XXI
Suscipere tam inimicitias, seu patris, seu propinqui, quam amicitias, (tam … quam: the correlative particles tam, quam are here used to coordinate the two nouns inimicitias and amicitias, rather than to compare verbs and adjectives. Cf. L. 1891.) necesse est: nec implacabiles durant. Luitur enim etiam homicidium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero, recipitque satisfactionem universa domus: utiliter in publicum; quia periculosiores sunt inimicitiae juxta libertatem. (utiliter in publicum; quia periculosiores sunt inimicitiae juxta libertatem: ‘advantageously for the community, given that feuds are quite dangerous with liberty close-by’, that is, in the absence of legal restraints, the tendency to seek redress by other means is more pronounced. in publicum: in + acc. expresses purpose; quia …sunt: quia is normally with indicative; juxta is here prep. with acc.) Convictibus et hospitiis non alia gens effusius indulget. Quemcunque mortalium arcere tecto, nefas habetur: pro fortuna quisque apparatis epulis excipit. Cum defecere, (cum defecere [epulae]: iterative cum with perfect indictive when governed by an indicative main verb (adeunt) in a primary tense; A.G. 548.) qui modo hospes fuerat, (qui modo hospes fuerat: qui followed by limiting averbs such as modo (‘just now’) and quidem (‘at least’) introduces a restrictive rel. clause with the verb in the indicative or subjunctive, depending on weather reality or possibility is being indicated.) monstrator hospitii et comes: proximam domum non invitati adeunt: nec interest; (nec interest: ‘it makes no difference’: the impersonal interest is used here without the person or thing concerned.) pari humanitate accipiuntur. Notum ignotumque, quantum ad jus hospitis, nemo discernit. (notum ignotumque, quantum ad jus hospitis, nemo discernit: ‘so far as it pertains to the rights of hospirality, no one distinguishes a local person and a stranger’. quantum ad … is usually followed by pertinet or attinet.) Abeunti, si quid poposcerit, concedere moris: (abeunti, si quid poposcerit, concedere moris [est]: moris [esse] is idiom: lit. ‘to a departing guest, should he ask for something, it is customary to grant permission’; poposcerit is potential subjunctive: the perfect is for action anterior to that of the main clause, but in many cases there is no discernible difference between present and perfect subjunctive.) et poscendi invicem eadem facilitas. (poscendi … facilitas: objective genitive gerund after a noun: ‘absence of restraint in asking’) Gaudent muneribus: sed nec data imputant, nec acceptis obligantur. (nec data imputant, nec acceptis obligantur: ‘[the givers] do not regard what they give as a favor, nor [the receivers] feel obligated for what they receive’.) Victus inter hospites comis. (victus inter hospites comis: these words are generally ignored in translation as being of spurious origin, probably a concise comment on the above passage, left on the margin by a reader and later inserted in the text by a careless copyist. The meaning seems to be ‘the relations between hosts and guests [are] friendly’.)