_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_. _Procuratorem Caesarum_. Collector of imperial revenues in the Roman Provinces.