Chapter 11

_Hercyniam silvam_. A series of forests and mountains, stretching from Helvetia to Hungary in a line parallel to the Danube, and described by Caesar (B.G. 6, 25), as nine day's journey in breadth and more than sixty in length. The name seems to be preserved in the modern _Hartz_ Forest, which is however far less extensive.

_Igitur--Helvetii_==igitur _regionem_, inter, etc. See note on _colunt_, 16. _Igitur_ seldom stands as the first word in a sentence in Cicero. Cf. Z. 357; and Kühner's Cic. Tusc. Qu. 1, 6, 11. Here it introduces a more particular explanation of the general subject mentioned at the close of the previous chapter. So in A. 13. When so used, it sometimes stands first in Cic., always in T. Cf. Freund sub v. Touching the Helvetii, see Caes. B.G. 1, 1; T. His. 1, 67.

_Boihemi nomen_. Compounded of Boii and heim (home of the Boii), now Bohemia. _Heim==ham_ in the termination of so many names of towns, e.g. Framing_ham_, Notting_ham_. The Boii were driven from their country by the Marcomanni, 42. The fugitives are supposed to have carried their name into Boioaria, now Bavaria. Cf. Prichard's Physical Researches, Vol. III. Chap. 1, Sec. 6; and Latham's Germany of Tacitus in loco.

_Germanorum natione_, i.e. German in situation, not in origin, for this he expressly denies or disproves in 43, from the fact that they spoke the Pannonian language, and paid tribute. The doubt expressed here has reference only to their original _location_, not to their original stock, and is therefore in no way inconsistent with the affirmation in chapter 43.

_Cum==since_. Hence followed by subj. H. 518, I.; Z. 577.

_Utriusque ripae_. Here of the _Danube_, the right or Pannonian bank of which was occupied by the Aravisci, and the left or German bank by the Osi. So elsewhere of the _Rhine_, 37, and of both, 17, and 23.

_Treveri_. Hence modern _Treves_.

_Circa_. _In respect to_. A use foreign to the golden age of Latin composition, but not unfrequent in the silver age. See Ann. 11, 2. 15. His. 1, 43. Cf. Z. 298, and note, H. 1, 13.

_Affectationem_. _Eager desire_ to pass for native Germans. Ad verbum, cf. note, II. 1, 80.

_Ultro_. Radically the same with _ultra_==beyond. Properly beyond expectation, beyond necessity, beyond measure, beyond any thing mentioned in the foregoing context. Hence unexpectedly, freely, cheerfully, very much, even more. Here _very_, _quite_. Gr.

_Inertia Gallorum_. T., says Gün., is an everlasting persecutor of the Gauls, cf. A. 11.

_Haud dubie_==haud dubii. It limits Germanorum populi. _Undoubtedly German tribes_.

_Meruerint_. Not merely deserved, but _earned_, _attained_. For the subj. after _quanquam_, cf. note, 35.

_Agrippinenses_. From Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus and wife of Claudius. Ann. 12, 27. Now Cologne.

_Conditoris_. _Conditor_ with the earlier Latins is an epicene, conditrix being of later date. Here used of Agrippina. Of course _sui_ cannot agree with _conditoris_. It is a reflexive pronoun, the objective gen. after _conditoris_==the founder of _themselves_, i.e. of their state, cf. _odium sui_, 33.

_Experimento_. Abl. _on_ trial, not _for_; i.e. in consequence of being found faithful. In reference to the Ubii, cf. His. 4, 28.

XXIX. _Virtute_ sc. bellica.

_Non multum ex ripa_. _A small tract on the bank, but chiefly an island in the river_. Cf. His. 4, 12: extrema Gallicae orae, simulque insulam, occupavere.

_Chattorum quondam_. The very name Batavi is thought by some to be a corrupted or modified form of Chatti. See Rit. in loc.

_Transgressus. When_ is not known, but Julius Caesar found them already in possession of their new territory. B.G. 4, 10.

_Fierent_. Subj. after _eas--quibus==such that_. H. 500, 2; Z. 556.

_Nec--contemnuntur. Are neither dishonored_. So in His. 4, 17. the Batavians are called _tributorum expertes_.

_Oneribus. The burdens of regular taxation.--Collationibus. Extraordinary contributions_.

