09.07.26: Level 3+; topic: weather & natural phenomena [2] Tacitus

In these extracts, natural phenomena is associated with religious judgement.

[i] Here Tacitus does not merely imply but states directly that the gods disapprove:

Tot facinoribus foedum annum etiam dī tempestātibus et morbīs īnsignīvēre. vastāta Campānia turbine ventōrum, quī vīllās arbusta frūgēs passim disiēcit pertulitque violentiam ad vīcīnā urbī (Tacitus: Annales)

Upon this year, disgraced by so many shameful deeds, the gods also imposed their mark through violent storms and epidemics. Campania was laid waste by a whirlwind, which wrecked the farms, the fruit trees, and the crops far and wide and carried its violence to the vicinity of the capital.

morbus, -ī [2/n]: disease

tempestās, tempestātis [3/f]: storm

turbō, turbinis [3/m]: whirlwind

ventus, -ī [2/m]: wind

[1] the year is permanently contaminated:

Tot facinoribus ¦ foedum annum │ (this) year disgraced ¦ by so many evil deeds

foedum: implies enduring moral corruption

This is confirmed by the gods:

dī … īnsignīvēre │ the gods … marked; īnsigniō, -īre [4]: mark; distinguish i.e. the year was so bad that the gods singled it out for their disapproval

īnsignīvēre: contracted verb form = īnsignīvērunt

[2] use of nouns and verbs to convey the violence and wide-ranging impact of the events:

vastāta Campānia │ Campania (was) laid waste

Homes and livelihoods are destroyed, emphasised by the list of three nouns:

quī (1) vīllās (2) arbusta (3) frūgēs passim disiēcit │ which wrecked (1) farms, (2) fruit trees, (3) crops far and wide

[3] personification:

pertulitque violentiam │ and it carried the violence …

That violence reaches all the way to the outskirts of Rome itself:

ad vīcīnā urbī │ to the vicinity of the capital.

[ii] similar phenomena warn of things that are going to happen

praeter multiplicīs rērum hūmānārum cāsūs caelō terrāque prōdigia et fulminum monitūs et futūrōrum praesāgia, laeta trīstia, ambigua manifēsta (Tacitus: Historiae)

Apart from these manifold disasters to mankind there were portents in the sky and on the earth, warnings of thunderbolts and premonitions of things to come, joyful and grim, ambiguous and clear

caelum, -ī [2/n]: sky

casus, -ūs [4/m]: misfortune; disaster

terra, -ae [1/f]: land

fulmen, fulminis [3/n]: lightning; thunderbolt

multiplex, multiplicis: manifold; numerous

monitus, -ūs [4/m]: warning

praesāgium, -ī [2/n]: premonition

prōdigium, -ī [2/n]: omen; portent

Notes on both passages:

Tacitus’ writing is compact to maintain a dramatic narrative flow and to convey ideas as succinctly and / or as intensely as possible.

(a) Rapid listing of words to express

[i] the entirety of destruction

vīllās arbusta frūgēs

[ii] wide-ranging, contradictory and confusing events; note also the repetition of the adjective endings to combine the ideas

laeta trīstia, ambigua manifēsta

(b) Three near synonyms:

prōdigia; monitūs; praesāgia

(c) omission of ‘est’ in the passive construction:

vastāta Campānia │ Campania (was) laid waste

(d) omission of any verb to introduce a section of the narrative:

praeter multiplicīs rērum hūmānārum cāsūs ¦ caelō terrāque prōdigia

Apart from these manifold disasters to mankind [there were] portents in the sky and on the earth