Germania and Agricola Part 9

_Ipsa fama. Mere reputation_ or _rumor_ without coming to arms.

_Profligant_==ad finem perduc.u.n.t. So Kiessling, Botticher and Freund.

Ritter makes it==_propellunt_, frighten away. _Profligare bella, proelia_, &c., is Tacitean. _Profligare hostes_, etc., is the common expression.

XIV. _Jam vero_==porro. Cf. Bot. Lex. Tac. It marks a transition to a topic of special importance. Cf. H. 1, 2. See Dod, in loc.

_Recessisse_. All the best Latin writers are accustomed to use the preterite after pudet, taedet, and other words of the like signification.

Gun. The cause of shame is prior to the shame.

_Infame_. "When Chonodomarus, king of the Alemanni, was taken prisoner by the Romans, his military companions, to the number of two hundred, and three of the king's most intimate friends, thinking it a most flagitious crime to live in safety after such an event, surrendered themselves to be loaded with fetters. Ammian. Marcell, 16, 12, 60. There are instances of the same kind in Tacitus." Mur. Cf. also Caes. B.G. 3, 22. 7, 40.

_Defendere, to defend him_, when attacked; _tueri, to protect him_ at all times.

_Praecipuum sacramentum. Their most sacred duty_, Gun. and K.; _or the chief part of their oath_, Gr.--_Claresc.u.n.t--tuentur_. So Ritter after the best MSS. Al. _clarescant--tueantur_, or _tueare_.

_Non nisi_. In Cic. usually separated by a word or a clause. In T.

generally brought together.

_Exigunt. They expect.--Illum--illam_. Angl. _this--that_, cf.

_hinc--hinc_, A. 25.--_Bellatorem equum_. Cf. Virg. G. 2, 145.

_Incompti--apparatus. Entertainments, though inelegant yet liberal.

Apparatus_ is used in the same way, Suet. Vitel. 10 and 13.--_Cedunt_== iis dantur. Gun.

_Nec arare_, etc. The whole language of this sentence is poetical, e.g.

the use of the inf. after _persuaseris_, of _annum_ for annuam mensem, the sense of _vocare_ and _mereri_, &c. _Vocare_, i.e. provocare, cf. H.

4, 80, and Virg. Geor. 4, 76. _Mereri, earn, deserve_, i.e. by bravery.

_Pigrum et iners_. Piger est natura ad laborem tardus; iners, in quo nihil artis et virtutis. K. Render: _a mark of stupidity and incapacity_.

_Quin immo. Nay but, nay more_. These words connect the clause, though not placed at the beginning, as they are by other writers. They seem to be placed after _pigrum_ in order to throw it into an emphatic position.

So _gradus quin etiam_, 13, where see note.--_Possis_. You, i.e., any one can. Z. 524. Cf. note II. 1, 10: _laudares_. So _persuaseris_ in the preceding sentence. The subj. gives a contingent or potential turn==_can procure_, sc. if you will _would persuade_, sc. if you should try. An indefinite person is always addressed in the subj. in Latin, even when the ind. would be used if a definite person were addressed. Z. 524.

In the chieftains and their retainers, as described in the last two sections, the reader cannot fail to discover the germ of the feudal system. Cf. Montesq. Sp. of Laws, 30, 3, 4; also Robertson's Chas. V.

XV. _Non multum_. The common reading (multum without the negative) is a mere conjecture, and that suggested by a misapprehension of the meaning of T. _Non multum_ is to be taken comparatively. Though in time of peace they hunt often, yet they spend _so much more time in eating, drinking, and sleeping_, that the former is comparatively small. Thus understood, this pa.s.sage of T. is not inconsistent with the declarations of Caesar, B.G. 6, 21: Vita Germanorum omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei militaris consist.i.t. Caesar leaves out of account their periods of inaction, and speaks only of their active employments, which were war and the chase. It was the special object of Tacitus, on the contrary, to give prominence to that striking feature of the German character which Caesar overlooks; and therein, as Wr. well observes, the later historian shows his more exact acquaintance with the Germans. _Non multum_, as opposed to _plus_, is nearly equivalent to _minus_.

_Venatibus, per otium_. Enallage for _venatibus, otio_, H. 704, III. This figure is very frequent in T., e.g. -- 40: per obsequium, proeliis; A. 9: virtute aut per artem; A. 41: temeritate aut per ignaviam, &c. Seneca, and indeed most Latin authors, prefer a _similar_ construction in ant.i.thetic clauses; T. seems rather to avoid it. In all such cases however, as the examples just cited show, _per_ with the acc. is not precisely equivalent to the abl. The abl. is more active and implies means, agency; the acc. with _per_ is more pa.s.sive and denotes manner or occasion.

_Delegata, transferred_.

_Familiae. Household_, properly of servants (from famel, Oscan for servant), as in chapp. 25 and 32: but sometimes the whole family, as here and in chap. 7: _familiae et propinquitates_.

_Ipsi_. The men of middle life, the heads of the _familiae_.

_Diversitate. Contrariety.--Ament_. Subj. H. 518, I.; Z. 577.-- _Oderint_. Perf. in the sense of the pres. H. 297, I. 2; Z. 221.

