_Objectu pectorum. By opposing their breasts_, not to the enemy but to
their retreating husbands, praying for death in preference to captivity.
_Monstrata--captivitate_. _Cominus_ limits _captivitate_, pointing to
captivity as just before them.--_Impatientius_. _Impatienter_ and
_impatientia_ (the adv. and the subst.) are post-Augustan words. The adj.
(impatiens) is found earlier. Cf. Freund.
_Feminarum--nomine_, i.e. propter feminas suas. Gün. So Cic.: tuo nomine
et reipublicae==on your account and for the sake of the republic. But it
means perhaps more than that here, viz. in the person of. They dreaded
captivity more for their women than for themselves. _Adeo==insomuch
that_.
_Inesse_, sc. feminis. _They think, there is in their women something
sacred and prophetic_. Cf. Caes. B.G. 1, 50, where Caesar is informed by
the prisoners, that Ariovistus had declined an engagement because the
_women_ had declared against coming to action before the new moon.--
_Consilia, advice_ in general; _responsa, inspired answers_, when
consulted.
_Vidimus_, i.e. she lived in our day--under the reign of Vespasian.--
_Veledam_. Cf. H. 4, 61. 65.
_Auriniam_. Aurinia seems to have been a common name in Germany for
prophetess or wise woman. Perhaps==Al-runas, women knowing all things. So
_Veleda_==wise woman. Cf. Wr. in loc.
_Non adulatione_, etc. "Not through adulation, nor as if they were
raising mortals to the rank of goddesses." Ky. This is one of those
oblique censures on Roman customs in which the treatise abounds. The
Romans in the excess of their adulation to the imperial family _made_
ordinary women goddesses, as Drusilla, sister of Caligula, the infant
daughter of Poppaea (Ann. 15, 23), and Poppaea herself (Dio 63, 29). The
Germans, on the other hand, really thought some of their wise women to be
divine. Cf. His. 4, 62, and my note ibid. Reverence and affection for
woman was characteristic of the German Tribes, and from them has diffused
itself throughout European society.
IX. _Deorum_. T. here, as elsewhere, applies Roman names, and puts a
Roman construction (Romana interpretatione, § 43), upon the gods of other
nations, cf. § 3.
_Mercurium_. So Caes. B.G. 6, 17: Deum maxime Mercurium colunt. Probably
the German _Woden_, whose name is preserved in our Wednesday, as that of
Mercury is in the French name of the same day, and who with a name
slightly modified (Woden, Wuotan, Odin), was a prominent object of
worship among all the nations of Northern Europe. _Mars_ is perhaps the
German god of war (Tiw, Tiu, Tuisco) whence Tuesday, French Mardi, cf.
Tur. His. Ang. Sax. App. to B. 2. chap. 3. _Herculem_ is omitted by
Ritter on evidence (partly external and partly internal) which is
entitled to not a little consideration. Hercules is the god of strength,
perhaps Thor.
_Certis diebus_. Statis diebus. Gün.
_Humanis--hostiis_. Even _facere_ in the sense of _sacrifice_ is
construed with abl. Virg. Ec. 3, 77. _Quoque_==even. For its position in
the sentence, cf. note, 3.
_Concessis animalibus_. Such as the Romans and other civilized nations
offer, in contradistinction to _human_ sacrifices, which the author
regards as _in_-concessa. The attempt has been made to remove from the
Germans the stain of human sacrifices. But it rests on incontrovertible
evidence (cf. Tur. His. Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2. cap. 3), and indeed
attaches to them only in common with nearly all uncivilized nations. The
Gauls and Britons, and the Celtic nations generally, carried the practice
to great lengths, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 15. The neighbors of the Hebrews
offered human victims in great numbers to their gods, as we learn from
the Scriptures. Nay, the reproach rests also upon the Greeks and Romans
in their early history. Pliny informs us, that men were sacrificed as
late as the year of Rome 657.
_Isidi_. The Egyptian Isis in Germany! This shows, how far the Romans
went in comparing the gods of different nations. Gr. Ritter identifies
this goddess with the Nertha of chap. 40, the Egyptian Isis and Nertha
being both equivalent to Mother Earth, the Terra or Tellus of the Romans.
_Liburnae_. A light galley, so called from the Liburnians, a people of
Illyricum, who built and navigated them. The _signum_, here likened to a
galley, was more probably a rude crescent, connected with the worship of
the moon, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 21: Germani deorum numero ducunt Solem et
_Lunam_.
_Cohibere parietibus_==aedificiis includere, K. T. elsewhere speaks of
temples of German divinities (e.g. 40: templum Nerthi; Ann. 1, 51:
templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove or any other sacred place was
called _templum_ by the Romans (templum from [Greek: temno], cut off, set
apart).
_Ex magnitudine_. _Ex_==secundum, cf. _ex nobilitate_, _ex virtute_ § 7.
