XXXVII.
Censusque quorundam senatorum iuvit. quo magis mirum fuit quod (quo magis mirum fuit quod … superbius accepisset: ‘for that reason (quo) it was more surprising that (quod) he received the request rather disdainfully.’ superbius: a comparative without second term of comparison is rendered in English by adding ‘a little too ..’, ‘rather’, ‘somewhat too …’, etc.) preces Marci Hortali, nobilis iuvenis, in paupertate manifesta superbius accepisset. nepos erat oratoris Hortensii, (oratoris Hortensii: the speaker and politician Quintus Hortensius Hortalus was Cicero’s great rival in oratory.) inlectus a divo Augusto liberalitate decies sestertii (liberalitate decies sestertii: when speaking of large sums, sestertium meant 100,000 sesterces, thus decies sestertii was one million sesterces. liberalitate is abl. of instrument, ‘with a generous gift of …’) ducere uxorem, suscipere liberos, ne clarissima familia extingueretur. (ne clarissima familia extingueretur: negative purpose clause: ‘lest his distinguished family became extinct’) igitur quattuor filiis ante limen curiae adstantibus, loco sententiae, (loco sententiae: lit. ‘in the place of [giving] one’s opinion’, i.e. ‘when his turn to speak came’; see also ch. 33.) cum in Palatio senatus haberetur, (cum in Palatio senatus haberetur: temporal cum followed by subjunctive is called narrative cum. Suetonius informs us that senate meetings were occasionally held in the library of the imperial palace on the Palatine hill.) modo Hortensii inter oratores sitam imaginem modo Augusti intuens, ad hunc modum coepit: ‘patres conscripti, (patres conscripti: a phrase referring to the senate, ‘enrolled fathers’; some argue that the two words refer to separate entities, namely the fathers, or original members of the aristocracy, and those that were enrolled later from the lower classes.) hos, quorum numerum et pueritiam videtis, non sponte sustuli (sustuli: ‘I have reared’; sustuli is from tollo, not subfero.) sed quia princeps monebat; (quia … monebat: the causal particle quia is regularly followed by indicative, except in special cases, such as the clause being in oratio obliqua.) simul maiores mei meruerant ut posteros haberent. (maiores mei meruerant ut posteros haberent: ‘my ancestors had deserved they should have descendants.’ The verb mereo is found complemented by infinitive or by ut or ne + subjunctive.) nam ego, qui non pecuniam, non studia populi neque eloquentiam, gentile domus nostrae bonum, (eloquentiam, gentile domus nostrae bonum: ‘oratorical skills, the hereditary endowment of our house’; gentile, from gens, refers to heredity.) varietate temporum accipere vel parare potuissem, (qui non … potuissem: subjunctive in relative clause of causal sense) satis habebam, si tenues res meae nec mihi pudori nec cuiquam oneri forent. (satis habebam, si tenues res meae nec mihi pudori nec cuiquam oneri forent: conditional sentence, with imperfect indicative in apodosis and imperfect subjunctive in protasis to mark possibility or eventuality in the past (Ernout): ‘I was satisfied if my modest means were not an embarrassment to me or a charge to anyone else.’ mihi and cuiquam are datives of interest, pudori and oneri of destination.) iussus ab imperatore uxorem duxi. en stirps et progenies tot consulum, tot dictatorum. (en stirps et progenies tot consulum, tot dictatorum: en is interjection calling attention to something or someone, like the French ‘voila’ or the Italian ‘ecco’: ‘behold the scions and progeny of consuls and dictators.’ On the father’s side the house could only boast of one consul, the orator himself, Quintus Hortensius, consul in 56 B.C., and one dictator, the homonymous Quintus Hortensius, dictator in 286 B.C.) nec ad invidiam ista sed conciliandae misericordiae (conciliandae misericordiae: purpose expressed by means of the gerundive, ‘for compassion to be gained’) refero. adsequentur florente te, Caesar, quos dederis honores: (adsequentur florente te, Caesar, quos dederis honores: ‘in the splendor of your power, they will win such distinctions as you will have given them.’ The future perfect dederis precedes in time the simple future adsequentur; florente te: lit. ‘you flourishing’, ‘you being at the height of your power’) interim Q. Hortensii pronepotes, divi Augusti alumnos ab inopia defende.’