LXX.
Ea Germanico haud minus ira quam per metum accepta. (ea … haud minus ira quam per metum accepta [sunt]: ‘such doings were heard of with no less anger than alarm.’ ira …per metum: manner expressed by simple abl. and by per + acc.) si limen obsideretur, si effundendus spiritus sub oculis inimicorum foret, quid deinde miserrimae coningi, quid infantibus liberis eventurum? (si … obsideretur, si … foret, quid … quid … eventurum?: conditional sentence in indirect discourse introduced by verb of saying or thinking to be inferred from accepta [sunt] and extending down to componit epistulas: the protasis is compound, with repeated si, both followed by imperfect subjunctive that corresponds to the simple future of direct discourse; the apodosis is in the form of a rhetorical question equivalent to a statement of fact, hence with future infinitive in indirect discourse. Compare with a similar sentence in ch. 63, also in oratio obliqua: tutam ei honoratamque sedem in Italia fore, si maneret: sin rebus eius aliud conduceret, abiturum fide.) lenta videri veneficia: festinare et urgere, ut provinciam, ut legiones solus habeat. (festinare et urgere, ut provinciam, ut legiones solus habeat: festinare et urgere may well be hendiadys: ‘that [Piso] was doggedly accelerating his (Germanicus’) death to gain exclusive control of the province and of the legions.’ habeat is in place of haberet, required by the sequence of tenses, an example of repraesentatio; cf. A.G. 585, b. and Note.) sed non usque eo defectum Germanicum, neque praemia caedis apud interfectorem mansura. (non usque eo defectum [esse] Germanicum, neque praemia caedis apud interfectorem mansura: ‘that not to such a point had Germanicus become ineffective, nor that the reward of the crime should remain with the assassin’. The future infinitive, mansura or mansura esse is better at expressive potential than the present infinitive.) componit epistulas quis amicitiam ei renuntiabat: (quis amicitiam ei renuntiabat: quis is for quibus, abl. of instrument. as in previous chapter: ‘by which he renounced his friendship for him’) addunt plerique iussum provincia decedere. (iussum [esse] provincia decedere: ‘that he was ordered to leave the province’; provincia is abl. of separation.) nec Piso moratus ultra navis solvit (navis solvit: idiom, lit. ‘to loosen a vessel from its moorings’, i.e. ‘to sail’) moderabaturque cursui quo propius regrederetur si mors Germanici Syriam aperuisset. (moderabatur cursui quo propius regrederetur si mors Germanici Syriam aperuisset: moderor can be transitive (e.g. moderari equum) or intrans. as here, in which case it governs dative: lit. ‘he used moderate speed for his course, that he might be closer in returning if Germanicus’ death should have opened Syria for him.’ quo propius …regrederetur si …aperuisset: conditional sentence with subjunctive in both of its parts, the apodosis being in the form of a purpose clause with quo and the protasis having a potential or type II condition. The plup. aperuisset is for action (in the future) anterior to that of regrederetur. In English future in the past is rendered by either the progressive imperfect indicative (‘if he was going to open’) or the auxiliary ‘would’ or ‘should’ + the perfect infinitive (‘if he would have opened’) If the same sentence were independent, the future perfect aperuerit would be in place of aperuisset and the simple future regredietur would be in place of regrederetur.)