Germania and Agricola Part 8

_Si prohibuerunt_ sc. sortes==dii. The reading _prohibuerunt_ (aL prohibuerint) is favored by the a.n.a.logy of _si displicuit_, 11, and other pa.s.sages. _Sin (==si--ne)_ is particularly frequent in ant.i.thesis 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 G.o.ds, 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.

_Const.i.tuunt_==decree, determine; _condic.u.n.t_==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_. Gun.

_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 mult.i.tude; 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 const.i.tution. 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 inst.i.tution, 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. Gun. 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. Gun.

_Levioribus delictis_. Abl. abs.==_when lighter offences are committed_; or abl. of circ.u.m.==_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.

_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 p.r.o.nounced 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 a.s.sumed 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, t.i.tle_. It differs from _dignitas_ in being more external. Cf. H. 1, 19: _dignatio Caesaris_; 8, 80: _dignatio viri_.

Ritter reads _dignitatem_.

_a.s.signant. High birth or great merits of their fathers a.s.sign_ (i.e.

mark out, not consign, or fully confer) _the t.i.tle 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. Bot. 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 n.o.ble 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.