II
Legimus, cum Aruleno Rustico Paetus Thrasea, Herennio Senecioni Priscus Helvidius laudati essent (cum …Rustico…Thrasea…Senecioni…Helvidius laudati essent: temporal cum requires subjunctive when the tense is imperfect or pluperfect; Aruleno Rustico and Herennio Senecioni are dative of agent, often used instead of the ablative of agent with a or ab, when the tense contains the perfect participle; cf. A.G., 374. The four men mentioned were stoics who died accused of high treason, Thrasea under Nero, emperor 54-68 A.D., Helvidius under Vespasian, emperor 69-79A.D., Rusticus and Senecio under Domitian, emperor 81-96 A.D.), capitale fuisse, (capitale fuisse: capitale is neut. noun, ‘a crime punishable by death’.) neque in ipsos modo auctores, sed in libros quoque eorum saevitum, (in ipsos… auctores …saevitum [est]: saevitum is impers. use of intrans. verb in passive mode, lit. ‘it was raged against the authors themselves.’) delegato triumviris ministerio ut monumenta clarissimorum ingeniorum in comitio ac foro (in comitio ac foro: a kind of hendiadys, lit. ‘in the assembly place and forum’; the comitium was an open space in the Roman forum where magistrates and the people would assemble to decide on matters of public interest.) urerentur. (delegato triumviris ministerio ut … urerentur: abl. abs. with dependent final clause, ‘the task being assigned to the triumvirs in order that they be burned’; triumviris: three officers in charge of executions and public prisons) Scilicet illo igne vocem populi Romani et libertatem senatus et conscientiam generis humani aboleri arbitrabantur, (arbitrabantur: ‘emperors’ is the implied subject.) expulsis insuper (insuper: adv., ‘in addition’) sapientiae professoribus atque omni bona arte in exilium acta, ne quid usquam honestum occurreret. Dedimus profecto grande patientiae documentum; et sicut vetus aetas vidit quid ultimum in libertate esset, (quid ultimum in libertate esset: subjunctive in indirect question, ‘what limit there be in liberty’) ita nos quid in servitude, (ita nos quid in servitute: short for ita nos vidimus quid ultimum in servitute esset) adempto per inquisitiones etiam loquendi audiendique commercio. (adempto…loquendi audiendique commercio: ‘the commerce of speaking and hearing being removed’; loquendi audendique: use of objective gen. gerund with a noun; cf. A.G. 347 and 504.) Memoriam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tam in nostra potestate esset oblivisci (memoriam perdidissemus, si … in nostra potestate esset oblivisci: example of conditional sentence with condition contrary to fact, thus requiring imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive in both protasis and apodosis; in this case perdidissemus expresses unreality in the past and esset in the present and for all times.) quam tacere. (tam…quam tacere: for tamquam tacere [est])