_Vulgus_. The lower classes, _the ignorant and indolent rabble_.--
_Populus_. _The common people, tradesmen, mechanics_, and the like.
Hence, _aliud agens_, which implies that they were too busy with
something else of a private nature, to give much attention to public
affairs or the concerns of their neighbors.--_Populus_ and _vulgus_ are
brought together in a similar way, Dial. de Clar. Orat. 7: Vulgus quoque
imperitum et tunicatus hic populus, etc.
_Nobis--ausim_. _I should not dare to affirm that we_ (the friends of A.)
_found any conclusive proof_, that he was poisoned.--_Ceterum_. _But_.
This implies that the circumstantial evidence, which he goes on to
specify, convinced the writer and his friends, as well as the public,
that poison administered by direction of Dom., was really the means of
hastening A. out of the world. Dion Cassius expressly affirms, that he
was poisoned, 66, 20.
_Principatus_. The imperial government in general, i.e. former Emperors.
_Momenta ipsa deficientis_. _Each successive stage of his decline_.
_Ipsa_ is omitted in the common editions. But it rests on good authority
and it adds to the significance of the clause: _the very moments_, as it
were, were reported to Dom.
_Per dispositos cursores_. Dom. appears not to have been at Rome at this
time, but in the Alban Villa (cf. 45), or somewhere else.
_Constabat_. That was an _admitted point_, about which there was entire
_agreement_ (_con_ and _sto_).
_Animo vultuque_. Hendiadys: _he wore in his countenance an expression of
heartfelt grief_.
_Securus odii_. Now, that A. was dead, Dom. had nothing to fear in regard
to the _object of his hatred_, or the _gratification of his hate_.
_Odii_. Gen. of the respect.--_Qui--dissimularet_. _Qui==talis, ut_,
hence the subj. H. 501, I.; Z. 558.
_Lecto testamento_. When A.'s _will was read_.
_Honore judicioque_. As if a mark of honor and esteem. E. says==judicio
honorifico.--_Piissimae_, devoted, affectionate.
_Malum principem_. It was customary for rich men at Rome, who were
anxious to secure any of their property to their heirs, to bequeath a
part of their estates to _bad emperors_ in order to secure the remainder
from their rapacity.
This and several preceding sections present a most graphic _outline_ of
the _life and times_ of Dom., the more to be prized, because the full
_picture_, which T. doubtless drew of him in the Histories, is lost. The
Histories and the Annals are a vast portrait gallery full of such
pictures drawn to the life.
XLIV. _Natus--excessit_. The dates assigned for A.'s birth and death, do
not agree with the age ascribed to him. They may be harmonized in either
of two ways, each of which has its advocates: by reading _primum_ instead
of _tertium_, or, which is perhaps a more probable amendment, since it
only alters the relative position of the two characters, by reading LIV
instead of LVI.
_Quod si_. And if, _now if_.--_Habitum_. _Personal appearance_, cf. G. 5.
_Decentior quam sublimior_. _Well proportioned, rather than tall_. R.
_Nihil metus_. _Nothing to inspire fear in his countenance_. Antith. to
_gratia--supererat_: _kindness of expression rather prevailed_. So Gr. and
R. For this sense of _metus_, see note G. 2: ob metum. Död. distinguishes
between _vultus_ and _oris_, making the former refer more to the _eyes_
(as if from _volvo_, the rolling of the eye), to which it belongs to
express anger and fierceness; the latter to the mouth, which is more
expressive of kindness.
_Medio--aetatis_. We should hardly say so of a man dying at 56. But in
Dial. de Clar. Orat. T. speaks of 120 years, as _unius hominis aetas_.
_Et vera bona_. T. has here in mind the distinction made by philosophers,
particularly the Stoics, between the virtues, which they called the only
real good, and the gifts of fortune, which they declared to be
indifferent.--_Et--et, both--and_, marks the distinction more strongly.
_Impleverat_. _Had enjoyed to the full_.
_Consulari_. _Having attained to the rank of consul_ (the summit of a
Roman's ambition) _and having been honored with triumphal insignia_. Al.
consularibus. But _consulari_ has the better authority and makes the
better sense.
_Opibus--contigerant_. _Great riches he did not desire; a respectable
property it was his good fortune to possess_, cf. 5: medio rationis atque
abundantiae. Al. non contigerant. But considerable property is implied in
the circumstances attending his will, 43, also in his not asking the
visual salary, 42. Dion Cass. says, however, (66, 20.), that A. spent his
last days in want, as well as in disgrace. For another explanation of
_gaudebat_, cf. n. G. 6.