_Ex magnitudine_ is predicate after _arbitrantur: they deem it unbecoming
the greatness_, etc.
_Humani--speciem_. Images of the gods existed at a later day in Germany
(S. Tur. His. of Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2. cap. 3). But this does not
prove their existence in the days of T. Even as late as A.D. 240 Gregory
Thaumaturgus expressly declares, there were no images among the Goths. No
traces of temple-walls or images have been discovered in connection with
the numerous sites of ancient altars or places of offering which have
been exhumed in _Germany_, though both these are found on the _borders_,
both south and west, cf. Ukert, p. 236.
_Lucos et nemora_. "Lucus (a [Greek: lukae], crepusculum) sylva densior,
obumbrans; nemus ([Greek: nemos]) sylva rarior, in quo jumenta et pecora
pascuntur." Bredow.
_Deorumque--vident. They invoke under the name of gods that mysterious
existence, which they see_ (not under any human or other visible form,
but) _with the eye of spiritual reverence alone_. So Gr. and K. Others
get another idea thus loosely expressed: They give to that sacred recess
the name of the divinity that fills the place, which is never profaned by
the steps of man.
_Sola reverentia_, cf. _sola mente_ applied by T. to the spiritual
religion of the Jews, H. 5, 5. The religion of the Germans and other
northern tribes was more spiritual than that of southern nations, when
both were Pagan. And after the introduction of Christianity, the Germans
were disinclined to the image-worship of the Papists.
X. _Auspicia sortesque_. _Auspicia_ (avis-spicia) properly divination by
observing the flight and cry of birds; _sortes_, by drawing lots: but
both often used in the general sense of omens, oracles.
_Ut qui maxime_, sc. _observant_. Ellipsis supplied by repeating
_observant_==to the greatest extent, none more.
_Simplex_. Sine Romana arte, cf. Cic. de Div. 2, 41, K. The Scythians had
a similar method of divining, Herod. 4, 67. Indeed, the practice of
_divining_ by _rods_ has hardly ceased to this day, among the descendants
of the German Tribes.
_Temere_, without plan on the part of the diviner.--_Fortuito_, under the
direction of chance. Gr.
_Si publice consuletur_. If the question to be decided is of a public
nature. _Consuletur_, fut., because at the time of drawing lots the
deliberation and decision are future. Or it may refer to the consultation
of the gods (cf. Ann. 14, 30: _consulere deos_): _if it is by the state
that the gods are to be consulted_. So Ritter in his last edition.
_Ter singulos tollit_. A three-fold drawing for the sake of certainty.
Thus Ariovistus drew lots three times touching the death of Valerius
(Caes. B.G. 1, 53). So also the Romans drew lots three times, Tibul. 1,
3, 10: sortes ter sustulit. Such is the interpretation of these disputed
words by Grüber, Ritter and many others, and such is certainly their
natural and obvious meaning: _he takes up three times one after another_
all the slips he has _scattered_ (_spargere_ is hardly applicable to
_three_ only): if the signs are twice or thrice favorable, the thing is
permitted; if twice or thrice unfavorable it is prohibited. The language
of Caesar (in loc. cit.) is still more explicit: _ter sortibus
consultum_. But Or., Wr. and Död. understand simply the taking up of
three lots one each time.
_Si prohibuerunt_ sc. sortes==dii. The reading _prohibuerunt_ (aL
prohibuerint) is favored by the analogy of _si displicuit_, 11, and other
passages. _Sin (==si--ne)_ is particularly frequent in antithesis with
_si_, and takes the same construction after it.
_Auspiciorum--exigitur. Auspiciorum_, here some other omens, than lots;
such as the author proceeds to specify. _Adhuc_==ad hoc, praeterea, i.e.
in addition to the lots. The sense is: _besides drawing lots, the
persuasion produced by auspices is required_.
_Etiam hic_. In Germany also (as well as at Rome and other well known
countries). _Hic_ is referred to Rome by some. But it was hardly needful
for T. to inform the Romans of that custom at Rome.
_Proprium gentis. It is a peculiarity of the German race_. It is not,
however, exclusively German. Something similar prevailed among the
Persians, Herod. 1, 189. 7, 55. Darius Hystaspes was indebted to the
neighing of his horse for his elevation to the throne.
_Iisdem memoribus_, § 9.--_Mortali opere_==hominum opere.--_Contacti_.
Notio contaminandi inest, K.--_Pressi curru_. Harnessed to the sacred
chariot. More common, pressi jugo. Poetice.
_Conscios_ sc. deorum. _The priests consider themselves the servants of
the gods, the horses the confidants of the same_. So Tibullus speaks of
the _conscia_ fibra _deorum_. Tibul. 1, 8, 3.
_Committunt_. Con and mitto, send together==_engage in fight_. A
technical expression used of gladiators and champions.
