Germania and Agricola Part 10

_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; Gun. 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. Ocea.n.u.s_==terrae, quas Ocea.n.u.s 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 Ocea.n.u.s_==Ocea.n.u.s extra orbem Romanum, further explained by _ignotum mare_. Cf. note, 2: adversus Ocea.n.u.s.

_Habitus_, here==vest.i.tus; in -- 4.==forma corporis.

_Saepius, oftener_ than the _men_, who also wore linen more or less. Gun.

_Purpura_. Facta e succo plantis et floribus expresso. Gun.

_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 pa.s.sage is construed in two ways: _who are surrounded_ (ambiuntur==circ.u.mdantur, cf. II. 5, 12.) _by many wives not to gratify l.u.s.t, 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 l.u.s.t, 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 Gun. 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 pa.s.sages 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 G.o.ds 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_. Rhena.n.u.s 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 pa.s.sage, 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. Botticher's Lex Tac., and note, 16: _ignorantur_.

XIX. _Septa_. So the MSS. for the most part. Al. _septae_. Meaning: _with chast.i.ty guarded_, sc. by the sacredness of marriage and the excellent inst.i.tutions 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 d.a.m.nosum bonis moribus, quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere_), convivial entertainments (cf. Hor. Od. 3, 6, 27), and epistolary correspondence between the two s.e.xes.

_Litterarum secreta_==litteras secretas, _secret correspondence_ between the s.e.xes, 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 vic.u.m, 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 pa.s.sed 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; Botticher'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 c.u.m 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 ill.u.s.trated in Doderlein'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. Gun. _Quod fiebat etiam abortus procuratione_. K.

_Ex agnatis. Agnati_ hoc loco dic.u.n.tur, qui _post familiam const.i.tutam_, ubi haeres jam est, _deinde nasc.u.n.tur_. 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 vest.i.tum_ et pannosum vidit, _nudum_ se vidisse dicit.

_Sordidi_. Gun. 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 Dod., Gun. 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.--_p.u.b.ertas_==facultas generandi. Gr. Cf. Caes, B.G.

6, 21: qui diutissime imp.u.b.eres permanserunt maximam inter suos ferunt laudem.