XXVI.
Vetustissimi mortalium, nulla adhuc mala libidine, (nulla adhuc mala libidine: abl. abs.: ‘being free as yet from criminal tendencies’) sine probro, scelere eoque sine poena aut coercitionibus agebant. neque praemiis opus erat cum honesta suopte ingenio peterentur; (cum honesta suopte ingenio peterentur: causal cum + subjunctive: ‘inasmuch as they sought what was good of their own will’; the enclitic -pte is emphatic.) et ubi nihil contra morem cuperent, (ubi nihil contra morem cuperent: ubi has here causal sense, like cum in previous note: cf. G. 564, 565: ‘since they did not desire anything against the accepted mores’) nihil per metum vetabantur. at postquam exui aequalitas et pro modestia ac pudore ambitio et vis incedebat, (postquam exui aequalitas et … ambitio et vis incedebat: the curious case of a temporal clause with postquam followed by a passive historical infinitive, then by an imperfect indicative. A similar construction was used with ubi in Book 2, ch. 4: ubi minitari Artabanus …, vel …bellum adversus Parthos sumendum erat; other such uses of the hist. infinitive are found in the Annals with postquam, donec, ut, and ubi, but only when followed by a finite verb dependent on the same conjunction (Furneaux).) provenere dominationes multosque apud populos aeternum mansere. (dominations … aeternum mansere: ‘forms of despotic government became permanent’, as in eastern nations such as Parthia and Armenia.) quidam statim aut postquam regum pertaesum leges maluerunt. (quidam statim aut postquam regum pertaesum leges maluerunt: ‘some societies opted for the rule of law, either immediately or after getting tired of kings.’ Examples of society that at once chose the rule of law would be the Greek city states; of those which tried kings first, Rome itself is the prime example. postquam regum pertaesum [erat]: lit. ‘after it had become weary of kings’; postquam in regularly with plup. indicative to mark an interval of time before the action of the main verb (Petitmamgin); pertaesum is the perfect participle of the impersonal pertaedet from taedet, both of which command gen. of the thing and acc. of the person.) hae primo rudibus hominum animis (rudibus hominum animis: abl. abs.: ‘ the minds of men being uncultured’) simplices erant; maximeque fama celebravit Cretensium, quas Minos, Spartanorum, quas Lycurgus, ac mox Atheniensibus quaesitiores iam et plures Solo perscripsit. (maximeque fama celebravit [leges] Cretensium, quas Minos, Spartanorum, quas Lycurgus, ac mox Atheniensibus quaesitiores iam et plures Solo perscripsit: ‘fame has celebrated the laws of the Cretans, which Minos [drafted], [the laws] of the Spartans, which Lycurgus [drafted], and later those more numerous and subtle [which] Solon drafted for the Athenians.’ Atheniensibus: Tacitus changes construction in mid-course to dative from genitive to add novelty and variety to the narrative. Minos …, Lycurgus …, Solo: Minos was a mythical ruler of Crete, better known for the story of the Minotaur; Lycurgus is less legendary than Minos: scholars date him to the 9th century B.C. and credit him with the establishment of a military-oriented society that made the small city of Sparta famous for its warlike achievements; Solon is the most historical of the three, having lived between 630 and 560 B.C., and is justly remembered for having laid the foundation of Athenian (and western) democracy.) nobis Romulus ut libitum imperitaverat: (nobis Romulus ut libitum imperitaverat: ‘Romulus had ruled over us just as he pleased’, i.e. he passed laws as he saw fit, without consulting the people; lit. ‘as pleasure [was to him]’; libitum (usually libita) is the perfect participle of libet used as neuter noun; nobis is dative with imperito.) dein Numa religionibus et divino iure populum devinxit, repertaque quaedam a Tullo et Anco. (Numa … a Tullo et Anco: Numa Pompilius, Tullus Ostilius, and Ancus Martius were respectively the second, third, and fourth king of Rome after Romulus.’) sed praecipuus Servius Tullius sanctor legum fuit quis etiam reges obtemperarent. (sed praecipuus Servius Tullius sanctor legum fuit quis etiam reges obtemperarent: ‘but the chief legislator (lit. ‘enactor of laws’) was Servius Tullius, to whose laws even kings obeyed .’ quis obtemperarent: quis is an ancient form of quibus; the subjunctive obtemperarent is a case of what Guildersleeve calls partial obliquity (cf. G. 508, 3.), in that the rel. clause indirectly reflects the thought and intention of the legislator when enacting the laws. Servius Tullius was the sixth king of Rome, between Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus.)