II. Matrem deum.] Sc. Nerthus, see Ch. 40. Tacitus does not think it necessary to repeat here that he is describing their worship under Roman names.

12. Insigne superstitionis.] Sc. a religious symbol. The 'formae aprorum' must have been a species of amulet. The 'figures and images' which in Ch. 7 are said to have been carried into battle, were no doubt on a larger scale, though it would be rash to assume that there is no connexion between them and what is here mentioned. It is clear, however, that in this passage Tacitus is speaking of something worn habitually, not merely on exceptional occasions.

13. Omniumque tutela.] 'A protection against all dangers.' A rather harsh phrase, but not unlike ferarum imbriumque suffugium, Ch. 46, and subsidium fortunae, Livy, XXII. 32. Ritter reads omni tutela, in the sense of 'every sort of defence.'

14. Laborant.] This word is rarely used transitively, except by the poets. Comp. Horat. Epod. v. 60, quale non perfectius Meae laborarint manus. Somewhat similar is the expression Ch. 30, vallare noctem.

15. Sucinum ... vocant.] Pliny, H. N. XXXVII. II, gives a more particular account of the nature and properties of the amber, and says that one of these northern islands went by the name of Glesaria, and was visited by a Roman fleet under Germanicus.

16. Quae natura...gignat.] 'What is its nature or what process produces it?'

17. Ut barbaris.]

As was natural to barbarians.'

18. Jacebat.] 'It lay unheeded.'

19. Donec luxuria...nomen.] Roman ladies wore amber necklaces, and from time to time used amber balls to cool their hands. See Juv. VI. 573.

20. Rude.] 'In a rough state.' So Pliny (quoted above) describes the Indian amber as rude, pineo cortice adhaerente.

21. Informe.] In shapeless lumps.' Comp. Ch. 16, 'materia informi;' and see note 9, Ch. 2.

22. Tamen.] Sc. though we give such a price for it, still it is simply a juice, &c. &c.

'Reptiles and

23. Terrena quaedam......animalia.] even winged insects. Pliny, in the passage above referred to, speaks of ants, gnats, lizards, &c. being visible (translucentia) in the amber. Martial has three epigrams (IV. 32, 59; VI. 15) on

the subject. The first (the epigram which suggested some of the lines in the epitaph recently discovered and attributed to Milton) is on a bee, Phaethontide condita gutta;' the second and third on an ant and viper under the same circumstances.

24. Sudant.] Comp. Virg. Georg. II. 118, Quid tibi adorato referam sudantia ligno Balsama. Ritter and Kritz read 'sudant' (for which there is MS. authority) in preference to 'sudantur,' as there appears to be no satisfactory instance of the passive form with this meaning.

25. Quae expressa, &c.] According to their grammatical construction these words ought to be referred to 'nemora lucosque.' They refer, in fact, to the productions (quae sudant) of these groves.

26. Adversa littora.] Sc. the opposite shores, in the sense of opposite to the sea (proximum mare) just mentioned. The words have been wrongly understood of 'eastern' as opposed to western shores.

27. Pinguem.] Comp. Ov. Trist. v. 5, 11, thura pingues facientia flammas.

28. Ut in picem resinamve.] 'Into something like pitch

or resin.'

29. Sitonum gentes.] The Sitones are named only in this passage. Finland would seem to have been their locality. It is possible that the Germans may have given this name to the nonGerman populations of Scandinavia.

30. In tantum...... degenerant.] So low have they fallen, not only from freedom but even from slavery itself' (C and B).

CHAPTER XLVI.

1. Peucinorum, &c.] These tribes were to the east of the Vistula, and occupied the regions between that river and the Tanais or Don. The Peucini derived their name from Peuce, an island at the mouth of the Danube. They were, as appears from Strabo, VII. 305, a branch of the Basternae, a numerous and powerful people, mentioned by Livy (XL. 57, 58) as allies of Philip, the father of Perseus of Macedon, in his war with Rome. Pliny, H. N. 1v. 28, speaks of them as neighbours of the Dacians (contermini Dacis). Veneti (or Venedi, as it appears in Pliny) is the same name as Wend.

2. Fenni.] Seemingly identical with the Divvol of Ptolemy (III. 5) and with our 'Fins."

3. Sede ac domiciliis.] Sc. 'in the permanence of their settlements.' The Sarmatian peoples, on the contrary, were as a rule nomadic.

4. Sordes omnium ac torpor procerum.] This is the punctuation of Ritter and Kritz. All lived in carelessness and filth, and even their chiefs were indolent. Or it may mean, All were filthy; the chiefs were both filthy and indolent. Comp Ch. 15, fortissimus quisque ac bellicosissimus nihil agens.

5. In Sarmatarum habitum foedantur.] They are debased into a resemblance to the Sarmatae.' 'Habitus' probably includes both physical and mental characteristics. The Sarmatae had something of the repulsiveness of the Tartar appearance and character.

6. Ex moribus.] Sc. from the manners of the Sarmatae. 7. Quidquid inter, &c.] 'Wherever a wood or a hill rises,' or perhaps a hendiadis for 'wooded hills.'

8. Domos figunt.] 'They have fixed habitations.'

9. Redeunt quoque, &c.] The young men come back to it from hunting; the old make it their abode (receptaculum) through the day.

10. Ingemere agris.] 'To groan over field-labour.' Comp. Virgil's expression, Georg. I. 46, 'ingemere aratro' of the bull.

II. Illaborare domibus.] To toil at building houses.' Kritz, however, takes it to mean 'toiling within doors;' sedentary occupation as opposed to field labour.

12. Suas versare.] 'To subject the fortunes of thernselves and others to the alternations of hope and fear.' The notion, perhaps, is that of the anxious life of the trader, whose gains and losses depend to a great extent on fortune.

13. Securi, &c.] Careless of mankind, careless of the gods' (C and B).

14. Cetera jam fabulosa, &c.] 'Every thing else now becomes fabulous,' &c. Comp. for the use of jam Ch. 44, Nullis jam exceptionibus, and Ch. 45, Ergo jam dextro Suevici littore, &c. It is not difficult to see how such stories may have originated. Pliny, H. N. IV. 27, says that there were reported to be islands, of which the inhabitants were called Hippopodes. Comp. also Ann. II. 24, where we are told that some of the Roman soldiers of Germanicus' army who had been wrecked on the fleet's return, brought back strange tales of sea-monsters, half man, half beast (monstra maris, ambiguas hominum et beluarum formas).

15. In medium relinquam.] 'I will leave to be an open question.' 'In medium' is equivalent to ' ut medium sit.' Cicero (pro Coelio, 20) uses the phrase 'in medio relinquam' with the same meaning.