _paulatim_: it is inserted in the text by Ritter.

_Rarescunt_. _Become fewer_ and farther apart. So Virg. Aen. 3, 411: _Angusti rarescent claustra Pelori_.

_Chattos suos_. As if the Chatti were the children of the Forest, and the Forest emphatically their country. Passow.

_Prosequitur, deponit_. Begins, continues, and ends with the Chatti. Poetical==is coextensive with.

_Duriora_, sc. solito, or his, cf. Gr. 256, 9.--_Stricti, sinewy, strong_, which has the same root as _stringo_.

_Ut inter Germanos_, i.e. pro ingenio Germanorum, Gün. So we say elliptically: _for Germans_.

_Praeponere_, etc. A series of infinitives without connectives, denoting a hasty enumeration of particulars; elsewhere, sometimes, a rapid succession of events. Cf. notes, A. 36, and H. 1, 36. The particulars here enumerated, all refer to _military_ proceedings.

_Disponere--noctem_. _They distribute the day_, sc. as the period of various labors; _they fortify the night_, sc. as the scene of danger. Still highly poetical.

_Ratione_. _Way, manner_. Al. _Romanae_.

_Ferramentis_. _Iron tools_, axes, mattocks, &c.--_Copiis_. _Provisions_.

_Rari_. Predicate of _pugna_, as well as _excursus_.--_Velocitas_ applies to cavalry, _cunctatio_ to infantry; _juxta_==connected with, allied to, cf. juxta libertatem, 21.

XXXI. _Aliis--populis_. Dat. after _usurpatum_, which with its adjuncts is the subject of _vertit_. See same construction, His. 1, 18: observatum id antiquitus comitiis dirimendis non terruit Galbam, etc., cf. also A. 1.--_Audentia_ occurs only thrice in T. (G. 31. 34. Ann. 15, 53), and once in Pliny (Ep. 8, 4). It differs from _audacia_ in being a _virtue_.

_Vertit_. Intrans. Not so found in Cic., but in Liv., Caes., and Sall., not unfrequent. Gr. Cic. however uses _anno vertente_.

_In consensum vertit_. _Has become the common custom_.

_Ut primum_. _Just as soon as_. A causal relation is also implied; hence followed by the subj.

_Crinem--submittere_. We find this custom (_of letting the hair and beard grow long_) later among the Lombards and the Saxons, cf. Turn. His. Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2.

_Super--spolia_, i.e. _over the bloody spoils_ of a slain enemy.

_Revelant_, i.e. they remove the hair and beard, which have so long _veiled_ the face.

_Retulisse==repaid, discharged their obligations to those who gave them birth_.

_Squalor_. This word primarily denotes roughness; secondarily and usually filth: here the deformity of unshorn hair and beard.

_Insuper_, i.e. besides the long hair and beard. The proper position of _insuper_ is, as here, between the adj. and subs., cf. 34: immensos _insuper_ lacus; see also _insuper_, 12.

_Absolvat_. Subj. after _donec_. So _faciat_ below. See note, 1.

_Hic--habitus_, sc. _ferreum annulum_, cf. 17. _Plurimis_==permultis, Rit.

_Placet_. Antithetic to _ignominiosum genti_. Very many of the Chatti are _pleased_ with that which is esteemed a disgrace by most Germans, and so pleased with it as to retain it to old age, and wear it as a badge of distinction (_canent insignes_).

_Nova_. Al. _torva. Strange, unusual_. Placed in the _van_ (_prima acies_), because as the author says, § 43: primi in omnibus proeliis _oculi_ vincuntur.

_Mansuescunt_. Primarily said of wild beasts, _accustomed to the hand of man_ or _tamed_. So _immanis_, _not_ handled, wild, savage. The clause introduced by _nam_ illustrates or enforces _visu nova_, and may be rendered thus: _for not even in time of peace do they grow gentle_ and put on _a milder aspect_.

_Exsanguis_. Usually lifeless or pale. Here _languid, feeble_.

XXXII. _Alveo_==quoad alveum. Abl. of respect, H. 429; Z. 429.

_Certum. Fixed, well defined_, i.e. not divided and diffused, (so as to form of itself no sufficient border or boundary to the Roman Empire) as it was nearer its source among the Chatti. So this disputed word seems to be explained by the author himself in the following clause; _quique terminus esse sufficiat==and such that it suffices to be a boundary_. _Qui==talis ut_; hence followed by the subj. H. 500, I.; Z. 558. So Mela (3, 2) contrasts _solidus et certo alveo lapsus_ with _huc et illuc dispergitur_.

_Tencteris_==apud Tencteros, by _enallage_, cf. note on _ad patrem_, 20, and other references there. The Tencteri and Usipii seem to have been at length absorbed into the mass of people, who appear under the later name of Alemanni. Cf. Prichard.

_Familiam. Servants_, cf. note on same word, 15. See also Beck Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.--Penates==our _homestead_.

_Jura succesionum==heir looms_, all that goes down by hereditary descent.

_Excipit_. Here in the unusual sense of _inherits.--Cetera_, sc. _jura successionum_.

_Bello_. Abl. and limits both _ferox_ and _melior_. Meaning: _The horses are inherited, not, like the rest of the estate, by the eldest son, but by the bravest_.

XXXIII. _Occurrebant. Met the view, presented themselves_. Almost the sense of the corresponding English word. The structure of _narratur_ (as impers.) is very rare in the earlier authors, who would say: _Chamavi narrantur_. Cf. His. 1, 50. 90. The _Chamavi_, &c., were joined afterwards to the Franks. Cf. Prichard. The present town of _Ham_ in Westphalia probably preserves the name and gives the _original_ locality of the _Chamavi_, the present _Engern_ that of the _Angrivarii_. The termination varii or uarii probably==inhabitants of. Thus angrivarii==inhabitants of Engern. Chasuarii==Inhabitants of the river Hase. The same element is perhaps contained in the termination of Bruct_eri_ and Tenct_eri_. See Latham in loco.

_Nos, se_. Romanos. _Erga_==inclined to (cf. vergo), _towards_.

