Matheson Collection > Annals of Tacitus, Book IV

ON CHAPTERS 12—14 71
bavin}:! helped,' — a thoroughly Tacitean usage. Cf. c. 10 and 13 ;
also i 12 inuisus tamquavi...agituret. Note that tamquam in such
jtassages does not imply the falseness of the allegation.
13. insulam Cercinam, in the lesser Syrtes off the north
coast of Africa.
14. artium . ' accomplishments .' Cf. c. 6.
mox,' subsequently,' not ' soon.'
15. mutando sordidas merces, ' by engaging in petty trade.'
Cf. Cic. de off. i 150 inliberuh'H et sordidi qimestiis. Livy (xxi 63)
says that all trade (quucstus) was looked upon as indecorus for
senators.
16. magnae fortunae, ' of high rank,'— the ordinary meaning
oi fort una in Tacitus.
17. Aelius Lamia, addressed by Horace (Odes i 26, iii 17).
L. Apronius had served under Germanicus in Germany (i 56).
qui Africam obtinuerant, ' who had held Africa,' — i.e. as
governors. The verb is very frequent in this sense.
18. claritudine infausti generi s, ' on account of bis illustrious
and ill-sta rred name' [ R-l — alluding to the celebrated Gracchi.
19. foret abstractus, 'would have been ruined,' — lit. 'would
have been hurried off.' Supply ad pernicievi. Cf. Hist, iv 2 nee
perinde prosperis socius quam aduersis abstractus.
14
1. quoque, i.e. like the previous year.
2. habnit. We say ' saw.' Cf. xiii 33 idem annus plures
reos habuit.
Sainiis...petentibus, 'the Samians petitioning that the old
rights of sanctuary should be confirmed to the temple of Juno,
the people of Cos making the same request for their temple of
Aesculapius. '
lunonis. For the famous Heraenm of Samos see Herodotus
ii 148, iii 60.
Aesculapii. Cos was th e p;reat centre of this cul t. The ' son s
of AescuTapms ' had a famous medical school there : a n d the grea t
doctor Hippoc rates was born and lived there.