Germania and Agricola Part 25

_Petulantia_. _Insubordination_.--_Nisi quod_, but, cf. 6.

_Bola.n.u.s_. If the reader wishes to know more of the officers named in this chapter, for Turpilia.n.u.s, see Ann. 14, 39. His. 1, 6; Trebellius, His. 1, 60; Bola.n.u.s, Ann. 15, 3. His. 2, 65. 79.

_Caritatem--auctoritatis_. "_Had conciliated affection as a subst.i.tute for authority_." Ky.

XVII. _Recuperavit_. Al. _reciperavit_. The two forms are written indiscriminately in the MSS. The word may express either the recovery of what was lost, or the restoration to health of what was diseased. Either would make a good sense here. Cf. chap. 5; also Cic. Phil. 14, 13: _republica recuperata_. Or. renders _acquired again_, sc. what had previously belonged, as it were, to him, rather than to the bad emperors who had preceded him.

_Petilius Cerialis_. Cf. note, 8.--_Brigantum_. Cf. H. 3, 45; Ann. 12, 32. Their territory embraced c.u.mberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire.

_Aut victoria aut bello_, i.e. _either received their submission after the victory, or involved them in the calamities of war_. _Aut--aut_ generally adversative==either--or on the contrary. _Vel--vel_ only disjunctive==whether--or. Cf. note on vel--vel, G. 15.

_Alterius_. Another, than Julius Frontinus, i.e. by implication, one _different_ from him, _less brave and great_. Cf. His. 2, 90: tanquam apud alterius civitatis senatum; 3, 13, note. _Alius_ is the word usually appropriated to express this idea. _Alter_ generally implies a _resemblance_ between contrasted objects. See Freund, ad v.

_Obruisset--sustinuit_. These words primarily refer to physical energies, and are exactly counterpart==_crushed--sustained_.

_Quantum licebat_ limits _vir magnus: as great a man, as it was permitted_ him to be, restricted as he was in his resources, perhaps by the parsimony of the Emperor. On Julius Frontinus, cf. H. 4, 39. He was the friend of Pliny the Younger (Plin. Ep. 9, 19) and therefore probably of Tacitus. His books on Stratagems, and on the Aqueducts of Rome are still extant.--_Super_, over and above, i.e. _besides_.

XVIII. _Agentem_, sc. excubias or stationem==stationed in, cf. His. 1, 47: copias, quae Lugduni agebant. _Ala_. Cf. note, H. 1, 54.

_Ordovic.u.m civitas_. Situated over against the Island Mona, north of the Silures, i.e. in the northern part of what is now Wales.

_Ad--verterentur_. _Were turning themselves_ (middle sense) _towards_, i.e. _looking to or for. Occasionem. An opportunity_, sc. to attack the Romans in their security. Al. _uterentur_.

_Quibus--erat. They who wished for war_. Greek idiom for qui bellum volebant. See Kuhner's Greek Gram. 284, 10, c., cf. His. 3, 43: volentibus fuit, etc., and note, ibid. In Latin, the idiom occurs chiefly in Sall.u.s.t and T. See Z. 420, and H. 387, 3.

_Ac--opperiri_. Al. _aut_ by conjecture. But _ac==ac tamen, and yet_. Cf.

Ann. 1, 36: _exauctorari--ac retineri sub vexillo_.

_Transvecta_. Al. transacta. Cf. His. 2, 76: abiit et _transvectum est tempus_. Only T. uses the word in reference to time.

_Numeri_==cohortes or manipuli, cf. His. 1, 6: multi numeri. This use of the word is post-Augustan. Cf. note, His. 1, 6.

_Tarda et contraria_. In appos. with the foregoing clauses== _circ.u.mstances calculated to r.e.t.a.r.d and oppose him in commencing war_.

_Plerisque_, sc. of the inferior officers. They thought it best that those parts of the country, whose fidelity was questionable (_suspecta_) should be secured by garrisons (_custodiri_). _Potius_ is an adj. and goes with _videbatur_==_it seemed preferable_.

_Legionum vexillis_. Some understand this of veteran soldiers who had served out their time (twenty years), but were still _sub vexillis_ (not dismissed). So R. and W. Others of parts of the legions detached for a season sub vexillis (under separate standards). So Gronovius. The word seems to be used in both senses. See note, H. 1, 31.

_In aequum_. Into the plain. Aequus, prim. level, hence aequor, sea.

_Erexit aciem. Led his troops up the steep_. So His. 3, 71: erigunt aciem per adversum collem.

_Ac--ceteris. And that according as the first_ enterprises _went_ (cf.

note, 5: _cessit_), would be the terror in the rest_ of his engagements.

Cf. H. 2, 20: _gnarus, ut initia belli provenissent, famam in cetera fore_. Al. _fore universa_.

_Possessione. Taking_ possession, cf. 14. A _possidere_, i.e. occupare, non a _possidere_, quod est occupatum tenere. Rit. For the abl. without _a_, cf. H. 2, 79: _Syria remeans_.

_Ut in dubiis consiliis_, sc. fieri solet. Generals are not apt to be prepared beforehand for enterprises, not contemplated at all in their original plans.

_Qui--expectabant. Who were looking out for (ex_ and _specto) a fleet, for ships_, in a word _for the sea_, i.e. naval preparations in general, instead of an attack by land. The language is highly rhetorical.-- _Crediderint_. Livy, Nepos and Tacitus use the _perf_. subj. after _ut_, denoting a consequence, when a single, specific past act is expressed; when a repeated or continued action, the _imp_. subj. Most writers use the imp. in both cases. See H. 482, 2, and 480; Z. 516; also Z. 504, Note, and note H. 1, 24: _dederit_.