_Spectaculo_. Ablative. Invidere is constructed by the Latins in the following ways: invidere alicui aliquid, alicui alicujus rei, alicui aliqua re, alicui in aliqua re. Hess. The construction here (with the abl. of the thing, which was the object of envy) belongs to the silver age. Cf. Quint. (Inst. 9, 3, 1) who contrasts it with the usage of Cicero, and considers it as illustrating the fondness of the age for _figurative_ language.

_Oblectationi oculisque_. Hendiadys for ad oblectationem oculorum. The author here exults in the promiscuous slaughter of the German Tribes by each other's arms, as a brilliant spectacle to Roman eyes--a feeling little congenial to the spirit of Christianity, but necessarily nurtured by the gladiatorial shows and bloody amusements of the Romans, to say nothing of the habitual hostility which they waged against all other nations, that did not submit to their dominion.

_Quaeso_, sc. _deos_. Though _fortune_ is spoken of below, as controlling the destiny of nations. This passage shows clearly that Tacitus, with all his partiality for German manners and morals, still retains the heart of a Roman patriot. He loves his country with all her faults, and bears no good-will to her enemies, however many and great their virtues. The passage is important, as illustrating the spirit and design of the whole Treatise. The work was not written as a blind panegyric on the Germans, or a spleeny satire on the Romans. Neither was it composed for the purpose of stirring up Trajan to war against Germany; to such a purpose, such a clause, as _urgentibus imperii fatis_, were quite adverse. Least of all was it written for the mere pastime and amusement of Roman readers. It breathes the spirit at once of the earnest patriot, and the high-toned moralist.

_Odium sui_. Cf. note, 28: _conditor. Hatred of themselves_; i.e. of one another. So in Greek, the reflexive pronoun is often used for the reciprocal.

_Quando==since_; a subjective reason. Cf. note, His. I, 31; and Z. 346. --_Urgentibus--fatis_, sc. to discord and dissolution, for such were the forebodings of patriotic and sagacious minds ever after the overthrow of the Republic, even under the prosperous reign of Trajan.

XXXIV. _A tergo_, i.e. further back from the Rhine, or towards the East-- _A fronte_, nearer the Rhine or towards the West. Both are to be referred to the Angrivarii and Chamavi, who had the Dulgibini and the Chasuarii in their rear (on the east), and the Frisii on their front (towards the west or northwest).--_Frisii_, the Frieslanders.

_Majoribus--virium. They have the name of Greater or Less Frisii, according to the measure of their strength_. For this sense of _ex_ see note 7. For the case of _majoribus minoribusque_ see Z. 421, and H. 387, 1.

_Praetexuntur. Are bordered by the Rhine_ (hemmed, as the toga _praetexta_ by the purple); or, as Freund explains, are covered by it, i.e. lie behind it--_Immensos lacus_. The bays, or arms of the sea, at the mouth of the Rhine (Zuyder Zee, etc.), taken for lakes by T. and Pliny (Ann. 1, 60. 2, 8. N.H. 4, 29). They have been greatly changed by inundations. See Mur. in loco.

_Oceanum_, sc. Septentrionalem.--_Sua_, sc. parte.--_Tentavimus, explored_.

_Herculis columnas_. "Wherever the land terminated, and it appeared impossible to proceed further, ancient maritime nations feigned pillars of Hercules. Those mentioned in this passage some authors have placed at the extremity of Friesland, and others at the entrance of the Baltic." Ky. cf. note, 3.

_Adiit_, i.e. vere adiit, _actually_ visited that part of the world.

_Quicquid--consensimus_. This passage is a standard illustration of the _Romana interpretatione_ (§ 43), the Roman construction, which the Romans put upon the mythology and theology of other nations. It shows that they were accustomed to apply the names of their gods to the gods of other nations on the ground of some resemblance in character, history, worship, &c. Sometimes perhaps a resemblance in the _names_ constituted the ground of identification.

_Druso Germanico_. Some read Druso _et_ Germanico; others Druso, Germanico, as a case of asyndeton (Gr. 323, 1 (1.)); for both Drusus and Germanicus sailed into the Northern Ocean, and it is not known that Germanicus (the son of Drusus and stepson of Tiberius, who is by some supposed to be meant here) is ever called _Drusus Germanicus_. But Drusus, the father of Germanicus, is called Drusus Germanicus in the Histories (5, 19), where he is spoken of as having thrown a mole or dam across the Rhine; and it is not improbable that he is the person here intended. So K., Or. and Wr.

_Se_, i.e. the Ocean. See H. 449, II.; Z. 604.

_Inquiri_. Impersonal==_investigation to be made. E_. suggests _inquirenti_, agreeing with _Germanico_. But T., unlike the earlier Latin authors, not unfrequently places an infin. after a verb of hindering.

_Credere quam scire_. T. perhaps alluded to the precept of the Philosopher, who said: Deum cole, atque crede, sed noli quaerere. Murphy.

XXXV. _In Septentrionem_, etc. _On the North, it falls back_, sc. into the Ocean, _with_ an immense _bend_ or peninsula. The _flexus_ here spoken of is called _sinus_ in chap. 37, and describes the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Danish Peninsula. See Död., Or. and Rit. in loc.--_Ac primo statim. And first immediately_, sc. as we begin to trace the northern coast.--_Lateribus_, sc. the eastern.

_Quanquam_ followed by the subj., seldom in Cic., but usually in T., Z. 574, Note. Cf. note, His. 5, 21.--_Sinuetur_, sc. southwards. _Donec--sinuetur_. Cf. note, 1: _erumpat_.

_Inter Germanos_. Considered among the Germans, _in the estimation of the Germans_.

_Quique--tueri_. A clause connected to an _adj_. (nobilissimus), cf. certum, quique, 32. _Qui_ in both passages==talis, ut. Hence followed by subj. H. 501, I.; Z. 558.

_Impotentia, ungoverned passion, [Greek: akrateia]. Impotentia_ seldom denotes want of power, but usually that unrestrained passion, which results from the want of ability to control one's self.

_Ut--agant_ depends on _assequuntur_. Subj. H. 490; Z. 531, _a_.

_Si res poscat_. Some copies read: si res poscat _exercitus_. But posco and postulo seldom have the object expressed in such clauses, cf. 44: ut res poscit; 6: prout ratio poscit. So also Cic. and Sall., pass. _Exercitus_ is subject nom., _promptus_ being understood, as pred.; and _plurimum virorum equorumque_ explains or rather enforces _exercitus: and, if the case demand, an army, the greatest abundance of men and horses_.

