Matheson Collection > Cornelli Taciti annalium

TACITUS ANNALS : NOTES
§ 3. concessum : probably by an edict of Augustus, who is
known to have regulated the rights of patrons and others towards
freedmen. This power of 'relegatio' without the intervention of
a magistrate was a survival of the ancient ' patria potestas' held
by the head of a family.
ut centesimum : [Med. gives 'vicesimum/ without * ut.']
One hundred miles is known to have been in later times the limit
of the jurisdiction of the ' praefectus urbi,' and as a limit of banish-
ment was of older and perhaps even Republican date. ' To banish
beyond the hundredth milestone — to the coast of Campania ! ' (one
of the most delightful parts of Italy, where the fashionable holiday
resorts were situated).
ceteras, &c. : i.e. except for this power of 'relegatio,' which
was no punishment at all, the patron only had the ordinary legal
procedure available, in which they stood on equal terms.
§ 4. nee grave, &c., ' it was no oppressive burden for the dis-
charged to preserve their freedom by the same obedience as that
by which they had earned it.'
retinendi : genitive depending on the idea of a substantive im-
plied, such as ' onus,' (from 'grave'). So Ann. xv 5, 3, ' Vologesi
vetus et penitus infixum erat arma Romana vitandi,' where a subst.,
' habit,' is implied from 'vetus et penitus infixum ' ; (Intr. II 26).
Ch. 27, § I. id corpus: i.e. the mass of freedmen.
§ 2. hinc, ' it was from these to a great e.xtent that the tribes
were drawn.' The four urban tribes are probably meant.
decuriaa : associations of public servants, such as lictors,
clerks (' scribae '), auctioneers (' praecones '), servers of summonses
(' viatores').
ministeria : abstr. for concrete, ' attendants ' other than those
enrolled in the ' decuriae,' such as court ushers (' accensi') and criers
('calatores').
cohortes : the ' vigiles,' a police force consisting of seven co-
horts, each 1,000 strong, half a cohort being allotted to each of the
fourteen ' regiones ' into which Rome was divided.
plurimis, &c., ' most of the knights, very many of the senators,
derive their origin from no higher source.' Under Tiberius the full
privileges of Roman knighthood had been restricted to ' ingenui '
of three generations ; but the rule must have always had excep-
tions, and was now much relaxed.
libertini : adjectival form, denoting freedmen as a class. ' If
freedmen were made a distinct class, the scarcity of free-born citizens
would be too noticeable.'
§ 3. ovua dignitatem, &c., ' while they admitted distinctions in
the honours accorded to different ranks, they made freedom the
common possession of all.'
§ 4. manu m.ittendi, &c. : the distinction is between full and
partial manumission. The former (' iusta manumissio ') was effected
by a ceremony in presence of a ct)nsul or praetor (or proconsul or
propraetor), when the slave was touched by the lictor's wand
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