_Quod--ominabatur_. _Quod_ is omitted in the common editions. But it is
found in the MSS. And it may be explained on the principle of Zeugma, by
supplying with _durare_ and _videre_ a verb implied in _grande solatium
tulit_ thus: _though (sicuti) it would have been a great gratification to
A. to behold the dawn of this auspicious age and see Trajan Emperor, of
which he expressed in my hearing a sort of prophetic anticipation and
desire, yet (ita)_, etc. Cassius affirms (69, 12), that by auguries the
elevation of Trajan to the throne was foretold, as early as A.U.C. 844,
i.e. _two years before the death of A_. The reference to Trajan here, as
in 3, marks clearly the date of the composition, cf. note, 3: augeatque
Trajanus.
_Spiramenta_. _Breathing-spells_, i.e. intervals to recover and take
breath in. The word is found only in poetry and post-Augustan prose, and,
in the expressive sense in which it is here used, only in Ammian. Marc.
29, 1. See Or. and Freund.
_Velut uno ictu_. The commentators illustrate the force of this
expression by reference to Caligula's wish (Vid. Sen. de Va. 3, 19), that
the Roman people had but one neck, ut scelera sua in _unum ictum_ et unum
diem cogeret.
XLV. _Non vidit_. Did not see, as he would have done, had he lived a few
years longer. This passage resembles Cic. de Orat. 3, 2, 8, too closely
to be mere coincidence. Imitator tamen, id quod uni Tacito contigit,
auctore suo praestantior. Rit.
_Consularium_. Rhen. collects from Suet. the names of several victims of
Dom.'s displeasure, _who had been consuls_.
_Feminarum_. Pliny has preserved the names of several of this list--
Gratilla, wife of Rusticus, Arria, wife of Thrasea, Fannia, daughter of
Thrasea and betrothed to Helvidius. Their husbands will be remembered as
having been mentioned in 1 and 2.
_Carus Metius_. An infamous informer, cf. Plin. Epist. 7, 19; Juv. 1, 35;
Mart. 12, 25, 5.
_Censebatur_. _Was honored_, ironice. _Censeri_ est aestimari, sive
existimationem consequi. Dr.
_Una--victoria_. He had occasioned the death of but one innocent victim.--
_Adhuc_. Up to the death of A., cf. G. 38: adhuc, note.
_Albanam arcem_. A favorite retreat of Dom. (situated at the foot of the
Alban Mount, about seventeen miles from Rome), where he sometimes
convened the Senate, and held his court with its troop of informers, cf.
note, 43: cursores. Rit. in loc. suggests, that by the use of _arcem_
instead of _palatium_, T. means to represent Domitian as shutting himself
up, like many tyrants, in a fortified castle, and thence sending forth
the emissaries of his jealousy and cruelty.
_Sententia. His voice_, his sentiment expressed in council before Dom.--
_Intra Albanam arcem_, i.e. _privately_, not _publicly_, as afterwards
at Rome.
_Messalini_. Fuit inter principea adulatores et delatores. Dr. cf. Plin.
Epist. 4, 22; Juv. 4, 113, seq.
_Massa Bebius_. Primus inter pares of Domitian's tools. He began his
career under Vesp. cf. His. 4, 50. He was afterwards impeached and
condemned at the instance of the Province of Baetica, Pliny and Senecio
advocates for the impeachment, Plin. Epist 7, 33; 3, 4; 6, 29.--_Jam
tum. At that very time_ on trial, not merely _already at that time_.
Cf. Hand's Tursel. 3, 113.
_Nostra_, sc. of the Senate, of which T. was a member, though abroad
at the time. Helvidius was arrested _in the senate house_, cf. Plin.
Ep. 9, 13. This was Helvidius the _son_, who was put to death by Dom.
(Suet. 10), as his father was by Vesp. (Suet. 15).
_Visus_. Al. divisus. _Visus_==species, adspectus, Wr.--_Perfudit_.
Zeugma. Understand in the first clause _horrore perfudit_ (Dr.) or probro
affecit (R.): _the spectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus_ (hurried away, the
one to exile, the other to death), _filled us with horror; we were
stained by the innocent blood of Senecio_. Of Rusticus and Senecio, see
2, note. Of Mauricus, see Plin. Ep. 4, 22: quo viro nihil firmius, nihil
verius. Also Plin. Ep. 3, 11.
_Videre_, sc. Domitianum.--_Aspici_, sc. a Domitiano. For difference in
the signification in these words, cf. 40: viso aspectoque, note.
