Matheson Collection > Annals of Tacitus, Book IV

' it was not the common herd ,^^ ,/
insiield by the party of resist-
ON CHAPTERS 48—50 111
which were driven in from their pastures at night. Each family
was provided with an apelltis and a sheepfold.
16. contactu, ' contagion.' Cf. vi 7 infecti quad ualetudine
et contactu. A^fJ/O»— •
50
1. rebusque turbatis...discordi a, ' and to their troublous state
was added the crowning misery of dissension .' diacordia is of
course nominative.
3. et erant qm...suaderent. The meaning is well brought
out by K. : ' others again proposed that they should make a das h
f or it and sell their lives dearly.' _
4. neque ignobiles...seiitentiis, 'it was not the common herd,
only who dissented from these views.
5. his sententiis, the two opinions ITOd by the party
ance [F.].
6. uim atque clementiam...edoctus. Cf. Livy vi 32 Latinae
legiones longa societate militiam Romanam edoctae ; and see
Roby 1122.
////8. dissej^gjjigj. ' maiutaig jedjj^t....' IJ 11
10. a.st.a.-l ;^ ^ yt, sfiYii \ p|ific^]1i. neatly rendered by 0. a.nd R .
Jl- whom t ^ ge or sex unfitted for wmi- 'l/
'TT. utnque aestmatum...occidere . In English we should
h s&\: ' both had determined n^f, tn ()ut, live tlieii freeflom.' //
13. properum finem...clainitaiis. The sentence is designedly
exclamatory, to express the agitation of the speaker; and, as F.
says, the sense of such a verb as suadens can easily be supplied from
the gerundive and clqmitam. E.'s translation is very vigorous:
' Tar sa' wished formlSB snorl fwo*t ol 1 1 , a.nd, cryia gjauJLthat they
s hould have done with hope .and__feaji-aIikai^showed the waj by
p lunging a sword into his own brea st.'
16. oppeterent. The use of this verb without mortem is
Virgilian.
17. flnnatae stationes...globis, 'he strengthened his outposts
with denser masses of men.'
18. ingruebat nox. . .atrox , ' night was tailing with ugly storm-
clouds.'