1849.] Criticisms on the Notes. 589 In the passage before us, advenisse mox cum Vitellio, we would make mox an adjunct of cum Vitellio, and thus both mox and cum may here retain their usual meaning. Translate, Had come soon to be with Vitellius. For this ellipsis of futura, compare Virgil, Aen. 5, 116 et seq.: Velocem Mnestheus agit acri remige Pristim, Mox Italus Mnestheus, genus a quo nomine Memmi. In Georg. 1, 24, Virgil uses the word with the future participle expressed: Tuque adeo, quem mor quae sint habitura deorum The conciseness of the expression is in the manner of Tacitus, and, as we have shown, agreeable to the usage of Virgil. Doederlein and Bekker offer nothing on this passage; and Ruperti, considering it as corrupt, suggested, as Prof. Tyler states, a change in the text. Ch. 8, p. 358. "Claustra annonae. Egypt was the Roman granary for corn." A reference to ch. 48 should have been given here, which is moreover a qualification of the above statement. Cf. Cic. Pro Lege Manil. c. 12 Siciliam—Africam—Sardiniam―haec tria frumentaria subsidia reipublicae. Ch. 23, p. 363. “Magnitudine eximia. Ablative of quality. The ablative (not the genitive) is always used to denote an accidental quality. Cf. Zumpt § 471, note. The genitive expresses only the inherent." The ablative is never used to denote the accidental qualities which relate to time and measure, but may be used to denote other qualities, whether inherent or accidental; the genitive is always used to express the accidental qualities of time and measure; but, with this exception, it is commonly used of inherent qualities. Cf. Zumpt, as above, and Krebs, Latin Comp. §§ 141, 193. = Ch. 24, p. 364. "Cur. Interrogative particle cui rei. Zumpt $276." In the section to which reference is here made, Zumpt says: "cur, probably formed from quare or cui rei," giving quare the precedence. It would have been more consistent in the editor to have followed Zumpt in this, since on p. 293 he himself refers cura to quaero, and by the analogy cur should be referred to quare. Ch. 28, p. 366. " Degenerare non solum a bono, sed et a vitiis Latini dicunt, ut Cic. Verr. 3, 68. Bipont." This use of the word in utramque partem, is in accordance with its etymology. The note implies the contrary. Ch. 29. "Testudine [laberentur] for a testudine. Cf. Essay [on the Style of Tacitus], p. 11." Virgil uses labi with the VOL. VI. No. 23. 50 ablative without a preposition, as Ecl. 1, 64; Aen. 11. 588. So too Ovid. Met. 3. 699. Ch. 33, p. 368. "Faces in manibus. Accusative after habentes understood." If the ellipsis here be supplied, gerentes would be the classical term, and this Doederlein gives in the Essay, p. 17. But even then the expression will be poetic; the prosaic form being cum with its case, as Cic. In Cat. 1, 6, stetisse in comitio cum telo. Cf. Krebs, Lat. Comp. § 209. Ch. 49, p. 374. "Ex facili facilia. Cf. Agric. 15. = faciliter." The form for the adverb should have been facile, according to the usage of Tacitus, cf. cc. 28, 78, Agric. 9, De Orat. 35; and good writers universally. Faciliter is unclassical. Cf. Zumpt § 267, n. 2. In regard to ex facili in the present connection, it may be equivalent to facilia or facile, according as we supply the copula or a transitive verb with cetera. Ch. 52, p. 375. "Volentia. Pleasing. Taken passively." Volo means, primarily, to be willing (ẞovλoua, to which it is allied); then, to wish (w). It is here used tropically of things, and in the former sense, willing; hence, favoring; then by Metonymy of cause for effect, pleasing. The word cannot be "taken passively," unless it is rendered pleased, a meaning it never bears. Perhaps the editor intended to say, taken intransitively. Ch. 58, p. 377. "The word superstitio properly denotes a sentiment, rite, or usage, that has survived (from supersto) and been handed down from an earlier age." The strict meaning of this word according to its apparent etymology, has never been settled. Freund says: "superstitio, super-sto, primarily, the act of standing over, by something; being amazed at something, awe; hence, generally, awe of what is divine. Cic. De Nat. Deor. 2, 28, thus explains it: qui totos dies precabantur et immolabant, ut sui sibi liberi superstites essent, superstitiosi sunt appellati; quod nomen postea latius patuit. Still different explanations are given by other Roman writers. Cf. Lactant. 