Chapter 9

_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.