XXXVIII.
Non enim Tiberius, non accusatores fatiscebant. et Ancharius Priscus Caesium Cordum pro consule Cretae postulaverat repetundis, (et Ancharius Priscus Caesium Cordum pro consule Cretae postulaverat repetundis: ‘for example, Ancharius Priscus had prosecuted Caesius Cordus, the proconsul of Crete, for embezzlement.’ The particle et here adds evidence of what has just been said, namely that Tiberius and the informers were busily prosecuting cases of treason, real or imaginary. postulaverat repetundis: repetundiis is short for pecuniis repetundiis, ‘moneys to be demanded back’; pro consule Cretae is in place of proconsulem Cretae: when pro is separate from consul it becomes prep. governing the abl., with the force of ‘instead of [a consul]’ (cf. A.G. 379, a., Note). The large Aegean island of Crete was a senatorial, not an imperial province, thus was governed by an ex-consul or ex-praetor.) addito maiestatis crimine, quod tum omnium accusationum complementum erat. Caesar Antistium Veterem e primoribus Macedoniae, (Macedoniae: a Roman province in northern Greece between Epirus and Thrace, south of Moesia.) absolutum adulterii, increpitis iudicibus (increpitis iudicibus: abl. abs.: ‘the judges having been reprimanded’) ad dicendam maiestatis causam retraxit, (Caesar Antistium Veterem …ad dicendam maiestatis causam retraxit: Tiberius forced Antistius Vetus to come back and be tried for high treason.’ ad dicendam maiestatis causam: lit. ‘for the cause of treason to be pleaded (in a court of justice)’) ut turbidum et Rhescuporidis consiliis permixtum, qua tempestate Cotye [fratre] interfecto bellum adversus nos volverat. (ut turbidum et Rhescuporidis consiliis permixtum, qua tempestate Cotye [fratre] interfecto bellum adversus nos volverat: ‘as a seditious person implicated in the schemes of Rhescuporis at the time [the king] had considered war against us, after murdering [his brother] Cotys’ (cf. Book 2, ch. 66); Cotye [fratre] interfecto: abl. abs. replacing a temporal clause with postquam; [fratre] is probably a transcription error, Coty being the nephew, not the brother of Rhescuporis (cf. Book 2, ch. 64).) igitur aqua et igni interdictum reo, adpositumque ut teneretur insula neque Macedoniae neque Thraeciae opportuna. (aqua et igni interdictum reo, adpositumque [est] ut teneretur insula neque Macedoniae neque Thraeciae opportuna: the passive interdictum and adpositum are used impersonally: lit. ‘it was interdicted to the accused [the use of] water and fire and it was added that he should be held in an island unfavorably situated for both Macedonia and Thrace.’ The exclusion on all Roman soil from the essentials for life left exile as the sole alternative. aqua et igni is abl. of privation; reo is dat. with interdico; adpositum ut teneretur: the passive of adpono, when used impersonally, takes ut + subjunctive. Cf. G. 553, 4.) nam Thraecia diviso imperio in Rhoemetalcen et libetos Cotyis, quis ob infantiam tutor erat Trebellenus Rufus, (diviso imperio in Rhoemetalcen et liberos Cotyis, quis …erat …: see Book 2, ch. 67; quis is an archaic form of quibus, dat. of possessor with erat, ‘who had …’.) insolentia nostri discors agebat (Thraecia … insolentia nostri discors agebat: lit. ‘Thrace, because of the novelty of our administration, acted in a disaffected manner.’ insolentia nostri: lit. ‘from ignorance of us’, i.e. ‘lack of experience with (of) our government’; the personal pronoun nos has two forms of plur. genitive, nostri and nostrum: the latter is strictly partitive, nostri is objective genitive (cf. A.G. 348).) neque minus Rhoemetalcen quam Trebellenum incusans popularium iniurias inultas sinere. (neque minus Rhoemetalcen quam Trebellenum incusans popularium iniurias inultas sinere: the subject is still Thraecia: ‘the country accusing no less Rhoemetalces than Trebellenus that they thy allowed unpunished the wrongs of the people’; iniurias: the burdens imposed by the new Roman administration, viewed as oppressive by the populace.) Coelaletae Odrusaeque et Dii, validae nationes, (Coelaletae Odrusaeque et Dii, validae nationes: the Odrusae were by far the largest and most formidable of the three tribes and constituted the core of the kingdom of Thrace.) arma cepere, ducibus diversis et paribus inter se per ignobilitatem; quae causa fuit ne in bellum atrox coalescerent. (quae causa fuit ne in bellum atrox coalescerent: quae refers to what precedes, namely the fact that they had three leaders in place of one, all mediocre: ‘which was the cause they did not unite their forces in the face of a terrible war. ne introduces a negative purpose clause) pars turbant praesentia, (pars turbant praesentia: ‘part of the forces ravage the districts near them.’ praesentia: the abstract for the concrete, as often in Tacitus; turbant is historical present, as are transgrediuntur and circumsidunt below.) alii montem Haemum (montem Haemum: the Balkan mountains, stretching across the center of Bulgaria from west to east) transgrediuntur ut remotos populos concirent; plurimi ac maxime compositi regem urbemque Philippopolim, a Macedone Philippo sitam, (Philippopolim, a Macedone Philippo sitam: Tacitus uses sitam, (from sino) for conditam, ‘built’. ‘founded’. Philippopolis, today Plovdiv in central Bulgaria, traces its origins back to Philippus II, the fourth century B.C. Macedonian king and father of Alexander the Great.) circumsidunt.