The annals of Tacitus

ON CHAPTERS 19—21 81
11. pleraquc.flexlt, 'he modified many sentences in an
opposite direction to the cruel servihty of others ' [F.].
12. neque tamen...egebat, 'and yet (though so independent)
he was not wanting in discretion.'
liL aequabili, 'uniform,' i.e. without a break.
14. uiguerit. The use of the perf. subj. in an aoristic sense
is very common in Silver Latin. Cf. c. 1 and 15.
unde dubitare. .
c. 4-5) has some useful comments on this passage :— '
.uacuum. Merivale {Romans under the Empire,
Tacitus, as
a disciple of the school of the fatalists, is constrained on this
occasion to enquire whether the favour or hostility of princes is a
matter of mere chance and destiny, or whether there may not
still be room for prudent counsel and good sense in the conduct
of human affairs ; whether a secure path of life, however hard to
trace, might not still be discovered amidst the perils of the times,
between the extremes of rude independence and base servility.
The great defect of the Romans of this period lay in their want of
the true self-respect which is engendered by the consciousness of
sober consistency. Bred in the speculative maxims of Greek and
Koman republicanism, they passed their manhood either in un-
learning the lessons of the schools, or in exaggerating them in a
spirit of senseless defiance.'
20. animo diuersus, ' different in character.'
21. quamquam insontes. Cf. note on c. 11 quamuis
fahulosa.
22. alienae, explained by uxoriun.
23. perinde quam suis, ' just as if they had been committed
by themselves.'
21
2. feroci, ' high-spirited,'—the meaning which it usuallj'
hears in the best writers. Thus in Livy the Eoman army is
called ferocissimus. Cf- c. 11.
. Vrgulaniam,
ut rettuli. See ii 34. This was eight years previously.
3. factiones accusatorum, ' the intrigues of informers.'
4. potentia, as usual, of real power, undue influence. Cf. c. 41.
grandmother of Plautius Silvanus. See c. 22
and ii 34.
E. T. 6