_Quiescentibus_, i.e. bellum non gerentibus; _eadem_, i.e. the same, as if engaged in war.

XXXVI. _Cherusci_. It was their chief, Arminius (Germ. Hermann), who, making head against the Romans, was honored as the Deliverer of Germany, and celebrated in ballad songs, which are preserved to this day. See his achievements in Ann. B. 1, and 2. This tribe became afterwards the head of the Saxon confederacy.

_Marcentem. Enervating_. So _marcentia pocula_, Stat. Silv. 4, 6, 56. It is usually intransitive, and is taken here by some in the sense of languid, enervate (literally withered).--_Illacessiti_ is a post-Augustan word. Cf. Freund.

_Impotentes_. Cf. impotentia, 35.

_Falso quiescas_. Falleris, dum quiescis. Dilthey. Cf. note, 14: _possis_.

_Ubi manu agitur_. Where matters are decided by might rather than right. Cf. _manu agens_, A. 9.

_Nomina superioris. Virtues_ (only) _of the stronger party_, the conqueror. They are deemed vices in the weaker.

_Chattis--cessit: while to the Chatti_, who were _victorious, success was imputed for wisdom_. The antithetic particle at the beginning of the clause is omitted. Cf. note, 4: _minime_.

_Fuissent_. Subj. after _cum_ signifying _although_. H. 516, II.

XXXVII. _Sinum. Peninsula_, sc. the Cimbric. Cf. note, 35: _flexu_; 81: _sinus_.

_Cimbri_. The same with the Cimmerii, a once powerful race, who, migrating from western Asia, that hive of nations, overran a large part of Europe, but their power being broken by the Romans, and themselves being overrun and conquered by the Gothic or German Tribes, they were pushed to the extreme western points of the continent and the British Isles, where, and where alone, distinct traces of their language and literature remain to this day. They have left their name indelibly impressed on different localities in their route, e.g. the Cimmerian Bosphorus, the Cimbric Chersonesus (now Jutland, occupied by the Cimbri in the days of T.), Cumberland (Cumbria, from Cimbri) &c. The ancient name of the Welsh was also Cymri, cf. Tur. His. Ang. Sax. 1. 2.

_Gloria_ is abl. limiting _ingens_.

_Castra ac spatia_. In apposition with _lata vestigia_==spatiosa castra or castrorum spatia, H. 704, II. 2; Z. 741.

_Utraque ripa_, sc. of the Rhine, _the_ river and river bank by eminence.

_Molem manusque. The mass of their population, and the number of their armies_. Observe the alliteration, as if he had said: measure the mass and might.

_Exitus_, i.e. _migrationis_. Often used in this sense, cf. Caes. B.C. 3, 69: Salutem et _exitum_ sibi pariebant.--_Fidem, proof_.

_Sexcentesimum--annum_. T. follows the Catonian Era. According to the Varronian Era, received by the moderns, the date would be A.U.C. 641 = A.C. 113.

_Alterum--consulatum_. The second consulship of Trajan (when he was also Emperor) was, after the reckoning of Tacitus, A.U.C. 850, according to modern computation, 851 = A.D. 98. This year doubtless marks the time when this treatise was written, else why selected?

_Vincitur_. So long is Germany in being conquered. (The work was never completed.) Cf. Liv. 9, 3: quem per annos jam prope _triginta vincimus_.

_Medio--spatio. In the intervening period_, sc. of 210 years.

_Samnis--Galliaeve_. The Romans had fought bloody, and some times disastrous battles with the Samnites (at the Caudine Forks, Liv. 9, 2.), with the Carthaginians (in the several Punic Wars), with the Spaniards under Viriathus and Sertorius (Florus, Lib. 2.), with the Gauls (Caes. B.G. pass.). But none of these were so sanguinary as their wars with the Germans.

_Admonuere_, sc. vulneribus, cladibus==castigavere.

_Regno--libertas_. Liberty and monarchy in studied antithesis. T. means to imply that the former is the stronger principle of the two.

_Arsacis_. The family name of the Parthian kings, as Pharaoh and Ptolemy of the Egyptian, Antiochus of the Syrian, &c.

_Amisso et ipse_, sc. _oriens_; the East _itself also lost_ its prince (Pacorus), in the engagement, as well as the Romans their leader (Crassus).--_Objecerit, reproach us with_. Subj. Cf. n. G. 2: _peteret_.

_Ventidium_. Commander under Anthony, and conqueror of the Parthians in three battles, A.U.C. 715. He was raised from the lowest rank and the meanest employment, hence perhaps the expression, _dejectus infra, humbled beneath Ventidius_.

_Carbone--Manlio_, Cneius Papirius Carbo defeated at Noreja, A.U. 641 (Liv. Epit. 63.), L. Cassius Longinus defeated and slain, 647 (Caes. B.G. 1, 7. 12.), M. Aurelius Scaurus defeated and taken captive, 648 (Liv. Epit. 67.), Servilius Caepio and M. Manlius defeated with great slaughter at Tolosa, 649 (Liv. Epit. 67.), Quintilius Varus defeated and slain, 762 (Suet. Oct. 23.)--all these victories over the Romans in their highest strength and glory--either in the time of the _Republic (Populo Romano)_, or of the _Empire_ under Augustus (_Caesari_)--all these attested the courage and military prowess of the Germans; and they were still, for the most part, as free and as powerful as ever.

_Caius Marius_ almost annihilated the Cimbri at Aquae Sextiae, A.U.C. 652.

_Drusus_. Claudius Drusus invaded Germany four times, 742-3, and finally lost his life by falling from his horse on his return, cf. Dio. Libb. 54. 55.

_Nero_, commonly known as Tiberius (brother of Drusus and stepson of Augustus), had the command in Germany at three different times, 746-7, 756-9, 764-5, cf. Suet. Tib. 9. seq.

_Germanicus_, son of Drusus, made four campaigns in Germany, A.D. 14-16, cf. Ann. B. 1. and 2.

_C. Caesaris_. Caligula, cf. Suet. Calig.; T. His. 4, 15.

_Discordiae--armorum_. The civil wars after the death of Nero under Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.

