_Erigitur_. Middle sense. _Raise themselves_, or _rise_, cf. evolvuntur, 39. _Figunt_. Have _fixed habitations_, in contrast with the Sarmatians, who lived in carts. Cf. Ann. 13, 54: _fixerant domos Frisii_. Al. _fingunt_. _Sarmatis_. The stock of the modern Russians, cf. 1. note. _Cubile_. We should expect _cubili_ to correspond with _victui_ and _vestituti_. But cf. note 18: referantur; 20: ad patrem, &c. _Comitantur_, i.e. feminae comitantur viris. _Ingemere--illaborare_. _Toil and groan upon houses and lands_, i.e. _in building and tilling them_; though some understand _domibus_ and _agris_ as the places in which they toil. _Versare_. _To be constantly employed_ in increasing the fortune of themselves and others, agitated meanwhile by hope and fear. _Securi_. Because they have nothing to lose. _Illis_. Emphatic. _They_, unlike others, have no need, &c. Cf. _apud illos_, 44. _In medium relinquam_. Leave for the public, i.e. undecided. _Relinquere in medio_ is the more common expression. Bötticher in his Lex. Tac. explains it, as equivalent by Zeugma to _in medium vocatum relinquam in medio_. So in Greek, _en_ and _eis_ often interchange. AGRICOLA. The Biography of Agricola was written early in the reign of Trajan (which commenced A.U.C. 851. A.D. 98), consequently about the same time with the Germania, though perhaps somewhat later (cf. notes on Germania). This date is established by inference from the author's own language in the 3d and the 44th sections (see notes). In the former, he speaks of the dawn of a better day, which opened indeed with the reign of Nerva, but which is now brightening constantly under the auspices of Trajan. The use of the past tense (_miscuerit_) here in respect to Nerva, and of the present (_augeat_) in respect to Trajan, is quite conclusive evidence, that at the time of writing, the reign of Nerva was past, and that of Trajan had already begun. The other passage is, if possible, still more clearly demonstrative of the same date. Here in drawing the same contrast between past tyranny and present freedom, the author, without mentioning Nerva, records the desire and hope, which his father-in-law expressed in his hearing, that he might live to see Trajan elevated to the imperial throne--language very proper and courtly, if Trajan were already Emperor, but a very awkward compliment to Nerva, if, as many critics suppose, he were still the reigning prince.