The Treatise DE SITU, MORIBUS ET POPULIS GERMANIAE, was written (as
appears from the treatise itself see § 37) in the second consulship of
the Emperor Trajan, A.U.C. 851, A.D. 98. The design of the author in its
publication has been variously interpreted. From the censure which it
frequently passes upon the corruption and degeneracy of the times, it has
been considered as a mere satire upon Roman manners, in the age of
Tacitus. But to say nothing of the ill adaptation of the whole plan to a
satirical work, there are large parts of the treatise, which must have
been prepared with great labor, and yet can have no possible bearing on
such a design. Satires are not wont to abound in historical notices and
geographical details, especially touching a foreign and distant land.
The same objection lies against the _political_ ends, which have been
imputed to the author, such as the persuading of Trajan to engage, or
_not_ to engage, in a war with the Germans, as the most potent and
dangerous enemy of Rome. For both these aims have been alleged, and we
might content ourselves with placing the one as an offset against the
other. But aside from the neutralizing force of such contradictions,
wherefore such an imposing array of geographical research, of historical
lore, of political and moral philosophy, for the accomplishment of so
simple a purpose? And why is the purpose so scrupulously concealed, that
confessedly it can be gathered only from obscure intimations, and those
of ambiguous import? Besides, there are passages whose tendency must have
been directly counter to either of these alleged aims (cf. note § 33).
The author does indeed, in the passage just cited, seem to appreciate
with almost prophetic accuracy, those dangers to the Roman Empire, which
were so fearfully illustrated in its subsequent fall beneath the power of
the German Tribes; and he utters, as what true Roman would not in such
forebodings, the warnings and the prayers of a patriot sage. But he does
this only in episodes, which are so manifestly incidental, and yet arise
so naturally out of the narrative or description, that it is truly
surprising it should ever have occurred to any reader, to seek in them
the key to the whole treatise.
The entire warp and woof of the work is obviously _historical_ and
_geographical_. The satire, the political maxims, the moral sentiments,
and all the rest, are merely incidental, interwoven for the sake of
instruction and embellishment, inwrought because a mind so thoughtful and
so acute as that of Tacitus, could not leave them out. Tacitus had long
been collecting the materials for his Roman Histories. In so doing, his
attention was necessarily drawn often and with special interest to a
people, who, for two centuries and more, had been the most formidable
enemy of the Roman State. In introducing them into his history, he would
naturally wish to give some preliminary account of their origin, manners,
and institutions, as he does in introducing the Jews in the Fifth Book of
his Histories, which happens to be, in part, preserved. Nor would it be
strange, if he should, with this view, collect a mass of materials, which
he could not incorporate entire into a work of such compass, and which
any slight occasion might induce him to publish in a separate form,
perhaps as a sort of forerunner to his Histories. [It has even been
argued by highly respectable scholars, that the Germania of Tacitus is
itself only such a collection of materials, not published by the Author,
and never intended for publication in that form. But it is quite too
methodical, too studied, and too finished a work to admit of that
supposition (cf. Prolegom. of K.).] Such an occasion now was furnished
in the campaigns and victories of Trajan, who, at the time of his
elevation to the imperial power, was at the head of the Roman armies in
Germany, where he also remained for a year or more after his accession to
the throne, till he had received the submission of the hostile tribes and
wiped away the disgrace which the Germans, beyond any other nation of
that age, had brought upon the Roman arms. Such a people, at such a time,
could not fail to be an object of deep interest at Rome. This was the
time when Tacitus published his work on Germany; and such are believed
to have been the motives and the circumstances, which led to the
undertaking. His grand object was not to point a satire or to compass a
political end, but as he himself informs us (§ 27), to treat of the
origin and manners, the geography and history, of the German Tribes.
The same candor and sincerity, the same correctness and truthfulness,
which characterize the Histories, mark also the work on Germany. The
author certainly aimed to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, on
the subject of which he treats. Moreover, he had abundant means of
knowing the truth, on all the main points, in the character and history
of the Germans. It has even been argued from such expression as _vidimus_
(§ 8), that Tacitus had himself been in Germany, and could, therefore,
write from personal observation. Bnt the argument proceeds on a
misinterpretation of his language (cf. note in _loc. cit_.). And the use
of _accepimus_ (as in § 27), shows that he derived his information from
others. But the Romans had been in constant intercourse and connection,
civil or military, with the Germans, for two hundred years. Germany
furnished a wide theatre for their greatest commanders, and a fruitful
theme for their best authors, some of whom, as Julius Caesar (to whom
Tacitus particularly refers, 28), were themselves the chief actors in
what they relate. These authors, some of whose contributions to the
history of Germany are now lost (e.g. the elder Pliny, who wrote twenty
books on the German wars), must have all been in the hands of Tacitus,
and were, doubtless, consulted by him; not, however, as a servile
copyist, or mere compiler (for he sometimes differs from his authorities,
from Caesar even, whom he declares to be the best of them), but as a
discriminating and judicious inquirer. The account of German customs and
institutions may, therefore, be relied on, from the intrinsic credibility
of the author. It receives confirmation, also, from its general
accordance with other early accounts of the Germans, and with their
better known subsequent history, as well as from its strong analogy to
the well-known habits of our American aborigines, and other tribes in a
like stage of civilization (cf. note, § 15). The geographical details are
composed with all the accuracy which the ever-shifting positions and
relations of warring and wandering tribes rendered possible in the nature
of the case (cf. note, § 28). In sentiment, the treatise is surpassingly
rich and instructive, like all the works of this prince of philosophical
historians. In style, it is concise and nervous, yet quite rhetorical,
and in parts, even poetical to a fault (see notes passim, cf. also,
Monboddo's critique on the style of Tacitus). "The work," says La
Bletterie, "is brief without being superficial. Within the compass of a
few pages, it comprises more of ethics and politics, more fine
delineations of character, more substance and pith (_suc_), than can be
collected from many a ponderous volume. It is not one of those barely
agreeable descriptions, which gradually diffuse their influence over
the soul, and leave it in undisturbed tranquillity. It is a picture in
strong light, like the subject itself, full of fire, of sentiment, of
lightning-flashes, that go at once to the heart. We imagine ourselves
in Germany; we become familiar with these so-called barbarians; we pardon
their faults, and almost their vices, out of regard to their virtues; and
in our moments of enthusiasm, we even wish we were Germans."
