Lecto testamento. When A.'swill was read.
Honore judicioque. As if a mark of honor and esteem. E. says==judicio honorifico.—Piissimae, devoted, affectionate.
Malum principem. It was customary for rich men at Rome, who were anxious to secure any of their property to their heirs, to bequeath a part of their estates tobad emperorsin order to secure the remainder from their rapacity.
This and several preceding sections present a most graphicoutlineof thelife and timesof Dom., the more to be prized, because the fullpicture, which T. doubtless drew of him in the Histories, is lost. The Histories and the Annals are a vast portrait gallery full of such pictures drawn to the life.
XLIV.Natus—excessit. The dates assigned for A.'s birth and death, do not agree with the age ascribed to him. They may be harmonized in either of two ways, each of which has its advocates: by readingprimuminstead oftertium, or, which is perhaps a more probable amendment, since it only alters the relative position of the two characters, by reading LIV instead of LVI.
Quod si. And if,now if.—Habitum.Personal appearance, cf. G. 5.
Decentior quam sublimior.Well proportioned, rather than tall. R.
Nihil metus.Nothing to inspire fear in his countenance. Antith. togratia—supererat:kindness of expression rather prevailed. So Gr. and R. For this sense ofmetus, see note G. 2: ob metum. Död. distinguishes betweenvultusandoris, making the former refer more to theeyes(as if fromvolvo, the rolling of the eye), to which it belongs to express anger and fierceness; the latter to the mouth, which is more expressive of kindness.
Medio—aetatis. We should hardly say so of a man dying at 56. But in Dial. de Clar. Orat. T. speaks of 120 years, asunius hominis aetas.
Et vera bona. T. has here in mind the distinction made by philosophers, particularly the Stoics, between the virtues, which they called the only real good, and the gifts of fortune, which they declared to be indifferent.—Et—et, both—and, marks the distinction more strongly.
Impleverat.Had enjoyed to the full.
Consulari.Having attained to the rank of consul(the summit of a Roman's ambition)and having been honored with triumphal insignia. Al. consularibus. Butconsularihas the better authority and makes the better sense.
Opibus—contigerant.Great riches he did not desire; a respectable property it was his good fortune to possess, cf. 5: medio rationis atque abundantiae. Al. non contigerant. But considerable property is implied in the circumstances attending his will, 43, also in his not asking the visual salary, 42. Dion Cass. says, however, (66, 20.), that A. spent his last days in want, as well as in disgrace. For another explanation ofgaudebat, cf. n. G. 6.
Quod—ominabatur.Quodis omitted in the common editions. But it is found in the MSS. And it may be explained on the principle of Zeugma, by supplying withdurareandviderea verb implied ingrande solatium tulitthus:though (sicuti) it would have been a great gratification to A. to behold the dawn of this auspicious age and see Trajan Emperor, of which he expressed in my hearing a sort of prophetic anticipation and desire, yet (ita), etc. Cassius affirms (69, 12), that by auguries the elevation of Trajan to the throne was foretold, as early as A.U.C. 844, i.e.two years before the death of A. The reference to Trajan here, as in 3, marks clearly the date of the composition, cf. note, 3: augeatque Trajanus.
Spiramenta.Breathing-spells, i.e. intervals to recover and take breath in. The word is found only in poetry and post-Augustan prose, and, in the expressive sense in which it is here used, only in Ammian. Marc. 29, 1. See Or. and Freund.
Velut uno ictu. The commentators illustrate the force of this expression by reference to Caligula's wish (Vid. Sen. de Va. 3, 19), that the Roman people had but one neck, ut scelera sua inunum ictumet unum diem cogeret.
XLV.Non vidit. Did not see, as he would have done, had he lived a few years longer. This passage resembles Cic. de Orat. 3, 2, 8, too closely to be mere coincidence. Imitator tamen, id quod uni Tacito contigit, auctore suo praestantior. Rit.
Consularium. Rhen. collects from Suet. the names of several victims of Dom.'s displeasure,who had been consuls.
Feminarum. Pliny has preserved the names of several of this list— Gratilla, wife of Rusticus, Arria, wife of Thrasea, Fannia, daughter of Thrasea and betrothed to Helvidius. Their husbands will be remembered as having been mentioned in 1 and 2.
Carus Metius. An infamous informer, cf. Plin. Epist. 7, 19; Juv. 1, 35; Mart. 12, 25, 5.
Censebatur.Was honored, ironice.Censeriest aestimari, sive existimationem consequi. Dr.
Una—victoria. He had occasioned the death of but one innocent victim.—Adhuc. Up to the death of A., cf. G. 38: adhuc, note.
Albanam arcem. A favorite retreat of Dom. (situated at the foot of the Alban Mount, about seventeen miles from Rome), where he sometimes convened the Senate, and held his court with its troop of informers, cf. note, 43: cursores. Rit. in loc. suggests, that by the use ofarceminstead ofpalatium, T. means to represent Domitian as shutting himself up, like many tyrants, in a fortified castle, and thence sending forth the emissaries of his jealousy and cruelty.
Sententia. His voice, his sentiment expressed in council before Dom.—Intra Albanam arcem, i.e.privately, notpublicly, as afterwards at Rome.
Messalini. Fuit inter principea adulatores et delatores. Dr. cf. Plin. Epist. 4, 22; Juv. 4, 113, seq.