_Tela_, offensive; _arma_, defensive armor.

_In sua ripa_. On the right or eastern bank of the Rhine. _Agunt_ is to be taken with _in sua ripa_, as well as with _nobiscum_, which are antithetic to each other. Meaning: in situation Germans, in feeling Romans.

_Mente animoque. In mind and spirit. Mens_ is properly the understanding, _animus_ the feeling part, and both together comprehend the whole soul.

_Acrius animantur. Made more courageous by the influence of their very soil and climate even_ (_adhuc_, cf. note, 19).

_Numeraverim_. Subj. cf. note, 2: _crediderim_.

_Decumates--exercent. Exercent_==colunt, So Virg. tellurem, terram, humum, solum, &c., _exercere_.

_Decumates_==decumanos. Occurs only here. Tithe-paying lands. For their location, see note, 27.

_Dubiae possessionis_, i.e. _insecure_, till confirmed by _limite acto promotisque praesidiis_, i.e. _extending the boundary and advancing the garrisons or outposts_.

_Sinus. Extreme bend_ or _border_. Cf. note, 1. So Virg. (Geor. 2 123) calls India extremi _sinus_ orbis.

_Provinciae_. A province, not any particular one.

XXX. _Initium inchoant_. Pleonastic. So initio orto, His. 1, 76; initium coeptum, His. 2, 79; perferre toleraverit, Ann. 3, 3. _Ultra_ is farther back from the Rhine. Chattorum sedes ubi nunc magnus ducatus et principatus _Hassorum_, quorum nomen a Chattis deductum. Ritter. Cha_tt_i==He_ss_ians, as Germ. wa_ss_er==Eng. wa_t_er, and [Greek: prasso==pratto].

_Effusis. Loca effusa_ sunt, quae _latis campis_ patent. K. This use belongs to the later Latin, though Horace applies the word with _late_ to the sea: effusi late maria. Gr.

_Durant siquidem_, etc. On the whole, I am constrained to yield to the authority and the arguments of Wr., Or., Död., and Rit., and place the pause before _durant_, instead of after it as in the first edition. _Durant_ precedes _siquidem_ for the sake of emphasis, just as _quin immo_ (chap. 14) and _quin etiam_ (13) yield their usual place to the emphatic word. These are all departures from established usage. See notes in loc. cit. _Que_ must be understood, after _paulatim_: it is inserted in the text by Ritter.

_Rarescunt_. _Become fewer_ and farther apart. So Virg. Aen. 3, 411: _Angusti rarescent claustra Pelori_.

_Chattos suos_. As if the Chatti were the children of the Forest, and the Forest emphatically their country. Passow.

_Prosequitur, deponit_. Begins, continues, and ends with the Chatti. Poetical==is coextensive with.

_Duriora_, sc. solito, or his, cf. Gr. 256, 9.--_Stricti, sinewy, strong_, which has the same root as _stringo_.

_Ut inter Germanos_, i.e. pro ingenio Germanorum, Gün. So we say elliptically: _for Germans_.

_Praeponere_, etc. A series of infinitives without connectives, denoting a hasty enumeration of particulars; elsewhere, sometimes, a rapid succession of events. Cf. notes, A. 36, and H. 1, 36. The particulars here enumerated, all refer to _military_ proceedings.

_Disponere--noctem_. _They distribute the day_, sc. as the period of various labors; _they fortify the night_, sc. as the scene of danger. Still highly poetical.

_Ratione_. _Way, manner_. Al. _Romanae_.

_Ferramentis_. _Iron tools_, axes, mattocks, &c.--_Copiis_. _Provisions_.

_Rari_. Predicate of _pugna_, as well as _excursus_.--_Velocitas_ applies to cavalry, _cunctatio_ to infantry; _juxta_==connected with, allied to, cf. juxta libertatem, 21.

XXXI. _Aliis--populis_. Dat. after _usurpatum_, which with its adjuncts is the subject of _vertit_. See same construction, His. 1, 18: observatum id antiquitus comitiis dirimendis non terruit Galbam, etc., cf. also A. 1.--_Audentia_ occurs only thrice in T. (G. 31. 34. Ann. 15, 53), and once in Pliny (Ep. 8, 4). It differs from _audacia_ in being a _virtue_.

