II
Ipsos Germanos indigenas crediderim, (Germanos indigenas crediderim: quite contrary to today’s belief that the Germans had migrated to Europe from Asia.) minimeque aliarum gentium adventibus et hospitiis mixtos; quia nec terra olim, sed classibus advehebantur, (nec terra … sed classibus advehebantur: adveho mainly applies to transport at sea under the force of wind and waves, but is said also to other forms of conveyance, e.g. a horse.) qui mutare sedes quaerebant, et immensus ultra, utque sic dixerim, (crediderim … dixerim: potential subjunctive use of the perfect to express guarded, modest opinions, in place of the more assertive, blunter present indicative. Cf. A. G. 447.) adversus Oceanus (ultra … adversus Oceanus: may also mean ‘at the farthest end of the world from us’) raris ab orbe nostro navibus aditur. Quis porro, praeter periculum horridi et ignoti maris, Asia aut Africa aut Italia relicta, Germaniam peteret, informem terris, asperam coelo, tristem cultu (terries, … coelo, … cultu: ablatives of specification or respect; cf. L. 1385. tristem cultu: where cultu may be supine of colo: ‘grim in the cultivating’, i.e. ‘hostile to culture’; Seneca somewhere mentions the sterile solum of Germany.) aspectuque, nisi si patria sit? (quis … Germaniam peteret …, nisi si patria sit?: conditional sentence with apodosis in the form of a rhetorical question and negative protasis introduced by nisi si, ‘except in case’: peteret is potential subjunctive in a question asking whether an action is conceivable, to which a negative answer is expected (cf. L., 1563, 1565); the imperfect is for potential in the past: ‘who could do such a thing?’ The negative nisi si is found more frequently followed by indicative (cf. nisi si putatis in Agricola, ch. 32.); the present subjunctive sit, in place of the imperfect, may be a case of repraesentatio for which see B. 318 and A.G. 469 N.) Celebrant carminibus antiquis (quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est) Tuistonem deum terra editum, et filium Mannum, (Tuistonem … Mannum: Tuisto is derived from, or contain the notion of, the German numeral zwei, probably in reference to Tuisto’s androgynous nature, combining both sexes. Parallels have been drawn between Mannus (man) and Adam, and between Mannus’ three sons and Adam’s three sons, Abel, Cain, Seth or Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japhet, as evidence of an original ancient oral tradition surfacing in different cultures.) originem gentis conditoresque. Manno tres filios assignant, e quorum nominibus proximi Oceano Ingaevones, medii Hermiones, ceteri Istaevones (Ingaevones, … Hermiones, … Istaevones: the names of Mannus’ sons, from whom these groups of tribes are allegedly derived, seem to be Ingaff, Hermin, and Istaff, according to some, or Ingvass, Irmnas, and Istvass according to others. Pliny the Elder places the Ingaevones in Danemark and possibly Scandinavia and would in the main include the Cimbri, Teutoni, and Chauci. The Hermiones were between the Rhine and the Elbe and comprised the Suevi, Chatti, Hermunduri, Cherusci, and others. The Istaevones were the tribes along the right bank of the Rhine.) vocentur. Quidam autem, ut in licentia vetustatis, plures deo ortos pluresque gentis appellatones, Marsos, Gambrivios, Suevos, Vandalios, (Marsos, Gambrivios, Suevos, Vandalios: the location of the Marsi seems to have changed with time: in 14 A.D., when Germanicus defeated and dispersed them (cf. Annales, Book I, ch. 51), they occupied the land between the Ruhr and the Lippe, two tributaries of the Rhine from its eastern side. Their slaughter was so complete that they receive no further mention in Germania. The whereabouts of the Gambrivii has never been determined. The Suevi are included among the Hermiones above. The Vandalii, a people extremely troublesome to the Romans in the later history of the empire, lived between the Oder and the Vistula in eastern Germany.) affirmant; eaque vera et antiqua nomina. Ceterum (ceterum: here adversative, ‘conversely’ ) Germaniae vocabulum recens et nuper additum; quoniam, qui primi Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint, ac nunc Tungri, tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis evaluisse paulatim, ut omnes primum a victore ob metum, mox a se ipsis invento nomine Germani vocarentur. (quoniam, qui primi Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint, ac nunc Tungri [vocentur], tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis evaluisse paulatim, ut omnes primum a victore ob metum, mox a se ipsis invento nomine Germani vocarentur: the passage is in indir. discourse after affirmant, so all subordinate clauses take the subjunctive and the main clause the infinitive: lit. ‘[they claim that], because the first Germans who crossed the Rhine and expelled the Gauls called themselves Germans (the same who now called themselves Tungri), so gradually the [new] name of the tribe – not that of the whole race – prevailed to such an extent (ita) that (ut) all afterwards gave themselves the name of Germans, first [used] by the victorious Tungri to intimidate the Gauls and a name the Tungri themselves had invented’. ita … nomen … evaluisse …, ut omnes … Germani vocarentur: the use of the correlative pair ita …ut indicates that the sentence is consecutive, here in indir. discourse, the ita or main clause infinitive, the ut or depemdent clause subjunctive. vocati sint …vocarentur: reflexive use of passive. ob metum: normally ‘because of fear’, i.e. ‘because [the Tungry] were afraid’, which is contrary to the sense wanted here in that it would apply better to the Gauls than to the Tungri. But ob is occasionally found with final force, e.g. ob usum commerciorum in ch. 5 ahead or ob praedam in Historiae, Book 1, ch. 63.)