Massa Bebius. Primus inter pares of Domitian's tools. He began his career under Vesp. cf. His. 4, 50. He was afterwards impeached and condemned at the instance of the Province of Baetica, Pliny and Senecio advocates for the impeachment, Plin. Epist 7, 33; 3, 4; 6, 29.—Jam tum. At that very timeon trial, not merelyalready at that time. Cf. Hand's Tursel. 3, 113.
Nostra, sc. of the Senate, of which T. was a member, though abroad at the time. Helvidius was arrestedin the senate house, cf. Plin. Ep. 9, 13. This was Helvidius theson, who was put to death by Dom. (Suet. 10), as his father was by Vesp. (Suet. 15).
Visus. Al. divisus.Visus==species, adspectus, Wr.—Perfudit. Zeugma. Understand in the first clausehorrore perfudit(Dr.) or probro affecit (R.):the spectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus(hurried away, the one to exile, the other to death),filled us with horror; we were stained by the innocent blood of Senecio. Of Rusticus and Senecio, see 2, note. Of Mauricus, see Plin. Ep. 4, 22: quo viro nihil firmius, nihil verius. Also Plin. Ep. 3, 11.
Videre, sc. Domitianum.—Aspici, sc. a Domitiano. For difference in the signification in these words, cf. 40: viso aspectoque, note.
Suspiria—subscriberentur. When our sighs(of sympathy with the condemned)were registered against us(by spies and informers, as a ground of accusation before the Emperor).
Rubor. Redness, referring to the complexion of Dom., which was such as to conceal a blush, cf. Suet. Dom. 18: vultu ruboris pleno.
Opportunitate mortis. An expression of Cic., in the similar passage above cited (de Orat. 3, 2, 8), touching the death of Crassus.
Pro virili portione, lit. for one man's share, referring primarily to pecuniary assessments. Here:for thy part—so far as thou wast concerned. A. died with a calmness which would scarcely admit of the supposition, that he felt himself to be a victim of poison and imperial jealousy.
Filiaque ejus. The apostrophe is here dropped to be resumed atoptime parentum. So the MSS. For they readejushere, andamissus estbelow. Rhenanus omittedejus, and wroteesforest; and he has been followed in the common editions since.
Conditione. By the circumstance, or by virtue of our long absence. T. and his wife had parted with A. four years before his death, and had been absent from Rome ever since, where or why does not appear.
Superfuere. Cf.superest, G. 6, note.
XLVI.Sapientibus. Cf.sapientiae professoribus, 2, note.—Te immortalibus laudibus. I feel constrained to recur to the reading of Lipsius and Ritter, it is so much more spirited thanquam temporalibus.Potiusmanifestly should refer back tolugeriandplangi. The comparison contained in the more common reading is uncalled for in the connection, and of little significance in itself. The MSS. readtemporalibus laudibuswithoutquamand this may be more easily resolved intote immortalibus, thanquamcan be supplied.—Similitudine. Al. aemulatione. For such a use of similitudo, cf. Cic. Tusc. Quaest. 1, 46, 110: quorum (sc. Curii, Fabricii, Scipionum, etc.),similitudinemaliquam qui arripuerit, etc.
Decoremus. Ennius (cited by Cic. Tusc. Q. 1, 49, 117, and de Senect. 20, 73), uses the same word in expressing the same sentiment: nemo me lacrumisdecoretnec funera fletu faxit. Cf. also G. 28.
Formam. This makes the sense so much better (thanfamam), that E. Dr. Wr. R. and most others have adopted it against the authority of the MSS. cf.forma mentis, below, and Cic. passim.
Intercedendum. To be prohibited. Properly said of aveto interposedby the Tribunes; then of any prohibition.—Non quia==not that, is characteristic of late writers. It is followed by the subj. Z. 537, and note H. 1, 15.
Manet, mansurumque est. Cf. Vell. Paterc. 2, 66, 5: vivit, vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam. The periphrastic form (mansurum est) differs however from the future (manebit), as ouris to remainfromwill remain. See Z. 498.
Oblivio obruet, sc. for want of a historian, carent quiavate sacro, cf. Hor. Od. 4, 9, 25, seq. Bymultos veterum, T. means many ancients ofreal worth. Sovelutimplies. A. is to be immortalized through his biographer. This is implied innarratus et traditus. Ancient authors thought it not improper to express a calm consciousness of merit and a proud confidence of immortality. T. is very modest and delicate in the manner of intimating his expectations. But the sentiment of these last words is substantially the same with the line of Horace: Exegi monumentum aere perennius. The whole peroration of this Biography is one of singular beauty and moral elevation. Pathetic, yet calm, rich in noble sentiments and animated by the purest and loftiest spirit, it is a fit topstone to that monument, in respect to which T. felt so well founded an assurance, which stillmanet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. There is scarcely an educated youth in Christendom who is not as familiar with the name of Agricola, as with that of Aeneas and Ulysses. And the only reason why we know anything of these heroes, is the genius of their respective biographers. There had been other Agricolas before the age of Trajan, as there had been other heroes like Aeneas, and other wandering sages like Ulysses, before the war of Troy. But they found no Tacitus, Virgil, and Homer to record their adventurous and virtuous deeds. It is the prerogative of eminent writers to confer immortality; and though Alexander would prefer to be Achilles rather than Homer, we should have known little of his achievements, had he not encouraged scholars as well as warriors, and rewarded genius no less than valor.
End of Project Gutenberg's Germania and Agricola, by Caius Cornelius Tacitus