_Vertit_. Intrans. Not so found in Cic., but in Liv., Caes., and Sall., not unfrequent. Gr. Cic. however uses _anno vertente_.

_In consensum vertit_. _Has become the common custom_.

_Ut primum_. _Just as soon as_. A causal relation is also implied; hence followed by the subj.

_Crinem--submittere_. We find this custom (_of letting the hair and beard grow long_) later among the Lombards and the Saxons, cf. Turn. His. Ang. Sax., App. to B. 2.

_Super--spolia_, i.e. _over the bloody spoils_ of a slain enemy.

_Revelant_, i.e. they remove the hair and beard, which have so long _veiled_ the face.

_Retulisse==repaid, discharged their obligations to those who gave them birth_.

_Squalor_. This word primarily denotes roughness; secondarily and usually filth: here the deformity of unshorn hair and beard.

_Insuper_, i.e. besides the long hair and beard. The proper position of _insuper_ is, as here, between the adj. and subs., cf. 34: immensos _insuper_ lacus; see also _insuper_, 12.

_Absolvat_. Subj. after _donec_. So _faciat_ below. See note, 1.

_Hic--habitus_, sc. _ferreum annulum_, cf. 17. _Plurimis_==permultis, Rit.

_Placet_. Antithetic to _ignominiosum genti_. Very many of the Chatti are _pleased_ with that which is esteemed a disgrace by most Germans, and so pleased with it as to retain it to old age, and wear it as a badge of distinction (_canent insignes_).

_Nova_. Al. _torva. Strange, unusual_. Placed in the _van_ (_prima acies_), because as the author says, § 43: primi in omnibus proeliis _oculi_ vincuntur.

_Mansuescunt_. Primarily said of wild beasts, _accustomed to the hand of man_ or _tamed_. So _immanis_, _not_ handled, wild, savage. The clause introduced by _nam_ illustrates or enforces _visu nova_, and may be rendered thus: _for not even in time of peace do they grow gentle_ and put on _a milder aspect_.

_Exsanguis_. Usually lifeless or pale. Here _languid, feeble_.

XXXII. _Alveo_==quoad alveum. Abl. of respect, H. 429; Z. 429.

_Certum. Fixed, well defined_, i.e. not divided and diffused, (so as to form of itself no sufficient border or boundary to the Roman Empire) as it was nearer its source among the Chatti. So this disputed word seems to be explained by the author himself in the following clause; _quique terminus esse sufficiat==and such that it suffices to be a boundary_. _Qui==talis ut_; hence followed by the subj. H. 500, I.; Z. 558. So Mela (3, 2) contrasts _solidus et certo alveo lapsus_ with _huc et illuc dispergitur_.

_Tencteris_==apud Tencteros, by _enallage_, cf. note on _ad patrem_, 20, and other references there. The Tencteri and Usipii seem to have been at length absorbed into the mass of people, who appear under the later name of Alemanni. Cf. Prichard.

_Familiam. Servants_, cf. note on same word, 15. See also Beck Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.--Penates==our _homestead_.

_Jura succesionum==heir looms_, all that goes down by hereditary descent.

_Excipit_. Here in the unusual sense of _inherits.--Cetera_, sc. _jura successionum_.

_Bello_. Abl. and limits both _ferox_ and _melior_. Meaning: _The horses are inherited, not, like the rest of the estate, by the eldest son, but by the bravest_.

XXXIII. _Occurrebant. Met the view, presented themselves_. Almost the sense of the corresponding English word. The structure of _narratur_ (as impers.) is very rare in the earlier authors, who would say: _Chamavi narrantur_. Cf. His. 1, 50. 90. The _Chamavi_, &c., were joined afterwards to the Franks. Cf. Prichard. The present town of _Ham_ in Westphalia probably preserves the name and gives the _original_ locality of the _Chamavi_, the present _Engern_ that of the _Angrivarii_. The termination varii or uarii probably==inhabitants of. Thus angrivarii==inhabitants of Engern. Chasuarii==Inhabitants of the river Hase. The same element is perhaps contained in the termination of Bruct_eri_ and Tenct_eri_. See Latham in loco.

_Nos, se_. Romanos. _Erga_==inclined to (cf. vergo), _towards_.

