VII. _Reges_, civil rulers; _duces_, military commanders. _Ex_== secundum. So _ex ingenio_, § 3. The government was elective, yet not without some regard to hereditary distinctions. They _chose (sumunt)_ their sovereign, but chose him from the royal family, or at least one of noble extraction. They chose also their commander--the king, if he was the bravest and ablest warrior; if not, they were at liberty to choose some one else. And among the Germans, as among their descendants, the Franks, the authority of the commander was quite distinct from, and sometimes (in war) paramount to, that of the king. Here Montesquieu and others find the original of the kings of the first race in the French monarchy, and the _mayors of the palace_, who once had so much power in France. Cf. Sp. of Laws, B. 31, chap. 4. _Nec_ is correlative to _et. The kings on the one hand do not possess unlimited or unrestrained authority, and the commanders on the other, &c. Infinita_==sine modo; _libera_==sine vinculo. Wr. _Potestas_==rightful power, authority; _potentia_==power without regard to right, ability, force, cf. note, 42. Ad rem, cf. Caes. B.G. 5, 27. Ambiorix tells Caesar, that though he governed, yet the people made laws for him, and the supreme power was shared equally between him and them. _Exemplo--imperio_. "_Dative_ after _sunt==are to set an example, rather than to give command_." So Grüber and Död. But Wr. and Rit. with more reason consider them as ablatives of means limiting a verb implied in _duces: commanders_ (command) _more by example, than by authority_ (official power). See the principle well stated and illustrated in Döderlein's Essay on the style of Tacitus, p. 15, in my edition of the Histories. _Admiratione praesunt. Gain influence, or ascendency, by means of the admiration which they inspire_, cf. note on metus, § 2. _Agant_. Subj., ut ad judicium admirantium, non mentem scriptoris trahatur. Gün. _Animadvertere_==interficere. Cf. H. 1, 46. 68. _None but the priests are allowed to put to death, to place in irons, nor even_ (ne quidem) _to scourge_. Thus punishment was clothed with divine authority. _Effigies et signa. Images and standards_, i.e. images, which serve for standards. Images of wild beasts are meant, cf. H. 4, 22: depromptae silvis lucisve ferarum imagines.--_Turmam_, cavalry. _Cuneum_, infantry, but sometimes both. _Conglobatio_ is found only in writers after the Augustan age and rarely in them. It occurs in Sen. Qu. Nat. 1, 15, cf. Freund. _Familiae_ is less comprehensive than _propinquitates. Audiri_, sc. solent. Cf. A. 34 _ruere_. Wr. calls it histor. inf., and Rit. pronounces it a gloss. _Pignora_. Whatever is most dear, particularly mothers, wives, and children.--_Unde_, adv. of place, referring to _in proximo_. _Vulnera ferunt_, i.e. on their return from battle.