Germania and Agricola Part 15

x.x.xII. _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 ma.s.s 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_.

x.x.xIII. _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 ill.u.s.trating 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 b.l.o.o.d.y amus.e.m.e.nts 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage is important, as ill.u.s.trating 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 p.r.o.noun 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.

x.x.xIV. _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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage is a standard ill.u.s.tration 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 G.o.ds to the G.o.ds of other nations on the ground of some resemblance in character, history, worship, &c. Sometimes perhaps a resemblance in the _names_ const.i.tuted 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.

x.x.xV. _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 Dod., 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_. (n.o.bilissimus), cf.

certum, quique, 32. _Qui_ in both pa.s.sages==talis, ut. Hence followed by subj. H. 501, I.; Z. 558.

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

_Ut--agant_ depends on _a.s.sequuntur_. 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., pa.s.s.

_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.

x.x.xVI. _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 ant.i.thetic particle at the beginning of the clause is omitted. Cf. note, 4: _minime_.

_Fuissent_. Subj. after _c.u.m_ signifying _although_. H. 516, II.

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