Germania and Agricola Part 32

_Intercedendum. To be prohibited_. Properly said of a _veto interposed_ by the Tribunes; then of any prohibition.--_Non quia==not that_, is characteristic of late writers. It is followed by the subj. Z. 537, and note H. 1, 15.

_Manet, mansurumque est_. Cf. Vell. Paterc. 2, 66, 5: vivit, vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam. The periphrastic form (_mansurum est_) differs however from the future (_manebit_), as our _is to remain_ from _will remain_. See Z. 498.

_Oblivio obruet_, sc. for want of a historian, carent quia _vate sacro_, cf. Hor. Od. 4, 9, 25, seq. By _multos veterum_, T. means many ancients of _real worth_. So _velut_ implies. A. is to be immortalized through his biographer. This is implied in _narratus et traditus_. Ancient authors thought it not improper to express a calm consciousness of merit and a proud confidence of immortality. T. is very modest and delicate in the manner of intimating his expectations. But the sentiment of these last words is substantially the same with the line of Horace: Exegi monumentum aere perennius. The whole peroration of this Biography is one of singular beauty and moral elevation. Pathetic, yet calm, rich in n.o.ble sentiments and animated by the purest and loftiest spirit, it is a fit topstone to that monument, in respect to which T. felt so well founded an a.s.surance, which still _manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum_. There is scarcely an educated youth in Christendom who is not as familiar with the name of Agricola, as with that of Aeneas and Ulysses. And the only reason why we know anything of these heroes, is the genius of their respective biographers. There had been other Agricolas before the age of Trajan, as there had been other heroes like Aeneas, and other wandering sages like Ulysses, before the war of Troy.

But they found no Tacitus, Virgil, and Homer to record their adventurous and virtuous deeds. It is the prerogative of eminent writers to confer immortality; and though Alexander would prefer to be Achilles rather than Homer, we should have known little of his achievements, had he not encouraged scholars as well as warriors, and rewarded genius no less than valor.

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