The following remarks of Murphy will illustrate the value of the
treatise, to modern Europeans and their descendants. "It is a draught of
savage manners, delineated by a masterly hand; the more interesting, as
the part of the world which it describes was the seminary of the modern
European nations, the VAGINA GENTIUM, as historians have emphatically
called it. The work is short but, as Montesquieu observes, it is the work
of a man who abridged every thing, because he knew every thing. A
thorough knowledge of the transactions of barbarous ages, will throw more
light than is generally imagined on the laws of modern times. Wherever
the barbarians, who issued from their northern hive, settled in new
habitations, they carried with them their native genius, their original
manners, and the first rudiments of the political system which has
prevailed in different parts of Europe. They established monarchy and
liberty, subordination and freedom, the prerogative of the prince and the
rights of the subject, all united in so bold a combination, that the
fabric, in some places, stands to this hour the wonder of mankind. The
British constitution, says Montesquieu, came out of the woods of Germany.
What the state of this country (Britain) was before the arrival of our
Saxon ancestors, Tacitus has shown in the life of Agricola. If we add to
his account of the Germans and Britons, what has been transmitted to us,
concerning them, by Julius Caesar, we shall see the origin of the
Anglo-Saxon government, the great outline of that Gothic constitution
under which the people enjoy their rights and liberties at this hour.
Montesquieu, speaking of his own country, declares it impossible to form
an adequate notion of the French monarchy, and the changes of their
government, without a previous inquiry into the manners, genius, and
spirit of the German nations. Much of what was incorporated with the
institutions of those fierce invaders, has flowed down in the stream of
time, and still mingles with our modern jurisprudence. The subject, it is
conceived, is interesting to every Briton. In the manners of the Germans,
the reader will see our present frame of government, as it were, in its
cradle, _gentis cunabula nostrae_! in the Germans themselves, a fierce
and warlike people, to whom this country owes that spirit of liberty,
which, through so many centuries, has preserved our excellent form of
government, and raised the glory of the British nation:
------Genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae
moenia Romae."
CHAP. I. _Germania_ stands first as the emphatic word, and is followed by
_omnis_ for explanation. _Germania omnis_ here does not include Germania
Prima and Secunda, which were Roman provinces on the left bank of the
Rhine (so called because settled by Germans). It denotes _Germany
proper_, as a _whole_, in distinction from the provinces just mentioned
and from the several tribes, of which Tacitus treats in the latter part
of the work. So Caesar (B.G. 1,1) uses _Gallia omnis_, as exclusive of
the Roman provinces called Gaul and inclusive of the three _parts_, which
he proceeds to specify.
_Gallis--Pannoniis_. People used for the countries. Cf. His. 5,6:
_Phoenices. Gaul_, now France; _Rhaetia_, the country of the Grisons and
the Tyrol, with part of Bavaria; _Pannonia_, lower Hungary and part of
Austria. Germany was separated from Gaul by the Rhine; from Rhaetia and
Pannonia, by the Danube.--_Rheno et Danubio_. Rhine and Rhone are
probably different forms of the same root (Rh-n). Danube, in like manner,
has the same root as Dnieper (Dn-p); perhaps also the same as Don and
Dwina (D-n). Probably each of these roots was originally a generic name
for river, water, stream. So there are several _Avons_ in England and
Scotland. Cf. Latham's Germania sub voc.
_Sarmatis Dacisque_. The Slavonic Tribes were called Sarmatians by the
ancients. _Sarmatia_ included the country north of the Carpathian
Mountains, between the Vistula and the Don in Europe, together with the
adjacent part of Asia, without any definite limits towards the north,
which was terra incognita to the ancients--in short, Sarmatia was
_Russia_, as far as known at that time. _Dacia_ lay between the
Carpathian mountains on the north, and the Danube on the south, including
Upper Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia.
_Mutuo metu_. Rather a poetical boundary! Observe also the alliteration.