_Spectaculo_. Ablative. Invidere is constructed by the Latins in the following ways: invidere alicui aliquid, alicui alicujus rei, alicui aliqua re, alicui in aliqua re. Hess. The construction here (with the abl. of the thing, which was the object of envy) belongs to the silver age. Cf. Quint. (Inst. 9, 3, 1) who contrasts it with the usage of Cicero, and considers it as illustrating the fondness of the age for _figurative_ language.

_Oblectationi oculisque_. Hendiadys for ad oblectationem oculorum. The author here exults in the promiscuous slaughter of the German Tribes by each other's arms, as a brilliant spectacle to Roman eyes--a feeling little congenial to the spirit of Christianity, but necessarily nurtured by the gladiatorial shows and bloody amusements of the Romans, to say nothing of the habitual hostility which they waged against all other nations, that did not submit to their dominion.

_Quaeso_, sc. _deos_. Though _fortune_ is spoken of below, as controlling the destiny of nations. This passage shows clearly that Tacitus, with all his partiality for German manners and morals, still retains the heart of a Roman patriot. He loves his country with all her faults, and bears no good-will to her enemies, however many and great their virtues. The passage is important, as illustrating the spirit and design of the whole Treatise. The work was not written as a blind panegyric on the Germans, or a spleeny satire on the Romans. Neither was it composed for the purpose of stirring up Trajan to war against Germany; to such a purpose, such a clause, as _urgentibus imperii fatis_, were quite adverse. Least of all was it written for the mere pastime and amusement of Roman readers. It breathes the spirit at once of the earnest patriot, and the high-toned moralist.

_Odium sui_. Cf. note, 28: _conditor. Hatred of themselves_; i.e. of one another. So in Greek, the reflexive pronoun is often used for the reciprocal.

_Quando==since_; a subjective reason. Cf. note, His. I, 31; and Z. 346. --_Urgentibus--fatis_, sc. to discord and dissolution, for such were the forebodings of patriotic and sagacious minds ever after the overthrow of the Republic, even under the prosperous reign of Trajan.

XXXIV. _A tergo_, i.e. further back from the Rhine, or towards the East-- _A fronte_, nearer the Rhine or towards the West. Both are to be referred to the Angrivarii and Chamavi, who had the Dulgibini and the Chasuarii in their rear (on the east), and the Frisii on their front (towards the west or northwest).--_Frisii_, the Frieslanders.

_Majoribus--virium. They have the name of Greater or Less Frisii, according to the measure of their strength_. For this sense of _ex_ see note 7. For the case of _majoribus minoribusque_ see Z. 421, and H. 387, 1.

_Praetexuntur. Are bordered by the Rhine_ (hemmed, as the toga _praetexta_ by the purple); or, as Freund explains, are covered by it, i.e. lie behind it--_Immensos lacus_. The bays, or arms of the sea, at the mouth of the Rhine (Zuyder Zee, etc.), taken for lakes by T. and Pliny (Ann. 1, 60. 2, 8. N.H. 4, 29). They have been greatly changed by inundations. See Mur. in loco.

_Oceanum_, sc. Septentrionalem.--_Sua_, sc. parte.--_Tentavimus, explored_.

_Herculis columnas_. "Wherever the land terminated, and it appeared impossible to proceed further, ancient maritime nations feigned pillars of Hercules. Those mentioned in this passage some authors have placed at the extremity of Friesland, and others at the entrance of the Baltic." Ky. cf. note, 3.

_Adiit_, i.e. vere adiit, _actually_ visited that part of the world.

_Quicquid--consensimus_. This passage is a standard illustration of the _Romana interpretatione_ (§ 43), the Roman construction, which the Romans put upon the mythology and theology of other nations. It shows that they were accustomed to apply the names of their gods to the gods of other nations on the ground of some resemblance in character, history, worship, &c. Sometimes perhaps a resemblance in the _names_ constituted the ground of identification.

_Druso Germanico_. Some read Druso _et_ Germanico; others Druso, Germanico, as a case of asyndeton (Gr. 323, 1 (1.)); for both Drusus and Germanicus sailed into the Northern Ocean, and it is not known that Germanicus (the son of Drusus and stepson of Tiberius, who is by some supposed to be meant here) is ever called _Drusus Germanicus_. But Drusus, the father of Germanicus, is called Drusus Germanicus in the Histories (5, 19), where he is spoken of as having thrown a mole or dam across the Rhine; and it is not improbable that he is the person here intended. So K., Or. and Wr.

