XV.
Eadem Plancinae invidia, maior gratia; (eadem Plancinae invidia, maior gratia: ‘the aversion to Plancina [was] the same, but [she had] more credit.’ Plancinae is dative of possessor with implied erat; here gratia has the force of ‘leverage’ ‘protection’, ‘the support of powerful friends’) eoque ambiguum habebatur quantum Caesari in eam liceret. (eoque ambiguum habebatur quantum Caesari in eam liceret: ‘for that reason it was not clear how much Tiberius might do against her’; the interrogative quantum brings in an indirect question with subjunctive.) atque ipsa, donec mediae Pisoni spes, (donec mediae Pisoni spes: donec is here with the sense of ‘as long as’ and would be followed by any tense of the indicative: ‘as long as Piso’s hopes were undecided’; mediae: ‘in the middle’, ‘neither great nor small’) sociam se cuiuscumque fortunae et si ita ferret comitem exitii promittebat: (sociam se cuiuscumque fortunae et si ita ferret comitem exitii promittebat: ‘she vowed that she (se) would be the sharer of whatever lot his might be and, if the need arose, his companion in death.’ comitem exitii: lit. ‘the consociate of his death’) ut secretis Augustae precibus veniam obtinuit, (ut … obtinuit: ut and other temporal conjunctions or conjunctional phrases meaning ‘as soon as’, like ut primum, ubi, ubi primum, simul ac, etc., all take perfect indicative when the main verb (here coepit) is historical, to indicate action immediately preceding that of the main verb.) paulatim segregari a marito, dividere defensionem coepit. quod reus postquam sibi exitiabile intellegit, an adhuc experiretur dubitans, (quod reus postquam sibi exitiabile [esse] intellegit, an adhuc experiretur dubitans: quod refers to Plancina’s defection: ‘when Piso understood this (quod) to be a fatal blow to him, uncertain whether he should continue fighting, he …’; an always replaces num in indirect questions dependent on forms of dubito or words derived from it. All indirect questions require subjunctive.) hortantibus filiis durat mentem senatumque rursum ingreditur; redintegratamque accusationem, infensas patrum voces, adversa et saeva cuncta perpessus, nullo magis exterritus est quam quod (nullo magis exterritus est quam quod …: ‘nothing alarmed him more than the fact (quod) that …’) Tiberium sine miseratione, sine ira, obstinatum clausumque vidit, ne quo adfectu perrumperetur. (ne quo adfectu perrumperetur: negative purpose clause: ‘in order not to be overcome by any emotion’; quo is in place of aliquo after ne.) relatus domum, tamquam defensionem in posterum meditaretur, (tamquam defensionem in posterum meditaretur: ‘as if he was planning his defense for next day’; after conditional conjunctions of comparison like tamquam, velut si, ut si, aeque ac si, the imperfect or plup. subjunctive may be found even with a primary main verb or a historical present such as conscribit, tradit, and exequitur as in this case.) pauca conscribit obsignatque et liberto tradit; tum solita curando corpori exequitur. dein multam post noctem, egressa cubiculo uxore, operiri foris iussit; et coepta luce (multam post noctem … coepta luce: lit. ‘after much night’, i.e. ‘late in the night’ and ‘light having begun’, i.e. ‘at first light’; nullo is abl. of nullum used as a noun, as synonym of nihil, ‘nothing’) perfosso iugulo, iacente humi gladio, (perfosso iugulo, iacente humi gladio: either ablatives abs. or of attendant circumstance) repertus est.