At the same time, the words are not a bad description of those wide and
solitary wastes, which, as Caesar informs us (B.G. 6, 23), the Germans
delighted to interpose between themselves and other nations, so that it
might appear that _no one dared to dwell near them.--Montibus_. The
Carpathian.--_Cetera_. Ceteram Germaniae partem.
_Sinus_. This word denotes any thing with a curved outline (cf. 29, also
A. 23); hence bays, peninsulas, and prominent bends or borders, whether
of land or water. Here _peninsulas_ (particularly that of Jutland, now
Denmark), for it is to the author's purpose here to speak of land rather
than water, and the ocean is more properly said to _embrace peninsulas_,
than _gulfs_ and _bays_. Its association with _islands_ here favors the
same interpretation. So Passow, Or., Rit. Others, with less propriety,
refer it to the _gulfs_ and _bays_, which so mark the Baltic and the
German Oceans.--_Oceanus_ here, includes both the Baltic Sea, and the
German Ocean (Oceanus Septentrionalis).
_Insularum--spatia. Islands of vast extent_, viz. Funen, Zealand, &c.
Scandinavia also (now Sweden and Norway) was regarded by the ancients as
an island, cf. Plin. Nat. His. iv. 27: quarum (insularum) clarissima
Scandinavia est, incompertae magnitudinis.
_Nuper--regibus_. Understand with this clause _ut compertum est_. The
above mentioned features of the Northern Ocean had been _discovered_
in the prosecution of the late wars, of the Romans, among the tribes
and kings previously unknown. _Nuper_ is to be taken in a general
sense==recentioribus temporibus, cf. _nuper additum_, § 2, where it goes
back one hundred and fifty years to the age of Julius Caesar.--_Bellum_.
War in general, no particular war.--_Versus_. This word has been
considered by some as an adverb, and by others as a preposition. It is
better however to regard it as a participle, like _ortus_, with which it
is connected, though without a conjunction expressed. Ritter omits _in_.
_Molli et clementer edito. Of gentle slope and moderate elevation_ in
studied antithesis to _inaccesso ac praecipiti, lofty and steep_. In like
manner, _jugo, ridge, summit_, is contrasted with _vertice, peak,
height_, cf. Virg. Ecl. 9, 7: _molli clivo_; Ann. 17, 38: _colles
clementer assurgentes_. The _Rhaetian_ Alps, now the mountains of the
Grisons. _Alp_ is a Celtic word==hill. _Albion_ has the same root==_hilly
country. Mons Abnoba_ (al. Arnoba) is the northern part of the
Schwartzwald, or Black Forest.--_Erumpat_, al. erumpit. But the best MSS.
and all the recent editions have _erumpat_: and Tacitus never uses the
pres. ind. after _donec, until_, cf. Rup. & Rit. in loc. Whenever he uses
the present after _donec, until_, he seems to have conceived the relation
of the two clauses, which it connects, as that of a means to an end, or a
condition to a result, and hence to have used the subj. cf. chap. 20:
_separet_; 31: _absolvat_; 35: _sinuetur_; Ann. 2, 6: _misceatur_. The
two examples last cited, like this, describe the course of a river and
boundary line. For the general rule of the modes after _donec_, see H.
522; Z. 575. See also notes H. 1, 13. 35.--_Septimum_. According to the
common understanding, the Danube had _seven_ mouths. So Strabo, Mela,
Ammian, and Ovid; Pliny makes six. T. reconciles the two accounts. The
_enim_ inserted after _septimum_ in most editions is not found in the
best mss. and is unnecessary. Or. & Rit. omit it.
II. _Ipsos_ marks the transition from the country to the people--_the
Germans themselves_. So A. 13: _Ipsi Britanni_.
_Crediderim_. Subj. attice. A modest way of expressing his opinion, like
our: I should say, I am inclined to think. H. 486, I. 3; Z. 527.
_Adventibus et hospitiis. Immigrants and visitors. Adventibus_ certae
sedes, _hospitiis_ preregrinationes significantur. Gün. Both abstract for
concrete. Död. compares [Greek: epoikoi] and [Greek: metoikoi].
_Terra--advehebantur_. Zeugma for _terra adveniebant_, classibus
advehebantur. H. 704, I. 2; Z. 775.
_Nec--et_. These correlatives connect the members more closely than
et--et; as in Greek oute-te. The sentiment here advanced touching
colonization (as by sea, rather than by land), though true of Carthage,
Sicily, and most _Grecian_, colonies, is directly the reverse of the
general fact; and Germany itself is now known to have received its
population by land emigration, from western Asia. The Germans, as we
learn from affinities of languages and occasional references of
historians and geographers, belonged to the same great stock of the human
family with the Goths and Scythians, and may be traced back to that hive
of nations, that primitive residence of mankind, the country east and
south of the Caspian Sea and in the vicinity of Mount Ararat: cf. Tur.
His. Ang. Sax. B. II. C. 1; also Donaldson's New Cratylus, B. I. Chap. 4.
Latham's dogmatic skepticism will hardly shake the now established faith
on this subject. The science of ethnography was unknown to the ancients.
