Germania and Agricola Part 18

The _Rugii_ have perpetuated their name in an island of the Baltic (Rugen).

_Adductius_. Lit. with tighter rein, _with more absolute power_ cf. His.

3, 7: adductius, quam civili bello, imperitabat. The adv. is used only in the comp.; and the part. adductus is post-Augustan. _Jam_ and _nondum_ both have reference to the writer's progress in going over the tribes of Germany, those tribes growing less and less free as he advances eastward: _already_ under more subjection than the foregoing tribes, but _not yet_ in such abject slavery, as some we shall soon reach, sc. in the next chapter, where see note on _jam_.

_Supra_. So as to _trample down_ liberty and destroy it.

_Protinus deinde ab_, etc. _Next in order, from the ocean_, i.e. with territory beginning from or at the ocean.

XLIV. _Suionum. Swedes_. Not mentioned under this name, however, by any other ancient author.

_Ipso_. The Rugii, &c., mentioned at the close of the previous section, dwelt _by_ the ocean (_ab_ Oceano); but the _Suiones in_ the ocean (_in_ Oceano). _Ipso_ marks this ant.i.thesis.

_In Oceano_. An island in the Baltic. Sweden was so regarded by the ancients, cf. 1, note.

_Utrimque prora. Naves biprorae_. Such also had the Veneti, Caes. B.G.

3, 13. Such Germanicus constructed, His. 3, 47. So also the canoes of the N. Am. Indians.

_Ministrantur_, sc. naves==_the s.h.i.+ps are not furnished with sails_, cf.

His. 4, 12: _viros armaque ministrant_. Or it may be taken in the more literal sense: are served, i.e. worked, mannged. Cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 302: velisque ministrat.--_In ordinem. For a row_, i.e. so as to form a row, cf. Z. 314: also Rit. and Dod. in loc. The northmen (Danes and Swedes) became afterwards still more famous for navigation and piratical excursions, till at length they settled down in great numbers in France and England.

_In quibusdam fluminum_. Rivers with steep banks require the oars to be removed in order to approach the bank.

_Est--honos_. Contrary to the usual fact in Germany, cf. 5.

_Exceptionibus_. _Limitations_.--_Jam_. Now, i.e. _here_, opposed to the _foregoing_ accounts of _free states_ and _limited monarchies_.

_Precario_. Properly: _obtained by entreaty_. Hence: _dependent on the will of another_, cf. A. 16.--_Parendi_. A gerund with pa.s.sive sense, lit. _with no precarious right of being obeyed_. So Pa.s.s., K., Wr. and Gun.

_In promiscuo_. The privilege of wearing arms is not conceded to the ma.s.s of the people.--_Et quidem_==et eo, _and that too_.

_Otiosa--ma.n.u.s_. Al. _otiosae_ by conjecture. But _ma.n.u.s_, a collective noun sing. takes a pl. verb, cf. H. 461, 1; Z. 366.

_Regia utilitas est_==regibus utile est.

XLV. _Pigrum_. Cf. A. 10: pigrum et grave. The Northern or Frozen Ocean, of which T. seems to have heard, though some refer it to the northern part of the Baltic. See Ky. in loc.

_Hinc_. _For this reason_, viz. _quod extremus_, etc.

_In ortus_. _Till the risings_ (pl.) _of the sun_, i.e. from day to day successively. It was known in the age of T. that the longest day grew longer towards the north, till at length it became six months (cf. Plin.

N.H. 2, 77), though T. supposed it to be thus long at a lower lat.i.tude than it really was, cf. A. 12.

_Sonum--aspici_. The aurora borealis, some suppose.

_Persuasio adjicit_. _The common belief adds_, i.e. _it is further believed_, cf. His. 5, 5. 13: persuasio inerat.

_Illuc--natura_. _Tantum_ is to be connected with _illuc usque_. _Thus far only nature extends_. So thought the ancients. Cf. A. 33: _in ipso terrarum ac naturae fine_. _Et vera fama_ is parenthetic. The _author_ endorses this part of the story.

_Ergo_ marks a return from the above digression.

_Suevici maris_. _The Baltic_.

_Aestyorum_==eastern men, modern Esthonians. Their language was probably neither German nor Briton, but Slavonic.

_Matrem Deum_. Cybele, as the Romans interpreted it, cf. 43.

_Insigne--gestant_. Worn, as _amulets_.

_Frumenta laborant_, i.e. labor _for_, or _to produce_, corn. Cf. Hor.

Epod. 5, 60. _Laborare_ is transitive only in poetry and post-Augustan prose. _Elaborare_ would imply too much art for the author's purpose. See Rit. in loc.

_Succinum_. _Amber_, an important article of commerce in early ages, combining some vegetable juice (hence the Latin name, from _succus_) with some mineral ingredients.--_Glesum_. This name was transferred to _gla.s.s_, when it came into use. The root is German. Compare [Greek: chalaza.] Dod.

_Nec_==non tamen. _Yet it is not_, etc.

_Ut barbaris_. Cf. ut inter barbaros, A. 11. _Barbaris_ is dative in apposition with _iis_, which is understood after _compertum_.

_Quae--ratio_. _What power or process of nature_.

_Donec--dedit_. Cf. note, 87: _affectavere_.

_Plerumque_. _Often_; a limited sense of the word peculiar to post-Augustan Latin. Cf. G. 13: _ipsa plerumque fama bella profligant_; and Freund ad v.

_Quae--expressa_==quorum _succus_ expressus, etc.

_In tantum_. _To such a degree_. Frequent only in late Latin.

_A servitute_. They fall short of liberty in not being free, like most of the Germans; and they fall below slavery itself, in that they are slaves to a woman.

XLVI. _Venedorum et Fennorum_. Modern _Vends and Finns_, or Fen-men. Cf.

Latham in loc.--_Ac torpor procerum_. _The chief men are lazy and stupid_, besides being filthy, like all the rest.

_Foedantur_. Cf. infectos, 4.--_Habitum_, here personal appearance, cf.

note, 17.--_Ex moribus_, sc. Sarmatarum.

_Erigitur_. Middle sense. _Raise themselves_, or _rise_, cf. evolvuntur, 39.

_Figunt_. Have _fixed habitations_, in contrast with the Sarmatians, who lived in carts. Cf. Ann. 13, 54: _fixerant domos Frisii_. Al. _fingunt_.

_Sarmatis_. The stock of the modern Russians, cf. 1. note.

_Cubile_. We should expect _cubili_ to correspond with _victui_ and _vest.i.tuti_. But cf. note 18: referantur; 20: ad patrem, &c.

_Comitantur_, i.e. feminae comitantur viris.

_Ingemere--illaborare_. _Toil and groan upon houses and lands_, i.e. _in building and tilling them_; though some understand _domibus_ and _agris_ as the places in which they toil.