The annals of Tacitus

120 NOTES
' 22. exprobrabat , used to throw the gift in his teeth,' ' used
to taunt him with it .' Cf. xiii 21 exprobrare benejicium.
58
1. arto comitatu, sociative abl., ' with a scanty retinue. '
2. Cocceius Nerua, grandfather nf thp Fi
Tnr"'''''^ Nen^a .
4. ferine Graeci. Cf. Suet. Tib. 56 comites Graeculos, quibus
tiel mcixime acquiescebat ; id. 70 maxime tamen curauit notitiam
historiae fabularis, usque ad ineptias atque derisum. He asked
such questions as ' who was Hecuba's mother? ' ' what song used
the Sirens to sing ? '
6. periti caelestium ,
calls them Chaldaei..
iis motibus aldfirum . abl. of circumstance,
tary conjunctions ' [F.].
—
' the astrologers.' Tacitus sometimes
' under such plane-
11. libens patrla careret. Merivale (c. 45) writes: 'Harsh,
indeed, and unreal the historian's phrase may appear to"b'ur notions,
to abandon one's country, thus applied to a citizen quitting the
walls of Eome to reside in a suburban retreat on the coast of
Campania. Doubtless we may trace in it something of an affectation
of antique sentiment, from which Tacitus is by no means
always exempt.'
' breue confinium artis et falsi . the narrow line of demarcation
between science and imposture.' Cf. Tac. dial. 30 angustis et
breuibus terminis clauditur.
14. egere, ' lived on,'—a very frequent use of ago in Tacitus.
15. moenia. . .adsidens, a construction chiefly poetical. Sallust
(fragm.) has Amisum adsideri audiebat. Cf. Virg. Aen. xi 304
muros adsidet hostis.
16. compleuerit, aorist use of the perf. subj. Cf. c. 15, 20.
59
2. uana rumoris, a very frequent form of expression in Tacitus.
Cf. c. G7 saeua uentorum.
5. Speluncae. probably dative , attracted into the case o f cuj,
P.F. is inclined to take it as genitive, comparing Hist, iv 18