_Praejudicio. Sure prognostic_. Montesquieu finds in this custom the
origin of the duel and of knight-errantry.
XI. _Apud--pertractentur. Are handled_, i.e. discussed, among, i.e. _by
the chiefs_, sc. before being referred to the people.
_Nisi_ refers not to _coeunt_, but to _certis diebus_.
_Fortuitum_, casual, unforeseen; _subitum_, requiring immediate action.
_Inchoatur--impletur_. Ariovistus would not _fight_ before the new moon,
Caes. B.G. 1, 50.
_Numerum--noctium_. Of which custom, we have a relic and a proof in our
seven-_night_ and fort-_night_. So also the Gauls. Caes. B.G. 6, 18.
_Constituunt_==decree, determine; _condicunt_==proclaim, appoint. The
_con_ in both implies _concerted_ or public action. They are forensic
terms.
_Nox--videtur_. So with the Athenians, Macrob. Saturn. 1, 3.; and the
Hebrews, Gen. 1, 5.
_Ex libertate_, sc. _ortum, arising from_. Gün.
_Nec ut jussi. Not precisely at the appointed time_, but a day or two
later, if they choose.
_Ut turbae placuit. Ut_==simul ac, as soon as, _when_. It is the _time of
commencing their session_, that depends on the will of the multitude; not
their sitting _armed_, for that they always did, cf. _frameas concutiunt_
at the close of the section; also § 13: nihil neque publicae neque
privatae rei nisi armati agunt. To express this latter idea, the order of
the words would have been reversed thus: _armati considunt_.
_Tum et coercendi_. When the session is commenced, _then (tum)_ the
priests have the right not merely to command silence, but _also (et) to
enforce it_. This use of _et_ for _etiam_ is very rare in Cic., but
frequent in Livy, T. and later writers. See note, His. 1, 23.
_Imperatur. Imperare_ plus est, quam _jubere_. See the climax in Ter.
Eun. 2, 3, 98; jubeo, cogo atque impero. _Impero_ is properly military
command. K.
_Prout_ refers, not to the order of speaking, but to the degree of
influence they have over the people. Gr.--_Aetas_. Our word _alderman_
(elderman) is a proof, that office and honor were conferred on _age_ by
our German ancestors. So _senator_ (senex) among the Romans.
_Armis laudare_, i.e. armis concussis. "Montesquieu is of opinion that
in this Treatise on the manners of the Germans, an attentive reader may
trace the origin of the British constitution. That beautiful system, he
says, was formed in the forests of Germany, Sp. of Laws 11, 6. The
_Saxon_ Witena-gemot (Parliament) was, beyond all doubt, an improved
political institution, grafted on the rights exercised by the people in
their own country." Murphy, cf. S. Tur. His. of Ang. Sax. B. 8. cap. 4
XII. _Accusare--intendere. To accuse and impeach for capital crimes_.
Minor offences were tried before the courts described at the end of the
section.--_Quoque_. In addition to the legislative power spoken of in the
previous section, the council exercised _also_ certain judicial
functions. _Discrimen capitis intendere_, lit. _to endeavor to bring one
in danger of losing his life_.
_Ignavos--infames. The sluggish, the cowardly, and the impure_; for so
_corpore infames_ usually means, and there is no sufficient reason for
adopting another sense here. _Infames_ foeda Veneris aversae nota. K. Gr.
understands those, whose persons were disfigured by dishonorable wounds,
or who had mutilated themselves to avoid military duty. Gün. includes
both ideas: _quocunque_, non tantum _venereo_, corporis abusu contempti.
_Insuper_==superne. So 16: multo _insuper_ fimo onerant.
_Diversitas_ is a post-Augustan word, cf. Freund, sub v.
_Illuc respicit. Has respect to this principle. Scelera==crimes;
flagitia==vices, low and base actions. Scelus_ poena, _flagitium_
contemptu dignum. Gün.
_Levioribus delictis_. Abl. abs.==_when lighter offences are committed_;
or abl. of circum.==_in case of lighter offences_.
_Pro modo poenarum_. Such is the reading of all the MSS. _Pro modo,
poena_ is an ingenious _conjecture_ of Acidalius. But it is unnecessary.
Render thus: _in case of lighter offences, the convicted persons are
mulcted in a number of horses or cattle, in proportion to the severity of
the sentence adjudged to be due_.
_Qui vindicatur. The injured party_, or _plaintiff_. This principle
of pecuniary satisfaction was carried to great lengths among the
Anglo-Saxons. See Turner, as cited, 21.
_Qui reddunt_. Whose _business_ or _custom_ it is to administer justice,
etc. E. proposes _reddant_. But it is without authority and would give a
less appropriate sense.
_Centeni_. Cf. note, § 6: centeni ex singulis pagis. "Sunt in quibusdam
locis Germaniae, velut Palatinatu, Franconia, etc. Zentgericht
(hundred-courts)," cf. Bernegger.
