Germania and Agricola - Part 27
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Part 27

_Mixti copiis et laet.i.tia. Uniting their stores and their pleasures_, i.e. their respective means of entertainment. For _mixti_, cf. 4: loc.u.m--mixtum. For _copiis_ in this sense, 22: annuis copiis. For the other sense, viz. forces, 24: copiis, note.

_Hinc--hinc==on this side--on that_. Cf. note G. 14: _illum--illam_.-- _Victus_. Al. _auctus_.

_Ad ma.n.u.s et arma_. Ang. _to arms_.

_Oppugna.s.se_ depends on _fama_. Their preparations were great. Rumor as usual (_uti mos_, etc.) represented them still greater; for the rumor went abroad, that the Caledonians had _commenced offensive operations (oppugna.s.se ultra).--Castella adorti_ is the means by which they _metum addiderant_, i.e. _had inspired additional fear_.

_Pluribus agminibus. In several divisions_. Accordingly it is added: _diviso et ipse_, A. _himself also_, i.e. as well as the Britons, _having divided_, etc.

_Agmen_ (from ago), properly a body of men on the march.--_Exercitus_, under military drill (exerceo.)

XXVI. _Quod ubi_, etc. _When this was known_, etc. Latin writers, as well as Greek, generally link their sentences, chapters, &c., more closely together, than English. Hence we are often obliged to render their relative by our demonstrative. See Z. 803. _Ubi_, here adv. of _time_, as in 20, 38, et pa.s.sim.

_Certabant_. Not _fought_ with the enemy, but _vied_ with each other. So below: utroque--certante. Hence followed by _de_ gloria, not _pro_ gloria, which some would subst.i.tute for it; _secure for_ (in regard to) _safety, they vied with each other in respect to_ (or _in_) _glory_. With _pro salute_, cf. His. 4, 58: pro me securior.

_Erupere. Sallied forth_, sc. from the camp.

_Utroque exercitu_. Each of the two _Roman_ armies.

_Quod_. Cf. 12, note.--_Debellatum_, lit. the war would have been fought _out_, i.e. _ended_.

XXVII. _Cujus_ refers to _victoria_ in the previous section (cf. _quod_ 26, note): _inspirited by the consciousness and the glory of this victory_.

_Modo cauti_. Compare the sentiment with 25: specie prudentium, etc.

_Arte--rati_, al. arte _usos_ rati by conjecture. But T. is fond of such ellipses: _The Britons, thinking it was not by superior bravery, but by favoring circ.u.mstances_ (on the part of the Romans) _and the skill of their commander_ (sc. that they had been defeated). Rit. reads _superati_.

_Utrimque_. Both the Romans and the Britons; the Romans excited by their victory, the Britons by their coetibus ac sacrificiis.

_Discessum. They separated_, viz. after the battle and at the close of the campaign.

XXVIII. _Cohors Usipiorum_. See same story, Dio Ca.s.s. 66, 20.

_Adactis. Forced on board.--Remiganto_==gubernante, to avoid sameness, with _gubernatoribus_, Br. R. supposes that having but one pilot left, only the vessel on which he sailed was _rowed_, while the others were towed by it; and this rowing _under his direction_ is ascribed to _him_.

Some MSS. and many editions read _remigrante_, which some translate: _making his escape_, and others connect with _interfectis_, and suppose that he also was slain in trying to _bring back_ his boat to sh.o.r.e.

Whether we read _remigante_ or _remigrante_, the signification of either is unusual.

_Praevehebantur_. Sailed along the coast (in sight of land).

_Inopiae_ is governed by _eo_, which is the old dat.==_to such a degree.

--Ad extremum==at last_.

_Vescerentur_ followed by the acc. H. 419, 4. 1; Z. 466. For the imp.

subj. cf. note 21: _ut--concupiscerent_.

_Amissis--navibus_. This is regarded by some as proof that _all_ the steersmen were slain or escaped. Dr. answers, that it may refer only to the _two_ ships that were without steersmen.

_Suevis_. A people of Northern Germany (G. 38, seq.) whither, after having circ.u.mnavigated Britain, the Usipii came.--_Mox, subsequently_, some having escaped the Suevi.

_Per commercia. In trade_, cf. same in 39.

_Nostram ripam_. The Gallic bank of the Rhine, which was the border of the Roman Empire, cf. G. pa.s.sim.

_Quos--indicium--ill.u.s.travit_. Whom the account of so wonderful an adventure rendered ill.u.s.trious. The rule would require the subj. H. 501, I. 2; Z. 561.

