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ON CHAPTERS 31—33 93<br />
14. magnarum saepe rerum motua nrinntur .<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten tal;e their rise.' , Cf.<br />
' great events<br />
Aristotle'.s famous words, ylyvovTai al<br />
(jTacrfts ov irepl ixiKpwv dX\' e/c fiiKpwv {Politics v 4. 1) ; also<br />
Livy xxvii 9 ex paruis rebus saepe magnarum momenta pendent.<br />
Ramsay has some useful remarks on this chapter :— ' <strong>Tacitus</strong><br />
does not appeal here to a high conception <strong>of</strong> history. He takes<br />
the popular view that it reaches its highest interest in telling <strong>of</strong><br />
wars and conquests. Even the interest <strong>of</strong> such subjects as the<br />
conflict between the Orders, and the battles over Agrarian and<br />
other laws, does not consist in the fact that they raise great<br />
constitutional questions, but that they give scope for picturesque<br />
and stirring narrative. His own task is inglorious, because he<br />
has no wars to tell <strong>of</strong>; and the climax in its dulness is that<br />
Tiberius was what we should now call a Little Englander.'<br />
33<br />
1. nationes, here 'countries.' In the best Latin natio<br />
generally denotes ' tribe,' and it is very <strong>of</strong>ten used contemptuously<br />
in metaphor.<br />
2. delecta ex lis... forma, ' a constitution framed by selection<br />
from these three elements.' Cf. Cic. de Rep. i 45 ex his quae<br />
prima dixi moderatum et permixtum tribus ; and 54 reete quaeris<br />
quod maxime e tribus, quoniam eorum nullum ipsum per se<br />
separatum probo, anteponoque singulis illud quod conflatum fuerit<br />
ex omnibus. Cicero considers such a constitution to be the best<br />
possible. Cf. also Polybius (vi 11) who holds that the Roman<br />
constitution <strong>of</strong> his time is the best realisation <strong>of</strong> this ideal.<br />
6. noscenda uulgi natura, sc. erat.<br />
quibus modis. Before these words we must supply nos-<br />
cendum.<br />
temperanter haberetur, 'might be wisely controlled.' <strong>Tacitus</strong><br />
makes but a poor contribution to political philosophy. His one<br />
idea is that we must study the nature and doings <strong>of</strong> the dominant<br />
power in a state.<br />
8. callldi temporum, li t. ' cunning in the times,' i.e. ' shre^^:d<br />
observers.' <strong>The</strong> gen, i s on the analogy <strong>of</strong> th at with peritus .^'^^^}^'^-^*' '^<br />
9.*" neoue alia. Iiniia iirmerit.pt. ' the Rnman afafp horn^**-*<br />
g.^^iieque alia...unus imperitet, 'the Roman state
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