Tacitus had not the remotest idea, that all mankind were sprung from a
common ancestry, and diffused themselves over the world from a common
centre, a fact asserted in the Scriptures, and daily receiving fresh
confirmation from literature and science. Hence he speaks of the Germans
as _indigenas_, which he explains below by _editum terra_, sprung from
the earth, like the mutum et turpe pecus of Hor. Sat. 1. 3, 100. cf.
A. 11.
_Mutare quaerebant. Quaerere_ with inf. is poet. constr., found, however,
in later prose writers, and once in Cic. (de Fin. 313: quaeris scire,
enclosed in brackets in Tauchnitz's edition), to avoid repetition of
_cupio_. _Cupio_ or _volo mutare_ would be regular classic prose.
_Adversus_. That the author here uses _adversus_ in some unusual and
recondite sense, is intimated by the clause: _ut sic dixerim_. It is
understood by some, of a sea _unfriendly to navigation_. But its
connexion by _que_ with _immensus ultra_, shows that it refers to
_position_, and means _lying opposite_, i.e., belonging, as it were, to
another hemisphere or world from ours; for so the Romans regarded the
Northern Ocean and Britain itself, cf. A 12: ultra _nostri orbis_
mensuram; G. 17: _exterior_ oceanus. So Cic. (Som. Scip. 6.) says:
Homines partim obliquos, partim aversos, partim etiam _adversos_, stare
vobis. This interpretation is confirmed by _ab orbe nostra_ in the
antithesis. On the use of _ut sic dixerim_ for _ut sic dicam_, which is
peculiar to the silver age, see Z. 528.
_Asia_, sc. Minor. _Africa_, sc. the Roman Province of that name,
comprising the territory of Carthage.--_Peteret_. The question implies a
negative answer, cf. Z. 530. The subj. implies a protasis understood: if
he could, or the like. H. 502.
_Sit_. Praesens, ut de re vera. Gün. _Nisi si_ is nearly equivalent to
_nisi forte: unless perchance_; unless if we may suppose the case. Cf.
Wr. note on Ann. 2, 63, and Hand's Tursellinus, 3, 240.
_Memoriae et annalium_. Properly opposed to each other as _tradition_ and
_written history_, though we are not to infer that written books existed
in Germany in the age of Tacitus.
_Carminibus_. _Songs, ballads_ (from cano). Songs and rude poetry have
been, in all savage countries, the memorials of public transactions,
e.g. the runes of the Goths, the bards of the Britons and Celts, the
scalds of Scandinavia, &c.
_Tuisconem_. The god from whom Tuesday takes its name, as Wednesday from
Woden, Thursday from Thor, &c., cf. Sharon Turner's His. of Ang. Sax.
app. to book 2. chap. 3. Some find in the name of this god the root of
the words Teutonic, Dutch (Germ. Deutsche or Teutsche &c.,) Al. Tuistonem,
Tristonem, &c. More likely it has the same root as the Latin divus,
dius, deus, and the Greek theios, dios, theos, cf. Grimm's _Deutsche
Mythologie_, sub v.
_Terra editum==indigena_ above; and gaegenaes and autochthon in Greek.
_Originem_==auctores. It is predicate after _Mannum_.
_Ut in licentia vetustatis. As in the license of antiquity_, i.e. since
such license is allowed in regard to ancient times.
_Ingaevones_. "According to some German antiquaries, the _Ingaevones_ are
die _Einwohner_, those dwelling inwards towards the sea; the _Istaevones_
are die _Westwohner_, the inhabitants of the western parts; and the
_Hermiones_ are the _Herumwohner_, midland inhabitants," Ky. cf.
Kiessling in loc. Others, e.g. Zeuss and Grimm, with more probability,
find in these names the roots of German words significant of _honor_
and _bravery_, assumed by different tribes or confederacies as epithets
or titles of distinction. Grimm identifies these three divisions with
the Franks, Saxons, and Thuringians of a later age. See further, note
chap. 27.
_Vocentur_. The subj. expresses the opinion of others, not the direct
affirmation of the author. H. 529; Z. 549.
_Deo_==hoc deo, sc. Mannus--Germ. Mann, Eng. Man.
_Marsos, Gambrivios_. Under the names of Franci and Salii these tribes
afterwards became formidable to the Romans. Cf. Prichard's Researches
into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol. III. chap. 6, sec. 2.--
_Suevos_, cf. note, 38.--_Vandalios_. The Vandals, now so familiar in
history.
_Additum_, sc. esse, depending on _affirmant_.
_Nunc Tungri_, sc. vocentur, cf. His. 4, 15, 16. In confirmation of the
historical accuracy of this passage, Gr. remarks, that Caes. (B.G. 2, 4)
does not mention the Tungri, but names four tribes on the left bank of
the Rhine, who, he says, are called by the common name of _Germans_;
while Pliny (Nat. His. 4, 31), a century later, gives not the names of
these four tribes, but calls them by the new name _Tungri_.