_Consilia et auctoritas_. Abstract for concrete==_his advisers and the
supporters of his dignity_.
XIII. _Nihil nisi armati_. The _Romans_ wore arms only in time of war or
on a journey.
_Moris_, sc. est. A favorite expression of T. So 21: concedere moris
(est). And in A. 39.
_Suffecturum probaverit. On examination has pronounced him competent_
(sc. to bear arms). Subj. after _antequam_. H. 523, II.; Z. 576.
_Ornant. Ornat_ would have been more common Latin, and would have made
better English. But this construction is not unfrequent in T., cf. 11:
rex vel princeps audiuntur. Nor is it without precedent in other authors.
Cf. Z. 374. Ritter reads _propinqui_. The attentive reader will discover
here traces of many subsequent usages of _chivalry_.
_Haec toga_. This is the badge of manhood among the Germans, as the toga
virilis was among the Romans. The Romans assumed the toga at the age of
seventeen. The Athenians were reckoned as [Greek: Ephaeboi] at the same
age, Xen. Cyr, 1, 2, 8. The Germans (in their colder climate) not till
the 20th year. Caes. B.G. 6, 21.
_Dignationem. Rank, title_. It differs from _dignitas_ in being more
external. Cf. H. 1, 19: _dignatio Caesaris_; 8, 80: _dignatio viri_.
Ritter reads _dignitatem_.
_Assignant. High birth or great merits of their fathers assign_ (i.e.
mark out, not consign, or fully confer) _the title of chief even to young
men_.
_Gradus--habet_. Observe the emphatic position of _gradus_, and the force
of _quin etiam ipse: Gradations of rank, moreover the retinue itself
has_, i.e. the retainers are not only distinguished as a body in
following such a leader, _but_ there are _also distinctions_ among
_themselves. Quin etiam_ seldom occupies the second place. T. is fond of
anastrophe. Cf. Böt. Lex. Tac.
_Si--emineat. If he_ (cuique) _stands pre-eminent for the number and
valor of his followers. Comitatus_ is gen. _Emineat_, subj. pres. H. 504
et 509; Z. 524.
_Ceteris--aspici_. These noble youth, thus designated to the rank of
chieftains, _attach themselves_ (for a time, with some followers perhaps)
_to the other_ chiefs, who are _older and already distinguished, nor are
they ashamed to be seen among their attendants_.
_Quibus--cui_, sc. sit==_who shall have_, etc.
_Ipsa fama. Mere reputation_ or _rumor_ without coming to arms.
_Profligant_==ad finem perducunt. So Kiessling, Bötticher 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. Böt. Lex. Tac. It marks a transition to a
topic of special importance. Cf. H. 1, 2. See Död, in loc.
_Recessisse_. All the best Latin writers are accustomed to use the
preterite after pudet, taedet, and other words of the like signification.
Gün. 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_, Gün. and K.; _or the
chief part of their oath_, Gr.--_Clarescunt--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. Gün.
_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 passage of T. is not inconsistent with the declarations of Caesar,
B.G. 6, 21: Vita Germanorum omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei
militaris consistit. 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
antithetic 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 passive 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
hardships and dangers of war, in their strange inactivity, gluttony and
drunkenness in peace, in their deliberative assemblies 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 God, 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_. Partitive 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, Gün.). 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). Gün. calls attention to the multiform
enallage in this sentence: 1. in number (_populatur, ignorantur,
fallunt_); 2. of the active, passive, 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.
_Fluitante_. The flowing robe of the southern and eastern nations;
_stricta_, the close dress and short clothes of the northern nations.
_Artus exprimente_. Quae tam arte artus includit, ut emineant, earumque
lineamenta et forma appareant, K. K. and Gr. understand this of coat and
vest, as well as breeches; Gün. of breeches only.
_Proximi ripae_. Near the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, so as to
have commercial intercourse with the Romans. These having introduced the
cloth and dress of the Romans, attached little importance to the manner
of wearing their _skins_. But those in the interior, having no other
apparel, valued themselves on the nice adjustment of them.
_Cultus_, artificial refinement. Cf. note, 6.
_Maculis pellibusque_, for maculatis pellibus or maculis pellium, perhaps
to avoid the concurrence of genitives.
_Belluarum--gignit. Oceanus_==terrae, quas Oceanus alluit; and
_belluae_==lutrae, mustelae, erminiae, etc., so K. But Gr. says _belluae_
cannot mean such small creatures, and agrees with Lipsius, in
understanding by it marine animals, seadogs, seals, &c. Freund connects
it in derivation with [Greek: thaer], fera (bel==ber==ther==fer), but
defines it as properly an animal remarkable for size or wildness.
_Exterior Oceanus_==Oceanus extra orbem Romanum, further explained by
_ignotum mare_. Cf. note, 2: adversus Oceanus.
