Germania and Agricola Part 20

III. _Et quanquam. Et_ pro _sed_. So Dr. But _nunc demum animus redit_ implies, that confidence is hardly restored yet; and the reason for so slow a recovery is given in the following clause. Hence _et_ is used in its proper copulative or explicative sense. So Wr. _Demum_ is a lengthened form of the demonstrative _dem_. Cf. i-_dem_, tan-_dem_, _dae_. _Nunc demum_==_nun dae_. Freund.

_Primo statim. Statim_ gives emphasis: _at the very commencement_, etc.; cf. note, 20.--_Dissociabiles, incompatible_.

_Augeatque--Traja.n.u.s_. This marks the date of the composition early in the reign of Trajan, cf. G. 37; also p. 139 supra.

_Securitas publica. "And public security has a.s.sumed not only hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and, stability.

Securitas publica_ was a current expression and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals." Ky.

_a.s.sumpserit_. This word properly belongs only to _fiduciam ac robur.

Spem ac votum_ would require rather _conceperit_. Zeugma.

_Subit_. _Steals in_, lit. creeps under. Cf. note, H. 1, 13.

_Invisa primo--amatur_. The original perhaps of Pope's lines Vice is a monster, &c.

_Quindecim annos_. The reign of Domitian from A.D. 81, to A.D. 96.

_Fortuitis casibus_. Natural and ordinary death, as opposed to death by violence, _saevitia principis_.--_Promptissimus quisque. The ablest, or all the ablest_. _Quisque_ with a superlative, whether singular or plural, is in general equivalent to _omnes_ with the positive, with the additional idea however of a reciprocal comparison among the persons denoted by _quisque_, Z. 710, 6.

_Ut ita dixerim_. An apology for the strong expression _nostri superst.i.tes: survivors not of others only, but so to speak, of ourselves also_; for we can hardly be said to have _lived_ under the tyranny of Dom., and our present happy life is, as it were, a renewed existence, after being buried for fifteen years. A beautiful conception! The use of _dixerim_ in preference to _dicam_ in this formula is characteristic of the later Latin. Cf. Z. 528. The _et_ before this clause is omitted by some editors. But it is susceptible of an explanation, which adds spirit to the pa.s.sage: A few of us survive, _and that_ not merely ourselves, but so to speak, others also. In the Augustan age _superstes_ was, for the most part, followed by the dative.

_Tamen_. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circ.u.mstances in which I write, after so long a period of deathlike silence, in winch we have almost lost the gift of speech, _yet_ I shall not regret to have composed _even in rude and inelegant language_, etc. For the construction of _pigebit_, cf.

Z. 441, and H. 410, 6.

_Memoriam--composuisse_. Supposed to refer to his forthcoming history, written, or planned and announced, but not yet published. Some understand it of the present treatise. But then _interim_ would have no meaning; nor indeed is the language applicable to his _Agricola_.

_Interim_, sc. _editus_ or vulgatus, _published meanwhile_, i.e. while preparing the history.

The reader cannot but be struck with the beauty of this introduction. It is modest, and at the same time replete with the dignity of conscious worth. It is drawn out to considerable length, yet it is all so pertinent and tasteful, that we would not spare a sentence or a word. With all the thoughtful and sententious brevity of the exordiums of Sall.u.s.t, it has far more of natural ease and the beauty of appropriateness.

IV. _Cnaeus Julius Agricola_. Every Roman had at least three names: the nomen or name of the gens, which always ended in _ius_ (Julius); the praenomen or individual name ending in _us_ (Cnaeus); and the cognomen or family name (Agricola). See a brief account of A. in Dion Ca.s.sius 66, 20.

Mentioned only by Dion and T. Al. Gnaeus, C. and G. being originally identical.

_Forojuliensium colonia_. Now _Frejus_. A walled town of Gallia Narbonensis, built by Julius Caesar, and used as a _naval station_ by Augustus (cf. His. 3, 43: _claustra maris_). Augustus sent thither the beaked s.h.i.+ps captured in the battle of Actium, Ann. 4, 5. Hence perhaps called _ill.u.s.tris_.

_Procuratorem Caesarum_. Collector of imperial revenues in the Roman Provinces.

_Quae equestris--est_, i.e. the procurator was, as we say, ex officio, a Roman knight. The office was not conferred on senators.

_Julius Graecinus_. Cf. Sen. de Benef. 2, 21: Si exemplo magni animi opus est, utemur _Graecini Julii_, viri egregii, quem C. Caesar occidit ob hoc unum, quod melior vir esset, quam esse quemquam tyranno expediret.

_Senatorii ordinis_. Pred. after _fuit_ understood, with ellipsis of _vir_. H. 402, III.; Z. 426.

_Sapientiae. Philosophy_, cf. 1.--_Caii Caesaris_. Known in English histories by the name of Caligula.

_Marc.u.m Silanum_. Father-in-law of Caligula, cf. Suet. Calig. 23: Silanum item _socerum_ ad necem, secandasque novacula fauces compulit.

_Jussus_. Supply _est_. T. often omits _est_ in the first of two pa.s.sive verbs, cf. 9: detentus ac statim ... revocatus est. In Hand's Tursellinus (2, 474) however, jussus is explained as a participle, and _quia abnuerat_ as equivalent to another participle==_having been commanded and having refused_.