4, 28, and Quint. 8. 3. Ch. 76, p. 384. "[qui non egredi moenia-audebant]. For the case of moenia, cf. Andrews and Stoddard's Lat. Gram. § 233, R. 1. It is peculiar to the age of Tacitus to use the accusative after verbs compounded with e or ex. Sallust and Livy use the ablative; Cicero, the ablative with ex repeated. Cf. Zumpt § 386." We find in Caesar, B. C. 3,52 munitiones egredi; in B. G. 1, 44, multa praedicavit-exercitum-provinciae fines egressum: in Sallust, B. J. 110, flumen Mulucham -egrediar and in Livy 1, 29, Egredi urbem, which form of expression Livy repeatedly uses. Excedo as well as egredior is regularly 1849.] Criticisms on the Notes. 591 construed with the accusative in the sense of to transgress, to go beyond. Cf. Schmitz 250, 4. Bk. 4, ch. 1, p. 333. "Nec deerat-prodere. Prodere depends on deerat.-deesse usually takes after it either an infinitive or a dative or a predicate nominative to limit its meaning. Cf. 3, 58, deerat elicere." Deest when construed with nouns, has the thing wanting in the nominative, and the person to whom it is wanting in the dative; as, Caes. B. G. 4, 26, Hoc unum Caesari defuit; or in whom it is wanting, in the ablative; as, Cic. De Orat. 3, 4, Ut-in Antonio deesset hic ornatus orationis or, the person wanting is expressed by the nominative, and the object in respect of which, by the dative; as, Cic. Ep. ad Attic. 7, 17, Non deero officio neque dignitati meae. But the construction with the infinitive, as here and in 3, 58, is poetic and post-Augustan. The earlier form of expression would have been nec deerat-quominus proderet, cf. Cic. Rep. 3, 30; which construction Tacitus himself uses in Ann. 14, 39, nec defuit-quominus-incederet. The editor has given no examples, in which "deesse is followed by a predicate nominative to limit its meaning," and we know of no such form of expression as these words describe. He may have had in mind such passages as the following: nos-consules desumus, Cic. in Cat. 1, 1. But here consules is exegetical of nos and desumus is used absolutely. So too 、our author, in the Annales 15, 59, miles deesset. Cf. Freund, sub voce II. p. Ch. 7, p. 391. Suffragia. Observe the etymology of the word. Cf. Leverett's Lexicon." Under this word, in Leverett, we find "(sub and frango) a broken piece, a shard, a potsherd, with which the ancients used to vote in the assemblies of the people. Hence a vote.” Of this word Smith, in his Dict. Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, says: "The etymology is uncertain; for the opinions of those who connect it with goalendar or fragor, do not deserve notice. Wunder thinks it may possibly be allied with suffrago, and signified originally an anklebone or knuckle-bone. On the passing of the Leges Tabellariae, the voting with stones or pebbles went out of use." Freund is inclined to adopt the view of Wunder. - Ch. 33, p. 400." Quisque with superlative omnes. Cf. Zumpt $710, b." This should have been in general = omnes with the positive, but adding the idea of reciprocal comparison among the persons denoted by quisque. The editor has well treated of this form of expression on 1, 46, p. 289; and on Agric. 19, p. 158, he has given it in English by the definite article and the superlative, which seems to be the nearest approach to it our idiom allows. Ch. 42, p. 402. "Senatoria aetate, i. e. 25." as fixed by Augustus, should here have been subjoined; in earlier times the required age being at least 32 years. Ch. 49. p. 405. “Alienato erga. Alienated in respect to. We say from." This note might mislead, as implying a difference in idiom, whereas alieno a, alienatus a, is the common construction in Latin, with which our own use of the derivatives, to alienate, alienated, agrees. The use of erga, in the present passage, of an unfriendy relation, deserved notice. The earlier writers commonly employed it to denote friendly relations; Tacitus uses it in both connections. Cf. 2, 55, additae erga Germanicum exercitum laudes gratesque; and again as above in Agric. 5, sinistra erga eminentes interpretatio. — Ch. 52. "Nutabat. Was balancing, as it were, on a pivot." This is incorrect, if it was intended as an exact explanation. For the strict meaning of the word, cf. Gr. vevo, Lat. NUO, whence numen, nutus, and the present word nuto, which coincides in meaning with vevo. Ch. 58, p. 407 "[pro vobis sollicitior aut pro me securior] Pro me. Pro me = de, cf. Agric. 