Germania and Agricola Part 14

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 _n.o.bisc.u.m_, which are ant.i.thetic 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_.

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

_Dec.u.mates_==dec.u.manos. Occurs only here. t.i.the-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.

x.x.x. _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 princ.i.p.atus _Ha.s.sorum_, quorum nomen a Chattis deductum. Ritter.

Cha_tt_i==He_ss_ians, as Germ. wa_ss_er==Eng. wa_t_er, and [Greek: pra.s.so==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., Dod., 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.

_Raresc.u.n.t_. _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. Pa.s.sow.

_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, Gun. 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.

x.x.xI. _Aliis--populis_. Dat. after _usurpatum_, which with its adjuncts is the subject of _vert.i.t_. 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_.

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

_In consensum vert.i.t_. _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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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_. Ant.i.thetic 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_ vinc.u.n.tur.

_Mansuesc.u.n.t_. Primarily said of wild beasts, _accustomed to the hand of man_ or _tamed_. So _immanis_, _not_ handled, wild, savage. The clause introduced by _nam_ ill.u.s.trates 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_.