LIX.
Fama dediti benigneque excepti Segestis vulgata, (fama dediti benigneque excepti Segestis vulgata: use of perfect participles in place of abstract nouns like ‘surrender’ and ‘reception’: lit. ‘the news having been divulged of the surrendered and well-received Segestes.’ Such usage gained acceptance in imperial times to mark the circumstance that accompanies the main action in a sentence (Ernout).) ut quibusque bellum invitis aut cupientibus erat, (ut quibusque bellum invitis aut cupientibus erat: ‘according as to each the war was for him undesirable or welcome’: quibusque … invitis aut cupientibus is dative of the Point of View (dativus iudicantis) with a form of esse and its subject, a construction on a Greek model, derived from the dative of interest. Examples of it began to appear in imperial times and may be found in Caesar, Virgil, Livy, Catullus, Sallust, and later in Tacitus (e.g. Agricola, ch. 18). However, the use in this kind of dative of participles expressing willingness or unwillingness, as is the case here, is very rare (cf. A.G. 378). quibusque is dat. plural of quisque.) spe vel dolore (spe vel dolore: abl. of manner) accipitur. Arminium super insitam violentiam rapta uxor, subiectus servitio uxoris uterus vaecordem agebant, volitabatque per Cheruscos, (volitabat per Cheruscos: ‘he scurried to and fro among the Cherusci.’) arma in Segestem, arma in Caesarem poscens. neque probris temperabat: (neque probris temperabat: ‘neither did he refrain from insults’: temperabat, or any implied hist. verb of saying that may be extracted from it, introduces at this point indir. discourse that lasts to the end of the chapter.) egregium patrem, magnum imperatorem, fortem exercitum, quorum tot manus unam mulierculam avexerint. (quorum tot manus unam mulierculam avexerint: the antecedent of quorum is exercitus in its collective (plural) sense: ‘of which so many arrays had captured one minuscule wife’; the perfect avexerint (from aveho) is in place of avexissent, since plup. subjunctive is called for by the sequence of tenses in oratio obliqua for completed action in the past after a historical verb of saying (see previous note). The change here from plup. to perfect subjunctive, done to reproduce the thought of the speaker in a more direct and immediate manner than the pluperfect, is known as repraesentatio (A.G. 585, b. and Note). Deviations from the sequence of tenses is a regular feature of Tacitus’ narrative. Another reason for all perfect subjunctives in this chapter (avexerint, suspenderit, viderint, exuerint, discesserit) is that they all represent the perfect indicative that would be used in direct speech. There is a clear tendency in Latin to have the perfect indicative of direct speech represented in oratio obliqua by the perfect subjunctive, regardless of sequence of tenses (A.G. 485, c., Note 2). The imperfect subjunctives in the chapter, on the other hand, obey the rule: coleret, redderet, pavescerent, mallent, sequerentur.) sibi tres legiones, totidem legatos procubuisse; (sibi tres legions … procubuisse: sibi: a dative that goes by different names depending on the authority consulted: dat. of interest, dat. of reference, dat. of advantage or disadvantage, dativus commodi aut incommodi: it refers to the person to whose advantage or disadvantage the action is performed; easily recognizable in that it adds nothing essential to the meaning of the sentence, which remains complete without it.) non enim se proditione neque adversus feminas gravidas, sed palam adversus armatos bellum tractare. cerni adhuc Germanorum in lucis signa Romana, quae dis patriis suspenderit. (cerni adhuc Germanorum in lucis signa Romana, quae dis patriis suspenderit: ‘the Roman standards were still to be seen in the sacred groves of Germany, which he suspended [from trees] in honor of the gods of the fatherland.’) coleret Segestes victam ripam, redderet (coleret … redderet: hortatory subjunctives) filio sacerdotium hominum: Germanos numquam satis excusaturos quod (Germanos numquam satis excusaturos [esse] quod …: ‘true Germans would never sufficiently excuse the fact that they….’: the active periphrasis excusaturus [esse] replaces the future excusabunt, from which it differs by the sense of inevitability implicit in the construction (Ernout).) inter Albim et Rhenum virgas et securis (virgas et securis: bundles of rods with an ax affixed to each of them, symbol of Roman authority.) et togam viderint. aliis gentibus ignorantia imperi Romani inexperta esse supplicia, nescia tributa: (inexperta … supplicia, nescia tributa: both inexperta and nescia are passive: lit. ‘punishments not having been experienced, tributes not being known’) quae quoniam exuerint inritusque discesserit ille inter numina dicatus Augustus, ille delectus Tiberius, ne inperitum adulescentulum, ne seditiosum exercitum pavescerent. (quae quoniam exuerint inritusque discesserit ille inter numina dicatus Augustus, ille delectus Tiberius, ne … pavescerent: quae refers to supplicia …tributa: ‘considering that they shook them (quae) off and that vaunted Augustus, regarded as one of the gods, retreated, thwarted in his plans, and [so did] that fellow Tiberius, his chosen man, they should not fear …’; ne pavescerent is either exhortation or command: as exhortation in direct speech it would be ne + present subjunctive, ne pavescatis; as command, it would be noli + infinitive, noli pavescere, or cave + present subjunctive, cave pavescatis; a third way, ne + perfect subjunctive, does not apply in this case as pavesco lacks the perfect system of tenses. ille …ille delectus: the use of ille is often derogatory; delectus, as someone has remarked, perhaps not idly, may be meant to invite contrast between Tiberius, the favorite choice of a despot, and the speaker, a prince of his nation by the will of the people.) si patriam parentes antiqua mallent quam dominos et colonias novas, Arminium potius gloriae ac libertatis quam Segestem flagitiosae servitutis ducem sequerentur. (si … mallent …, sequerentur: conditional sentence in indirect speech with imperfect subjunctive in both protasis and apodosis. In direct speech: si …mavultis (or malitis) …, sequimini)