XIX
Ergo septa pudicitia (septa pudicitia: ‘their chastity being protected’, abl. abs. as is also accisis crinibus below) agunt, nullis spectaculorum illecebris, nullis conviviorum irritationibus corruptae. Litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminae ignorant. Paucissima in tam numerosa gente adulteria; quorum poena praesens et maritis permissa. Accisis crinibus, nudatam, coram propinquis, expellit domo maritus, ac per omnem vicum verbere agit: (verbere agit: ‘drives her with a whip’) publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia: (publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia: ’no pardon for unchastity made generally known’) non forma, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit. (non forma, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit: ‘she will never find a husband because of her beauty, age, and riches’. The fut. perfect, here invenerit, often does not detectably differ from simple future (L. 1632).) Nemo enim illic vitia ridet: nec corrumpere et corrumpi saeculum vocatur. (nec …saeculum vocatur: ‘it is not called the fashion of the day’) Melius quidem adhuc (melius quidem adhuc: lit. ‘still even better’ ) eae civitates, in quibus tantum virgines nubunt, et cum spe votoque uxoris semel transigitur. (cum spe votoque uxoris semel transigitur: the instrumental abl. may be found accompanied by cum; cf. L 1300: lit. ‘it is dealt only once with the hopes and desires of becoming a wife’; transigitur is impersonal use of passive of intransitive verbs.) Sic unum accipiunt maritum, quo modo (quo modo: or quomodo, relative adverb: ‘in the same manner in which …’) unum corpus unamque vitam, ne ulla cogitatio ultra, ne longior cupiditas, (ne ulla cogitatio ultra, ne longior cupiditas [sit]: ne …ne …[sit] is negative purpose clause, as is ne …ament next: ‘to preclude further thought, to avert belated desires [of marriage]’) ne tanquam maritum, sed tanquam matrimonium ament. (ne tanquam maritum, sed tanquam matrimonium ament: ‘not as if they loved the husband, but as if they loved the married state’) Numerum liberorum finire, aut quemquam ex agnatis (quemquam ex agnatis: ‘any of the children born late’: agnatus is said of a child born after the father has chosen an heir and made his will accordingly.) necare, flagitium habetur: plusque ibi boni mores valent, quam alibi bonae leges. (plusque ibi boni mores valent, quam alibi bonae leges: epigrammatic subject ending, one distinctive feature of Tacitus’ style. First encountered in Agricola, it reaches its full development in the Historiae and the Annales. Though Rome is never mentioned, every part of this chapter invites comparison with the decadent mores of the empire in regard to sexual relations, marriage, and child bearing, which no body of laws was ever able to put to rights. In Germany no written law can be traced earlier than the Salic laws of the fifth century A.D.)