_Expugnatis--hibernis_. By the Batavians under Civilis. His. 4, 12 seq.; A. 41.

_Affectavere. Aspired to the government of_, cf. note on affectationem, 28. After _donec_, T. always expresses a single definite past action by the perf. ind., cf. A. 36: _donec--cohortatus est_; a repeated, or continued past action by the imp. subj. cf. note, A. 19: _donec--fieret_; and a present action, which is in the nature of the case also a continued action, by the pres. subj. cf. note, 1: _separet_.

_Triumphati_. Poetice, cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 837: Triumphata Corintho; Hor. Od. 3, 3, 43: Triumphati Medi. The reference here is to the ridiculous triumph of Domitian, A. 39, in which slaves, purchased and dressed out for the purpose, were borne as captives through the streets.

XXXVIII. _Suevis_. In the time of T. a powerful confederacy, embracing all the tribes enumerated in 39-45, and covering all the eastern and larger half of Germany. But the confederacy was soon dissolved and seldom appears in subsequent history. We still have a trace of their name in the Modern _Suabia_. The name is supposed by some philologists (e.g. Zeuss) to denote _unsettled wanderers_ (Germ. Schweben, to wave, to hover, cf. Caes. B.G. 4, 1: Suevis non longius anno remanere uno in loco, etc.); as that of the Saxons does settlers, or _fixed residents_ (Germ. Sassen), and that of the Franks, _freemen_. See Rup. in loc. An ingenious Article in the North American Review (July, 1847), makes the distinction of Suevi and non-Suevi radical and permanent in the religion and the language of the Germans; the Suevi becoming Orthodox Catholics, and the non-Suevi Arians in Ecclesiastical History, and the one High-Dutch and the other Low-Dutch in the development of their language.

_Adhuc_. Cf. note on it, 19. As to position, cf. _insuper_ 31, and 34. The Suevi are _still (adhuc)_ divided into distinct tribes bearing distinct names, though united in a confederacy. Cf. Hand's Tursellinus, 1, 163. Död. renders _besides_, sc. the general designation of Suevi.

_In commune. In common_. Not used in this sense by Cic., Caes. and Liv., though frequent in T. Gr. Cf. note on the same, 27.

_Obliquare. To turn the hair back, or comb it up_ contrary to its natural direction--and then fasten it in a knot on the top of the head (_substringere nodo_); so it seems to be explained by the author himself below: _horrentem capillum retro sequuntur ac in ipso solo vertice religant_. Others translate _obliquare_ by _twist_. Many ancient writers speak of this manner of tying the hair among the Germans, cf. Sen. de Ira. 3, 26.; Juv. 13, 164.

_A servis separantur. Separantur_==distinguuntur. Servants among the Suevi seem to have had their hair shorn. So also it was among the Franks at a later date. Vid. Greg. Tur. 3, 8.

_Rarum et intra_, etc. Enallage, cf. note _certum quique_, 32.

_Retro sequuntur_, i.e. _follow it back_, as it were, in its growth, and _tie it up on the very crown of the head only_, instead of letting it hang down, as it grows (submittere crinem). So K., Or. and many others. Passow and Död. take sequuntur in the sense of _desire, delight in_ (our word _seek_). The word bears that sense, e.g. 5: argentum magis quam aurum _sequuntur_. But then what is _retro_ sequuntur? for _retro_ must be an adjunct of _sequuntur_ both from position, and because there is no other word which it can limit. _Saepe_ implies, that sometimes they made a knot elsewhere, but _often they fasten_ it there, and there _only_. See Or. in loc. This whole passage illustrates our author's disposition to avoid technical language. Cf. note, II. 2, 21.

_Innoxiae. Harmless_, unlike the beauty cultivated among the _Romans_ to dazzle and seduce.

_In altitudinem_, etc. _For the sake of_ (increased) _height and terror_, i.e. to appear tall and inspire terror. Cf. note, A, 5: _in jactationem_; A. 7: _in suam famam_. The antithetic particle is omitted before this clause as it often is by our author.

_Ut hostium oculis_, to strike with terror the eyes of the enemy, for primi in omnibus proeliis _oculi_ vincuntur, 43.

XXXIX. _Vetustissimos. Oldest_. _Vetus_ is _old_, of long _duration_ ([Greek; etos], aetas). _antiquus, ancient_, belonging to a _preceding_ age (ante). _Recens_ (fresh, young) is opposed to the former: _novus_ (new, modern), to the latter. See Ramshorn and Freund.

_Fides antiquitatis. Antiquitatis_ is objective gen.==_the belief, or persuasion of their antiquity_.

_Auguriis--sacram_. The commentators all note the hexameter structure of these words, and many regard them as a quotation from some Latin poet. The words themselves are also poetical, e.g. _patrum_ for _majorum_, and _formidine_ for _religione_. The coloring is Virgilian. Cf. Aen. 7, 172; 8, 598. See Or. in loc. and Preliminary Remarks to the Histories, p. 234.

_Legationibus coeunt_. Just as we say: _convene by their delegates_, or _representatives_.

_Publice_==publica auctoritate, cf. same word, 10.

_Primordia_. Initiatory rites.

_Minor_, sc. numine. _Inferior to the god_.

_Prae se ferens. Expressing in his external appearance, or bearing in his own person an acknowledgment of the power of the divinity_.

_Evolvuntur_==se evolvunt, cf. Ann. 1, 13: cum Tiberii genua advolveretur; also _lavantur_, 22.

_Eo--tanquam. Has reference to this point, as if_, i.e. to this opinion, viz. that thence, etc. Cf. _illuc respicit tanquam_, 12.--_Inde_ From the grove, or the god of the grove. Cf. 3: _Tuisconem ... originem gentis_.

_Adjicit auctoritatem_, sc. isti superstitioni.

_Magno corpore_==reipublicae magnitudine. _Corpore_, the body politic. So His. 4, 64: redisse vos in corpus nomenque Germanorum.--_Habitantur_. Al. habitant and habitantium, by conjecture. The subject is the Semnonian _country_ implied in _Semnonum: the Semnonians inhabit a hundred villages_, is the idea.

