III.
Sed consultanti super absolutione Asiatici flensVitellius, commemorata vetustate amicitiae utque Antoniam principis matrem pariter observavissent, dein percursis Asiatici in rem publicam officiis recentique adversus Britanniam militia, quaeque alia conciliandae misericordiae videbantur, liberum mortis arbitrium ei permisit; (sed consultanti super absolutione Asiatici flensVitellius, commemorata vetustate amicitiae utque Antoniam principis matrem pariter observavissent, dein percursis Asiatici in rem publicam officiis recentique adversus Britanniam militia, quaeque alia conciliandae misericordiae videbantur, liberum mortis arbitrium ei permisit: sed marks a return to the main subject, the trial of Asiaticus: lit. ‘Vitellius, for his part (sed), after calling back to mind, with tears in his eyes, his abiding friendship [to the accused] and how they both equally had honored Antonia, the prince’s mother, after commemorating Asiaticus’ services to the state, his recent campaign against Britain, and whatever else seemed suitable to elicit compassion, he humbly suggested (permisit) to Claudius — asking his advice (consultanti) about absolving Asiaticus — [to grant] him (ei) the free choice of death.’ commemorata vetustate (‘the lasting quality of … having been recalled’) and percursis … officiis recentique militia (‘his public services and his recent campaign having been given an account of’) are ablatives abs.; ut Antoniam … observavissent: the particle ut is here loosely interrogative in an indirect question; also, partly exclamative or even explanatory; the subjunctive is required by the interrogative force of ut or in view of the clause being in virtual oratio obliqua, as Vitellius’ words are reported. quaeque alia conciliandae misericordiae: ‘and anything else for compassion to be gained’; conciliandae misericordiae: genitive gerundive as a predicate genitive after videbantur to express purpose, especially in later Latin. See A.G. 504, Note 1.) et secuta sunt Claudii verba in eandem clementiam. (secuta sunt Claudii verba in eandem clementiam: ‘Claudius’ words followed towards the same mercy’, that is, ‘in the same spirit of mercy’. The situation may require elucidation: Vitellius is under orders by Messalina not to let Asiaticus escape unharmed, thus, he feigns not to hear Claudius’ intention to spare Asiaticus. Bursting into tears, he pretends to defend him by enumerating his qualities and services in preparation for asking a great ‘boon’ of the emperor, namely to let Asiaticus choose his own death. In Cassius Dio, Vitellius even says that the accused himself had asked that very favor. Claudius is duped into thinking that the proposed ‘boon’ is more just than full pardon and sufficient to still his own conscience (Furneaux).) hortantibus dehinc quibusdam inediam et lenem exitum, remittere beneficium Asiaticus ait: (hortantibus dehinc quibusdam inediam et lenem exitum, remittere beneficium Asiaticus ait: ‘after the trial, to certain friends urging starvation and an easy death, he answered that he waived that privilege.’) et usurpatis quibus insueverat exercitationibus, lauto corpore, hilare epulatus, cum se honestius calliditate Tiberii vel impetu G. Caesaris periturum dixisset quam quod fraude muliebri et impudico Vitellii ore caderet, venas exolvit, (usurpatis quibus insueverat exercitationibus, lauto corpore, hilare epulatus, cum se honestius calliditate Tiberii vel impetu G. Caesaris periturum [fuisse] dixisset quam quod fraude muliebri et impudico Vitellii ore caderet, venas exolvit: lit. ‘those gymnastic exercises (he had been in the habit of doing) having been performed, his body having been bathed, and having cheerfully dined, after he had just said that he would have perished more honorably by the cunning of a Tiberius or the mad rage of a Caligula than by some feminine scheming and the slithery tongue of a Vitellius, he opened his veins.’ usurpatis quibus insueverat exercitationibus, lauto corpore is abl. abs.; quibus is dat. with insuesco, ‘to which he had become accustomed’; cum … dixisset: use of historical or narrative cum + subjunctive, for action immediately preceding, or even concurrent with, the action of the main verb. Cf. G. 585. se honestius … periturum … quam quod fraude mulieri… caderet: in indirect speech after dixisset: lit. ‘thar he would have died more nobly than that he should fall by the devices of a woman.’ quam quod, like quam qui, quam quo, etc., signify disproportion after a comparative; they are post-classical constructions with subjunctive, their sense being consecutive. Cf. G. 298 and L. 1896. periturum [fuisse]: the participle in -urus followed by fuisse is the Latin way to express – in an infinitive clause – a contrary-to-fact conditional idea in the past. periturum [fuisse] may be viewed as the apodosis, in indirect discourse, of an unreal conditional sentence (type III) with implied protasis, such as, in this case, si potuisset. See L. 2331, Petitmangin 342, and Ernout p. 429.) viso tamen ante rogo iussoque transferri partem in aliam ne opacitas arborum vapore ignis minueretur: (viso tamen ante rogo iussoque transferri partem in aliam ne opacitas arborum vapore ignis minueretur: ‘yet, not before he had inspected his funeral pyre and ordered that it be moved to another location, lest the shadiness of the tress be impaired by the heat (vapore) of the fire.’ viso … rogo iussoque is abl. abs. iusso transferri: care is always taken in Latin to assign a subject to the complementary infinitive clause after iubeo, even if it means turning the verb to its passive form. In this case the subject is an implied ‘it’, referring to the funeral pyre.) tantum illi securitatis novissimae fuit. (tantum illi securitatis novissimae fuit: ‘so remarkable was his final self-possession .’ securitatis novissimae is partitive genitive after the neuter tantum. illi is dative of possessor with fuit)