_Ita--vocarentur_. Locus vexatissimus! exclaim all the critics. And so
they set themselves to amend the text by conjecture. Some have written
_in nomen gentis_ instead of _non gentis_. Others have proposed _a
victorum metu_, or _a victo ob metum_, or _a victis ob metum_. But these
emendations are wholly conjectural and unnecessary. Günther and Walch
render _a victore, from_ the victorious tribe, i.e. _after the name of_
that tribe. But _a se ipsis_ means _by_ themselves; and the antithesis
doubtless requires _a_ to be understood in the same sense in both
clauses. Grüber translates and explains thus: "In this way the name of a
single tribe, and not of the whole people, has come into use, so that
all, at first by the victor (the Tungri), in order to inspire fear, then
by themselves (by the mouth of the whole people), when once the name
became known, were called by the name of Germans. That is, the Tungri
called all the kindred tribes that dwelt beyond the Rhine, Germans, in
order to inspire fear by the wide extension of the name, since they gave
themselves out to be a part of so vast a people; but at length all the
tribes began to call themselves by this name, probably because they were
pleased to see the fear which it excited." This is, on the whole, the
most satisfactory explanation of the passage, and meets the essential
concurrence of Wr., Or. and Död.--_Germani_. If of German etymology,
this word==gehr or wehr (Fr. guerre) and mann, _men of war_; hence the
_metus_, which the name carried with it. If it is a Latin word
corresponding only in _sense_ with the original German, then==_brethren_.
It will be seen, that either etymology would accord with Grüber's
explanation of the whole passage--in either case, the name would
inspire fear. The latter, however, is the more probable, cf. Ritter in
loc. A people often bear quite different names abroad from that by which
they call themselves at home. Thus the people, whom we call _Germans_,
call themselves _Deutsche_ (Dutch), and are called by the French
_Allemands_, cf. Latham. _Vocarentur_ is subj. because it stands in a
subordinate clause of the oratio obliqua, cf. H. 531; Z. 603.
_Metum_. Here taken in an _active_ sense; oftener passive, but used in
both senses. Quintilian speaks of _metum duplicem_, quem patimur et quem
facimus (6, 2, 21). cf. A. 44: nihil metus in vultu, i.e., nothing to
inspire fear in his countenance. In like manner admiratio (§ 7) is used
for the admiration which one excites, though it usually denotes the
admiration which one feels. For _ob_, cf. Ann. 1, 79: _ob moderandas
Tiberis exundationes_.
_Nationis--gentis. Gens_ is often used by T. as a synonym with _natio_.
But in antithesis, _gens_ is the whole, of which _nationes_ or _populi_
are the parts, e.g. G. 4: populos--gentem; § 14: nationes--genti. In
like manner, in the civil constitution of Rome, a _gens_ included several
related _families_.
III. _Herculem_. That is, Romana interpretatione, cf. § 34. The Romans
found _their_ gods everywhere, and ascribed to Hercules, quidquid ubique
magnificum est, cf. note 34: _quicquid--consensimus_. That this is a
Roman account of the matter is evident, from the use of _eos_, for if
the Germans were the subject of _memorant_, _se_ must have been used. On
the use of _et_ here, cf. note 11.
_Primum_--ut principem, fortissimum. Gün.
_Haec quoque_. _Haec_ is rendered _such_ by Ritter. But it seems rather,
as Or. and Död. explain it, to imply nearness and familiarity to the mind
of the author and his readers: _these_ well known songs. So 20: _in haec
corpora, quae miramur_. _Quoque_, like _quidem_, follows the emphatic
word in a clause, H. 602, III. 1; Z. 355.
_Relatu_, called _cantus trux_, H. 2, 22. A Tacitean word. Freund. Cf. H.
1, 30.
_Baritum_. Al. barditum and barritum. But the latter has no ms.
authority, and the former seems to have been suggested by the bards of
the Gauls, of whose existence among the Germans however there is no
evidence. Död. says the root of the word is common to the Greek, Latin,
and German languages, viz. _baren_, i.e. _fremere_, a verb still used by
the Batavians, and the noun _bar_, i.e. carmen, of frequent occurrence
in Saxon poetry to this day.
_Terrent trepidantve. They inspire terror or tremble with fear, according
as the line_ (the troops drawn up in battle array) _has sounded_, sc. the
_baritus_ or battle cry. Thus the Batavians perceived, that the _sonitus
aciei_ on the part of the Romans was more feeble than their own, and
pressed on, as to certain triumph. H. 4, 18. So the Highlanders augured
victory, if their shouts were louder than those of the enemy. See Murphy
in loco.
_Repercussu_. A post-Augustan word. The earlier Latin authors would have
said _repercussa_, or _repercutiendo_. The later Latin, like the English,
uses more abstract terms.--_Nec tam--videntur. Nor do those carmina seem
to be so much voices_ (well modulated and harmonized), _as acclamations_
(unanimous, but inarticulate and indistinct) _of courage_. So Pliny uses
_concentus_ of the acclamations of the people. Panegyr. 2. It is often
applied by the poets to the concerts of birds, as in Virg. Geor. 1, 422.
It is here plural, cf. Or. in loc. The reading _vocis_ is without MS.
authority.
_Ulixem_. "The love of fabulous history, which was the passion of ancient
times, produced a new Hercules in every country, and made Ulysses wander
on every shore. Tacitus mentions it as a romantic tale; but Strabo seems
willing to countenance the fiction, and gravely tells us that Ulysses
founded a city, called Odyssey, in Spain. Lipsius observes, that Lisbon,
in the name of Strabo, had the appellation of Ulysippo, or Olisipo. At
this rate, he pleasantly adds, what should hinder us inhabitants of the
Low Countries from asserting that Ulysses built the city of Ulyssinga,
and Circe founded that of Circzea or Ziriczee?" Murphy.