XL. _Langobardos_. The Lombards of Mediaeval history; so called probably from their long beards (Germ, lang and bart). First mentioned by Velleius, 2, 106: gens etiam Germana feritate ferocior. See also Ann. 2, 45, 46, 62-64.--_Paucitas_ here stands opposed to the _magno corpore_ of the Semnones in 39.

_Per--periclitando_. Three different constructions, cf. notes 16, 18.

_Reudigni_. Perhaps the Jutes, so intimately associated with the Angles in subsequent history. See Or. in loc. In like manner, Zeuss identifies the _Suardones_ with the Heruli, and the _Nuithones_ with the Teutones. _Suardones_ perhaps==_sword_-men.

_Anglii_. The English reader will here recognize the tribe of Germans that subsequently invaded, peopled, and gave name to England (==_Angl-land_), commonly designated as the Anglo-Saxons. T. does not mention the _Saxons_. They are mentioned by Ptolemy and others, as originally occupying a territory in this same part of Germany. They became at length so powerful, as to give their name to the entire confederacy (including the Angles), which ruled northern Germany, as the Franks (the founders of the French monarchy) did southern. The Angles seem to have dwelt on the right bank of the Elbe, near its mouth, in the time of T.

_Nerthum_. This is the reading of the MSS. and the old editions. It cannot be doubted that T. speaks of Hertha (see Turn. His. Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2. chap. 3). "But we must take care not to correct our author himself." Passow. Grimm identifies this deity with Niördhr of the Edda, and derives the name from Nord (North).--_Terram matrem_. The Earth is worshipped by almost all heathen nations, as the mother of men and the inferior gods. See Mur. in loco. Cf. 2: Tuisconem Deum, _terra editum_; also note, 9. Isidi.

_Insula_. Scholars differ as to the Island. Probabilities perhaps are in favor of Rugen, where the _secretus lacus_ mentioned below is still shown, still associated with superstitious legends.

_Castum. Polluted by nothing profane_. So Hor: _castis lucis_.

_Penetrali_, viz. _the sacred vehicle_.

_Dignatur_. _Deems worthy_ of her visits.

_Templo_, sc. the sacred grove. Templum, like [Greek: temenos], denotes any place _set apart_ (from [Greek: temno]) for sacred purposes, cf. 9.

_Numen ipsum. The goddess herself_, not an image of her; for the Germans have no images of their gods, 9. _Abluitur_, as if contaminated by intercourse with mortals.

_Perituri_, etc. _Which can be seen only on penalty of death_.

XLI. _Propior_, sc. to the Romans.--_Hermundurorum_. Ritter identifies the name (_Hermun_ being omitted, and _dur_ being==_thur_) and the people with the _Thur_ingians. Cf. note 2: _Ingaevones_.

_Non in ripa. Not only_ (or _not so much_) _on the border_ (the riverbank), but also within the bounds of the Roman Empire.

_Splendidissima--colonia_. This flourishing colony had no distinctive name in the age of T.; called afterwards Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg.

_Passim_. Wherever they chose--_Sine custode_. Not so others. Cf. His. 4, 64: ut inermes ac prope nudi, _sub custode_ et pretio coiremus.

_Cum--ostendamus. Cum==while, although_. Hence the subj.

_Non concupiscentibus. Since they were not covetous_, Gün. Gr renders: _though they were not equally desirous of it_.

_Notum--auditur_. The Elbe had been _seen_ and _crossed_ by Drusus Domitius, and Tiberius. But now it was known only by _hearsay_. See a like patriotic complaint at the close of 37.

XLII. _Marcomanni_==men of the marches. See Latham in loc--_Sedes_, sc. Bohemia.--_Pulsis olim Boiis_, cf. 28.

_Degenerant_, sc. _a reliquorum virtute_, i.e. the Narisci and Quadi _are not unworthy, do not fall short_ of the bravery of their neighbors. the Marcomanni.

_Peragitur_. Al. _protegitur, porrigitur_, &c. Different words are supplied as the subject of _peragitur_, e.g. Passow _iter_.; Rit. _cursus_; K. _frons_. The last is preferable. The meaning is: _This country_ (sc. of these tribes) _is the front_, so to speak (i.e. the part _facing the Romans_) _of Germany, so far as it is formed by the Danube_, i.e. so far as the Danube forms the boundary between Germany and the Roman Empire.

_Marobodui_. Cf. Ann. 2, 62; Suet. Tib. 37.

_Externos_, sc. reges, viz. the kings of the Hermunduri. Ann. 2, 62.-- _Potentia. Power_ irrespective of right. _Potestas_ is lawful _authority_. See note, 7

_Nec minus valent_, sc. being aided by our money, than they would be if they were reinforced by our arms. This clause in some copies stands at the beginning of 43.

XLIII. _Retro. Back_ from the Danube and the Roman border.--_Referunt. Resemble_. Poetical, cf. 20.

_Et quod patiuntur_, sc. proves that they are not of German origin. They paid tribute as _foreigners_. The Gothini were probably a remnant of the expelled Boii. Cf. note, 28, and Prichard, as there cited. Hence their Gallic language.

_Quo magis pudeat_. They have iron beyond even most of the Germans (cf. 6), but (shame to tell) do not know how to use it in asserting their independence. Subj. H. 497; Z. 536.

_Pauca campestrium_. Poetical, but not uncommon in the later Latin. So 41: secretiora Germaniae; His. 4, 28: extrema Galliarum. H. 396, III. 2. 3; Z. 435.

_Jugum. A mountain chain.--Vertices. Distinct summits_.

_Insederunt_. This word usually takes a dat., or an abl., with _in_. But the poets and later prose writers use it as a transitive verb with the acc.==_have settled, inhabited_. Cf. H. 371, 4; Z. 386; and Freund sub voce. Observe the comparatively unusual form of the perf. 3d plur. in _-erunt_ instead of _-ere_. Cf. note, His. 2, 20.

_Nomen_==gens. So nomen Latinum==Latins. Liv. pass.

_Interpretatione Romana_. So we are every where to understand Roman accounts of the gods of other nations. They transferred to them the names of their own divinities according to some slight, perhaps fancied resemblance. Cf. note, 34: _quicquid consensimus_.

_Ea vis numini_, i.e. these gods render the same service to the Germans, as Castor and Pollux to the Romans.