_Suspiria--subscriberentur. When our sighs_ (of sympathy with the
condemned) _were registered against us_ (by spies and informers, as a
ground of accusation before the Emperor).
_Rubor_. Redness, referring to the complexion of Dom., which was such as
to conceal a blush, cf. Suet. Dom. 18: vultu ruboris pleno.
_Opportunitate mortis_. An expression of Cic., in the similar passage
above cited (de Orat. 3, 2, 8), touching the death of Crassus.
_Pro virili portione_, lit. for one man's share, referring primarily to
pecuniary assessments. Here: _for thy part--so far as thou wast
concerned_. A. died with a calmness which would scarcely admit of the
supposition, that he felt himself to be a victim of poison and imperial
jealousy.
_Filiaque ejus_. The apostrophe is here dropped to be resumed at _optime
parentum_. So the MSS. For they read _ejus_ here, and _amissus est_
below. Rhenanus omitted _ejus_, and wrote _es_ for _est_; and he has been
followed in the common editions since.
_Conditione_. By the circumstance, or by virtue of our long absence. T.
and his wife had parted with A. four years before his death, and had been
absent from Rome ever since, where or why does not appear.
_Superfuere_. Cf. _superest_, G. 6, note.
XLVI. _Sapientibus_. Cf. _sapientiae professoribus_, 2, note.--_Te
immortalibus laudibus_. I feel constrained to recur to the reading of
Lipsius and Ritter, it is so much more spirited than _quam temporalibus_.
_Potius_ manifestly should refer back to _lugeri_ and _plangi_. The
comparison contained in the more common reading is uncalled for in the
connection, and of little significance in itself. The MSS. read
_temporalibus laudibus_ without _quam_ and this may be more easily
resolved into _te immortalibus_, than _quam_ can be supplied.--
_Similitudine_. Al. aemulatione. For such a use of similitudo, cf. Cic.
Tusc. Quaest. 1, 46, 110: quorum (sc. Curii, Fabricii, Scipionum, etc.),
_similitudinem_ aliquam qui arripuerit, etc.
_Decoremus_. Ennius (cited by Cic. Tusc. Q. 1, 49, 117, and de Senect.
20, 73), uses the same word in expressing the same sentiment: nemo me
lacrumis _decoret_ nec funera fletu faxit. Cf. also G. 28.
_Formam_. This makes the sense so much better (than _famam_), that E. Dr.
Wr. R. and most others have adopted it against the authority of the MSS.
cf. _forma mentis_, below, and Cic. passim.
_Intercedendum. To be prohibited_. Properly said of a _veto interposed_
by the Tribunes; then of any prohibition.--_Non quia==not that_, is
characteristic of late writers. It is followed by the subj. Z. 537, and
note H. 1, 15.
_Manet, mansurumque est_. Cf. Vell. Paterc. 2, 66, 5: vivit, vivetque per
omnem saeculorum memoriam. The periphrastic form (_mansurum est_) differs
however from the future (_manebit_), as our _is to remain_ from _will
remain_. See Z. 498.
_Oblivio obruet_, sc. for want of a historian, carent quia _vate sacro_,
cf. Hor. Od. 4, 9, 25, seq. By _multos veterum_, T. means many ancients
of _real worth_. So _velut_ implies. A. is to be immortalized through his
biographer. This is implied in _narratus et traditus_. Ancient authors
thought it not improper to express a calm consciousness of merit and a
proud confidence of immortality. T. is very modest and delicate in the
manner of intimating his expectations. But the sentiment of these last
words is substantially the same with the line of Horace: Exegi monumentum
aere perennius. The whole peroration of this Biography is one of singular
beauty and moral elevation. Pathetic, yet calm, rich in noble sentiments
and animated by the purest and loftiest spirit, it is a fit topstone to
that monument, in respect to which T. felt so well founded an assurance,
which still _manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate
temporum, fama rerum_. There is scarcely an educated youth in Christendom
who is not as familiar with the name of Agricola, as with that of Aeneas
and Ulysses. And the only reason why we know anything of these heroes, is
the genius of their respective biographers. There had been other
Agricolas before the age of Trajan, as there had been other heroes like
Aeneas, and other wandering sages like Ulysses, before the war of Troy.
But they found no Tacitus, Virgil, and Homer to record their adventurous
and virtuous deeds. It is the prerogative of eminent writers to confer
immortality; and though Alexander would prefer to be Achilles rather than
Homer, we should have known little of his achievements, had he not
encouraged scholars as well as warriors, and rewarded genius no less than
valor.