Invisa primo—amatur. The original perhaps of Pope's lines Vice is a monster, &c.
Quindecim annos. The reign of Domitian from A.D. 81, to A.D. 96.
Fortuitis casibus. Natural and ordinary death, as opposed to death by violence, saevitia principis.—Promptissimus quisque. The ablest, or all the ablest. Quisque with a superlative, whether singular or plural, is in general equivalent to omnes with the positive, with the additional idea however of a reciprocal comparison among the persons denoted by quisque, Z. 710, 6.
Ut ita dixerim. An apology for the strong expression nostri superstites: survivors not of others only, but so to speak, of ourselves also; for we can hardly be said to have lived under the tyranny of Dom., and our present happy life is, as it were, a renewed existence, after being buried for fifteen years. A beautiful conception! The use of dixerim in preference to dicam in this formula is characteristic of the later Latin. Cf. Z. 528. The et before this clause is omitted by some editors. But it is susceptible of an explanation, which adds spirit to the passage: A few of us survive, and that not merely ourselves, but so to speak, others also. In the Augustan age superstes was, for the most part, followed by the dative.
Tamen. Notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances in which I write, after so long a period of deathlike silence, in winch we have almost lost the gift of speech, yet I shall not regret to have composed even in rude and inelegant language, etc. For the construction of pigebit, cf. Z. 441, and H. 410, 6.
Memoriam—composuisse. Supposed to refer to his forthcoming history, written, or planned and announced, but not yet published. Some understand it of the present treatise. But then interim would have no meaning; nor indeed is the language applicable to his Agricola.
Interim, sc. editus or vulgatus, published meanwhile, i.e. while preparing the history.
The reader cannot but be struck with the beauty of this introduction. It is modest, and at the same time replete with the dignity of conscious worth. It is drawn out to considerable length, yet it is all so pertinent and tasteful, that we would not spare a sentence or a word. With all the thoughtful and sententious brevity of the exordiums of Sallust, it has far more of natural ease and the beauty of appropriateness.
IV. Cnaeus Julius Agricola. Every Roman had at least three names: the nomen or name of the gens, which always ended in ius (Julius); the praenomen or individual name ending in us (Cnaeus); and the cognomen or family name (Agricola). See a brief account of A. in Dion Cassius 66, 20. Mentioned only by Dion and T. Al. Gnaeus, C. and G. being originally identical.
Forojuliensium colonia. Now Frejus. A walled town of Gallia Narbonensis, built by Julius Caesar, and used as a naval station by Augustus (cf. His. 3, 43: claustra maris). Augustus sent thither the beaked ships captured in the battle of Actium, Ann. 4, 5. Hence perhaps called illustris.