_Officiorum ambitum. "Compliments of office."_ Ky.

_Placuisset_. Subj. cf. note, 11: _ut quos_.

_Expeditionem--continuisse. He did not call it a campaign or a victory to have kept the conquered in subjection_.

_Laureatis_ sc. litteris. It was customary to communicate the news of victory to the Emperor and Senate, by letters bound with bay leaves, cf.

Liv. 5, 28: _litterae_ a Postumio _laureatae_ sequuntur. Without _litterae_, it occurs only here. Or. So in H. 3, 77. T. avoids the technical expression and employs the word _laurea_, seldom used in this sense.

_Dissimulatione_. Cf. note, 6.--_Aestimantibus_, cf. aestimanti, 11. The aspiring, and especially the vain, may learn from this pa.s.sage a lesson of great practical value. Compare also -- 8, at the close.

XIX. _Aliena experimenta. The experience of others_.

_Nihil_. Ellipsis of _agere_ (which is inserted without MS. authority in the common editions). So Cic. Phil. 1, 2: Nihil per senatum, etc. Cf. G.

19: _adhuc_, note.

_Ascire_, al. accire. _To receive into regular service_. The reference is to the transfer of soldiers from the raw recruits to the legions. So W.

followed by Dr. R. and W. The next clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but the best men (_optimum quemque_), whom he deemed _trustworthy_ (_fidissimum_) just in _proportion_ as they were _good_. This use of two superlatives mutually related to each other, the former with _quisque_, is frequent in Latin and resembles the English use of two comparatives: the better, the more trustworthy. Cf. Z. 710, b.; also note, 3: _promptissmus quisque_.

_Exsequi_==punire. A sense peculiar to the later Latin. Cic. and Caes.

use _persequi_. For a similar use of the word in the expression of a similar sentiment, see Suet. Jul. 67: Delicta neque observabat omnia neque pro modo exsequebatur. Compare our word _execute_. And mark the sentiment, as a maxim in the science of government.

_Severitatem commodare_. W. with Dr. and R. make this an example of zeugma. And in its ordinary acceptation (i.e. in the sense _to give_) the word _commodare_ certainly applies only to _veniam_, and not to _severitatem_. But _commodare_ in its primary signification means to _adapt_; and in this sense, it suits both of its adjuncts: _He adapted_ (awarded) _pardon to small offences, severe punishment to great ones_. So Wr. For the series of infinitives, cf. notes, 5: _nosci_, etc.; G. 30: _praeponere_, etc.

_Nec poena--contentus esse. Nor was he always content with punishment, but oftener with repentance_. Mere punishment without reformation did not satisfy him; reformation without punishment satisfied him better. See Dod. in loc. Here too some have called in the aid of zeugma.

_Auctionem_. Al. exactionem. The former is the reading of the greater part of the MSS. and the later German editions. _Auctionem tributorum_ refers to the increased tribute exacted by Vesp. cf. Sueton. Vesp. 16: _auxisse_ tributa provinciis, nonnullis et _duplica.s.se_.

_Munerum_. _Duties, burdens.--Circ.u.mcisis_. Cf. note, 2: expulsis. etc., and 11: amissa virtute.

_Namque--cogebantur_. The best version we can give of this obscure pa.s.sage is as follows: _For they were compelled in mockery to sit by the closed granaries and to buy corn needlessly_ (beyond what was necessary, cf. note on _ultro_, G. 28, when they had enough of their own) _and to sell it at a fixed price_ (prescribed by the purchasers). It has been made a question, whether the granaries of the Britons, or those of the Romans are here meant. Dod., Dr. and R. advocate the former opinion; Walch, Wr., Or., and Rit. the latter. According to the former view, the Britons were often obliged to buy corn of the Romans, because they were forbidden to use their own, to supply themselves and their families; according to the latter, because they were required (as explained below) to carry their contributions to a quarter so distant from their own granaries, that they were fain to buy the corn rather at some nearer warehouse of the Romans. The selling at a fixed price is equally intelligible on either supposition. Or. following the best MSS. reads _ludere pretio_, which Rit. has amended into _colludere pretio_. _Ultro_ may well enough be rendered _moreover_ or _even_, thus giving emphasis to _emere_.

_Devortia itinerum_. _Bye roads_, explained by _avia_, as _longinquitas_ is by _remota_. The object of requiring the people to convey their contributions to such distant and inconvenient points, was to compel them to buy of the Romans, or to pay almost any sum of money to avoid compliance. The reader of Cic. will remember in ill.u.s.tration of this whole pa.s.sage, the various arts to which Verres is said to have had recourse to enrich himself, at the expense of the people of his province (Cic. in Ver. 3, 72, and 82), such as refusing to accept the contributions they brought, obliging them to buy of him at his own price, requiring them to carry supplies to points most distant and difficult of access, _ut vecturae difficultate ad quam vellent aestimationem pervenirent_.

_Omnibus_, sc. et incolis et militibus; _paucis_, sc. praefectis aut publicanis. Dr.

_Donec--fieret_. The subj. here denotes a purpose or object in view, and theretore follows _donec_ according to the rule. H. 522, II.; Z. 575.

Tacitus however always expresses a repeated past action after _donec_ by the imp. subj. Cf. note, 37: affectavere; H. 1, 13. 35.

XX. _Statim_. Emphatic, like [Greek: euthus]. Cf. Thucyd. 2, 47: [Greek: tou therous euthus archomenou]: at the _very_ beginning of summer. So in -- 3.

_Intolerantia_, al. tolerantia, but without MS. authority. _Incuria_ is _negligence_. Intolerantia_ is _insufferable arrogance, severity_, in a word _intolerance_. So Cic.: superbia atque intolerantia.