LXXXI.
De comitiis consularibus, (de comitiis consularibus: abl. of the subject treated: comitia consularia, or assembly of the people in the Campus Martius of Rome to elect the consuls and other magistrates, was by now an empty expression, since the elections had been assigned by Tiberius to the senate (see ch. 15). This reference to such assemblies may not be devoid of sarcasm, as was the mention of comitia imperii in Book 1, ch. 14 of the Historiae, in connection with Galba’s choice of a successor.) quae tum primum illo principe ac deinceps fuere, vix quicquam firmare ausim: (vix quicquam firmare ausim [de] …: firmare is for adfirmare and quicquam or quidquam is the neuter form of quisquam, pron., found in neg. or quasi-neg. contexts: ‘I would not dare to say anything at all [about] …’; ausim is abbreviation of ausus sim, perfect subjunctive of the irregular audeo. Latin uses perf. subjunctive as a way to moderate an assertion and make it more modest, less categorical.) adeo diversa (diversa: a noun, the neuter plural of diversus, ‘contradictory accounts’, ‘opposing references’) non modo apud auctores, sed in ipsius orationibus reperiuntur. modo subtractis candidatorum nominibus originem cuiusque et vitam et stipendia descripsit ut qui forent intellegeretur; (ut qui forent intellegeretur: the purpose clause ut intelligeretur governs the indir. question qui forent: ‘so that it might be understood who they were’.) aliquando ea quoque significatione subtracta (aliquando ea quoque significatione subtracta: abl. abs.: ‘at times even those hints having been omitted’; although in such cases Tiberius made no recommendations at all, elections were anything but free, since he had other ways to let the senate know his preferences.) candidatos hortatus ne ambitu comitia turbarent, suam ad id curam pollicitus est. plerumque eos tantum apud se professos disseruit, quorum nomina consulibus edidisset; (plerumque eos tantum apud se professos disseruit, quorum nomina consulibus edidisset: ‘most of the time he declared that only those whose names he had presented to the consuls had signified to him (apud se) their intention to run.’ By the simple expedient of furnishing the senate, through the two consuls, only two names, claiming no other candidates had come forward, he made sure his favorites became the next consuls even without canvassing. His recommendation (commendatio) was in effect a nominatio. professos [esse] …edidisset: respectively perfect infinitive and plup. subjunctive in oratio obliqua after disseruit.) posse et alios profiteri, si gratiae aut meritis confiderent: (posse et alios profiteri, si gratiae aut meritis confiderent: conditional sentence in oratio obliqua: ‘that others could also be candidates if they had confidence in their influence and abilities’; confido, like fido, takes dative.) speciosa verbis, re inania aut subdola, (speciosa verbis, re inania aut subdola: speciosa is neutral plural, ‘beautiful things’: ‘impressive sentiments in words, in substance meaningless or devious’) quantoque maiore libertatis imagine tegebantur, tanto eruptura ad infensius servitium. (quantoque maiore libertatis imagine tegebantur, tanto eruptura ad infensius servitium: comparative sentence with quanto …tanto; the implied subject of tegebantur is speciosa verbis: ‘the more they were masked by the greater pretence of liberty, the [more] they would engulf [us] in a slavery too cruel to bear.’ inania and subdola are either adjectives modifying speciosa verbis or their conversion to nouns, therefore appositions. The tanto clause lacks a comparative to balance maiore: Tacitus is notorious for dropping any word easily understood.)