_Quin immo. Nay but, nay more_. These words connect the clause, though not placed at the beginning, as they are by other writers. They seem to be placed after _pigrum_ in order to throw it into an emphatic position. So _gradus quin etiam_, 13, where see note.--_Possis_. You, i.e., any one can. Z. 524. Cf. note II. 1, 10: _laudares_. So _persuaseris_ in the preceding sentence. The subj. gives a contingent or potential turn==_can procure_, sc. if you will _would persuade_, sc. if you should try. An indefinite person is always addressed in the subj. in Latin, even when the ind. would be used if a definite person were addressed. Z. 524. In the chieftains and their retainers, as described in the last two sections, the reader cannot fail to discover the germ of the feudal system. Cf. Montesq. Sp. of Laws, 30, 3, 4; also Robertson's Chas. V. XV. _Non multum_. The common reading (multum without the negative) is a mere conjecture, and that suggested by a misapprehension of the meaning of T. _Non multum_ is to be taken comparatively. Though in time of peace they hunt often, yet they spend _so much more time in eating, drinking, and sleeping_, that the former is comparatively small. Thus understood, this passage of T. is not inconsistent with the declarations of Caesar, B.G. 6, 21: Vita Germanorum omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei militaris consistit. Caesar leaves out of account their periods of inaction, and speaks only of their active employments, which were war and the chase. It was the special object of Tacitus, on the contrary, to give prominence to that striking feature of the German character which Caesar overlooks; and therein, as Wr. well observes, the later historian shows his more exact acquaintance with the Germans. _Non multum_, as opposed to _plus_, is nearly equivalent to _minus_. _Venatibus, per otium_. Enallage for _venatibus, otio_, H. 704, III. This figure is very frequent in T., e.g. § 40: per obsequium, proeliis; A. 9: virtute aut per artem; A. 41: temeritate aut per ignaviam, &c. Seneca, and indeed most Latin authors, prefer a _similar_ construction in antithetic clauses; T. seems rather to avoid it. In all such cases however, as the examples just cited show, _per_ with the acc. is not precisely equivalent to the abl. The abl. is more active and implies means, agency; the acc. with _per_ is more passive and denotes manner or occasion. _Delegata, transferred_. _Familiae. Household_, properly of servants (from famel, Oscan for servant), as in chapp. 25 and 32: but sometimes the whole family, as here and in chap. 7: _familiae et propinquitates_. _Ipsi_. The men of middle life, the heads of the _familiae_. _Diversitate. Contrariety.--Ament_. Subj. H. 518, I.; Z. 577.-- _Oderint_. Perf. in the sense of the pres. H. 297, I. 2; Z. 221.