LVII.
Cunctaque socialia prospere composita non (cunctaque socialia prospere composita non …: lit. ‘the successfully arranged network of relations with all our allies did not …’; socialia: ‘matters that pertain to the allies’) ideo laetum Germanicum habebant ob superbiam Pisonis qui iussus partem legionum ipse aut per filium in Armeniam ducere utrumque neglexerat Cyrri (Cyrri: Cyrrhus was a town in northern Syria on the slopes of the Taurus mountains, about 80 miles NE of Antioch. Cyrri is locative.) demum apud hiberna decumae legionis convenere, firmato vultu, Piso adversus metum, Germanicus ne minari crederetur; (firmato vultu, Piso adversus metum, Germanicus ne minari crederetur: lit. ‘their facial expression resolutely set, Piso against fear, Germanicus lest he should be thought to act menacingly, …’) et erat, ut rettuli, clementior. (clementior: ‘even too kind’; example of comparative absolute, a comparative without second term of comparison; it is rendered in English by means of a complementary adverbial phrase like ‘even too …’, ‘rather too’, or similar.) sed amici accendendis offensionibus callidi (accendendis offensionibus callidi: ‘experts at inflaming resentment’; accendendis offensionibus: use of dative gerundive to express purpose, ‘for animosities to be stirred up’) intendere vera, adgerere falsa ipsumque et Plancinam et filios variis modis criminari. postremo paucis familiarium adhibitis sermo coeptus a Caesare, qualem ira et dissimulatio gignit, (sermo … qualem ira et dissimulatio gignit: ‘speech of the kind concealed anger brings forth.’ ira and dissimulation is hendiadys.) responsum a Pisone precibus contumacibus; discesseruntque apertis odiis. (responsum a Pisone precibus contumacibus; discesseruntque apertis odiis: lit. ‘it was answered by Piso with insolent excuses and they left each other in open enmity.’ precibus contumacibus is abl. of instrument, apertis odiis abl. of manner.) post quae rarus in tribunali Caesaris Piso, et si quando adsideret, atrox ac dissentire manifestus. (atrox ac dissentire manifestus: ‘disgruntled and giving clear signs that he disapproved’; manifestus, adj., is also found followed by infinitive once in Statius (Oxford Lat. Dictionary).) vox quoque eius audita est in convivio, cum apud regem Nabataeorum (apud regem Nabataeorum: the Nabateans were an ancient Arab people in NW Arabia; their main center was Petra, near the gulf of Akaba inside today’s Jordan.) coronae aureae magno pondere Caesari et Agrippinae, leves Pisoni et ceteris offerrentur, (cum … offerrentur: for use of hist. cum + subjunctive see note for cum orta tempestas raperet … in ch. 55.) principis Romani, non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari; (vox …eius audita est … principis Romani [filio], non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari: ‘he was also heard saying that the banquet was being given to the son of a Roman prince, not to the son of a Parthian King.’ The point of the barb, resulting from the contrast between princeps (i.e. ‘the first of citizens) and rex (‘absolute ruler’) gets blunted in translation, the word ‘prince’ no longer having the same meaning today. ) abiecitque simul coronam et multa in luxum addidit quae Germanico quamquam acerba (quamquam acerba: the use of quamquam, as adverb in combination with participles and even more with adjectives, became frequent in imperial times. Cf. G. 609, Note 2.) tolerabantur tamen.