Familiam. Servants, cf. note on same word, 15. See also Beck Gall., Exc. 1. Sc. 1.—Penates==our homestead.
Jura succesionum==heir looms, all that goes down by hereditary descent.
Excipit. Here in the unusual sense of inherits.—Cetera, sc. jura successionum.
Bello. Abl. and limits both ferox and melior. Meaning: The horses are inherited, not, like the rest of the estate, by the eldest son, but by the bravest.
XXXIII. Occurrebant. Met the view, presented themselves. Almost the sense of the corresponding English word. The structure of narratur (as impers.) is very rare in the earlier authors, who would say: Chamavi narrantur. Cf. His. 1, 50. 90. The Chamavi, &c., were joined afterwards to the Franks. Cf. Prichard. The present town of Ham in Westphalia probably preserves the name and gives the original locality of the Chamavi, the present Engern that of the Angrivarii. The termination varii or uarii probably==inhabitants of. Thus angrivarii==inhabitants of Engern. Chasuarii==Inhabitants of the river Hase. The same element is perhaps contained in the termination of Bruct_eri_ and Tenct_eri_. See Latham in loco.
Nos, se. Romanos. Erga==inclined to (cf. vergo), towards.
Spectaculo. Ablative. Invidere is constructed by the Latins in the following ways: invidere alicui aliquid, alicui alicujus rei, alicui aliqua re, alicui in aliqua re. Hess. The construction here (with the abl. of the thing, which was the object of envy) belongs to the silver age. Cf. Quint. (Inst. 9, 3, 1) who contrasts it with the usage of Cicero, and considers it as illustrating the fondness of the age for figurative language.
Oblectationi oculisque. Hendiadys for ad oblectationem oculorum. The author here exults in the promiscuous slaughter of the German Tribes by each other's arms, as a brilliant spectacle to Roman eyes—a feeling little congenial to the spirit of Christianity, but necessarily nurtured by the gladiatorial shows and bloody amusements of the Romans, to say nothing of the habitual hostility which they waged against all other nations, that did not submit to their dominion.
Quaeso, sc. deos. Though fortune is spoken of below, as controlling the destiny of nations. This passage shows clearly that Tacitus, with all his partiality for German manners and morals, still retains the heart of a Roman patriot. He loves his country with all her faults, and bears no good-will to her enemies, however many and great their virtues. The passage is important, as illustrating the spirit and design of the whole Treatise. The work was not written as a blind panegyric on the Germans, or a spleeny satire on the Romans. Neither was it composed for the purpose of stirring up Trajan to war against Germany; to such a purpose, such a clause, as urgentibus imperii fatis, were quite adverse. Least of all was it written for the mere pastime and amusement of Roman readers. It breathes the spirit at once of the earnest patriot, and the high-toned moralist.
Odium sui. Cf. note, 28: conditor. Hatred of themselves; i.e. of one another. So in Greek, the reflexive pronoun is often used for the reciprocal.