_Habitus_, here==vestitus; in § 4.==forma corporis.
_Saepius, oftener_ than the _men_, who also wore linen more or less. Gün.
_Purpura_. Facta e succo plantis et floribus expresso. Gün.
_Nudae--lacertos_. Graece et poetice. Brachia a manu ad cubitum; lacerti
a cubito ad humeros.
XVIII. _Quanquam_==sed tamen, i.e. notwithstanding the great freedom in
the dress of German women, yet the marriage relation is sacred. This use
of _quanquam_ is not unfrequent in T., and sometimes occurs in Cic.,
often in Pliny. See Z. 341, N.
_Qui ambiuntur_. This passage is construed in two ways: _who are
surrounded_ (ambiuntur==circumdantur, cf. II. 5, 12.) _by many wives not
to gratify lust, but to increase their rank and influence_ (_ob_ in the
sense _for the sake of_, cf. ob metum, 2). Or thus: _who_ (take many
wives) _not to gratify lust, but on account of their rank they are
solicited to form many matrimonial alliances_. For _ambio_ in this sense
and with the same somewhat peculiar construction after it, see H. 4, 51:
_tantis sociorum auxiliis ambiri_; also Virg. Aen. 7, 333: connubiis
ambire Latinum. The latter is preferable, and is adopted by Wr., K., Gr.,
&c. The former by Gün. and others. Ariovistus had two wives. Caes. B.G.
1, 53.
_Probant_, cf. probaverit, 13, note.--_Comatur_. Subj. denoting the
intention of the presents _with which she is to be adorned_. H 500, 1; Z.
567.
_Frenatum_, bridled, _caparisoned==paratus_ below.
_In haec munera_==[Greek: epi toutois tois dorois]. _In_==upon the basis
of, _on condition of_. So Liv.: in has leges, in easdem leges.
_Hoc--vinculum_, So, § 13: haec apud illos toga. In both passages the
allusion is to Roman customs (for which see Becker's Gallus, Exc. 1.
Scene 1). In Germany, _these presents_ take the place of the
_confarreatio_ (see Fiske's Manual, p. 286. 4. ed.), and the various
other methods of ratifying the marriage contract at Rome; _these_, of
the religious rites in which the parties mutually engaged on the wedding
day (see Man., p. 287).--_Conjugales deos_. Certain gods at Rome
presided over marriage, e.g. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Jugatinus, Hymenaeus,
Diana, &c.
_Extra_. Cic. would have said _expertem_ or _positum extra_. But T. is
fond of the adv. used elliptically.
_Auspiciis==initiatory rites_.
_Denuntiant, proclaim, denote.--Accipere_ depends on _denuntiant_ or
_admonetur_.
_Rursus, quae--referantur_. Rhenanus conjectured; rursusque--referant,
which has since become the common reading. But _referantur_ is the
reading of all the MSS., and needs no emendation; and _quae_, with as
good authority as _que_, makes the construction more natural and the
sense more apposite. The passage, as Gr. well suggests, consists of two
parts (_accipere--reddat_, and _quae--accipiant--referantur_), _each_ of
which includes the _two_ ideas of _receiving_ and _handing down_ to the
next generation. Render thus: _she is reminded that she receives gifts,
which she is to hand over pure and unsullied to her children; which her
daughters-in-law are to receive again_ (sc. from her sons, as she did
from her husband), _which are to be transmitted by them to her
grand-children_.
_Referantur_. In another writer, we might expect _referant_ to correspond
in construction and subject with _accipiant_. But Tacitus is fond of
varying the construction. Cf. Bötticher's Lex Tac., and note, 16:
_ignorantur_.
XIX. _Septa_. So the MSS. for the most part. Al. _septae_. Meaning: _with
chastity guarded_, sc. by the sacredness of marriage and the excellent
institutions of the Germans.
_Nullis--corruptae_. Here, as every where else in this treatise, T.
appears as the censor of Roman manners. He has in mind those fruitful
sources of corruption at Rome, public shows, (cf. Sen. Epist. 7: _nihil
vero est tam damnosum bonis moribus, quam in aliquo spectaculo
desidere_), convivial entertainments (cf. Hor. Od. 3, 6, 27), and
epistolary correspondence between the two sexes.
_Litterarum secreta_==litteras secretas, _secret correspondence_ between
the sexes, for this limitation is obvious from the connexion.--
_Praesens. Immediate_.
_Maritis permissa_, sc. as a _domestic_ crime, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 19: Viri
in uxores, sicut in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem. Cf. Beck.
Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.
_Accisis crinibus_, as a special mark of _disgrace_, cf. 1 Cor. 11, 6. So
in the laws of the Lombards, the punishment of adulteresses was
_decalvari et fustigari.--Omnem vicum, the whole village_, cf. Germania
omnis, § 1.--_Aetate==juventa_.
