_Laudati essent_. The imp. and plup. subj. are used in narration after _cum_, even when it denotes time merely. Here however a causal connection is also intended. H. 518, II.; Z. 577, 578. _Triumviris_. The Triumviri at Rome, like the Undecimviri (_oi endeka_) at Athens, had charge of the prisons and executions, for which purpose they had eight lictors at their command. _Comitio ac foro_. The comitium was a _part_ of the forum. Yet the words are often used together (cf. Suet. Caes. 10). The _comitium_ was the proper place for the punishment of criminals, and the word _forum_ suggests the further idea of the publicity of the book-burning in the presence of the assembled people. _Conscientiam_, etc. _The consciousness_, i.e. _common knowledge of mankind_; for _conscientia_ denotes what one knows in common with others, as well as what he is conscious of in himself. Cf. His. 1, 25: _conscientiam facinoris_; Cic. Cat. 1. 1: _omnium horum conscientia_. In his Annals (4, 35), T. ridicules the stupidity of those who expect by any _present_ power, to extinguish the memory also of the _next_ generation. The sentiment of both passages is just and fine. _Sapientiae professoribus. Philosophers_, who were banished by Domitian, A.D. 94, on the occasion of Rusticus's panegyric on Thrasea. T. not unfrequently introduces an _additional circumstance_ by the abl. abs., as here. _Ne occurreret. Ne_ with the subj. expresses a negative intention; _ut non_ a negative result. H. 490; Z. 532. _Inquisitiones. A system of espionage_, sc. by the Emperor's tools and informers.--_Et_==etiam, _even_. Cf. note, 11. Al. _etiam_. _Memoriam--perdidissemus_, i.e. we should not have _dared_ to remember, if we could have helped it. III. _Et quanquam. Et_ pro _sed_. So Dr. But _nunc demum animus redit_ implies, that confidence is hardly restored yet; and the reason for so slow a recovery is given in the following clause. Hence _et_ is used in its proper copulative or explicative sense. So Wr. _Demum_ is a lengthened form of the demonstrative _dem_. Cf. i-_dem_, tan-_dem_, _dae_. _Nunc demum_==_nun dae_. Freund. _Primo statim. Statim_ gives emphasis: _at the very commencement_, etc.; cf. note, 20.--_Dissociabiles, incompatible_. _Augeatque--Trajanus_. This marks the date of the composition early in the reign of Trajan, cf. G. 37; also p. 139 supra. _Securitas publica. "And public security has assumed not only hopes and wishes, but has seen those wishes arise to confidence and, stability. Securitas publica_ was a current expression and wish, and was frequently inscribed on medals." Ky. _Assumpserit_. This word properly belongs only to _fiduciam ac robur. Spem ac votum_ would require rather _conceperit_. Zeugma. _Subit_. _Steals in_, lit. creeps under. Cf. note, H. 1, 13. _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.