_Abnuerat_, lit. _had_ refused, because the refusal was prior to the slaying. We, with less accuracy, say _refused_. Z. 505.

_Rarae cast.i.tatis_. Ellipsis of _mulier_. H. 402, III.; Z. 426.

_In--indulgentiaque. Brought up in her bosom and tender love. Indulgentia_ is more frequently used to denote excessive tenderness.

_Arcebat_ has for its subject the clause, _quod statim_, etc. He was guarded against the allurements of vice by the wholesome influences thrown around him in the place of his early education.

_Ma.s.siliam_. Now Ma.r.s.eilles. It was settled by a colony of Phocaeans.

Hence _Graeca comitate_. Cf also Cicero's account of the high culture and refinement of Ma.s.silia (Cic. pro Flacco, 26).--_Provinciali parsimonia.

Parsimonia_ in a good sense; _economy_, as opposed to the luxury and extravagance of Italy and the City.

_Loc.u.m--mixtum_. Enallage for _locus_, in quo mixta erant, etc. H. 704, III., cf. 25: mixti copiis et laet.i.tia.--_Bene compositum_ denotes _a happy combination_ of the elements, of which _mixtum_ expresses only the _co-existence_.

_Acrius_, sc. aequo==too eagerly. H. 444, 1, and Z. 104, 1. note.

_Concessum--senatori_. Military and civil studies were deemed more appropriate to n.o.ble Roman youth, than literature and philosophy.

_Senatori_ must of course refer, not to the office of A., but to his rank by birth, cf. _senatorii ordinis_ above.

_Hausisse, ni--coercuisset_. An a.n.a.lysis of this sentence shows, that there is an ellipsis of _hausurum_ fuisse: _he imbibed_, and would have continued to imbibe, _had not_, &c. In such sentences, which abound in T.

but are rarely found in Cic., _ni_ is more readily translated by _but_.

Cf. Z. 519. _b_; and note, His. 3, 28. For the application of _haurire_ to the eager study of philosophy, cf. Hor. Sat. 2, 4, 95: _haurire vitae praecepta beatae_, and note, His. 1, 51: _hauserunt animo_.

_Prudentia matris_. So Nero's mother deterred him from the study of philosophy. Suet. Ner. 52.

_Pulchritudinem ac speciem. The beautiful image_, or beau ideal, by hendiadys. Cf. Cic. Or. 2: _species pulchritudinis_. See Rit. in loc.

_Vehementius quam caute_. For _vehementius quam cautius_, which is the regular Latin construction. T. uses both. Cf. Z. 690, and note, His. 1, 83.

_Mox_. In T. subsequently, not presently. R.

_Retinuitque--modum. And, what is most difficult, he retained from philosophy moderation_--moderation in all things, but especially in devotion to philosophy itself, where moderation is difficult in proportion to the excellence of the pursuit, as was shown by the extravagance of the Stoics and some other Grecian sects. As to the sense of _modum_, cf. Hor. Sat. 1, 1, 106: _est modus in rebus_; and for the sentiment, Hor. Ep. 1, 6, 15: _Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui, ultra quam satis est virtutem si petat ipsam_.

V. _Castrorum_. This word is used to express whatever pertains to military life, education, &c., as the context may require. Every Roman youth who aspired to civil office, must have a military education.

_Diligenti ac moderato. Careful and prudent_, cf. our author's character of the same commander, His. 2, 25: _cunctator natura_, etc.

_Approbavit_==fecit, ut ei probarentur. Dr. It is a constructio praegnans. He obtained the first rudiments of a military education under Paullinus, and he gained his approbation.

_Electus--aestimaret. Having been chosen as one whom he would estimate_ (i.e. test his merit) _by tenting together_, i.e. by making him his companion and aid. Young men of rank and promise were thus a.s.sociated with Roman commanders. Cf. Suet., Caes. 2. T., as usual, avoids the technical way of expressing the relation. Ad verb.u.m, _contubernium_, cf.

note, His. 1, 43. Others make _aestimaret==dignum aestimaret_, and _contubernio_ abl. of price. Cf. Dod. and Dr.

_Licenter--segniter_, sc. agens. _Licenter_ refers to _voluptates, segniter_ to _commeatus.--Commeatus==furloughs, absence from duty.-- Inscitiam_, sc. tribunatus==_ignorance of his official duty or inexperience in war.--Retulit. Referre ad_ is used very much like the corresponding English, viz. to _refer to_ an object, or devote to an end.

Sense: _He did not take advantage of his official standing and his military inexperience, to give up his time to ease and pleasure_. Wr.

takes _retulit_ in the more ordinary sense of brought back, thus: A. did not bring back (to Rome) the empty name of Tribune and no military experience, there to give himself up to leisure and pleasure. The former version accords better with the language of the whole pa.s.sage. Wr.

questions the authority for such a use of _referre_. But it may be found, e.g. Plin. Epist. 1, 22: nihil _ad_ ostentationem, omnia _ad_ conscientiam _refert_.

_Noscere--nosci_, etc. T. is fond of such a series of inf. depending on some _one_ finite verb understood, and hence closely connected with each other, cf. G. 30: _praeponere_, etc. _note_. Here supply from _retulit_ in the preceding number the idea: _he made it his business or aim to know_, etc. The author's fondness for ant.i.thesis is very observable in the several successive pairs here: _noscere--nosci; discere--sequi; appetere--recusare; anxius--intentus_.