XXXVIII
Nunc de Suevis (de Suevis: a great confederacy of states that includes all the tribes mentioned from now on and embraces the eastern and larger part of Germany from the Baltic sea down to the Danube. All that remains today is Schwabia, a territory that is part of Bavaria, Switzerland, and France.) dicendum est, quorum non una, ut Chattorum Tencterorumve, gens: majorem enim Germaniae partem obtinent, propriis adhuc nationibus nominibusque discreti, quanquam in commune Suevi vocentur. (quanquam … vocentur: potrential subjunctive is regularly used by Tacitus after quamquam. G. 605, Note.) Insigne gentis obliquare crinem nodoque substringere: sic Suevi a ceteris Germanis, sic Suevorum ingenui a servis separantur. in aliis gentibus, seu cognatione aliqua Suevorum, seu quod saepe accidit, imitatione, (imitatione: abl of cause, ‘from imitatiom’) rarum et intra juventae spatium; (rarum et intra juventae spatium: lit. ‘a rare thing and within the extent of youth’) apud Suevos, usque ad canitiem, horrentem capillum retro sequuntur, ac saepe in ipso solo vertice religant. (horrentem capillum retro sequuntur, ac saepe in ipso solo vertice religant: capillum retro sequuntur is usually translated with the sense of capillos retro agere, but that is forcing the sense of sequor too far; perhaps Tacitus uses the verb in the sense of ‘to prefer’, ‘to desire’ (think of the similar English ‘to seek’), as he does with argentum magis quam aurum sequuntur in ch. 5. That would give: ‘they prefer their shaggy hair towards the back’. Or (more likely) he uses sequor in place of prosequor, ‘to continue’, ‘to keep on having’, a meaning still alive today in the Italian seguitare from the Latin sequor. in ipso solo vertice religant: solo is likely the abl. of solum, –i, here, the topmost layer of something: lit. ‘they tie it on the very top on the head’.) Principes et (et: when not the first word in a sentence, usually with the meaning of etiam) ornatiorem habent: ea cura formae, sed innoxiae: neque enim ut ament amenturve; (ea cura formae, sed innoxiae: neque enim ut ament amenturve: ea is for talis: ‘but such care of their appearance is irreproachable, not in fact with the aim to seduce or be seduced’; ut ament amenturve: final ut always requires subjunctive.) in altitudinem quandam et terrorem, adituri bella, compti, ut hostium oculis, ornantur. (in altitudinem quandam et terrorem, adituri bella, compti, ut hostium oculis, ornantur: the prep. in + acc. expresses intent: lit. ‘they put their hair in order for the sake of some height and terror before they go to battle, so arranged, as if [they did it] for the eyes of the enemy’. ut without verb has the conditional sense of ‘as if’. See L 2121. )