LXVII.
Flaccus in Thraeciam transgressus per ingentia promissa quamvis ambiguum et scelera sua reputantem perpulit ut praesidia Romana intraret. (per ingentia promissa quamvis ambiguum et scelera sua reputantem perpulit ut praesidia Romana intraret: ‘by dint of lavish promises he prevailed on him, howbeit undecided and reflecting on his crimes, to enter the Roman posts.’ perpello is regularly followed by a final ut clause, less by infinitive. quamvis ambiguum: quamvis, a subordinating conjunction, is here modifying ambiguum as adverb.) circumdata hinc regi specie honoris valida manus, (circumdata [est] hinc regi specie honoris valida manus: lit. ‘hence, a strong force was placed around the king under pretence of homage.’ regi is dative with circumdare.) tribunique et centuriones monendo, suadendo, (monendo, suadendo: use of abl. gerund to express means, instrument) et quanto longius abscedebatur, apertiore custodia, (quanto longius abscedebatur, apertiore custodia: comparative sentence without correlative particle (tanto) in the main clause: lit. ‘so much farther it was proceeded, the more undisguised his confinement’: abscedebatur: impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb) postremo gnarum necessitatis (gnarum necessitatis: ‘conscious of his hopeless plight’; necessitatis is objective genitive after an adjective.) in urbem traxere. accusatus in senatu ab uxore Cotyis damnatur, ut procul regno teneretur. (damnatur, ut procul regno teneretur: damno is complemented here by ut + subjunctive, a rather rare usage: he was condemned to be kept under observation away from his kingdom.’) Thraecia in Rhoemetalcen filium, quem paternis consiliis adversatum constabat, (quem paternis consiliis adversatum constabat: ‘it was known that he (quem) had opposed his father’s designs’; paternis consiliis is dat. with adversor.) inque liberos Cotyis dividitur; (in … inque … dividitur: divido in the sense of ‘to apportion something between or among recipients’ is found followed by both dative and in + acc.; see Oxford Lat. Diction.) iisque nondum adultis Trebellenus Rufus praetura functus datur qui regnum interim tractaret, (iisque nondum adultis Trebellenus Rufus praetura functus datur qui regnum interim tractaret: iisque nondum adultis is abl. abs.: ‘these [children] not being yet adults, Trebellenus Rufus, an ex-praetor, was assigned to govern the kingdom in the interim.’ Trebellenus will be mentioned again in Book 3, ch. 38. praetura functus: lit. ‘having (in the past) discharged the functions of a praetor’, i.e. an ex-praetor; praetura is abl. with fungor. qui …tractaret: rel. clause of final sense, thus with subjunctive.) exemplo quo maiores M. Lepidum Ptolemaei liberis tutorem in Aegyptum miserant. (exemplo quo maiores M. Lepidum Ptolemaei liberis tutorem in Aegyptum miserant: ‘on the example by which our ancestors had sent Marcus Lepidus to Egypt as guardian for Ptolemy’s children’; on the death of Ptolemaeus Epiphanes of Egypt in 181 B.C., Marcus Lepidus, a Roman censor and twice consul, was entrusted with the guardianship of Ptolemy’s two underage children. According to the historian Polybius, Lepidus ‘was the handsomest man of his age.) Rhescuporis Alexandriam devectus atque illic fugam temptans an ficto crimine interficitur. (fugam temptans an ficto crimine interficitur: an is here used as a disjunctive conjunction, like aut or vel (cf. L. 1675) : ‘he was killed attempting an escape or falsely charged with the crime ’; ficto crimine can be abl. of cause or abl. abs. interficitur is historical present, as are several other verbs in the chapter.)