XLI
Et haec quidem pars Suevorum in secretiora (in secretiora: adjectives (here a comparative) used as neuter plural nouns are rare before Livy (H. Furneaux).) Germaniae porrigitur. Propior, (propior: comparative only in form, as it lacks a second term of comparison: the excess of the quality is expressed through an adverb such as ‘rather’, ‘too’, ‘quite’, ‘overly’, or similar, + the positive form of the adjective.) ut quo modo paulo ante Rhenum, sic nunc Danubium sequar, (ut quo modo paulo ante Rhenum, sic nunc Danubium sequar: comparative sentence with ut quo modo introducing the dependent and sic the main clause: ‘in the same way a little earlier [I followed] the Rhine, now I ought to follow the Danube’. sequar is potential subjunctive.) Hermundurorum civitas, (Hermundurorum civitas: settled on the Danube around Regensburg in Bavaria, the Hermunduri occupied Franconia (Northwest Bavaria) and part of Thuringia (north of Franconia). Later on those living in Thuringia called themselves Thuringi.) fida Romanis, eoque solis Germanorum non in ripa commercium, sed penitus, (eoque solis Germanorum non in ripa commercium [est], sed penitus: solis is dative of possessor with implied est: ‘for that reason, they alone have commerce [with us} not only on the bank, but deep inland’. penitus is adverb, ‘far within’.) atque in splendidissima Rhaetiae provinciae colonia. (Rhaetiae provinciae colonia: the colony is Augusta Vindelicorum, now Augsburg. The province of Rhaetia, of which Vindelicia (Bavaria) was a part, was established after the conquest of Drusus in 15 B.C. and comprised Tyrol, parts of Bavaria, and Switzerland.) Passim et sine custode transeunt: et, cum ceteris gentibus arma modo castraque nostra ostendamus, (cum ceteris gentibus arma modo castraque nostra ostendamus: use of adversative cum (‘whereas’, ‘while on the contrary’, ‘inasmuch as’) with subjunctive: ‘while on the contrary we show to the other tribes only our arms and armed camps, …’. The sense of cum in this and similar cases is partly adversative, partly causal, partly temporal depending on circumstance. Grammarians, with rare exceptions, do not distinguish adversative cum apart from other types and usually pass it as causal cum) his domos villasque patefecimus non concupiscentibus. (non concupiscentibus: abl. abs. of causal force. Participles are often in place of a subordinate clause expressing different relations, such as cause, time, means, purpose, etc. Cf. L. 2293-2296.) In Hermunduris Albis oritur, flumen inclitum et notum olim; (Albis oritur, flumen inclitum et notum olim: the river Elbe has its source in Bohemia, not in Bavaria. It was once a household name in Rome on account of the campaigns of Drusus, Tiberius, and Germanicus and the vain effort to make the Elbe the new frontier of the empire in place of the Rhine. Cf. ch. 37.) nunc tantum auditur.