_Fabuloso errore. Storied, celebrated in song_, cf. fabulosus Hydaspes.
Hor. Od. 1, 227. Ulysses having _wandered westward_ gave plausibility to
alleged traces of him in Gaul, Spain and Germany--_Asciburgium_. Now
Asburg.
_Quin etiam_, cf. notes, 13: _quin etiam_, and 14: _quin immo.--Ulixi_,
i.e. ab Ulixe, cf. Ann. 15,41: Aedes statoris Jovis Romulo vota, i.e. by
Romulus. This usage is especially frequent in the poets and the later
prose writers, cf. H. 388, II. 3; Z. 419; and in T. above all others, cf.
Böt. Lex. Tac. sub _Dativus_. Wr. and Rit. understand however an altar
(or monument) consecrated to Ulysses, i.e. erected in honor of him by the
citizens.
_Adjecto_. Inscribed with the name of his father, as well as his own,
i.e. [Greek: Laertiadae].
_Graecis litteris. Grecian characters_, cf. Caes. B.G. 1, 29: In castris
_Helvetiorum_, tabulae repertae sunt _litteris Graecis_ confectae; and
(6, 14): _Galli_ in publicis privatisque rationibus _Graecis utuntur
litteris_. T. speaks (Ann. 11, 14) of alphabetic characters, as passing
from Phenicia into Greece, and Strabo (4, 1) traces them from the Grecian
colony at Marseilles, into Gaul, whence they doubtless passed into
Germany, and even into Britain.
IV. _Aliis aliarum_. The Greek and Latin are both fond of a repetition
of different cases of the same word, even where one of them is redundant,
e.g. [Greek: oioden oios] (Hom. II. 7, 39), and particularly in the
words [Greek: allos] and _alius_. _Aliis_ is not however wholly
redundant; but brings out more fully the idea: _no intermarriages, one
with one nation, and another with another_. Walch and Ritter omit
_aliis_, though it is found in all the MSS.
_Infectos_. Things are said _infici_ and _imbui_, which are so penetrated
and permeated by something else, that that something becomes a part of
its nature or substance, as inficere colore, sanguine, veneno, animum
virtutibus. It does not necessarily imply corruption or degeneracy.
_Propriam--similem_. Three epithets not essentially different used for
the sake of emphasis==_peculiar, pure, and sui-generis. Similis_ takes
the gen., when it expresses, as here, an internal resemblance in
character; otherwise the dat., cf. Z. 411, H. 391, 2. 4.
_Habitus_. Form and features, external appearance. The physical features
of the Germans as described by Tacitus, though still sufficient to
distinguish them from the more southern European nations, have proved
less permanent than their mental and social characteristics.
_Idem omnibus_. Cf. Juv. 13, 164:
_Caerula_ quis stupuit _Germani lumina? flavam
Caesariem_, et madido torquentem cornua cirro?
Nempe quod haec illis natura est _omnibus una_.
_Magna corpora_. "Sidonius Apollinaris says, that, being in Germany and
finding the men so very tall, he could not address verses of six feet to
patrons who were seven feet high:
Spernit senipedem stilum Thalia,
Ex quo septipedes vidit patronos." Mur.
Skeletons, in the ancient graves of Germany, are found to vary from 5 ft.
10 in. to 6 ft. 10 in. and even 7 ft. Cf. Ukert, Geog. III. 1. p. 197.
These skeletons indicate a _strong_ and _well formed_ body.
_Impetum. Temporary exertion_, as opposed to _persevering toil and
effort, laboris atque operum_.
_Eadem_. Not so much _patientia_, as _ad impetum valida_. See a like
elliptical use of _idem_ § 23: eadem temperantia; § 10: iisdem nemoribus.
Also of totidem § 26.
_Minime--assueverunt_. "Least of all, are they capable of sustaining
thirst and heat; cold and hunger, they are accustomed, by their soil and
climate, to endure." Ky. The force of _minime_ is confined to the first
clause, and the proper antithetic particle is omitted at the beginning of
the second. _Tolerare_ depends on _assueverunt_, and belongs to both
clauses. _Ve_ is distributive, referring _coelo_ to _frigora_ and _solo_
to _inediam_. So _vel_ in H. 1, 62: strenuis _vel_ ignavis spem metumque
addere==strenuis spem, ignavis metum addere.
V. _Humidior--ventosior. Humidior_ refers to _paludibus, ventosior_ to
_silvis_; the mountains (which were exposed to sweeping _winds_) being
for the most part covered with forests, and the low grounds with marshes.
_Ventosus_==Homeric [Greek: aenemoeis], windy, i.e. lofty. H. 3, 305:
[Greek: Ilion aenemoessan].
_Satis ferax. Satis==segetibus_ poetice. _Ferax_ is constructed with
abl., vid. Virg. Geor. 2, 222: ferax oleo.