_Se_, i.e. the Ocean. See H. 449, II.; Z. 604.

_Inquiri_. Impersonal==_investigation to be made. E_. suggests _inquirenti_, agreeing with _Germanico_. But T., unlike the earlier Latin authors, not unfrequently places an infin. after a verb of hindering.

_Credere quam scire_. T. perhaps alluded to the precept of the Philosopher, who said: Deum cole, atque crede, sed noli quaerere. Murphy.

XXXV. _In Septentrionem_, etc. _On the North, it falls back_, sc. into the Ocean, _with_ an immense _bend_ or peninsula. The _flexus_ here spoken of is called _sinus_ in chap. 37, and describes the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Danish Peninsula. See Död., Or. and Rit. in loc.--_Ac primo statim. And first immediately_, sc. as we begin to trace the northern coast.--_Lateribus_, sc. the eastern.

_Quanquam_ followed by the subj., seldom in Cic., but usually in T., Z. 574, Note. Cf. note, His. 5, 21.--_Sinuetur_, sc. southwards. _Donec--sinuetur_. Cf. note, 1: _erumpat_.

_Inter Germanos_. Considered among the Germans, _in the estimation of the Germans_.

_Quique--tueri_. A clause connected to an _adj_. (nobilissimus), cf. certum, quique, 32. _Qui_ in both passages==talis, ut. Hence followed by subj. H. 501, I.; Z. 558.

_Impotentia, ungoverned passion, [Greek: akrateia]. Impotentia_ seldom denotes want of power, but usually that unrestrained passion, which results from the want of ability to control one's self.

_Ut--agant_ depends on _assequuntur_. Subj. H. 490; Z. 531, _a_.

_Si res poscat_. Some copies read: si res poscat _exercitus_. But posco and postulo seldom have the object expressed in such clauses, cf. 44: ut res poscit; 6: prout ratio poscit. So also Cic. and Sall., pass. _Exercitus_ is subject nom., _promptus_ being understood, as pred.; and _plurimum virorum equorumque_ explains or rather enforces _exercitus: and, if the case demand, an army, the greatest abundance of men and horses_.

_Quiescentibus_, i.e. bellum non gerentibus; _eadem_, i.e. the same, as if engaged in war.

XXXVI. _Cherusci_. It was their chief, Arminius (Germ. Hermann), who, making head against the Romans, was honored as the Deliverer of Germany, and celebrated in ballad songs, which are preserved to this day. See his achievements in Ann. B. 1, and 2. This tribe became afterwards the head of the Saxon confederacy.

_Marcentem. Enervating_. So _marcentia pocula_, Stat. Silv. 4, 6, 56. It is usually intransitive, and is taken here by some in the sense of languid, enervate (literally withered).--_Illacessiti_ is a post-Augustan word. Cf. Freund.

_Impotentes_. Cf. impotentia, 35.

_Falso quiescas_. Falleris, dum quiescis. Dilthey. Cf. note, 14: _possis_.

_Ubi manu agitur_. Where matters are decided by might rather than right. Cf. _manu agens_, A. 9.

_Nomina superioris. Virtues_ (only) _of the stronger party_, the conqueror. They are deemed vices in the weaker.

_Chattis--cessit: while to the Chatti_, who were _victorious, success was imputed for wisdom_. The antithetic particle at the beginning of the clause is omitted. Cf. note, 4: _minime_.

_Fuissent_. Subj. after _cum_ signifying _although_. H. 516, II.

XXXVII. _Sinum. Peninsula_, sc. the Cimbric. Cf. note, 35: _flexu_; 81: _sinus_.

_Cimbri_. The same with the Cimmerii, a once powerful race, who, migrating from western Asia, that hive of nations, overran a large part of Europe, but their power being broken by the Romans, and themselves being overrun and conquered by the Gothic or German Tribes, they were pushed to the extreme western points of the continent and the British Isles, where, and where alone, distinct traces of their language and literature remain to this day. They have left their name indelibly impressed on different localities in their route, e.g. the Cimmerian Bosphorus, the Cimbric Chersonesus (now Jutland, occupied by the Cimbri in the days of T.), Cumberland (Cumbria, from Cimbri) &c. The ancient name of the Welsh was also Cymri, cf. Tur. His. Ang. Sax. 1. 2.

