XXVI.
Iam Messalina facilitate adulteriorum in fastidium versa ad incognitas libidines profluebat, (Messalina facilitate adulteriorum in fastidium versa ad incognitas libidines profluebat: ‘Messalina, made weary by the facility of her adulteries, plunged into untried debaucheries.’ fastidium: ‘boredom’, ‘aversion brought on by surfeit’) cum abrumpi dissimulationem etiam Silius, sive fatali vaecordia an imminentium periculorum remedium ipsa pericula ratus, urgebat: (cum abrumpi dissimulationem etiam Silius, sive fatali vaecordia an imminentium periculorum remedium ipsa pericula ratus, urgebat: ‘while Silius, either from fatal insanity or because he thought that danger itself was the best antidote of imminent dangers, insisted that dissimulation be given up’; cum … urgebat: use of coordinative cum; see note for cum … recepti [sunt], … cum … imperio subventum est in ch, 24. sive … an: in later Latin the particle an, normally reserved for disjunctive questions, may be found replacing aut or sive in simple choices.) quippe non eo ventum ut senectam principis opperirentur. insontibus innoxia consilia, flagitiis manifestis subsidium ab audacia petendum. (quippe non eo ventum ut senectam principis opperirentur. insontibus innoxia consilia, flagitiis manifestis subsidium ab audacia petendum: in oratio obliqua after urgebat: ‘surely, they had not come to such a state of affairs to await the old age of the prince. For the innocent, innocuous plans; for manifest crimes help must be obtained from boldness’; ab audacia petendum [esse]: impersonal use of passive periphrasis to express necessity or duty; the dat. of agent, usual with this construction, is here replaced by ab + abl., since the verb peto always takes abl. with the preposition instead of double acc., like other verbs of asking and teaching. See A.G. 396.) adesse conscios paria metuentis. se caelibem, orbum, nuptiis et adoptando Britannico paratum. (nuptiis et adoptando Britannico paratum: ‘[he was] ready for marriage and for adopting Britannicus’; adoptando Britannicus: passive meaning, lit. ‘for Britannicus to be adopted’; paratus is here with dative.) mansuram eandem Messalinae potentiam, addita securitate, si praevenirent Claudium, ut insidiis incautum, ita irae properum. (addita securitate, si praevenirent Claudium, ut insidiis incautum, ita irae properum: abl. abs. as the apodosis of a conditional sentence in oratio obliqua: ‘security being added, if they anticipated Claudius, a man as inattentive to deception as [he was] quick to anger’ insidiis and irae are dat. with incautum and properum; si praevenirent: all protases are subjunctive in indirect speech, regardless of type of condition.) segniter eae voces acceptae, non amore in maritum, sed ne Silius summa adeptus sperneret adulteram scelusque inter ancipitia probatum veris mox pretiis aestimaret. (segniter eae voces acceptae, non amore in maritum, sed ne Silius summa adeptus sperneret adulteram scelusque inter ancipitia probatum veris mox pretiis aestimaret: ‘these words were received with little interest, not from love of the husband, but from the suspicion that Silius, having attained supreme power, would despise an adulterous woman and would judge later at its true value the treachery he had assented to among perils.’ ne … veris pretiis aestimaret: neg. final clause, always with either imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive; veris pretiis is abl. of price; cf. A.G. 416.) nomen tamen matrimonii concupivit ob magnitudinem infamiae cuius apud prodigos novissima voluptas est. nec ultra expectato quam dum sacrificii gratia Claudius Ostiam proficisceretur, cuncta nuptiarum sollemnia celebrat. (nec ultra expectato quam dum sacrificii gratia Claudius Ostiam proficisceretur, cuncta nuptiarum sollemnia celebrat: lit. ‘it being waited no longer than up to the time when Claudius should leave for Ostia to perform a sacrifice, she celebrated the solemn formalities of marriage.’ expectato: abl. abs. with the neuter abl. of a perfect participle ending in -to, used impersonally and alone. This ancient usage, originally limited to few participles like auspicato, consulto, contestato, vadato, pugnato, etc, was extended to several others in later Latin. dum … proficisceretur: dum here has the force of quamdiu, ‘as long as’; it is followed by subjunctive if intention, planning, or suspense is implied. sacrificii gratia: causa and gratia, ‘for the sake of’, command the genitive; Ostiam: with names of cities the place to which is simple acc. Ostia was the harbor of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber; today the town is inland, as the sediments of the river over the centuries have moved the coastline farther out. celebrat is historical present.)