Haud minus facile. Litotes for multo facilius.
Ebrietati. Like the American Aborigines, see note, § 15.
XXIV. Nudi. See note, § 20.
Quibus id ludicrum. For whom it is a sport; not whose business it is to furnish the amusement: that would be quorum est K. and Gr.
Infestas==porrectas contra saltantes. K.—Decorem. Poetic.
Quaestum==quod quaeritur, gain.—Mercedem, stipulated pay, wages.
Quamvis limits audacis==daring as it is (as you please).
Sobrii inter seria. At Rome gaming was forbidden, except at the Saturnalia, cf. Hor. Od. 3, 24, 68: vetita legibus alea. The remarkable circumstance (quod mirere) in Germany was, that they practised it not merely as an amusement at their feasts, but when sober among (inter) their ordinary every-day pursuits.
Novissimo. The last in a series. Very frequently in this sense in T., so also in Caes. Properly newest, then latest, last. Cf. note, His. 1, 47. Extremo, involving the greatest hazard, like our extreme: last and final (decisive) throw. This excessive love of play, extending even to the sacrifice of personal liberty, is seen also among the American Indians, see Robertson, Hist. of America, vol. 2, pp. 202-3. It is characteristic of barbarous and savage life, cf. Mur. in loco.
De libertate ac de corpore. Hendiadys==personal liberty.