_Non--invenerit. She would not find, could not expect to find_. This use
of the perf. subj., for a softened fut., occurs in negative sentences
oftener than in positive ones. Cf. Arnold's Prose Comp. 417, Note.
_Saeculum_==indoles et mores saeculi, _the spirit of the age, the
fashion_.
_Adhuc_ (==ad-hoc) is generally used by Cicero, and often by Tacitus, in
the sense either of _still_ (to this day), or _moreover_ (in addition to
this). From these, it passed naturally, in Quintilian and the writers
after him, into the sense of _even more, still more, even_, especially in
connection with the comparative degree; where the authors of the Augustan
age would have used _etiam_. See Z. 486; Bötticher's Lex. Tac. sub. voce;
and Hand's Tursellinus, vol. 1. I. 165. _Melius quidem adhuc==still
better even_. For a verb, supply _sunt_ or _agunt_. Cf. note A. 19:
_nihil_.
_Eae civitates_. Such as the Heruli, among whom the wife was expected to
hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live
in perpetual infamy. At Rome, on the contrary, divorces and marriages
might be multiplied to any extent, cf. Mart. 6, 7: _nubit decimo viro_;
also Beck, as above cited.
_Semel_, like [Greek: apax], _once for all_.
_Transigitur_. Properly a business phrase. The business is _done up,
brought to an end_. So A. 34: transigite cum expeditionibus.
_Ultra_, sc. primum maritum. So the ellipsis might be supplied. _Ultra_
here is equivalent to _longior_ in the next clause, as T. often puts the
adverb in place of the adjective, whether qualifying or predicate.
_Ne tanquam--ament_, sc. maritum: _that they may not love_ a husband
_merely as a husband but as_ they love _the married state_. See this and
similar examples of _brachylogy_ well illustrated in Döderlein's Essay on
the style of Tacitus, H. p. 14. Since but one marriage was allowed, all
their love for the married state must be concentrated in one husband.
_Numerum--finire_. In any way contrary to nature and by design. Gün. _Quod
fiebat etiam abortus procuratione_. K.
_Ex agnatis. Agnati_ hoc loco dicuntur, qui _post familiam constitutam_,
ubi haeres jam est, _deinde nascuntur_. Hess. To put such to death was a
barbarous custom among the Romans. Cf. Ann. 3, 25; see Beck. Gall. Exc.
2. scene 1.
_Alibi_, e.g. at Rome.--_Boni mores_ vs. _bonae leges_. These words
involve a sentiment of great importance, and of universal application.
Good habits wherever they exist, and especially in a republic, are of far
greater value and efficacy than good laws.
XX. _Nudi_. Cf. 6: nudi aut sagulo leves. Not literally naked, but
slightly clad, cf. Sen. de benef. 5, 13: qui _male vestitum_ et pannosum
vidit, _nudum_ se vidisse dicit.
_Sordidi_. Gün. understands this of personal filth. But this is
inconsistent with the daily practice of bathing mentioned, § 22. It
doubtless refers to the _dress_, as Gr. and K. understand it: _nudi ac
sordidi==poorly and meanly clad_. So also Or.
_Quae miramur_. Cf. 4: _magna corpora_. See also Caes. B.G. 1, 39, 4, 1.
On _haec_, see note, 3: _haec quoque_.
_Ancillis ac nutricibus_. So in the Dial. de Clar. Orat., T. animadverts
upon the custom here obliquely censured: nunc natus infans delegatur
Graeculae alicui ancillae. In the early ages of Roman History it was not
so, see Becker's Gall. Exc. 2. scene 1.--_Delegantur. Delegamus_, quum,
quod _ipsi_ facere debebamus, id per _alterum_ fieri curamus. E.
_Separet_. For the use of the subj. pres. after _donec_, see note, 1.
_erumpat.--Agnoscat_==faciat ut agnoscatur. So Död., Gün. and K. But it
is better with Gr., to regard the expression as poetical, and _virtus_,
as personified: _and valor acknowledge_ them, sc. as brave men and
therefore by implication free born.
_Venus_==concubitus.--_Pubertas_==facultas generandi. Gr. Cf. Caes, B.G.
6, 21: qui diutissime impuberes permanserunt maximam inter suos ferunt
laudem.
_Virgines festinantur_==nuptiae virginum festinantur, poetice. The words
properare, festinare, accelerare are used in both a trans. and intrans.
sense, cf. Hist. 2, 82: festinabantur; 3, 37: festinarentur. Among the
Romans, boys of fourteen contracted marriage with girls of twelve. Cf.
Smith's Dic. Ant.
