Probant, cf. probaverit, 13, note.—Comatur. Subj. denoting the intention of the presents with which she is to be adorned. H 500, 1; Z. 567.
Frenatum, bridled, caparisoned==paratus below.
In haec munera==[Greek: epi toutois tois dorois]. In==upon the basis of, on condition of. So Liv.: in has leges, in easdem leges.
Hoc—vinculum, So, § 13: haec apud illos toga. In both passages the allusion is to Roman customs (for which see Becker's Gallus, Exc. 1. Scene 1). In Germany, these presents take the place of the confarreatio (see Fiske's Manual, p. 286. 4. ed.), and the various other methods of ratifying the marriage contract at Rome; these, of the religious rites in which the parties mutually engaged on the wedding day (see Man., p. 287).—Conjugales deos. Certain gods at Rome presided over marriage, e.g. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Jugatinus, Hymenaeus, Diana, &c.
Extra. Cic. would have said expertem or positum extra. But T. is fond of the adv. used elliptically.
Auspiciis==initiatory rites.
Denuntiant, proclaim, denote.—Accipere depends on denuntiant or admonetur.
Rursus, quae—referantur. Rhenanus conjectured; rursusque—referant, which has since become the common reading. But referantur is the reading of all the MSS., and needs no emendation; and quae, with as good authority as que, makes the construction more natural and the sense more apposite. The passage, as Gr. well suggests, consists of two parts (accipere—reddat, and quae—accipiant—referantur), each of which includes the two ideas of receiving and handing down to the next generation. Render thus: she is reminded that she receives gifts, which she is to hand over pure and unsullied to her children; which her daughters-in-law are to receive again (sc. from her sons, as she did from her husband), which are to be transmitted by them to her grand-children.
Referantur. In another writer, we might expect referant to correspond in construction and subject with accipiant. But Tacitus is fond of varying the construction. Cf. Bötticher's Lex Tac., and note, 16: ignorantur.
XIX. Septa. So the MSS. for the most part. Al. septae. Meaning: with chastity guarded, sc. by the sacredness of marriage and the excellent institutions of the Germans.