XLIX.
Fine anni Clutorium Priscum equitem Romanum, post celebre carmen quo Germanici suprema defleverat, pecunia donatum a Caesare, corripuit delator, (corripuit delator: main subject and verb in the sentence, with Clutorius as direct object: ‘an informer seized upon [Clutorius].’) obiectans aegro Druso (aegro Druso: ‘Drusus being ill’) composuisse quod, si extinctus foret, maiore praemio vulgaretur. (quod, si extinctus foret, maiore praemio vulgaretur: conditional sentence in oratio obliqua with subjunctive in both protasis and apodosis, the latter being a dependent rel. clause with quod: ‘because [the poem] would be circulated with greater profit, if [Drusus] should have died’; the condition is potential (future or type II) and both extinctus foret and vulgaretur follow consecution temporum after a historical verb of saying to be inferred from corripuit. The passive extinctus esset has middle sense, lit. ‘he should have become extinct’; the plup. in the protasis precedes in time the imperfect vulgaretur of the apodosis. maiore praemio is abl. of manner, without cum when the noun is accompanied by an adjective.) id Clutorius in domo P. Petronii socru eius Vitellia coram multisque inlustribus feminis (Vitellia coram multisque inlustribus feminis: the prep. coram, often postpositive, takes abl.) per vaniloquentiam (per vaniloquentiam: per + acc. can express cause.) legerat. ut delator extitit, (ut delator extitit: ut is here temporal, ‘as soon as’, the perfect indicative suggesting immediate precedence in respect of the main action or state: ‘as soon as the informer appeared, …’) ceteris ad dicendum testimonium exterritis, (ceteris ad dicendum testimonium exterritis: abl. abs.: ‘the other women being cowed into giving evidence’; ad dicendum testimonium: lit. ‘into evidence to be given’; use of the gerundive always entails some form of necessity or compulsion.) sola Vitellia nihil se audivisse adseveravit. sed arguentibus ad perniciem plus fidei fuit, (arguentibus ad perniciem plus fidei fuit: arguentibus is dat. of possessor with fuit and becomes subject in translation: ‘the women testifying to his undoing had more credibility.’ fidei if partitive gen. after the neuter plus.) sententiaque Haterii Agrippae (Haterii Agrippae: the consul for the following year, 22 A.D. See ch. 52.) consulis designati indictum reo ultimum supplicium. (indictum [est] reo ultimum supplicium: ‘the ultimate penalty was inflicted on the accused.’ reo is dat. with indico.)