_Eadem, similis, pares_. The comparison is between the youth of the two
sexes at the time of marriage; they marry at the same age, equal in
stature and equal in strength. Marriages unequal in these respects, were
frequent at Rome.--_Pares--miscentur_. Plene: pares paribus, validae
validis miscentur. On this kind of brachylogy, see further in Död. Essay
on style of T., H. p. 15. _Miscentur_ has a middle sense, as the passive
often has, particularly in Tacitus. Cf. note 21: _obligantur_.
_Referunt_. Cf. Virg. Aen. 4, 329: parvulus Aeneas, qui te tamen ore
_referret_. See note, 39: auguriis.
_Ad patrem_. _Ad_ is often equivalent to _apud_ in the best Latin
authors; e.g. Cic. ad Att. 10, 16: ad me fuit==apud me fuit. Rhenanus by
conjecture wrote _apud_ patrem to correspond with apud avunculum. But
Passow restored _ad_ with the best reason. For T. prefers _different_
words and constructions in antithetic clauses. Perhaps also a different
sense is here intended from that which would have been expressed by
_apud_. Wr. takes _ad_ in the sense, _in respect to: as in respect to a
father_, i.e. as they would have, if he were their father.
_Exigunt_, sc. hunc nexum==sororum filios.
_Tanquam_. Like Greek os to denote the views of others, not of the
writer. Hence followed by the subj. H. 531; Z. 571.
_Et in animum_. _In_==quod attinet ad, _in respect to_. The commonly
received text has _ii et animum_, which is a mere conjecture of Rhen.
According to K., _teneant_ has for its subject not _sororum filii_, but
the same subject as _exigunt_. Render: _Since, as they suppose, both in
respect to the mind_ (the affections), _they hold it more strongly, and
in respect to the family, more extensively_.
_Heredes_ properly refers to property, _successores_ to rank, though the
distinction is not always observed.--_Liberi_ includes both sons and
daughters.
_Patrui_, paternal uncles; _avunculi_, maternal.
_Propinqui_, blood relations; _affines_, by marriage.
_Orbitatis pretia_. _Pretia==proemia_. _Orbitatis==childlessness_. Those
who had no children, were courted at _Rome_ for the sake of their
property. Vid. Sen. Consol. ad Marc. 19: in civitate nostra, plus gratiae
orbitas confert, quam eripit. So Plutarch de Amore Prolis says: the
childless are entertained by the rich, courted by the powerful, defended
gratuitously by the eloquent: many, who had friends and honors in
abundance, have been stripped of both by the birth of a single child.
XXI. _Necesse est_. It is their duty and the law of custom. Gün.--
_Nec_==non tamen.--_Homicidium_. A post-Augustan word.
_Armentorum ac pecorum_. For the distinction between these words, see
note, § 5. The high value which they attached to their herds and flocks,
as their _solae et gratissimae opes_, may help to explain the law or
usage here specified. Moreover, where the individual was so much more
prominent than the state, homicide even might be looked upon as a private
wrong, and hence to be atoned for by a pecuniary satisfaction, cf. Tur.
Hist. Ang. Sax., App. No. 3, chap. 1.
_Juxta libertatem_, i.e. _simul cum libertate_, or inter liberos homines.
The form of expression is characteristic of the later Latin. Cf. Hand's
Tursellinus, vol. III. p. 538. Tacitus is particularly partial to this
preposition.
_Convictibus_, refers to the entertainment of countrymen and friends,
_hospitiis_ to that of strangers.
_Pro fortuna. According to his means_. So Ann. 4, 23: fortunae inops.
_Defecere_, sc. epulae. Quam exhausta sint, quae apparata erant, cf. 24:
omnia defecerunt.
_Hospes_. Properly _stranger_; and hence either _guest_ or _host_. Here
the latter.--_Comes. Guest_. So Gün. and the common editions. But most
recent editors place a colon after _comes_, thus making it _predicate_,
and referring it to the _host_ becoming the guide and _companion_ of his
guest to another place of entertainment.
_Non invitati_, i.e. etiam si non invitati essent. Gün.
_Nec interest_, i.e. whether invited or not.
_Jus hospitis. The right of the guest_ to a hospitable reception, So Cic.
Tus. Quaes., 1, 26: jus hominum.
_Quantum ad_ belongs to the silver age. In the golden age they said:
_quod attinet ad_, or simply _ad_. Gr. Cicero however has _quantum in_,
N. D. 3, 7; and Ovid, _quantum ad_, A. A. 1, 744. Cf. Freund sub voce.
_Imputant. Make charge or account of_. Nearly confined to the later
Latin. Frequent in T. in the reckoning both of debt and credit, of praise
and blame. Cic. said: _assignare_ alicui aliquid.
_Obligantur_, i.e. obligatos esse putant. Forma passiva ad modum medii
verbi Graeci. Gün. Cf. note, 20: _miscentur_.
_Victus--comis. The mode of life between host and guest is courteous_. For
_victus_==manner of life, cf. Cic. Inv. 1, 25, 35.