XXIX. _Initio aestatis_, i.e. in the beginning of the _next_ summer (the 7th campaign, cf. 25: _aestate, qua s.e.xtum_, etc.), as the whole history shows. See especially _proximo anno_, 34. Hence the propriety of commencing a new section here. The common editions begin it below: _Igitur_, etc.

_Plerique_. Cf. note on it, 1.--_Fortium virorum_. _Military men_.

_Ambitiose, with affected fort.i.tude, stoically_.--_Rursus_==contra, _on the contrary_, showing the ant.i.th. between _ambitiose_ and _per lamenta_.

--_Per lamenta_, cf. 6: per caritatem.--_Igitur_, cf. 13, note.

_Quae--faceret_==ut ea faceret. H. 500; Z. 567. _Incertum_ is explained by _pluribus locis_. Render: _general alarm_.--_Expedito_==sine impedimentis, armis solis instructo. Fac. and For.--_Montem Grampium_.

Now _Grampian hills_.

_Cruda--senectus_. Cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 304: sed cruda deo viridisque senectus. _Crudus_ is rarely found in this sense except in the poets.

_Crudus_ properly==b.l.o.o.d.y (_cruor, cruidus_); hence the successive significations, raw, unripe, fresh, vigorous.--_Sua decora_==praemia ob virtutem bellicam accepta. E. Any and all _badges of distinction_, especially in _arms_. Wr., Or. and Dd.

x.x.x. _Causas belli_. Explained by _universi servitutis expertes_ below, to be the defence of their liberties. In like manner, _nostram necessitatem_ is explained by _nullae ultra terrae_: there is no retreat for us, etc.--_Animus, Confidence_.

_Proelium--arma_. T. has a pa.s.sion for _pairs_ of words, especially nouns, of _kindred signification_. See examples in Index to Histories; and in this chapter, _spem ac subsidium_; _recessus ac sinus_; _obsequiam ac modestiam_.

_Priores pugnae_, sc. in which the Caledonians took no part.--_Pugnae_ is here, by a figure put for the _combatants_ themselves, who are represented as looking to the Caledonians, as a kind of corps de reserve, or last resource.

_Eo. For that reason_. The best things are always kept guarded and concealed in the _penetralia_. There may also be a reference to a _fact_ stated by Caesar (B.G. 5, 12), that the inhabitants of the interior were aborigines, while those on the coast were immigrants.

_Terrarum--extremos_. _The remotest of men and last of freemen_.

--_Recessus--famae_. _Our very remoteness and obscurity_. This is the most common and perhaps the most simple translation, making _sinus famae_==seclusion in respect to fame. Perhaps, however, it accords as well with the usual signification of the words, and better with the connexion and spirit of the speech, to take _sinus famae_ in the sense, _retreat of glory_, or _glorious retreat_. So Wr. His interpretation of the pa.s.sage and its connexion is as follows: _our very remoteness and our glorious retreat have guarded us till this day. But now the furthest extremity of Brit. is laid open_ (i.e. our retreat is no longer a safeguard); _and every thing unknown is esteemed great (i.e. this safeguard also is removed--the Romans in our midst no longer magnify our strength). Rit. encloses the clause in brackets, as a gloss. He renders _sinus famae, bosom of fame_, fame being personified as a G.o.ddess. R., Dr., Or. make _famae_ dative after _defendit_==has _kept back from fame_.

_Sed nulla jam_, etc. But now all the above grounds of confidence--our remoteness, our glory, our greatness magnified by the imagination of our enemies, from the very fact that we were unknown to them--all these are removed; we have none behind us to fall back upon, as our countrymen in former battles have leaned upon us--and we are reduced to the necessity of self-defence and self-reliance. The _sed_ seems to be ant.i.thetic to the whole as far back as _priores pugnae_; whereas _nunc_ is opposed only to the clause which immediately precedes it, and const.i.tutes an ant.i.thesis within an ant.i.thesis.

_Infestiores_, sc. quam fluctus et saxa.

_Effugeris_. Cf. note G. 19: _non invenerit_; also _satiaverit_ just below.

_Et mare_. _Et==also_. Cf. note, G. 11.

_Opes atque inopiam_. Abs. for conc.==rich and poor nations.

_Falsis nominibus_ is by some connected with _rapere_. But better with _appellant_. _They call things by false names_, viz. _plunder, empire; and desolation, peace_.

x.x.xI. _Annos_==annonam, _yearly produce_, cf. G. 14: expectare annum. So often in the Poets.--_In frumentum. For supplies_. The reading of this clause is much disputed. The text follows that of W. and R. and is approved by Freund. For the meaning of _egerunt_, cf. _praedam egesserunt_, H. 3, 33.