_Alcis_, dat. pl. Perhaps from the Slavonic word holcy==kouros, Greek for Castor and Pollux. Referable to no German root.

_Peregrinae_, sc. Greek or Roman.--_Tamen_. Though these gods bear no visible trace of Greek or Roman origin, _yet_ they are worshipped as brothers, as youth, like the _Greek_ and _Roman Twins_.-- _Superstitionis_==religionis. Cf. notes, His. 3, 58; 5, 13.

_Lenocinantur. Cherish_, increase. Used rhetorically; properly, _to pander_.--_Arte_, sc. nigra scuta, &c.--_Tempore_, sc. atras noctes, &c. --_Tincta==tattooed_.

_Ipsaque formidine_, etc. _And by the very frightfulness and shadow of the deathlike army. Umbra_ may be taken of the literal _shadows_ of the men in the night, with Rit., or with Död. and Or., of the general _image_ or _aspect_ of the army. _Feralis_, as an adj., is found only in poetry and post-Augustan prose. See Freund.

_Gothones_. Probably the Getae of earlier, and the Goths of later history. See Or. in loc. and Grimm and other authorities as there cited. The _Rugii_ have perpetuated their name in an island of the Baltic (Rugen).

_Adductius_. Lit. with tighter rein, _with more absolute power_ cf. His. 3, 7: adductius, quam civili bello, imperitabat. The adv. is used only in the comp.; and the part. adductus is post-Augustan. _Jam_ and _nondum_ both have reference to the writer's progress in going over the tribes of Germany, those tribes growing less and less free as he advances eastward: _already_ under more subjection than the foregoing tribes, but _not yet_ in such abject slavery, as some we shall soon reach, sc. in the next chapter, where see note on _jam_.

_Supra_. So as to _trample down_ liberty and destroy it.

_Protinus deinde ab_, etc. _Next in order, from the ocean_, i.e. with territory beginning from or at the ocean.

XLIV. _Suionum. Swedes_. Not mentioned under this name, however, by any other ancient author.

_Ipso_. The Rugii, &c., mentioned at the close of the previous section, dwelt _by_ the ocean (_ab_ Oceano); but the _Suiones in_ the ocean (_in_ Oceano). _Ipso_ marks this antithesis.

_In Oceano_. An island in the Baltic. Sweden was so regarded by the ancients, cf. 1, note.

_Utrimque prora. Naves biprorae_. Such also had the Veneti, Caes. B.G. 3, 13. Such Germanicus constructed, His. 3, 47. So also the canoes of the N. Am. Indians.

_Ministrantur_, sc. naves==_the ships are not furnished with sails_, cf. His. 4, 12: _viros armaque ministrant_. Or it may be taken in the more literal sense: are served, i.e. worked, mannged. Cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 302: velisque ministrat.--_In ordinem. For a row_, i.e. so as to form a row, cf. Z. 314: also Rit. and Död. in loc. The northmen (Danes and Swedes) became afterwards still more famous for navigation and piratical excursions, till at length they settled down in great numbers in France and England.

_In quibusdam fluminum_. Rivers with steep banks require the oars to be removed in order to approach the bank.

_Est--honos_. Contrary to the usual fact in Germany, cf. 5.

_Exceptionibus_. _Limitations_.--_Jam_. Now, i.e. _here_, opposed to the _foregoing_ accounts of _free states_ and _limited monarchies_.

_Precario_. Properly: _obtained by entreaty_. Hence: _dependent on the will of another_, cf. A. 16.--_Parendi_. A gerund with passive sense, lit. _with no precarious right of being obeyed_. So Pass., K., Wr. and Gün.

_In promiscuo_. The privilege of wearing arms is not conceded to the mass of the people.--_Et quidem_==et eo, _and that too_.

_Otiosa--manus_. Al. _otiosae_ by conjecture. But _manus_, a collective noun sing. takes a pl. verb, cf. H. 461, 1; Z. 366.

_Regia utilitas est_==regibus utile est.

XLV. _Pigrum_. Cf. A. 10: pigrum et grave. The Northern or Frozen Ocean, of which T. seems to have heard, though some refer it to the northern part of the Baltic. See Ky. in loc.

_Hinc_. _For this reason_, viz. _quod extremus_, etc.

_In ortus_. _Till the risings_ (pl.) _of the sun_, i.e. from day to day successively. It was known in the age of T. that the longest day grew longer towards the north, till at length it became six months (cf. Plin. N.H. 2, 77), though T. supposed it to be thus long at a lower latitude than it really was, cf. A. 12.

_Sonum--aspici_. The aurora borealis, some suppose.

_Persuasio adjicit_. _The common belief adds_, i.e. _it is further believed_, cf. His. 5, 5. 13: persuasio inerat.

_Illuc--natura_. _Tantum_ is to be connected with _illuc usque_. _Thus far only nature extends_. So thought the ancients. Cf. A. 33: _in ipso terrarum ac naturae fine_. _Et vera fama_ is parenthetic. The _author_ endorses this part of the story.

_Ergo_ marks a return from the above digression.

_Suevici maris_. _The Baltic_.

_Aestyorum_==eastern men, modern Esthonians. Their language was probably neither German nor Briton, but Slavonic.

_Matrem Deum_. Cybele, as the Romans interpreted it, cf. 43.

_Insigne--gestant_. Worn, as _amulets_.

_Frumenta laborant_, i.e. labor _for_, or _to produce_, corn. Cf. Hor. Epod. 5, 60. _Laborare_ is transitive only in poetry and post-Augustan prose. _Elaborare_ would imply too much art for the author's purpose. See Rit. in loc.

_Succinum_. _Amber_, an important article of commerce in early ages, combining some vegetable juice (hence the Latin name, from _succus_) with some mineral ingredients.--_Glesum_. This name was transferred to _glass_, when it came into use. The root is German. Compare [Greek: chalaza.] Död.

_Nec_==non tamen. _Yet it is not_, etc.

_Ut barbaris_. Cf. ut inter barbaros, A. 11. _Barbaris_ is dative in apposition with _iis_, which is understood after _compertum_.

_Quae--ratio_. _What power or process of nature_.

_Donec--dedit_. Cf. note, 87: _affectavere_.

_Plerumque_. _Often_; a limited sense of the word peculiar to post-Augustan Latin. Cf. G. 13: _ipsa plerumque fama bella profligant_; and Freund ad v.

