Chapter 8

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_.

VIII. _Constantia precum==importunate entreaties_.

_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.