_Gloria_ is abl. limiting _ingens_.

_Castra ac spatia_. In apposition with _lata vestigia_==spatiosa castra or castrorum spatia, H. 704, II. 2; Z. 741.

_Utraque ripa_, sc. of the Rhine, _the_ river and river bank by eminence.

_Molem manusque. The mass of their population, and the number of their armies_. Observe the alliteration, as if he had said: measure the mass and might.

_Exitus_, i.e. _migrationis_. Often used in this sense, cf. Caes. B.C. 3, 69: Salutem et _exitum_ sibi pariebant.--_Fidem, proof_.

_Sexcentesimum--annum_. T. follows the Catonian Era. According to the Varronian Era, received by the moderns, the date would be A.U.C. 641 = A.C. 113.

_Alterum--consulatum_. The second consulship of Trajan (when he was also Emperor) was, after the reckoning of Tacitus, A.U.C. 850, according to modern computation, 851 = A.D. 98. This year doubtless marks the time when this treatise was written, else why selected?

_Vincitur_. So long is Germany in being conquered. (The work was never completed.) Cf. Liv. 9, 3: quem per annos jam prope _triginta vincimus_.

_Medio--spatio. In the intervening period_, sc. of 210 years.

_Samnis--Galliaeve_. The Romans had fought bloody, and some times disastrous battles with the Samnites (at the Caudine Forks, Liv. 9, 2.), with the Carthaginians (in the several Punic Wars), with the Spaniards under Viriathus and Sertorius (Florus, Lib. 2.), with the Gauls (Caes. B.G. pass.). But none of these were so sanguinary as their wars with the Germans.

_Admonuere_, sc. vulneribus, cladibus==castigavere.

_Regno--libertas_. Liberty and monarchy in studied antithesis. T. means to imply that the former is the stronger principle of the two.

_Arsacis_. The family name of the Parthian kings, as Pharaoh and Ptolemy of the Egyptian, Antiochus of the Syrian, &c.

_Amisso et ipse_, sc. _oriens_; the East _itself also lost_ its prince (Pacorus), in the engagement, as well as the Romans their leader (Crassus).--_Objecerit, reproach us with_. Subj. Cf. n. G. 2: _peteret_.

_Ventidium_. Commander under Anthony, and conqueror of the Parthians in three battles, A.U.C. 715. He was raised from the lowest rank and the meanest employment, hence perhaps the expression, _dejectus infra, humbled beneath Ventidius_.

_Carbone--Manlio_, Cneius Papirius Carbo defeated at Noreja, A.U. 641 (Liv. Epit. 63.), L. Cassius Longinus defeated and slain, 647 (Caes. B.G. 1, 7. 12.), M. Aurelius Scaurus defeated and taken captive, 648 (Liv. Epit. 67.), Servilius Caepio and M. Manlius defeated with great slaughter at Tolosa, 649 (Liv. Epit. 67.), Quintilius Varus defeated and slain, 762 (Suet. Oct. 23.)--all these victories over the Romans in their highest strength and glory--either in the time of the _Republic (Populo Romano)_, or of the _Empire_ under Augustus (_Caesari_)--all these attested the courage and military prowess of the Germans; and they were still, for the most part, as free and as powerful as ever.

_Caius Marius_ almost annihilated the Cimbri at Aquae Sextiae, A.U.C. 652.

_Drusus_. Claudius Drusus invaded Germany four times, 742-3, and finally lost his life by falling from his horse on his return, cf. Dio. Libb. 54. 55.

_Nero_, commonly known as Tiberius (brother of Drusus and stepson of Augustus), had the command in Germany at three different times, 746-7, 756-9, 764-5, cf. Suet. Tib. 9. seq.

_Germanicus_, son of Drusus, made four campaigns in Germany, A.D. 14-16, cf. Ann. B. 1. and 2.

_C. Caesaris_. Caligula, cf. Suet. Calig.; T. His. 4, 15.

_Discordiae--armorum_. The civil wars after the death of Nero under Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.

_Expugnatis--hibernis_. By the Batavians under Civilis. His. 4, 12 seq.; A. 41.