XXII. _E_ is not exactly equivalent here to _a_, nor does it mean simply
_after_, but immediately on awaking _out of_ sleep.--_Lavantur_, wash
themselves, i.e. bathe; like Gr. louomai. So aggregantur, 13;
_obligantur_, 21, et passim.
_Calida_, sc. aqua, cf. in Greek, thermo louesthai, Aristoph. Nub. 1040.
In like manner Pliny uses _frigida_, Ep. 6, 16: semel iterumque
_frigidam_ poposcit transitque. Other writers speak of the Germans as
bathing in their rivers, doubtless in the summer; but in the winter they
use the warm bath, as more agreeable in that cold climate. So in Russia
and other cold countries, cf. Mur. in loco.
_Separatae--mensa_. Contra Romanorum luxuriam, ex more fere _Homerici_
aevi. Gün.
_Sedes_, opposed to the triclinia, on which the Romans used to _recline_,
a practice as unknown to the rude Germans, as to the _early_ Greeks and
Hebrews. See Coler. Stud. of Gr. Poets, p. 71 (Boston, 1842).
_Negotia_. Plural==_their_ various _pursuits_. So Cic. de Or. 2, 6:
_forensia negotia. Negotium==nec-otium_, C. and G. being originally
identical, as they still are almost _in form.--Armati_. Cf. note, 11: _ut
turbae placuit_.
_Continuare_, etc. est diem noctemque jungere potando, sive die nocteque
perpotationem continuare. K.
_Ut_, sc. solet fieri, cf. ut in licentia, § 2. The clause limits
_crebrae_; it is the _frequent occurrence_ of brawls, that is customary
among those given to wine.
_Transiguntur_. See note on transigitur, § 19.
_Asciscendis_. i.e. assumendis.
_Simplices_ manifestly refers to the _expression_ of thought; explained
afterwards by _fingere_ nesciunt==_frank, ingenuous_. Cf. His. 1, 15:
_simplicissime loquimur_; Ann. 1, 69: _simplices curas_.
_Astuta--callida. Astutus_ est natura, _callidus_ multarum rerum peritia.
Rit. _Astutus_, cunning; _callidus_, worldly wise. Död.
_Adhuc. To this day_, despite the degeneracy and dishonesty of the age.
So Död. and Or. Rit. says: quae adhuc pectore clausa erant. Others still
make it==_etiam, even_. Cf. note, 19.
_Retractatur_. Reviewed, _reconsidered_.
_Salva--ratio est. The proper relation of both times is preserved_, or the
advantage of both is secured, as more fully explained in the next member,
viz. by _discussing when they are incapable of disguise, and deciding,
when they are not liable to mistake_. Cf. Or. in loc., and Bötticher,
sub v.
Passow well remarks, that almost every German usage, mentioned in this
chapter, is in marked contrast with Roman manners and customs.
XXIII. _Potui_==pro potu, or in potum, dat. of the end. So 46: Victui
herba, vestitui pelles. T. and Sallust are particularly fond of this
construction. Cf. Böt. Lex. Tac., sub _Dativus_.
_Hordeo aut frumento. Hordeo==barley; frumento_, properly fruit
(frugimentum, fruit [Greek: kat exochaen], i.e. grain), grain of any
kind, here _wheat_, cf. Veget. R.M. 1, 13: et milites pro frumento
hordeum cogerentur accipere.
_Similitudinem vini. Beer_, for which the Greeks and Romans had no name.
Hence Herod. (2, 77) speaks of [Greek: oinos ek kritheon pepoiaemenos],
among the Egyptians.
_Corruptus_. Cum Tacitea indignatione dictum, cf. 4: _infectos_, so Gün.
But the word is often used to denote mere change, without the idea of
being made worse, cf. Virg. Geor. 2, 466: Nec casia liquidi _corrumpitur_
usus olivi. Here render _fermented_.
_Ripae_, sc. of the Rhine and Danube, i.e. the Roman border, as in 22:
proximi ripae.
_Poma_. Fruits of any sort, cf. Pliny, N.H. 17, 26: arborem vidimus omni
genere _pomorum_ onustum, alio ramo _nucibus_, alio _baccis_, aliunde
_vite, ficis, piris_, etc.
_Recens fera. Venison_, or other game _fresh_, i.e. _recently taken_, in
distinction from the tainted, which better suited the luxurious taste of
the Romans.
_Lac concretum_. Called _caseus_ by Caes. B.G. 6, 22. But the Germans,
though they lived so much on milk, did not understand the art of making
cheese, see Pliny, N.H. 11, 96. "De caseo non cogitandum, potius quod
nostrates dicunt dickemilch" (i.e. _curdled milk_). Gün.
_Apparatu. Luxurious preparation.--Blandimentis. Dainties_.
_Haud minus facile_. Litotes for multo facilius.
_Ebrietati_. Like the American Aborigines, see note, § 15.