Nullis—corruptae. Here, as every where else in this treatise, T. appears as the censor of Roman manners. He has in mind those fruitful sources of corruption at Rome, public shows, (cf. Sen. Epist. 7: nihil vero est tam damnosum bonis moribus, quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere), convivial entertainments (cf. Hor. Od. 3, 6, 27), and epistolary correspondence between the two sexes.
Litterarum secreta==litteras secretas, secret correspondence between the sexes, for this limitation is obvious from the connexion.— Praesens. Immediate.
Maritis permissa, sc. as a domestic crime, cf. Caes. B.G. 6, 19: Viri in uxores, sicut in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem. Cf. Beck. Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.
Accisis crinibus, as a special mark of disgrace, cf. 1 Cor. 11, 6. So in the laws of the Lombards, the punishment of adulteresses was decalvari et fustigari.—Omnem vicum, the whole village, cf. Germania omnis, § 1.—Aetate==juventa.
Non—invenerit. She would not find, could not expect to find. This use of the perf. subj., for a softened fut., occurs in negative sentences oftener than in positive ones. Cf. Arnold's Prose Comp. 417, Note.
Saeculum==indoles et mores saeculi, the spirit of the age, the fashion.
Adhuc (==ad-hoc) is generally used by Cicero, and often by Tacitus, in the sense either of still (to this day), or moreover (in addition to this). From these, it passed naturally, in Quintilian and the writers after him, into the sense of even more, still more, even, especially in connection with the comparative degree; where the authors of the Augustan age would have used etiam. See Z. 486; Bötticher's Lex. Tac. sub. voce; and Hand's Tursellinus, vol. 1. I. 165. Melius quidem adhuc==still better even. For a verb, supply sunt or agunt. Cf. note A. 19: nihil.
Eae civitates. Such as the Heruli, among whom the wife was expected to hang herself at once at the grave of her husband, if she would not live in perpetual infamy. At Rome, on the contrary, divorces and marriages might be multiplied to any extent, cf. Mart. 6, 7: nubit decimo viro; also Beck, as above cited.
Semel, like [Greek: apax], once for all.
Transigitur. Properly a business phrase. The business is done up, brought to an end. So A. 34: transigite cum expeditionibus.