LXXIV.
Nec multo post Granium Marcellum praetorem Bithyniae (praetorem Bithyniae: Bithynia was a Roman province along the northern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), between the province of Asia to the west and Cappadocia to the east. It also comprised the kingdom of Pontus, added by Pompey the Great towards the end of the republic. Being a senatorial province, i.e. one acquired before the Empire, its governors were either ex-consuls or ex-praetors, though all were styled proconsularis. Here the term praetorem refers to Marcellus’ actual rank. All provinces had been divided into senatorial and imperial provinces by Augustus in 27B.C., the first under control of the senate, the latter of the emperor through legati of his own choice.) quaestor ipsius Caepio Crispinus maiestatis postulavit, subscribente Romano Hispone: (quaestor ipsius Caepio Crispinus maiestatis postulavit, subscribente Romano Hispone: ipsius underlines the strangeness of a questor accusing his own governor, the relationship between the two being usually very close. The verb postulo is found with gen. when the sense is ‘to accuse’, ‘to prosecute’, otherwise with abl.) qui formam vitae iniit, (qui formam vitae iniit: qui may refers not to Hispo, the last person named, but to Crispinus, as shown by the phrase addidit Hispo below, which appears to indicate that Hispo was of minor relevance in this context: thus, the abl. abs. subscribente Romano Hispone in previous line should be viewed as purely parenthetical. This interpretation is not accepted by everyone; in fact, commentators are about equally divided between Crispinus and Hispo.) quam postea celebrem miseriae temporum et audaciae (miseriae … audaciae: Tacitus finds abstract plural nouns more poetic than concrete and singular.) hominum fecerunt. nam egens, ignotus, inquies, dum occultis libellis saevitiae principis adrepit, mox clarissimo cuique periculum facessit, (dum … adrepit …, facessit: dum, in expressing concomitance, ‘during’ or ‘in the time that’, became fixed in early Latin with the present indicative, even in past time. It was only in low Latin (vulgar, Medieval) that it was replaced by imperfect subjunctive by analogy with historical cum, with which it was often confused (Ernout). adrepit or arrepit is from arrepo, ‘to work one’s way slowly and stealthily towards a goal’; facessit takes dat. (here clarissimo cuique), and periculum facessere = ‘to threaten with judicial proceedings’.) potentiam apud unum, odium apud omnis adeptus dedit exemplum, quod secuti ex pauperibus divites, ex contemptis metuendi perniciem aliis ac postremum sibi invenere. (dedit exemplum, quod secuti ex pauperibus divites, ex contemptis metuendi perniciem aliis ac postremum sibi invenere: ‘set an example, which those who followed it (lit. ‘those having followed it), rich from being destitute, to be feared from being contemptible, contrived ruin for others and, in the end, for themselves’.) sed (sed: here a connective word helping to resume after a digression) Marcellum insimulabat sinistros de Tiberio sermones habuisse, inevitabile crimen, (inevitabile crimen: apposition of the previous sinistros de Tiberio sermones habuisse) cum ex moribus principis foedissima quaeque deligeret accusator obiectaretque reo. (cum … deligeret …obiectaret: historical or narrative cum + imperfect or plup. subjunctive, used in narratives to give the circumstances that are the occasion of the action of the main verb. In this case cum can be either temporal or causal, the distinction between the two being often blurred, also because the construction is the same. obiectaret: ‘he imputed [to the accused]’.) nam quia vera erant, etiam dicta credebantur. addidit Hispo statuam Marcelli altius quam Caesarum sitam, et alia in statua amputato capite Augusti effigiem Tiberii inditam. (alia in statua … inditam: ‘placed on another statue’: it appears that this is the only case found of inditus with in + abl.; all others have dat. or in + acc.; inditam is from the verb indo.) ad quod exarsit adeo, ut rupta taciturnitate proclamaret (ad quod exarsit adeo, ut rupta taciturnitate proclamaret: ad here means ‘in response to’: lit. ‘at that, he lost his temper to such an extent that, his habitual reserve being broken, he proclaimed …’. The affront to Augustus’ statue provides Tiberius with a convenient cover for the true reason of his anger, namely the alleged aspersion against himself by Marcellus. adeo is correlative of ut in a consecutive sentence with subjunctive.) se quoque in ea causa laturum sententiam palam et iuratum, (se … laturum sententiam palam et iuratum: ‘that he was going to cast his vote openly and on oath; iuratum: lit. ‘having been sworn’) quo ceteris eadem necessitas fieret. (quo ceteris eadem necessitas fieret: quo is in place of final ut: ‘in order that the same obligation would be created for the others’, i.e. the obligation to vote openly and on oath. The clause is not part of Tiberius’ words, but an explanation inserted by the author himself.) manebant etiam tum vestigia morientis libertatis. (morientis libertatis: personification of liberty dying under the emperors) igitur Cn. Piso (Cn. Piso: the man later accused of poisoning Germanicus. See also ch. 13.) ‘quo’ inquit ‘loco censebis, (‘quo …loco censebis’: ‘in which place will you vote?’) Caesar? si primus, habebo quod sequar: si post omnis, vereor ne inprudens dissentiam.’ (si primus, habebo quod sequar: si post omnis, vereor ne inprudens dissentiam: ‘if first, I may have what to use as a guide, if last, I fear lest I might imprudently differ [from you]’; sequar is potential subjunctive; vereor + ne denotes fear that something unwanted may happen, in contrast with vereor + ut, where the fear is that something desirable may not happen.) permotus his, quantoque incautius efferverat, paenitentia patiens tulit absolvi reum (quantoque incautius efferverat, paenitentia patiens tulit absolvi reum …: comparative sentence with quanto incautious in the dependent clause and an implied tanto patientior (or tanto patientius if an adverb is preferred as correlative of incautious) in the main clause: ‘the more incautiously he had shown anger, the more patiently in his repentance he tolerated that the accused be absolved of ….’ In his quest for conciseness, Tacitus drops off any words that can be left out without affecting meaning.) criminibus maiestatis: de pecuniis repetundis ad reciperatores itum est. (de pecuniis repetundis ad reciperatores itum est: indictments for treason (maiestatis) included charges for extorsion, especially in the case of provincial governors: lit. ‘about the extorted moneys to be recovered, it was resorted to the recuperators.’ reciperatores: a body of judices from the senate with jurisdiction in cases of embezzlement brought by provincials against Roman officials. The most famous of these cases was that of the people of Sicily against Verres, with Cicero as defense lawyer. itum est: impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb)