_Habuerunt--exemplorum. Had room for exertion_ and so for _setting a good example_, cf. Ann. 13, 8: videbaturque locus virtutibus patefactus. The position of _habuerunt_ is emphatic, as if he had said: _then had virtues_, etc. See Rit. in loc.
_Communicabat_, sc. c.u.m A.--_Ex eventu_, from _the event_, i.e. _in consequence of his success_.
_In suam famam_. Cf. in jactationem, 5, note.
_Extra gloriam_ is sometimes put for _sine gloria_, especially by the late writers. His. 1, 49: _extra vitia_. Hand"s Turs. 2, 679.
IX. _Revertentem_, etc. Returning from his command in Britain.--_Divus_.
Cf. notes, G. 28; His. 2, 33.
_Vesp.--ascivit_. By virtue of his office as Censor, the Emperor claimed the right of elevating and degrading the rank of the citizens. Inasmuch as the families of the aristocracy always incline to run out and become extinct, there was a necessity for an occasional re-supply of the patrician from the plebeian ranks, e.g. by Julius Caesar, Augustus and Claudius (Ann. 11, 25), as well as by Vespasian (Aur. Vic. Caes. 9. Suet.
9.)--_Provinciae--praeposuit_. Aquitania was one of seven provinces, into which Augustus distributed Gaul, and which with the exception of Narbonne Gaul, were all subject to the immediate disposal and control of the Emperor himself. It was the south-western part of Gaul, being enclosed by the Rhone, the Loire, the Pyrenees and the Atlantic.
_Splendidae--destinarat. A province of the first importance both in its government_ (in itself considered), _and the prospect of the consulship, to which he_ (Vesp.) _had destined him_ (A.), sc. as soon as his office should have expired.
_Subtilitatem_==calliditatem, nice discernment, _discrimination_.-- _Exerceat_, Observe the subj. to express the views of others, not of the author. H. 531; Z. 511.
_Secura--agens. _Requiring less anxious thought and mental ac.u.men_, and _proceeding more by physical force. Secura_==minus anxia. Dr. Cf. note, His. 1, 1. _Obtusior_==minus acuta.
_Togatos. Civilians_ in distinction from military men, like A. The _toga_ was the dress of civil life to some extent in the _provinces_ (cf. 21, His. 2, 20), though originally worn only in _Rome_. (Beck. Gall., Exc.
Sc. 8.)
_Remissionumque_. The Greeks and Romans both used the pl. of many abstracts, of which we use only the sing. For examples see R. Exc. 4. For the principle cf. Z. 92.
_Curarum--divisi_. This clause means not merely, that his time was divided between business and relaxation; but that there was a broad line of demarcation between them, as he proceeds to explain.
_Divisa_==diversa inter se. Dr. So Virg. Georg. 2, 116: divisae arboribus patriae==countries are _distinguished from_ each other by their trees. _Jam vero_. Cf. note, G. 14.
_Conventus_, sc. juridici==_courts_. The word designates also the districts in which the courts were held, and into which each province was divided. Cf. Smith"s Dict. of Ant.: Conventus. So Pliny (N.H. 3; 3.) speaks of juridici conventus. Tacitus, as usual, avoids the technical designation.
_Ultra_. Adv. for adj., cf. _longe_, 6.--_Persona_. 1. A mask (_per_ and _sono_). 2. Outward show, as here.
_Trist.i.tiam--exuerat_. Some connect this clause by zeugma with the foregoing. But with a misapprehension of the meaning of exuerat, which==_was entirely free from_; lit. had divested himself of. Thus understood, the clause is a _general_ remark touching the character of A., in implied contrast with other men or magistrates with whom those vices were so common. So in Ann. 6, 25, Agrippina is said to have divested herself of vices (_vitia exuerat_) which were common among women, but which never attached to her. _Facilitas_. Opposed to _severitas_==kindness, indulgence.
_Abstinentiam_. This word, though sometimes denoting temperance in food and drink, more properly refers to the desire and use of money.
_Abstinentia_ is opposed to _avarice; continentia_ to _sensual pleasure_.
Cf. Plin. Epis. 6, 8: alieni abstinentissimus. Here render honesty, integrity.
_Cui--indulgent_. See the same sentiment, His. 4, 6: quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur.
_Ostentanda--artem_, cf. 6: _per--anteponendo_; also G. 15, note.
_Collegas_. The governors of other provinces. The word means _chosen together_; hence either those chosen at the same election or those chosen to the same office. Cf. H. 1, 10.
_Procuratores_. There was but one at a time in each province. There may have been several however in succession, while A. was Proconsul. Or we may understand both this clause and the preceding, not of his government in Aquitania in particular, but as a general fact in the life of A. So E.
For the office, see note, 4; and for an instance of a quarrel between the Proconsul and the Procurator, Ann. 14, 38.
_Atteri_==vinci as the ant.i.thesis shows, though with more of the implication of dignity _impaired_ (worn off) by conflict with inferiors.
_Minus triennium. Quam_ omitted. See H. 417, 3; Z. 485.
_Comitante opinione. A general expectation attending him_, as it were, on his return.
_Nullis sermonibus_. Ablative of _cause_.
_Elegit_. Perf. to denote what _has in fact_ taken place.
X. _In comparationem_. Cf. in suam famam, 8, note.
_Perdomita est. Completely subdued_.
_Rerum fide==faithfully and truly_; lit. with fidelity to facts.
_Britannia_. It has generally been supposed (though Gesenius denies it in his Phenician Paloeography) that Britain was known to the Phenicians, those bold navigators and enterprising merchants of antiquity, under the name of the _Ca.s.siterides_, or Tin Islands. Greek authors make early mention of Albion (plural of Alp?) and Ierne (Erin) as British Islands.
Bochart derives the name (Britain) from the Phenician or Hebrew Baratanae, "the Land of Tin;" others from the Gallic _Britti_, Painted, in allusion to the custom among the inhabitants of painting their bodies.
But according to the Welsh Triads, Britain derived its name from Prydain, a king, who early reigned in the island. Cf. Turner"s His. Ang. Sax. 1, 2, seqq. The geographical description, which follows, cannot be exonerated from the charge of verbiage and grandiloquence. T. wanted the art of saying a plain thing plainly.
_Spatio ac coelo_. Brit. not only stretches out or lies over against these several countries in _situation_, but it approaches them also in _climate_: a circ.u.mstance which ill.u.s.trates the great size of the island (cf. _maxima_, above) and prepares the way for the description of both below.
_Germaniae_ and _Hispaniae_ are dat. after _obtenditur_. The mistaken notion of the relative position of Spain and Britain is shared with T. by Caesar (B.G. 13), Dion (39, 50), and indeed by the ancients in general.
It is so represented in maps as late as Richard of Cirencester. Cf.
Prichard, III. 3, 9.
_Etiam inspicitur_. It is even _seen_ by the Gauls, implying nearer approach to Gaul, than to Germany or Spain.
_Nullis terris_. Abl. abs., _contra_ taking the place of the part., or rather limiting a part. understood.
_Livius_. In his 105th Book; now lost, except in the Epitome.
_Fabius Rusticus_. A friend of Seneca, and writer of history in the age of Claudius and Nero.
_Oblongae scutulae_. Geometrically a trapezium.
_Et est ea facies. And such is the form, exclusive of Caledonia, whence the account has been extended also to the whole Island_.
_Sed--tenuatur. But a vast and irregular extent of lands jutting out here (jam_, cf. note, G. 44) _on this remotest sh.o.r.e_ (i.e. widening out again where they seemed already to have come to an end), _is narrowed down as it were into a wedge_. The author likens Caledonia to a wedge with its apex at the Friths of Clyde and Forth, and its base widening out on either side into the ocean beyond. _Enormis_ is a post-Augustan word. _Novissimi_==extreme, remotest. G. 24, note.
_Affirmavit. Established_ the fact, hitherto supposed, but not fully ascertained. This was done in Agricola"s last campaign in Britain, cf. 38.
_Orcadas_. The Orkneys. Their name occurs earlier than this, but they were little known.
_Dispecta est. Was seen_ through the mist, as it were; discovered in the distance and obscurity. Cf. note, H. 4, 55: dispecturas Gallias, etc.
_Thule_. Al. Thyle. What island T. meant, is uncertain. It has been referred by different critics, to the Shetland, the Hebrides, and even to Iceland. The account of the island, like that of the surrounding ocean, is obviously drawn from the imagination.
_Nam hactenus_, etc. _For their orders were_ to proceed _thus far_ only, _and_ (besides) _winter was approaching_. Cf. _hactenus_, G. 25, and _appetere_, Ann. 4, 51: _appetente jam luce_. The editions generally have _nix_ instead of _jussum_. But Rit. and Or. with reason follow the oldest and best MSS. in the reading _jussum_, which with the slight and obvious amendment of _nam_ for _quam_ by Rit. renders this obscure and vexed pa.s.sage at length easy and clear.
_Pigrum et grave_. See a similar description of the Northern Ocean, G.