XXXI
Et aliis Germanorum populis usurpatum raro et privata cujusque audentia apud Chattos in consensum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque submittere, nec, nisi hoste caeso, exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum. (et aliis Germanorum populis usurpatum raro et privata cujusque audentia apud Chattos in consensum vertit, ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque submittere, nec, nisi hoste caeso, exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum: the perfect participle usurpatum is used as neuter subject of the period with the approximate sense of ‘a custom (a practice, a fashion, a habit, etc.) having been adopted’ or similar; the same construction is found with observatum in ch. 18 of the Historiae. A literal translation would run about thus: ‘a custom both rarely practiced by other German tribes and [only] on account of the personal daring of certain individuals, has become generally accepted among the Chatti, [namely], on reaching maturity, to allow their hair and beard to grow and not to remove this votive and binding facial token of bravery except upon the slaughter of an enemy’ et …et: perhaps with the usual meaning of ‘both …and’, though other views are possible; aliis …populis: dative of agent, regularly used by Tacitus with the perfect participle (cf. L. 1216.); privata cujusque audentia: abl. of cause, ‘through the personal bravery of single men’; vertit is present perfect, not present, for action begun in the past (Latin has no form for present perfect separate from perfect.); ut primum adoleverint: ut primum introduces a temporal clause usually with indicative: the subjunctive here is for repeated past action. Cf. L. 1730 and 1932. nisi hoste caeso: lit. ‘unless an enemy having been killed’: nisi in association with an abl. abs. began to appear in the classical period, in place of a circumstantial clause of conditional sense, in this case nisi hostis caesus sit; the infinitives submittere and exuere are nominative appositions of the subject, usurpatum.) Super sanguinem et spolia revelant frontem, seque tum demum pretia nascendi retulisse, dignosque patria ac parentibus ferunt. (seque tum demum pretia nascendi retulisse ferunt: ‘then and not until then they broadcast that they have repaid the price of life they owed’; nascendi is objective genitive gerund after pretia) Ignavis et imbellibus manet squalor. Fortissimus quisque ferreum insuper annulum (ferreum … annulum: a symbol of slavery) (ignominiosum id genti) velut vinculum gestat, donec se caede hostis absolvat. (donec se caede hostis absolvat: ‘until he redeems himself by slaying an enemy’; donec takes subjunctive when the main verb (here gestat) is present or future. Another example is donec …faciat at the end of the chapter.) Plurimis Chattorum hic placet habitus. (plurimis Chattorum hic placet habitus: ‘this custom pleases most of the Chatti’; plurimis is dative with placet.) Jamque canent insignes, et hostibus simul suisque monstrati. (jamque canent insignes, et hostibus simul suisque monstrati: ‘and distinguished [by this mark], in good season (iam) they grow white with age, pointed at by foes and friends alike’.) Omnium penes hos (penes hos: ‘in the hands of these men’; the prep. penes governs the acc.) initia pugnarum: haec prima semper acies, visu nova; (visu nova: lit. ‘new things in the viewing’, i.e. ‘an unusual sight’: visu is abl. supine, a verbal noun of the fourth declension and of very limited application.) nam ne in pace quidem vultu mitiore mansuescunt. Nulli domus aut ager aut aliqua cura: (nulli domus aut ager aut aliqua cura: nulli is dative of possessor with an implied est: ‘none of them has house and property of his own, nor any interest in them’.) prout ad quemque venere, (prout ad quemque venere: lit. ‘according as they come to anyone’s house, …’; the conjunction prout is regularly followed by indicative; the present perfect or perfect venere is for action anterior to that of the main verb.) aluntur: prodigi alieni, contemptores sui (prodigi alieni, contemptores sui: both prodigus and contemptor take genitive: alieni is gen. of the neuter alienum, -i, ‘the property of others’, and sui is gen. of the neuter suum, sui, ‘one’s property’.) donec exsanguis senectus tam durae virtuti impares faciat.