XLVI
Peucinorum Venedorumque et Fennorum nationes (Peucinorum Venedorumque et Fennorum nationes: the Peucini lived in the Roman province of Moesia, modern Bulgaria. They were a part of the Bastarnae, not, as Tacitus says, the same as the Bastarnae, who inhabited Galicia, now part of southern Poland and western Ukraine. The Venedi or Venethi, the ancestors of the Slavs, were located beyond the Vistula northeast od Warsaw, as far perhaps as the gulf of Danzig on the Baltic coast. The Fenni came originally from Russia and later spread towards the gulf of Finland, occupying , according to Pliny, Eningia, now Finland.) Germanis an Sarmatis ascribam, dubito: (Germanis an Sarmatis ascribam, dubito: dubito here introduces an indirect double question + subjunctive, with the first part without particle (utrum or -ne) and an alone asking the question: ‘I am in doubt whether I should assign [these tribes] to the Germans or to the Sarmatae’; the Sarmatae were a nomadic people of southern Russia. They are the ancestors of the Russians of today.) quanquam Peucini, quos quidam Bastarnas vocant, sermone, cultu, sede ac domiciliis, ut Germani, agunt. (quanquam … agunt: quamquam has indicative to concede a definite fact.) Sordes omnium ac torpor: (sordes omnium ac torpor: the verb is left to the reader: e.g. ‘filth and sloth [are characteristic] of all these tribes’) procerum connubiis mixtis, nonnihil in Sarmatarum habitum foedantur. (nonnihil in Sarmatarum habitum foedantur: ‘they are degraded a certain amount towards the aspect of the Sarmatae’. nonnihil is indeclinable noun.) Venedi multum ex moribus traxerunt. Nam quidquid inter Peucinos Fennosque silvarum ac montium erigitur, latrociniis pererrant. (quidquid inter Peucinos Fennosque silvarum ac montium erigitur, latrociniis pererrant: silvarum is partitive genitive after the neuter quidquid: lit. ‘[the Venedi] roam in their plundering raids whatever of forests and mountains rises between the Peucini and the Fenni.) Hi tamen inter Germanos potius referuntur, quia et domos figunt et scuta gestant et pedum usu ac pernicitate gaudent; (pedum usu ac pernicitate gaudent: gaudeo governs the abl.: lit. ‘they delight in the use and nimbleness of their feet’.) quae omnia diversa Sarmatis sunt, (quae omnia diversa Sarmatis sunt: lit. ‘all which things are the opposite for the Sarmatae’) in plaustro equoque viventibus. Fennis mira feritas, foeda paupertas: (Fennis mira feritas, foeda paupertas: Fennis is dative of possessor with sunt understood: lit. ‘the Fenni have savage ways, disgusting poverty’ ) non arma, non equi, non penates: victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus: (victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus: victui and vestitui are datives of purpose; cubile ia abl. of respect or specification, ‘the ground as to bed’.) sola in sagittis spes, quas, inopia ferri, (inopia ferri: abl. of cause: ‘for want of iron’) ossibus asperant. Idemque venatus viros pariter ac feminas alit. Passim enim comitantur, partemque praedae petunt. Nec aliud infantibus ferarum imbriumque suffugium, quam ut in aliquo ramorum nexu contegantur: (nec aliud infantibus ferarum imbriumque suffugium, quam ut in aliquo ramorum nexu contegantur: infantibus is dat. of possessor with implied est: lit. ‘children have no other escape of wild beasts and storms than to be covered by some intertwined arrangement of branches’; quam ut introduces a clause of result or characteristic requiring subjunctive. Cf. A.G. 535, c. ferarum imbriumque is objective genitive with suffugium.) huc redeunt juvenes, hoc senum receptaculum. Sed beatius arbitrantur, quam ingemere agris, illaborare domibus, suas alienasque fortunas spe metuque versare. (ingemere agris, illaborare domibus, suas alienasque fortunas spe metuque versare: ‘to groan [from the hard work] in the fields, to labor at building houses, to keep turning over thoughts of one’s and other people’s possessions, between hope and fear’) Securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos, rem difficillimam assecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset. (rem difficillimam assecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset: ‘they attained the most difficult thing, not to have even the need of a wish’; the ut clause is final; esset after opus, instead of sit, is required by the sequence of tenses when the tense of the main verb is perfect; cf. L 1754. illis is dative of possessor with esset. voto is abl. after opus esset; difficillimam: adjectives ending in -ilis add the suffix -limus, a, um to the stem -il to form the superlative. ) Cetera iam fabulosa: (cetera iam fabulosa: ‘the rest is mythical’; iam here has the sense of ‘certainly’, ‘without a doubt’.) Hellusios et Oxionas (Hellusios et Oxionas: there is no other record of these tribes; they may well have never existed.) ora hominum vultusque, corpora atque artus ferarum gerere: quod ego ut incompertum in medio relinquam. (ora hominum vultusque, corpora atque artus ferarum gerere: quod ego ut incompertum in medio relinquam: the infinitive clause governed by gerere is, like quod next, direct object of relinquam: ‘that [these tribes] have human face and features, body and limbs of beasts, that I will leave an open question, as something unconfirmed ’; in medio (or in medium) relinquere is idiom. The personal pronoun ego ir rarely used except for emphasis.)