XXXIX
Hunc rerum cursum, quamquam nulla verborum iactantia epistulis Agricolae auctum, ut erat Domitiano moris, (ut erat Domitiano moris: ‘as was the way for Domitian’; esse moris is idiom, ‘to be of custom’; Domitian was emperor 81-96 A.D.) fronte laetus, pectore anxius excepit. Inerat conscientia (inerat conscientia: lit. ‘in him was the consciousness’) derisui fuisse (derisui fuisse: dat. of destination, ‘had been for derision’) nuper falsum e Germania (e Germania: ‘from Germany’) triumphum, emptis per commercia, (emptis per commercia: ‘men being bought through trading’, abl. abs.) quorum habitus et crinis in captivorum speciem formarentur: (in captivorum speciem formarentur: ‘might be transformed into the appearance of prisoners’; formarentur is potential subjunctive.) at nunc veram magnamque victoriam tot milibus hostium caesis ingenti fama celebrari. (victoriam …celebrari: the clause is infinitive because still in indir. speech introduced by conscientia.) Id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen supra principem attolli: (attolli: ‘be raised’) frustra studia fori et civilium artium decus in silentium acta, (studia …in silentium acta [esse]: ‘the arts had been driven into silence’; the infinitive construction reports Domitian’s secret thoughts and continues down to virtutem esse) si militarem gloriam alius occuparet; cetera utcumque (utcumque: ‘one way or another’) facilius dissimulari, ducis boni imperatoriam virtutem esse. Talibus curis exercitus, quodque saevae cogitationis indicium erat, (quodque saevae cogitationis indicium erat: ‘and which was an indication of murderous plans’) secreto suo satiatus, optimum in praesentia statuit reponere odium, (optimum in praesentia statuit reponere odium: order: statuit optimum [esse] in praesentia reponere odium) donec impetus famae et favor exercitus languesceret: (donec …languesceret: donec requires subjunctive in clauses implying expectation.) nam etiam tum (etiam tum: ‘still’, ‘even then’) Agricola Britanniam obtinebat.