XXVIII
Validiores olim Gallorum res (validiores olim Gallorum res: sc. quam Germanorum) fuisse, summus auctorum divus Julius tradit: (divus Julius tradit: in De Bello Gallico, Book 6, ch. 24.) eoque credibile est etiam Gallos in Germaniam transgressos. Quantulum enim amnis obstabat, quo minus, ut quaeque gens evaluerat, (ut …evaluerat: temporal ut has the verb in the indicative; the pluperfect evaluerat is for action preceding that of the main verb, obstabat.) occuparet permutaretque (quantulum … obstabat, quo minus … occuparet permutaretque: ‘how small was the obstacle that [a tribe] should not occupy and exchange …’: quo minus or quominus introduces a completive clause after verbs that indicate impediment (verba impediendi et recusandi) like obstare; the imperfect subjunctives occuparet permutaretque are called for by the historical obstabat. quantulum, diminutive of quantum, ushers in a direct rhetorical question.) sedes, promiscuas adhuc (promiscuas adhuc: ‘still unclaimed’, ‘still open to anyone’) et nulla regnorum potentia divisas? Igitur inter Hercyniam sylvam (Hercyniam sylvam: an ancient and vast forest extending east from the Rhine and the Black Forest, as far as the Carpathian mountains in Dacia, according to Caesar.) Rhenumque et Moenum amnes (Moenum amnes: the Main river, a tributary flowing into the Rhine from the east at Mainz, below Wiesbaden.) Helvetii, ulteriora Boii, (Helvetii … Boii: the Helvetii were forced out of the areas mentioned here before the time of Caesar, for he knew them as inhabiting what is today’ Switzerland. The Boii, after being driven out of Boiemun or Bohemia (today the western region of the Czech Republic) they settled in part in Noricum (called from them Boioaria, now Bavaria); many settled among the Aedui in Gaul in the Bourbonnois area; others moved to Dacia where they suffered one disaster after another, and a few went to Italy where they founded the city of Bologna, again named after them. ) Gallica utraque gens, tenuere. Manet adhuc _Boihemi_ nomen, signatque loci veterem memoriam, quamvis mutatis cultoribus. (quamvis mutatis cultoribus: quamvis may occasionally be found as an adverb qualifying the perfect participle of an abl. abs.: lit. ‘the inhabitants having been replaced as much as you wish’.) Sed utrum Aravisci in Pannoniam ab Osis, Germanorum natione, an Osi (Aravisci … Osi: the Aravisci were a Pannonian tribe of Illyrian origin, according to scholars, i.e. from lands bordering on the Adriatic. They lived in the area around Budapest, on the right or west bank of the Danube. The Osi lived north and northeast of the Aravisci, but on the east side of the Danube, along the river Ipel, a tributary that flows into the Danube just before it turns south near Vac in Hungary.) ab Araviscis in Germaniam commigraverint, cum eodem adhuc sermone, institutis, moribus utantur, (cum … utantur: cum is causal, as indicated by the use of subjunctive.) incertum est: (utrum … an … commigraverint, … incertum est: indirect alternative question introduced by incertum est and the particles utrum …an. Tacitus seldom uses a particle (utrum or -ne) for the first part of the question, leaving only an or -ne for the second part. Subjunctive is mandatory in indirect questions: the perfect commigraverint is for past action with respect to incertum est. ) quia, pari olim inopia ac libertate, eadem utriusque ripae bona malaque erant. (quia … errant: quia regularly calls for the indicative.) Treveri et Nervii (Treveri et Nervii: the Treveri inhabited the area around Trier in the Moselle valley, just east of Luxembourg; the Nervii were settled around Cambrai in northern France, about 25 miles or 40 km. south of Lille) circa affectationem Germanicae originis ultro (ultro: here adversative, ‘on the other hand’, to introduce a notion different from or contrary to the one preceding) ambitiosi sunt, tanquam per hanc gloriam sanguinis a similitudine et inertia Gallorum separentur. (tanquam … separentur: tanquam is found followed by indicative or by subjunctive; in Tacitus the latter is practically the norm, also because he often uses tamquam to introduce a supposed motive or reason, almost like quod or quia. See L. 1909.) Ipsam Rheni ripam haud dubie Germanorum populi colunt, Vangiones, Triboci, Nemetes. (Vangiones, Triboci, Nemetes: the Vangiones were in the region of Worms on the Rhine, east of Luxembourg; the Triboci in the area of Strasbourg, two thirds of the way up from Basel to Karlsruhe, west of the Black Forest, but on the left side of the Rhine; the Nemetes were halfway between Karlsruhe and Worms, around Speyer.) Ne Ubii (Ubii: in 38 B.C. this German tribe was invited by M. Agrippa to move to the west bank of the Rhine; Agrippina II, wife of Germanicus, sister of Caligula, third wife of Claudius, and mother of Nero was raised among them and founded Colonia Agrippinensis, modern Cologne. The Ubii voluntarily changed the name of the tribe to Agrippinenses.) quidem, quanquam Romana colonia esse meruerint ac libentius Agrippinenses conditoris sui nomine vocentur, (quanquam … meruerint ac … vocentur: in Tacitus quanquam is regularly found with the subjunctive, even where classical authors would prefer the indicative; cf. G. 605, Note. Both present and perfect follow here the sequence of tenses required after erubescunt, a primary main verb.) origine erubescunt, transgressi olim et experimento fidei (experimento fidei: ‘on the strength of their tested fidelity’) super ipsam Rheni ripam collocati, ut arcerent, non ut custodirentur. (ut arcerent, non ut custodirentur: subjunctive in purpose clauses: the imperfect is dictated by the historical transgressi …et … collocati [sunt])