_Quae--expressa_==quorum _succus_ expressus, etc.

_In tantum_. _To such a degree_. Frequent only in late Latin.

_A servitute_. They fall short of liberty in not being free, like most of the Germans; and they fall below slavery itself, in that they are slaves to a woman.

XLVI. _Venedorum et Fennorum_. Modern _Vends and Finns_, or Fen-men. Cf. Latham in loc.--_Ac torpor procerum_. _The chief men are lazy and stupid_, besides being filthy, like all the rest.

_Foedantur_. Cf. infectos, 4.--_Habitum_, here personal appearance, cf. note, 17.--_Ex moribus_, sc. Sarmatarum.

_Erigitur_. Middle sense. _Raise themselves_, or _rise_, cf. evolvuntur, 39.

_Figunt_. Have _fixed habitations_, in contrast with the Sarmatians, who lived in carts. Cf. Ann. 13, 54: _fixerant domos Frisii_. Al. _fingunt_.

_Sarmatis_. The stock of the modern Russians, cf. 1. note.

_Cubile_. We should expect _cubili_ to correspond with _victui_ and _vestituti_. But cf. note 18: referantur; 20: ad patrem, &c.

_Comitantur_, i.e. feminae comitantur viris.

_Ingemere--illaborare_. _Toil and groan upon houses and lands_, i.e. _in building and tilling them_; though some understand _domibus_ and _agris_ as the places in which they toil.

_Versare_. _To be constantly employed_ in increasing the fortune of themselves and others, agitated meanwhile by hope and fear.

_Securi_. Because they have nothing to lose.

_Illis_. Emphatic. _They_, unlike others, have no need, &c. Cf. _apud illos_, 44.

_In medium relinquam_. Leave for the public, i.e. undecided.

_Relinquere in medio_ is the more common expression. Bötticher in his Lex. Tac. explains it, as equivalent by Zeugma to _in medium vocatum relinquam in medio_. So in Greek, _en_ and _eis_ often interchange.

AGRICOLA.

The Biography of Agricola was written early in the reign of Trajan (which commenced A.U.C. 851. A.D. 98), consequently about the same time with the Germania, though perhaps somewhat later (cf. notes on Germania). This date is established by inference from the author's own language in the 3d and the 44th sections (see notes). In the former, he speaks of the dawn of a better day, which opened indeed with the reign of Nerva, but which is now brightening constantly under the auspices of Trajan. The use of the past tense (_miscuerit_) here in respect to Nerva, and of the present (_augeat_) in respect to Trajan, is quite conclusive evidence, that at the time of writing, the reign of Nerva was past, and that of Trajan had already begun.

The other passage is, if possible, still more clearly demonstrative of the same date. Here in drawing the same contrast between past tyranny and present freedom, the author, without mentioning Nerva, records the desire and hope, which his father-in-law expressed in his hearing, that he might live to see Trajan elevated to the imperial throne--language very proper and courtly, if Trajan were already Emperor, but a very awkward compliment to Nerva, if, as many critics suppose, he were still the reigning prince.

It is objected to this date, that if Nerva were not still living, Tacitus could not have failed to attach to his name (in § 3.) the epithet _Divus_, with which deceased Emperors were usually honored. And from the omission of this epithet in connection with the name of _Nerva_, together with the terms of honor in which _Trajan_ is mentioned, it is inferred that the piece was written in that brief period of three months, which intervened between the adoption of Trajan by Nerva, and Nerva's death (see Brotier and many others). But the application of the epithet in question, was not a matter of necessity or of universal practice. Its omission in this case might have been accidental, or might have proceeded from unknown reasons. And the bare absence of a single word surely cannot be entitled to much weight, in comparison with the obvious and almost necessary import of the passages just cited.

The primary object of the work is sufficiently obvious. It was to honor the memory of the writer's excellent father-in-law, Agricola (cf. § 3: honori Agricolae, mei soceri, destinatus). So far from apologizing for writing the life of so near a friend, he feels assured that his motives will be appreciated and his design approved, however imperfect may be its execution; and he deems an apology necessary for having so long delayed the performance of that filial duty. After an introduction of singular beauty and appropriateness (cf. notes), he sketches a brief outline of the parentage, education, and early life of Agricola, but draws out more at length the history of his consulship and command in Britain, of which the following summary, from Hume's History of England, may not be unprofitable to the student in anticipation: "Agricola was the general, who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island. He governed it in the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. He carried his victorious arms northward; defeated the Britons in every encounter, pierced into the forests and the mountains of Caledonia, reduced every state to subjection in the southern parts of the island, and chased before him all the men of fiercer and more intractable spirits, who deemed war and death itself less intolerable than servitude under the victors. He defeated them in a decisive action which they fought under Galgacus; and having fixed a chain of garrisons between the friths of Clyde and Forth, he cut off the ruder and more barren parts of the island and secured the Roman province from the incursions of the more barbarous inhabitants. During these military enterprises, he neglected not the arts of peace. He introduced laws and civility among the Britons; taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of life; reconciled them to the Roman language and manners; instructed them in letters and science; and employed every expedient to render those chains which he had forged both easy and agreeable to them." (His. of Eng. vol. 1.)

The history of Agricola during this period is of course the history of Britain. Accordingly the author prefaces it with an outline of the geographical features, the situation, soil, climate, productions and, so far as known to the Romans, the past history of the island. Tacitus possessed peculiar advantages for being the historian of the early Britons. His father-in-law was the first to subject the whole island to the sway of Rome. He traversed the country from south to north at the head of his armies, explored it with his own eyes, and reported what he saw to our author with his own lips. He saw the Britons too, in their native nobleness, in their primitive love of liberty and virtue; before they had become the slaves of Roman arms, the dupes of Roman arts, or the victims of Roman vices. A few paragraphs in the concise and nervous style of Tacitus, have made us quite acquainted with the Britons, as Agricola found them; and on the whole, we have no reason to be ashamed of the primaeval inhabitants of the land of our ancestry. They knew their rights, they prized them, they fought for them bravely and died for them nobly. More harmony among themselves might have delayed, but could not have prevented the final catastrophe. Rome in the age of Trajan was irresistible; and Britain became a Roman province. This portion of the Agricola of Tacitus, and the Germania of the same author, entitle him to the peculiar affection and lasting gratitude of those, whose veins flow with Briton and Anglo-Saxon blood, as the historian, and the contemporary historian too, of their early fathers. It is a notable providence for us, nay it is a kind providence for mankind, that has thus preserved from the pen of the most sagacious and reflecting of all historians an account, too brief though it be, of the origin and antiquities of the people that of all others now exert the widest dominion whether in the political or the moral world, and that have made those countries which were in his day shrouded in darkness, the radiant points for the moral and spiritual illumination of our race. "The child is father to the man," and if we would at this day investigate the elements of English law, we have it on the authority of Sir William Blackstone, that we must trace them back to their founders in the customs of the Britons and Germans, as recorded by Caesar and Tacitus.