_Impatiens_. Not to be taken in the absolute sense, cf. § 20, 23, 26,
where fruit trees and fruits are spoken of.
_Improcera_ agrees with _pecora_ understood.
_Armentis. Pecora_--flocks in general. _Armenta_ (from _aro_, to plough),
larger cattle in particular. It _may_ include horses.
_Suus honor_. Their proper, i.e. usual size and beauty.
_Gloria frontis_. Poetice for _cornua_. Their horns were small.
_Numero_. Emphatic: _number_, rather than _quality_. Or, with Ritter,
_gaudent_ may be taken in the sense of enjoy, possess: _they have a good
number of them_. In the same sense he interprets _gaudent_ in A. 44:
_opibus nimiis non gaudebat_.
_Irati_, sc. quia _opes_ sunt _irritamenta malorum_. Ov. Met. 1, 140.--
_Negaverint_. Subj. H. 525; Z. 552--_Affirmaverim_. cf. note, 2:
_crediderim_.
_Nullam venam_. "Mines of gold and silver have since been discovered in
Germany; the former, indeed, inconsiderable, but the latter valuable."
Ky. T. himself in his later work (the Annals), speaks of the discovery of
a silver mine in Germany. Ann. 11, 20.
_Perinde. Not so much as might be expected_, or as the _Romans_, and
other civilized nations. So Gronovius, Död. and most commentators. See
Rup. in loc. Others, as Or. and Rit. allow no ellipsis, and render: _not
much_. See Hand's Tursellinus, vol. IV. p. 454. We sometimes use _not so
much, not so very, not so bad_, &c., for _not very, not much_, and _not
bad_. Still the form of expression strictly implies a comparison. And the
same is true of _haud perinde_, cf. Böt. Lex. Tac.
_Est videre. Est_ for _licet_. Graece et poetice. Not so used in the
earlier Latin prose. See Z. 227.
_Non in alia vilitate_, i.e. eadem vilitate, aeque vilia, _held in the
same low estimation.--Humo_. Abl. of material.
_Proximi_, sc. ad ripam. Nearest to the Roman border, opposed to
_interiores_.
_Serratos_. Not elsewhere mentioned; probably coins with serrated edges,
still found. The word is post-Augustan.
_Bigatos_. Roman coins stamped with a biga or two-horse chariot. Others
were stamped with a quadriga and called quadrigati. The bigati seem to
have circulated freely in foreign lands, cf. Ukert's Geog. of Greeks and
Romans, III. 1: Trade of Germany, and places cited there. "The serrati
and bigati were old coins, of purer silver than those of tho Emperors."
Ky. Cf. Pliny, H. N. 33, 13.
_Sequuntur_. Sequi==expetere. So used by Cic., Sal., and the best
writers. Compare our word _seek_.
_Nulla affectione animi. Not from any partiality for the silver in
itself_ (but for convenience).
_Numerus_. Greater number and consequently less relative value of the
silver coins. On _quia_, cf. note, H. 1, 31.
VI. _Ne--quidem_. _Not even_, i.e. iron is scarce as well as gold and
silver. The weapons found in ancient German graves are of _stone_, and
bear a striking resemblance to those of the American Indians. Cf. Ukert,
p. 216. Ad verba, cf. note, His. 1, 16: _ne--fueris_. The emphatic word
always stands between _ne_ and _quidem_. H. 602, III. 2; Z. 801.--
_Superest_. Is over and above, i.e. _abounds_. So superest ager, § 26.
_Vel_. Pro _sive_, Ciceroni inauditum. Gün. Cf. note, 17.
_Frameas_. The word is still found in Spain, as well as Germany.
_Lancea_. is also a Spanish word, cf. Freund.
_Nudi_. Cf. § 17, 20, and 24. Also Caes., B.G. 6, 21: magna corporis
parte nuda.
_Sagulo_. Dim. of sago. A small short cloak.--_Leves_==Leviter induti.
The clause _nudi--leves_ is added _here_ to show, that their dress is
favorable to the use of missiles.
_Missilia spargunt_. Dictio est Virgiliana. K.
_Coloribus_. Cf. nigra scuta, § 43. "Hence coats of arms and the origin
of heraldry." Mur.
_Cultus_. Military equipments. Cultus complectitur omnia, quae studio et
arte eis, quae natura instituit, adduntur. K.
_Cassis aut galea_. _Cassis_, properly of metal; _galea_ of leather (Gr.:
galen); though the distinction is not always observed.
_Equi--conspicui_. Cf. Caes. B.G. 4, 2, 7, 65.
_Sed nec variare_. _But_ (i.e. on the other hand) _they are not even_
(for _nec_ in this sense see Ritter in loc.) _taught to vary their
curves_ (i.e. as the antithesis shows, to bend now towards the right and
now towards the left in their gyrations), _but they drive them straight
forward or by a constant bend towards the right in so connected a circle_
(i.e. a complete ring), _that no one is behind_ (for the obvious reason,
that there is neither beginning nor end to such a ring). Such is on the
whole the most satisfactory explanation of this difficult passage, which
we can give after a careful examination. A different version was given in
the first edition. It refers not to battle, but to equestrian exercises,
cf. Gerlach, as cited by Or. in loc.
