Formam. This makes the sense so much better (than famam), that E. Dr. Wr. R. and most others have adopted it against the authority of the MSS. cf. forma mentis, below, and Cic. passim.
Intercedendum. To be prohibited. Properly said of a veto interposed by the Tribunes; then of any prohibition.—Non quia==not that, is characteristic of late writers. It is followed by the subj. Z. 537, and note H. 1, 15.
Manet, mansurumque est. Cf. Vell. Paterc. 2, 66, 5: vivit, vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam. The periphrastic form (mansurum est) differs however from the future (manebit), as our is to remain from will remain. See Z. 498.
Oblivio obruet, sc. for want of a historian, carent quia vate sacro, cf. Hor. Od. 4, 9, 25, seq. By multos veterum, T. means many ancients of real worth. So velut implies. A. is to be immortalized through his biographer. This is implied in narratus et traditus. Ancient authors thought it not improper to express a calm consciousness of merit and a proud confidence of immortality. T. is very modest and delicate in the manner of intimating his expectations. But the sentiment of these last words is substantially the same with the line of Horace: Exegi monumentum aere perennius. The whole peroration of this Biography is one of singular beauty and moral elevation. Pathetic, yet calm, rich in noble sentiments and animated by the purest and loftiest spirit, it is a fit topstone to that monument, in respect to which T. felt so well founded an assurance, which still manet mansurumque est in animis hominum, in aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. There is scarcely an educated youth in Christendom who is not as familiar with the name of Agricola, as with that of Aeneas and Ulysses. And the only reason why we know anything of these heroes, is the genius of their respective biographers. There had been other Agricolas before the age of Trajan, as there had been other heroes like Aeneas, and other wandering sages like Ulysses, before the war of Troy. But they found no Tacitus, Virgil, and Homer to record their adventurous and virtuous deeds. It is the prerogative of eminent writers to confer immortality; and though Alexander would prefer to be Achilles rather than Homer, we should have known little of his achievements, had he not encouraged scholars as well as warriors, and rewarded genius no less than valor.
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's Germania and Agricola, by Caius Cornelius Tacitus