The annals of Tacitus

92 NOTES
obstringeret, 'bound himself.' Cf. i 14 iure iurando ob-
strinxit.
e re publica id esse. See Pliny Epist. v 13, whence it appears
that one senator could make another swear e re publica esse quod
censuisset.
16. aspere, ' with indignation.'
mox in laudem uertit, ' subsequently redounded to his credit.'
20. eadem poena... statuitur tamquam petiuisset. For the
force of tamquam ' on the ground that,' see c. 13.
22. ut rettuli. Cf. ii 27.
23. indicio, 'by turning informer' or 'king's evidence' as
we say.
25. senatu pelleretur. See Introduction vi.
32
(I 1. pleraque, ' much ,' not 'most.' ||
2. leuia memoratu. Our idiom is ' too trifling to be recorded.'
Cf. Hist, ii 73 uix credihile memoratu.
3. annales nostros. See iii 65.
4. contenderlt, ' can compare.' Cf. xiii 3 uetera ac praesentia
contendere. Cicero too uses the word in this sense. For the
syntax cf. c. 3 crediderim.
6. si quando...praeuertereiit, 'whenever they turned by
preference to home affairs.' The deponent is more usual in
this sense. Cf. Hor. Sat. i 3, 38 ilhic prqeiiertamur [P.F.].
9. libero egressu, ' with free sco^e., Kb^^raf^nfu at large
over a theme of stirring events and making ample room for
stylistic art [N.]. The meaning seems fixed by in arto which
follows [P.F.].
10. wot^is In arto et inglorius labor, ' my
work lies in a
na.Yrow f^eld and lacks distinction^ '—one^of_Tai!itus's naaay-^ebees
oT~Virgil. Cf. GcorgTc iV 8 Hn tenui labor; at tenuis non gloria.
In Hist, iii 13 he has in arto commeatum.
12. proferendi imperi incuriosus,
' without interest in the
expansion of the empire ' [R.].
non sine nau fuerit .
'
ii, may serve some good urpose.'^
p
Cf. i
c. 5 incertum fuerit. ^aa^t^^i^^^^^^^^^^ .^ y