_Aestimanti_. Greek idiom. Elliptical dative, nearly equivalent to the
abl. abs. (nobis aestimantibus), and called by some the dat. abs. In A.
II. the ellipsis is supplied by _credibile est_. Cf. Bötticher's Lex.
Tac. sub _Dativus_.
_Eoque mixti. Eo_, causal particle==for that reason. Caesar adopted this
arrangement in the battle of Pharsalia. B.C. 3, 84. The Greeks also had
[Greek: pezoi amippoi]. Xen. Hellen. 7, 5.
_Centeni_. A hundred is a favorite number with the Germans and their
descendants. Witness the hundred _pagi_ of the Suevi (Caes. B.G. 4, 1),
and of the Semnones (G. 39), the _cantons_ of Switzerland, and the
_hundreds_ of our Saxon ancestors in England. The _centeni_ here are a
military division. In like manner, Caesar (B.G. 4, 1) speaks of a
_thousand_ men drafted annually from each _pagus_ of the Suevi, for
military service abroad.
_Idque ipsum_. Predicate nominative after a verb of calling, H. 362,
2. 2; Z. 394. The division was called a _hundred_, and each man in it a
_hundreder_; and such was the estimation in which this service was held,
that to be a hundreder, became an honorable distinction, _nomen et
honor_==honorificum nomen.
_Cuneos_. A body of men arranged in the form of a wedge, i.e. narrow in
front and widening towards the rear; hence peculiarly adapted to break
the lines of the enemy.
_Consilii quam formidinis_. Supply _magis_. The conciseness of T.
leads him often to omit one of two correlative particles, cf. note on
_minime_, 4.
_Referunt. Carry into the rear_, and so secure them for burial.
_Etiam in dubiis proeliis_. Even while the battle remains undecided. Gün.
_Finierunt_. In a present or aorist sense, as often in T. So
_prohibuerunt_, § 10; _placuit_ and _displicuit_, 11. cf. Lex. Tac. Böt.
VII. _Reges_, civil rulers; _duces_, military commanders. _Ex_==
secundum. So _ex ingenio_, § 3. The government was elective, yet not
without some regard to hereditary distinctions. They _chose (sumunt)_
their sovereign, but chose him from the royal family, or at least one of
noble extraction. They chose also their commander--the king, if he was
the bravest and ablest warrior; if not, they were at liberty to choose
some one else. And among the Germans, as among their descendants, the
Franks, the authority of the commander was quite distinct from, and
sometimes (in war) paramount to, that of the king. Here Montesquieu and
others find the original of the kings of the first race in the French
monarchy, and the _mayors of the palace_, who once had so much power in
France. Cf. Sp. of Laws, B. 31, chap. 4.
_Nec_ is correlative to _et. The kings on the one hand do not possess
unlimited or unrestrained authority, and the commanders on the other, &c.
Infinita_==sine modo; _libera_==sine vinculo. Wr. _Potestas_==rightful
power, authority; _potentia_==power without regard to right, ability,
force, cf. note, 42. Ad rem, cf. Caes. B.G. 5, 27. Ambiorix tells Caesar,
that though he governed, yet the people made laws for him, and the
supreme power was shared equally between him and them.
_Exemplo--imperio_. "_Dative_ after _sunt==are to set an example, rather
than to give command_." So Grüber and Död. But Wr. and Rit. with more
reason consider them as ablatives of means limiting a verb implied in
_duces: commanders_ (command) _more by example, than by authority_
(official power). See the principle well stated and illustrated in
Döderlein's Essay on the style of Tacitus, p. 15, in my edition of the
Histories.
_Admiratione praesunt. Gain influence, or ascendency, by means of the
admiration which they inspire_, cf. note on metus, § 2.
_Agant_. Subj., ut ad judicium admirantium, non mentem scriptoris
trahatur. Gün.
_Animadvertere_==interficere. Cf. H. 1, 46. 68. _None but the priests are
allowed to put to death, to place in irons, nor even_ (ne quidem) _to
scourge_. Thus punishment was clothed with divine authority.
_Effigies et signa. Images and standards_, i.e. images, which serve for
standards. Images of wild beasts are meant, cf. H. 4, 22: depromptae
silvis lucisve ferarum imagines.--_Turmam_, cavalry. _Cuneum_, infantry,
but sometimes both. _Conglobatio_ is found only in writers after the
Augustan age and rarely in them. It occurs in Sen. Qu. Nat. 1, 15, cf.
Freund.
_Familiae_ is less comprehensive than _propinquitates. Audiri_, sc.
solent. Cf. A. 34 _ruere_. Wr. calls it histor. inf., and Rit. pronounces
it a gloss.
_Pignora_. Whatever is most dear, particularly mothers, wives, and
children.--_Unde_, adv. of place, referring to _in proximo_.
_Vulnera ferunt_, i.e. on their return from battle.
_Exigere. Examine_, and compare, to see who has the most and the most
honorable, or perhaps to soothe and dress them.--_Cibos et hortamina_.
Observe the singular juxtaposition of things so unlike. So 1: _metu aut
montibus_; A. 25: _copiis et laetitia_; 37: _nox et satietas_; 38:
_gaudio praedaque_.