XXIV.
His atque talibus haud permotus princeps et statim contra disseruit et vocato senatu ita exorsus est: ‘maiores mei, quorum antiquissimus Clausus origine Sabina (Clausus origine Sabina: Clausus or Atta Clausus, a mythological Sabine leader who helped Aeneas (cf. Virg. Aeneid, VII, 706ff.) and considered the founder of the Claudia gens. The Sabines occupied a district about fifteen miles SE of Rome with Alba Longa as their main center.) simul in civitatem Romanam et in familias patriciorum adscitus est, hortantur uti paribus consiliis in re publica capessenda, transferendo huc quod usquam egregium fuerit. (maiores mei … hortantur uti paribus consiliis in re publica capessenda, transferendo huc quod usquam egregium fuerit: ‘my ancestors encouraged me to implement (uti) the same policy in governing by bringing to Rome (huc) what was best anywhere.’ hortantur uti: normally with ut or ne, hortor is both here and in ch.16 with infinitive; in re publica capessenda: lit. ‘in the state to be governed’ i.e., ‘in the government of the state’. It is well to remember that the gerundive is a verbal adjective of passive meaning implying necessity, worthiness, or duty, aspects that a regular translation cannot reveal, since the gerundive has no English equivalent. transferendo … quod … egregium fuerit: instrumental abl. gerund followed by direct object, a construction only possible with the abl. without preposition and the genitive of the gerund; fuerit is subjunctive for rel. clause in oratio obliqua, the tense representing the perfect indicative that would be used in direct speech.) neque enim ignoro Iulios Alba, Coruncanios Camerio, Porcios Tusculo, et ne vetera scrutemur, Etruria Lucaniaque et omni Italia in senatum accitos, (Iulios Alba, Coruncanios Camerio, Porcios Tusculo, et ne vetera scrutemur, Etruria Lucaniaque et omni Italia in senatum accitos: ‘the Julii from Alba Longa, the Coruncanii from Camerium, the Porcii, from Tusculum, and, to avoid probing the remote past, [some members] were admitted to the senate from Etruria, Lucania, and the whole of Italy’; the Julii gens, which had members such as Julius Caesar and his descendants, came from Alba Longa (see note above); the Coruncanii and the Porcii, with exponents such Ti. Coruncanius, a famous jurist, and Marcus Porcius Cato, the censor, respectively, came the first from Camerium (exact location unknown but still in Latium), the other from Tusculum, NNE of Alba Longa; Etruria is known today as Tuscany, in central Italy; Lucania in southern Italy is the region north and northwest of the gulf of Taranto. All ablatives in the passage are of the place from which, normally with a, ab, e, ex, or de, except for names of cities, towns, villages, and small islands. Tacitus uses the simple abl. more widely than any other writer, except perhaps the poets. ne vetera scrutemur: ‘not to search the distant past’: turns of phrase like this or ne dicam, ‘for not to say’, or ut plura non dicam, ‘ to avoid a long story’, are clearly final, thus with subjunctive.) postremo ipsam ad Alpis promotam ut non modo singuli viritim, sed terrae, gentes in nomen nostrum coalescerent. (postremo ipsam ad Alpis promotam ut non modo singuli viritim, sed terrae, gentes in nomen nostrum coalescerent: ipsam refers back to omni Italia: ‘Italy itself, finally extended to the Alps, so that not only single members separately, but territories and peoples fused together under our name. See note for an parum quod Veneti et Insubres curiam inruperint in previous chapter.) tunc solida domi quies et adversus externa floruimus, cum Transpadani in civitatem recepti, cum specie deductarum per orbem terrae legionum additis provincialium validissimis fesso imperio subventum est. (tunc solida domi quies et adversus externa floruimus, cum Transpadani in civitatem recepti, cum specie deductarum per orbem terrae legionum additis provincialium validissimis fesso imperio subventum est: ‘in those days [there was] stable peace at home and we thrived in regard to foreign affairs, when the peoples on the north side of the Po were admitted to citizenship and when, under the pretext of distributing the legions across the world, fresh blood was given to our exhausted empire, the sturdiest warriors of the provinces having been added.’ solida domi quies: a strange thing to say of the time (49 A.D.), when a civil was about to break out between Caesar and Pompey, followed by the struggle between Octavian (later Augustus) and Mark Antony, a turbulent period that would last twenty-two years until 27 A.D., when Augustus was left sole master of the empire. Several explanations have been advanced to justify the phrase, none convincing. tunc … cum … cum …: tunc forms a correlative pair with cum, ‘just then … when … when … ‘; specie deductarum … legionum: lit. ‘with the excuse of the legions being meted out …’; cum … recepti [sunt], … cum … imperio subventum est: example of coordinating temporal cum (cf. A.G. 545, a.), easily recognisable from two things: (a) the tense in both main and cum clause is identical (since the time of the action or state in both is the same); (b) the mood is always indicative. subventum est is impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb, ‘it was provided relief [to the empire].’ additis provincialium validissimis: abl. abs.) num paenitet Balbos ex Hispania nec minus insignis viros e Gallia Narbonensi transivisse? (num paenitet Balbos ex Hispania nec minus insignis viros e Gallia Narbonensi transivisse?: ‘does anyone object that the Balbi had moved to us from Spain and men no less distinguished from Gallia Narbonensis?’ num paenitet … transivisse?: num introduces here a direct question to which the expected answer is negative, thus the question is rhetorical (cf. B. 162, 2. and 3.); the impersonal paenitet can have an infinitive clause (in place of a noun) expressing the cause of the negative feeling (cf. A.G. 354, c.), the clause being at the same time the subject of paenitet. For Gallia Narbonensis see note for cum de supplendo senatu agitaretur in ch. 23. Balbos: Cornelius Balbus was the first foreigner to attain the consulate. His nephew was mentioned in Book 3, ch. 72.) manent posteri eorum nec amore in hanc patriam nobis concedunt. quid aliud exitio Lacedaemoniis et Atheniensibus fuit, quamquam armis pollerent, nisi quod victos pro alienigenis arcebant? (quid aliud exitio Lacedaemoniis et Atheniensibus fuit, quamquam armis pollerent, nisi quod victos pro alienigenis arcebant?: lit. ‘what else was to the Lacedaemonians for ruin, though they were powerful with arms, if not the fact that they kept the vanquished at a distance as (pro) aliens?’ exitio Lacedaemoniis et Atheniensibus: double dative or dative of service: exitio is dat, of the end or purpose, Lacedaemoniis et Atheniensibus dat. of possessor with fuit; nisi quod … arcebant: the conjunctional phrase nisi quod is regularly with indicative in that it implies something having effectively occurred; qumquam in Tacitus takes subjunctive.) at conditor nostri Romulus tantum sapientia valuit ut plerosque populos eodem die hostis, dein civis habuerit. (at conditor nostri Romulus tantum sapientia valuit ut plerosque populos eodem die hostis, dein civis habuerit: ‘but Romulus, our founder, was endued with such foresight that he viewed most of the peoples [he fought with] as enemies and then citizens in the space of one day.’ nostri is objective genitive, ‘of us’; sapientia is abl. of respect, ‘as to wisdom’; tantum … ut … habuerit: consecutive clause with subjunctive; the perfect (here habuerit) is found regularly after a historical main verb, in this case valuit.) advenae in nos regnaverunt: libertinorum filiis magistratus mandare non, ut plerique falluntur, repens, sed priori populo factitatum est. (advenae in nos regnaverunt: libertinorum filiis magistratus mandare non, ut plerique falluntur, repens, sed priori populo factitatum est: ‘foreigners have held sway over us, to assign public offices to the sons of freedmen [is] not something new, as many are mistaken in thinking, but was often done in ancient Rome.’ in nos regnaverunt: in + acc. may indicate imposition; falluntur is passive in middle voice; repens is neuter singular, ‘a new thing’; priori populo is abl. of place where, freely found without in; factitare is the frequentative form of facere.) at cum Senonibus pugnavimus: scilicet Vulsci et Aequi numquam adversam nobis aciem instruxere. (at cum Senonibus pugnavimus: scilicet Vulsci et Aequi numquam adversam nobis aciem instruxere: ‘but, [you say], we fought wars with the Senones: naturally, the Volscians and the Aequi never drew up a battleline in opposition to us!’ at adds here an objection from the other side, namely that the Senones had centuries earlier sacked Rome (see note for quid si memoria eorum moreretur in previous chapter), which elicits from Claudius the sarcastic response that Rome’s immediate neighbors had also waged war on her more often than once. The Volscians lived south of Rome near Terracina, the Aequi east of Rome, past Tivoli.) capti a Gallis sumus: sed et Tuscis obsides dedimus et Samnitium iugum subiimus. (capti a Gallis sumus: sed et Tuscis obsides dedimus et Samnitium iugum subiimus: ‘[true], Rome was captured by the Gauls, but we [also] gave hostages to the Etruscans and we went under the yoke of the Samniti.’ Tusci is an alternate name of the Etruscans, one from which Tuscany is derived. The Samniti, a warlike people, occupied a region in the central-southern Apennines in Italy, between below Rome and Benevento, ENE of Naples. In one of their wars with Rome, being victorious, they forced the Romans to pass under a yoke of Samnite spears in sign of submission.) ac tamen, si cuncta bella recenseas nullum breviore spatio quam adversus Gallos confectum: (ac tamen, si cuncta bella recenseas nullum breviore spatio quam adversus Gallos confectum: ‘and yet, if one considers all the wars, not one was concluded in a shorter time than the war against the Gauls.’ si … recenseas, … confectum [sit]: conditional sentence with potential condition (type II) and subjunctive in the protasis and, most likely, in the apodosis. The conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar lasted from 58 to 50 B.C.) continua inde ac fida pax. iam moribus artibus adfinitatibus nostris mixti aurum et opes suas inferant potius quam separati habeant. (iam moribus artibus adfinitatibus nostris mixti aurum et opes suas inferant potius quam separati habeant: ‘now integrated with us by habits, culture, and the bonds of marriage, let them bring us their gold and wealth rather than they should enjoy them separately.’ inferant … habeant: hortatory subjunctives) omnia, patres conscripti, quae nunc vetustissima creduntur, nova fuere: plebeii magistratus post patricios, Latini post plebeios, ceterarum Italiae gentium post Latinos. inveterascet hoc quoque, et quod hodie exemplis tuemur, inter exempla erit.’ (inveterascet hoc quoque, et quod hodie exemplis tuemur, inter exempla erit: ‘this [decision we make] will also become established and what we legitimize today by precedent, will [itself] be among the precedents’, i.e., will become an authority for future decisions.)