With the retirement of Agricola from the command in Britain, the author falls back more into the province of biography. The few occasional strokes, however, in which the pencil of Tacitus has sketched the character of Domitian in the background of the picture of Agricola are the more to be prized, because his history of that reign is lost.

In narrating the closing scenes of Agricola's life, Tacitus breathes the very spirit of an affectionate son, without sacrificing the impartiality and gravity of the historian, and combines all a mourner's simplicity and sincerity with all the orator's dignity and eloquence.

How tenderly he dwells on the wisdom and goodness of his departed father; how artlessly he intersperses his own sympathies and regrets, even as if he were breathing out his sorrows amid a circle of sympathizing friends! At the same time, how instructive are his reflections, how noble his sentiments, and how weighty his words, as if he were pronouncing an eulogium in the hearing of the world and of posterity! The sad experience of the writer in the very troubles through which he follows Agricola, conspires with the affectionate remembrance of his own loss in the death of such a father, to give a tinge of melancholy to the whole biography; and we should not know where to look for the composition, in which so perfect a work of art is animated by so warm a heart. In both these respects, it is decidedly superior to the Germania. It is marked by the same depth of thought and conciseness in diction, but it is a higher effort of the writer, while, at the same time, it gives us more insight into the character of the man. It has less of satire and more of sentiment. Or if it is not richer in refined sentiments and beautiful reflections, they are interwoven with the narrative in a manner more easy and natural. The sentiments seem to be only the language of Agricola's virtuous heart, and the reflections, we feel, could not fail to occur to such a mind in the contemplation of such a character. There is also more ease and flow in the language; for concise as it still is and studied as it may appear, it seems to be the very style which is best suited to the subject and most natural to the author. In another writer we might call it labored and ambitious. But we cannot feel that it cost Tacitus very much effort. Still less can we charge him with an attempt at display. In short, an air of confidence in the dignity of the subject, and in the powers of the author, pervades the entire structure of this fine specimen of biography. And the reader will not deem that confidence ill-grounded. He cannot fail to regard this, as among the noblest, if not the very noblest monument ever reared to the memory of any individual.

"We find in it the flower of all the beauties, which T. has scattered through his other works. It is a chef-d'oeuvre, which satisfies at once the judgment and the fancy, the imagination and the heart. It is justly proposed as a model of historical eulogy. The praises bestowed have in them nothing vague or far-fetched, they rise from the simple facts of the narrative. Every thing produces attachment, every thing conveys instruction. The reader loves Agricola, admires him, conceives a passion for him, accompanies him in his campaigns, shares in his disgrace and profits by his example. The interest goes on growing to the last. And when it seems incapable of further increase, passages pathetic and sublime transport the soul out of itself, and leave it the power of feeling only to detest the tyrant, and to melt into tenderness without weakness over the destiny of the hero." (La Bletterie.)

* * * * *

I. _Usitatum_. A participle in the acc. agreeing with the preceding clause, and forming with that clause the object of the verb omisit.-- _Nequidem_. Cf. G. 6, note.

_Incuriosa suorum_. So Ann. 2, 88: dum vetera extollimus, recentium incuriosi. _Incuriosus_ is post-Augustan.

_Virtus vicit--vitium_. Alliteration, which is not unfrequent in T. as also homoeoteleuta, words ending with like sounds. Dr.

_Ignorantiam--invidiam_. The gen. _recti_ limits both subs., which properly denote different faults, but since they are usually associated, they are here spoken of as one (_vitium_).

_In aperto_. Literally, _in the open_ field or way; hence, _free from obstructions_. Sal. (Jug. 5) uses it for _in open_ day, or clear light. But that sense would be inappropriate here. _Easy_. Not essentially different from _pronum_, which properly means _inclined_, and hence _easy_. These two words are brought together in like manner in other passages of our author, cf. 33: vota virtusque _in aperto_, omniaque _prona_ victoribus. An inelegant imitation may be thus expressed in English: down-hill and open-ground work.

_Sine gratia aut ambitione. Without courting favor or seeking preferment. Gratia_ properly refers more to the present, _ambitio_ to the future. Cf. Ann. 6, 46: Tiberio non perinde gratia praesentium, quam in posteros ambitio. _Ambitio_ is here used in a bad sense (as it is sometimes in Cic.) For still another bad sense of the word, cf. G. 27.

_Celeberrimus quisque_. Such men as Pliny the elder, Claudius Pollio, and Julius Secundus, wrote biographies. Also Rusticus and Senecio. See chap. 2.

_Plerique_. Not most persons, but _many_, or _very many_. Cf. His. 1, 86, and 4, 84, where it denotes a less number than _plures_ and _plurimi_, to which it is allied in its root (ple, ple-us, plus, plerus. See Freund ad v.)

_Suam ipsi vitam. Autobiography_. Cic. in his Epist. to Lucceius says: If I cannot obtain this favor from you, I shall perhaps be compelled to write my own biography, _multorum exemplo et clarorum virorum_. When _ipse_ is joined to a possessive pronoun in a reflexive clause, it takes the case of the subject of the clause. Cf. Z. 696, Note; H. 452, 1.

_Fiduciam morum_. _A mark of conscious integrity_; literally confidence of, i.e. in their morals. _Morum_ is objective gen. For the two accusatives (one of which however is the clause _suam--narrare_) after _arbitrati sunt_, see Z. 394; H. 373. A gen. may take the place of the latter acc., _esse_ being understood, Z. 448.