XXV.
Relatum dein de moderanda Papia Poppaea, (de moderanda Papia Poppaea: lit. ‘about the Papia Poppaea law to be revised’ or ‘about the need to revise the …’; any use of the gerundive entails the notion of necessity, obligation, or advisability. The lex Papia et Poppaea, named after the two bachelor consuls of the year of enactment, was passed in 9 A.D. to oblige all Roman citizens to marry and have children after a certain age. It supplemented and amplified the Julian laws, for which cf. next note.) quam senior Augustus post Iulias rogationes (post Iulias rogationes: the Julian laws (the lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus, enacted in 18 B.C., and the lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis of 17 B.C. ), together with the new lex Papia et Poppaea, formed the lex Julia et Papia Poppaea law that regulated marriage, discouraged celibacy, and severely punished adultery.) incitandis caelibum poenis et augendo aerario (incitandis … poenis et augendo aerario: ‘for the penalties to be tightened and the treasury to be increased’; use of dat. gerundive to denote purpose, an alternative to ad + acc. gerundive; cf. also note above for de moderanda Papia Poppaea.) sanxerat. nec ideo coniugia et educationes liberum (educationes liberum: ‘the rearing of children’) frequentabantur praevalida orbitate: (praevalida orbitate: abl. abs.: ‘the childless state being quite prevalent’) ceterum (ceterum: ‘in respect of the rest’, ‘meanwhile’) multitudo periclitantium gliscebat, cum omnis domus delatorum interpretationibus subverteretur, (multitudo periclitantium gliscebat, cum omnis domus delatorum interpretationibus subverteretur: ‘the large numbers of people threatened [by the sanctions] was ever on the increase, since every household was destabilized from the readings of the law by informers.’ cum …subverteretur: causal cum is always with subjunctive. ) utque antehac flagitiis ita tunc legibus laborabatur. (utque antehac flagitiis ita tunc legibus laborabatur: comparative sentence with ut – ita as correlatives: ‘just as in precedence [it was suffered] from licentiousness, so now it was suffered from the laws’ laborabatur is impersonal use of the passive of laboro.) ea res admonet ut de principiis iuris et quibus modis ad hanc multitudinem infinitam ac varietatem legum perventum sit altius disseram. (quibus modis ad hanc multitudinem … legum perventum sit: quibus modis introduces an indirect question requiring subjunctive: lit. ‘in which ways it was come to this multitude of laws’; perventum sit is impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb.)