LXXI.
Caesar paulisper ad spem erectus, (paulisper ad spem erectus: ‘for a brief while restored to hope’) dein fesso corpore ubi finis aderat, (fesso corpore ubi finis aderat: abl. abs. followed by temporal clause with ubi + indicative: ‘his body becoming weak as death approached’) adsistentis amicos in hunc modum adloquitur: ‘si fato concederem, iustus mihi dolor etiam adversus deos esset, (si fato concederem, iustus mihi dolor etiam adversus deos esset: lit. ‘if I were submitting to fate, resentment even against the gods would be justified for me’; freely: ‘if I were dying from natural causes, I would have a justified complaint against the gods themselves.’: contrary to fact (type III) conditional sentence, with imperfect subjunctive in both protasis and apodosis, for condition in present time. mihi is dat. of possessor with esset.) quod me parentibus liberis patriae intra inventam praematuro exitu raperent: (quod … raperent: causal quod followed by subjunctive when the reason is merely presumed, not official) nunc scelere Pisonis et Plancinae interceptus ultimas preces pectoribus vestris relinquo: referatis patri ac fratri, quibus acerbitatibus dilaceratus, quibus insidiis circumventus miserrimam vitam pessima morte finierim. (referatis … quibus acerbitatibus dilaceratus, quibus insidiis circumventus … vitam pessima morte finierim: referatis is hortatory or jussive present subjunctive, followed by indirect question with subjunctive (finierim) introduced by the double quibus, ablatives of agent after the passive dilaceratus and circumventus.) si quos spes meae, si quos propinquus sanguis, etiam quos invidia erga viventem movebat, inlacrimabunt (si quos …, si quos … movebat, inlacrimabunt: logical (type I) conditional sentence with indicative in both protasis and apodosis. A sentence of the same kind occurs further down: vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis) quondam florentem et tot bellorum superstitem muliebri fraude cecidisse. (inlacrimabunt quondam florentem … cecidisse: ‘they will lament that a man once flourishing had fallen.’) erit vobis locus querendi apud senatum, invocandi leges. (erit vobis locus querendi apud senatum, invocandi leges: ‘you will have an opportunity to complain in the senate, to appeal to the laws.’ querendi and invocandi are objective genitive gerunds after a noun; vobis is dat. of possessor with erit.) non hoc praecipuum amicorum munus est, prosequi defunctum ignavo questu, sed quae voluerit meminisse, quae mandaverit exequi. flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti: vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis. (vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis: ‘you will avenge Germanicus, if you loved me rather than my fortune.’ vos: unlike English, Latin rarely uses personal pronouns, except to mark emphasis.) ostendite populo Romano divi Augusti neptem eandemque coniugem meam, numerate sex liberos. misericordia cum accusantibus erit fingentibusque scelesta mandata aut non credent homines aut non ignoscent.’ (fingentibusque scelesta mandata aut non credent homines aut non ignoscent: fingentibus is dat. with both credent and ignoscent: ‘men will not believe or will not forgive those alleging criminal orders’: an allusion to Tiberius’ occulta mandata mentioned in ch. 43) iuravere amici dextram morientis contingentes spiritum ante quam ultionem amissuros. (spiritum ante quam ultionem amissuros: the use of subordinating conjunctions, like velut, quasi, nisi, quamquam, quamvis and here antequam in combinations with participles, spread in imperial times: ‘they would be renouncing life sooner than revenge; the sense is comparative.)