XXVII.
Sub idem tempus e familia Scriboniorum Libo Drusus defertur moliri res novas. (Libo Drusus …defertur moliri res novas: ‘M. Libo Drusus is reported to plot to subvert the state’; moliri res novas: lit. ‘to bring about a new order of things.’ defertur is historical present.) eius negotii initium, ordinem, finem curatius disseram, quia tum primum reperta sunt quae per tot annos rem publicam exedere. Firmius Catus senator, ex intima Libonis amicitia, (ex intima Libonis amicitia: ex + abl. can indicate cause or result.) invenem inprovidum et facilem inanibus ad Chaldaeorum (Chaldaeorum: the Chaldaei were a people of Assyria in northern Iran, east of the Tigris river, but in Roman times the name was synonymous with ‘astrologers’, also called mathematici. In Book 4, ch. 58 Tacitus refers to them as periti celestium.) promissa, magorum sacra, somniorum etiam interpretes impulit, dum proavom Pompeium, amitam Scriboniam, quae quondam Augusti coniunx fuerat, consobrinos Caesares, (proavom Pompeium, amitam Scriboniam, … consobrinos Caesares: Libo’s mother was the daughter of Sextus Pompeius, the son of Pompey the Great (triumvir with Caesar and Crassus) and of Scribonia, niece of Augustus’ wife by the same name. Thus, Pompey was the great-grandfather of Libo and Augustus wife Scribonia his great-great-aunt. By Caesares are meant the legitimate heirs to the throne, i.e., Drusus and (through adoption) Germanicus, Libo’s cousins.) plenam imaginibus domum ostentat, (dum … ostentat: according to Ernout, the steady association of dum with present indicative has something of the character of a formula.) hortaturque ad luxum et aes alienum, (aes alienum: ‘borrowed money’, ‘debt’) socius libidinum et necessitatum, (socius libidinum et necessitatum: libidinum and necessitatum are objective genitives after a noun: ‘a partner of his debaucheries and money troubles’) quo pluribus indiciis inligaret. (quo pluribus indiciis inligaret: quo regularly replaces ut in final clauses when a comparative is present: ‘in order to entangle him with more evidence’)