LIV.
Idem annus novas caerimonias accepit addito sodalium Augustalium sacerdotio, ut quondam Titus Tatius retinendis Sabinorum sacris sodalis Titios instituerat. (ut quondam Titus Tatius retinendis Sabinorum sacris sodalis Titios instituerat: ‘in the same way Titus Tatius had in the past instituted the Titian priesthood to conserve the religious practices of the Sabini’; Titus Tatius was king of the Sabines, a tribe of ancient Latium and neighbors of the Romans. After some initial warfare, the two tribes merged and Titus Tatius became joint ruler of Rome with Romulus, its first king. The Sabine element of the Roman people retained its own religious beliefs and rites. retinendis …sacris sodalis: the dat. gerundive not only expresses intention or purpose, but also implies obligation.) sorte ducti e primoribus civitatis unus et viginti: Tiberius Drususque et Claudius (Claudius: the brother of Germanicus, future fourth emperor of Rome, and the only one of the four honorary members outside the Julian family) et Germanicus adiciuntur. ludos Augustalis tunc primum coeptos turbavit discordia ex certamine histrionum. indulserat ei ludicro Auaustus, dum Maecenati obtemperat effuso in amorem Bathylli; (dum Maecenati obtemperat effuso in amorem Bathylli: ‘wishing to please Maecenas, passionately in love with Bathyllus’; dum on occasion may have causal sense in Tacitus: cf. note for dum centurionem cognomento Sirpicum illa morti deposcit, quintadecumani tuentur in ch. 23. Maecenas was Augustus’ close friend and assistant. Famous for being one of the greatest patrons of the arts in world’s history, he supported, encouraged, and promoted poets like Hoace, Virgil, Propertius, and others. Still today his name is a byword for generous and unselfish assistance of art, music, or literature. Bathyllus, one of Maecenas’ freedmen, was a popular histrio or pantomime, an actor in dumb shows. Together with Pylades and Hylas he was the creator of that art form.) neque ipse abhorrebat talibus studiis, (neque ipse abhorrebat talibus studiis: example of litotes, affirming something by the negative of its contrary: ‘neither did he himself recoil from such pastimes.’ abhorreo is regularly with a or ab (e.g. abhorrere a dolore), seldom with abl. alone, as here, or with dat.) et civile rebatur misceri voluptatibus vulgi. alia Tiberio morum via: (alia Tiberio morum via: Tiberio is dat. of possessor with an implied erat.’: ‘Tiberius had quite another way of thinking) sed populum per tot annos molliter habitum (molliter habitum: ‘leniently kept in check’ or ‘held in hand’) nondum audebat ad duriora vertere.