XXV
Ceteris servis, non in nostrum morem discriptis per familiam ministeriis, utuntur. (ceteris servis, non in nostrum morem discriptis per familiam ministeriis, utuntur: ceteris servis and discriptis are instrumental abl. with utuntur; ministeriis is dative with discriptis: ‘they do not use the other slaves in our way, assigned to duties throughout the household’. Note that the verb is discribo, not describo.) Suam quisque sedem, suos penates (suos penates: penates with the lares were household gods guarding over the hearth and the family. Special rites were performed to propiciate them. The lares were often identified with the spirits of the departed.) regit. Frumenti modum dominus, aut pecoris aut vestis, (frumenti modum … aut pecoris aut vestis: ‘a given amount of grain, cattle, and cloth’; grain and cattle were products of the land, while cloth had to be spun and woven.) ut colono, injungit: (ut colono, injungit: ‘[the master] imposes as [he would] on a tenant-farmer’; colono is dative with iniungo.) et servus hactenus paret; (et servus hactenus paret: ‘and the slave complies to this extent [only]’; hactenus is adverb modifying paret.) cetera domus officia uxor ac liberi exsequuntur. Verberare servum ac vinculis et opere coercere, rarum. Occidere solent, non disciplina et severitate, sed impetu et ira, ut inimicum, nisi quod impune. (ut inimicum, nisi quod impune: ‘as he would a personal enemy, except that [he does it] with impunity’; nisi quod impune is ellipsis for nisi quod impune occidit.) Liberti non multum supra servos sunt, raro aliquod momentum (aliquod momentum: ‘a certain importance’) in domo, nunquam in civitate; exceptis duntaxat iis gentibus, quae regnantur: (exceptis duntaxat iis gentibus, quae regnantur: abl. abs. with dependent relative clause: ‘only those tribes that are ruled by kings being excluded’; duntaxat or dumtaxat, originally dum taxat, is adverb, ‘only’.) ibi enim et super ingenuos et super nobiles ascendunt: (liberti … super ingenuos et super nobiles ascendunt: Tacitus very pointedly alludes to the extraordinary power and insolence of freedmen in Rome and the privileged position they held with some of the emperors. In his eyes they were both a cause and a symptom of the general decadence of Roman society and institutions.) apud ceteros impares libertini libertatis argumentum sunt.