V.
Haec atque talia agitantibus (haec atque talia agitantibus: abl. abs. of temporal sense, equivalent to a clause with dum) gravescere valetudo Augusti, et quidam scelus uxoris suspectabant. (quidam scelus uxoris suspectabant: Livia was suspected of having placed poison on the maturing fruit of Augustus’ favorite fig tree.) quippe (quippe: here not adverb but coordinating conjunction of causal sense, like nam; cf. L. 1690.) rumor incesserat, (rumor incesserat: introduces indirect discourse that ends with causa exitii marito fuisset.) paucos ante menses Augustum, electis consciis et comite uno Fabio Maximo, (electis consciis et comite uno Fabio Maximo: abl. abs.: ‘a few having been chosen who knew of the plan and only one to accompany him, Fabio Maximus’; about the latter all is known is that he was a friend of the poet Ovid.) Planasiam vectum ad visendum Agrippam; (ad visendum Agrippam: notice that visendum is not active gerund but passive gerundive, not ‘to visit Agrippa’, but ‘for Agrippa to be visited’; the acc. gerund cannot be used with a direct object.) multas illic utrimque lacrimas et signa caritatis spemque ex eo fore ut iuvenis penatibus avi redderetur: (spemque ex eo fore ut iuvenis penatibus avi redderetur: ‘…and the hope from that interview that the young man would be brought back to the house of the grandfather’; the circumlocution fore (or futurum esse) ut + subjunctive is used in place of the future infinitive active or passive (here redditurum esse and redditum iri respectively). The periphrasis with fore ut is obligatory when the verb lacks the supine, which is not the case here. Tacitus perhaps uses it to avoid recourse to redditum iri, a construction out of favor with all Latin authors except Cicero; cf. G. 248. ex eo: eo is abl. of id, which stands for the meeting between Augustus and Agrippa.) quod Maximum uxori Marciae aperuisse, illam Liviae. gnarum (gnarum: usually active in meaning (‘knowing’), but often passive in Tacitus (‘known’) id Caesari; neque multo post extincto Maximo, dubium an quaesita morte, auditos in funere eius Marciae gemitus semet incusantis, quod causa exitii marito fuisset. (quod … fuisset: causal quod is normally with indicative, except in indir. discourse, here introduced by incusantis.) utcumque se ea res habuit, (utcumque se ea res habuit: ‘howsoever that matter came to be’; se habuit: lit. ‘found itself in that situation’) vixdum ingressus Illyricum (Illyricum: the region now known as the Balkans, i.e. the provinces in the Balkan peninsula, mainly Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Moesia. Tiberius was sent there by Augustus to take temporary command of the legions.) Tiberius properis matris litteris accitur; neque satis conpertum est, spirantem adhuc Augustum apud urbem Nolam (Nolam: a town NE of the Vesuvius) an exanimem reppererit. (dubium an quaesita morte … neque satis conpertum est, spirantem adhuc Augustum … an exanimem reppererit: two alternate indirect questions, placed here side by side for comparison, one with the first part omitted or implied and with an asking the second part; the second question with both parts expressed, but with only the second part preceded by an interrogative particle: ‘it is doubtful whether by voluntary death …’ ‘it has not been sufficiently ascertained whether he found Augustus still breathing or lifeless’. reppererit: in place of repperisset required after a historical main verb; there is a strong tendency in Latin to use perfect subjunctive to reflect the perfect indicative that would be used if the question were direct.) acribus namque custodiis domum et vias saepserat Livia, laetique interdum nuntii vulgabantur, donec provisis quae tempus monebat (provisis quae tempus monebat: abl. abs. with the participle alone and a dependent relative clause serving as subject: ‘that which the situation demanded having been provided’) simul excessisse Augustum et rerum potiri Neronem fama eadem tulit. (donec … tulit: donec, with the sense of ‘up to the time that …’ to mark a factual limit, takes perfect indicative for action in the past. Cf. G. 571.)