26, note." The reason for this deviation from the usual construction should have been suggested here. PRO ME securior seems to have been used instead of DE ME securior (cf. Agric. as referred to) for the sake of conformity to the preceding words. Ch. 59, p. 408. " Flagitium navaverat. Praegnanter for operam in flagitio perpetrando navaverat." If this expression be filled out, it should be AD FLAGITIUM faciendum operam navaverat. Cf. Livy, 9, 16, Certatum est, ut AD RECONCILIANDAM pacem-opera navaretur. But for the absolute use of navare, consult the references given above in the remarks on the Essay on the Style of Tacitus. Ch. 69, p. 410. "Periculo ac metu. Fear of danger." and on ch. 72, p. 412. periculum aut metus is rendered, by Hendiadys, the fear of danger. It is better not to resort to this figure in explaining these passages, but to allow the particles their usual force, as connecting different ideas, which the editor has done on 1, 88, p. 315, and made a good defence of the interpretation. Cf. Cic. Pro Lege Manil. 6: provincia-non modo a calamitate, sed etiam a metu calamitatis est defendenda. Ch. 72, p. 411. "A metu. From, i. e., through fear. The Latins more commonly omit the preposition." The connection in which these words stand, is: Cerialis a metu infamiae, si licentia saevitiaque imbuere militem crederetur, pressit iras: and in this instance the preposition seems to have been expressed for the sake of perspicuity, licentia and saevitia so soon following in the same case, but in a different relation. Ch. 73, p. 412." Teutonosque. This word contains the element of 1849.] Criticisms on the Notes. 593 the modern name of the Germans, sc. Deutsche (D is pronounced like our T)." D in German, when it is final, has the power of the English dt, but elsewhere it is nearly equivalent to our d. A nearer approximation to Deutsche is found in the forms Theuthoni, Theothoni, which are other modes of writing Teutoni, found in MSS. Cf. Benecke on Cic. Pro Lege Manil. 20. Ch. 76, p. 413." Adolescentuli [verba et conciones quam ferrum et arma] meditantis. Quam. sub. magis." We think there is no ellipsis. of magis in this passage, but that quam is here an adverb of degree, and, like other relative words, implies its correlative tam. Thus the precise meaning will be: words and harangues as well as the sword and arms, and from the prominence given to verba et conciones, they are emphatic, and so the expression becomes equivalent to the formula magis quam. Cf. Ann. 1, 58, Pacem quam bellum probabam, where by the same view quam is tantamount to magis quam. So also Plautus, Rud. 4, 4, 70: Tacita bona est mulier semper, quam loquens. In 5,5, Corpora-Tacitus is here speaking of the custom of the Jews— quam cremare, e more Aegyptio, quam undoubtedly means than, and therefore magis or potius must be supplied. But quam, even in the sense of than, may in the condensed style of Tacitus imply its correlative comparative, and so in itself have the power of magis-quam. Most of the passages cited by the commentators as instances of the omission of the comparative can be satisfactorily explained without recourse to such an ellipsis. Cf. Orelli's references on the use of this word in Ann. 1, 58. Ch. 84, p. 416. "Versus animi. Changeable in his feelings, wanting in decision of character." The perfect passive participle, the editor has here rendered as a verbal adjective in bilis. The participle has this meaning in very few instances, and then only by implication or by Metonymy of the effect for the cause. Monstratus in the sense of monstrabilis is found in Germ. 31 and in Hist. 1, 88; though Prof. Tyler does not point out this peculiarity in his notes on those passages. Freund says this use of monstratus is Tacitean. In Agric. 33, and in Sallust B. J. 91, we have coercitus with the meaning of qui coerceri potest. The citation from Sallust is genus hominum mobile, infidum ante, neque beneficio neque metu coercitum, where infidum and coercitum with their adjuncts are explanatory of the verbal adjective mobile. The use of some perf. pass. participles with the negative prefix in, having the force of forms in bilis, is common; as, invictus, infinitus. So infectus in Sallust B. J. 76; and inexhaustus, Germ. 20; to which last word the editor has referred on 5, 7, p. 425. Cf. Zumpt § 323. |