_Inertiam. Inertiam==idleness_, freedom from business and care (from _in_ and _ars_); _quietem==tranquillity_, a life of undisturbed repose without action or excitement. Cf. 14: _ingrata genti quies_. In this account of the habits of the Germans, one might easily fancy, he was reading a description of the manner of life among our American Indians. It may be remarked here, once for all, that this resemblance may be traced in very many particulars, e.g. in their personal independence, in the military chieftains and their followers, in their extreme fondness for the hards.h.i.+ps and dangers of war, in their strange inactivity, gluttony and drunkenness in peace, in their deliberative a.s.semblies and the power of eloquence to sway their counsels, in their half elective, half hereditary form of government, in the spirituality of their conceptions of G.o.d, and some other features of their religion (Robertson has drawn out this comparison in his history of Charles V). All tribes in a rude and savage state must have many similar usages and traits of character. And this resemblance between the well-known habits of our wandering savages and those which T. ascribes to the rude tribes of Germany, may impress us with confidence in the truthfulness of his narrative.

_Vel armentorum vel frugum_. Part.i.tive gen. Supply aliquid.-- _Vel--vel==whether--or_, merely distinctive; _aut--aut==either--or_, adversative and exclusive. _Vel--vel_ (from _volo_) implies, that one may _choose_ between the alternatives or particulars named; _aut--aut_ (from [Greek: au, autis]), that if one is affirmed, the other is denied, since both cannot be true at the same time. Cf. note, A. 17: _aut--aut.

--Pecuniam_. An oblique censure of the Romans for purchasing peace and alliance with the Germans, cf. H. 4, 76. Herodian 6, 7: [Greek: touto gar (sc. chrusio) malista Germanoi peithontai, philargyroi te ontes kai taen eiraenaen aei pros tous Romaious chrusiou kapaeleuontes].

On _et_, cf. note 11.

XVI. _Populis_. Dative of the agent instead of the abl. with _a_ or _ab_.

Cf. note 3: _Ulixi_.

_Ne--quidem_. These words are always separated, the word on which the emphasis rests being placed between them. H. 602, III. 2; Z. 801. Here however the emphasis seems to belong to the whole clause--_Inter se_, sc.

_sedes junctas inter se_.

_Colunt_==in-colunt. Both often used intransitively, or rather with an ellipsis of the object,==_dwell_.

_Discreti ac diversi. Separate and scattered_ in different directions, i.e. without regular streets or highways. See Or. in loc.

_Ut fons--placuit_. Hence to this day, the names of German towns often end in bach (brook), feld (field), holz (grove), wald (wood), born (spring). On the permanence of names of places, see note H. 1, 53.

_Connexis_, with some intervening link, such as fences, hedges, and outhouses; _cohaerentibus_, in immediate contact.

_Remedium--inscitia. It may be as a remedy_, etc.--_or it may be through ignorance_, etc. _Sive--sive_ expresses an alternative conditionally, or contingently==it may be thus, or it may be thus. Compare it with _vel--vel_, chap. 15, and with _aut--aut_, A 17. See also Ramshorn's Synonyms, 138. _Remedium_ is acc. in app. with the foregoing clause.

_Inscitia_ is abl. of cause==per inscitiam.

_Caementorum_. Properly _hewn_ stone (from caedo), but in usage any building stone.--_Tegularum_. Tiles, any materials for the _roof_ (tego), whether of brick, stone, or wood.

_Citra_. Properly this side of, hence short of, or _without_, as used by the _later_ Latin authors. This word is kindred to _cis_, i.e. _is_ with the demonstrative prefix _ce_. Cf. Freund sub v.

_Speciem_ refers more to the _eye, delectationem_ to the _mind_. Taken with _citra_, they are equivalent to adjectives, connected to _informi_ and limiting _materia_ (citra speciem==non speciosa, Gun.). Render: _rude materials, neither beautiful to the eye nor attractive to the taste_. _Materia_ is distinctively wood for building. Fire-wood is _lignum_.

_Quaedam loca_. Some parts of their houses, e.g. the walls.

_Terra ita pura_. Probably red earth, such as chalk or gypsum.

_Imitetur. Resembles painting and colored outlines_ or figures.

_Aperire_. Poetice==_excavate_. Cellars under ground were unknown to the Romans. See Beck. Gal., and Smith's Dict. Ant.

_Ignorantur--fallunt. They are not known to exist, or else_ (though known to exist) _they escape discovery from the very fact that they must be sought_ (in order to be found). Gun. calls attention to the multiform enallage in this sentence: 1. in number (_populatur, ignorantur, fallunt_); 2. of the active, pa.s.sive, and deponent verbs; 3. in the change of cases (_aperta_, acc.; _abdita_ and _defossa_, nom.).

XVII. _Sagum_. A short, thick cloak, worn by Roman soldiers and countrymen.

_Fibula_==figibula, any artificial fastening; _spina_==natural.

_Si desit_. Observe the difference between this clause, and _si quando advenit_ in the preceding chapter. This is a mere supposition without regard to fact; that implies an expectation, that the case will sometimes happen.

_Cetera intecti. Uncovered as to the rest of the body_, cf. 6: nudi aut sagulo leves.

_Totos dies_. Acc. of duration of time.--_Agunt_==vivunt. K.