LXIV.
Sub idem tempus (sub idem tempus: sub takes acc. to indicate an event directly before or after another.) Iuliae Augustae (Iuliae Augustae:) valetudo atrox necessitudinem principi fecit festinati in urbem reditus, (in urbem reditus: Tiberius had kept away from Rome in Campania for well over a year.) sincera adhuc inter matrem filiumque concordia sive occultis odiis. (sive occultis odiis: abl. abs.: ‘or their mutual hatred having been concealed’; sive is here disjunctive conjunction, like aut or vel but with the addition of an element of doubt. Literally sive means ‘or if’, thus, the abl. abs. is to be seen as a protasis in disguise with si.) neque enim multo ante, cum haud procul theatro Marcelli (theatro Marcelli: between Capitol hill and the Tiber. Traces of it remain to this day.) effigiem divo Augusto Iulia dicaret, Tiberi nomen suo postscripserat, idque ille credebatur ut inferius maiestate principis (ut inferius maiestate principis: ‘as something lower in degree than his imperial majesty’; maiestate is abl. of comparison.) gravi et dissimulata offensione abdidisse. set tum supplicia (supplicia: here with the ancient meaning of supplicatio) dis ludique magni ab senatu decernuntur, quos pontifices et augures et quindecimviri septemviris simul et sodalibus Augustalibus ederent. (quos pontifices et augures et quindecimviri septemviris simul et sodalibus Augustalibus ederent: ‘which [solemn games] the pontiffs, augurs, quindecimviri, together with the septemviri and the fraternity of the Augustales, were to preside over’; the sense of the rel. clause is final, hence the subjunctive. The pontifices, with the emperor himself as Pontifex Maximus, were the highest order of priests; the augurs were assigned the task of observing and interpreting the omens for guidance in public affairs; the quindecimviri, a panel of fifteen priests, were entrusted with the care of the Sibylline books (the Roman Bible) and regulation of foreign cults; the septemviri or Epulones, ten in number, supervised sacred banquets; the order of the Augustales was created for the cult of Augustus (see Book 1, ch. 54). The pontifices, augurs, qindecimviri, and the Epulones were the magna collegia of priests and did not include the Augustales and the feciales (see next note). septemviri simul et sodalibus Augustalibus: simul is preposition with abl., with or without cum, found so used in poets and imperial writers, ‘together with …’) censuerat L. Apronius ut fetiales (fetiales: the fetiales were an order of priests authorised to act as the representatives of the Roman government in foreign relations, particularly in charge of the formalities relating to declarations of war and the signing of treaties. The reason for Apronius’ motion may well be that Augustus himself had been one of the fetials.) quoque iis ludis praesiderent. contra dixit Caesar, distincto sacerdotiorum iure et repetitis exemplis: (distincto sacerdotiorum iure et repetitis exemplis: abl. abs.: ‘the jurisdiction of these priests having been recognized as different and precedents having been called to mind’) neque enim umquam fetialibus hoc maiestatis fuisse. (neque enim umquam fetialibus hoc maiestatis fuisse: in indirect discourse after contra dixit: ‘that, in fact, never before had the feciales been given such honor’; fetialibus is dat. of possessor with fuisse; hoc maiestatis: partitive gen. after the neuter hoc, which is here with the sense of tale, ‘such kind of honor’) ideo Augustalis adiectos quia proprium eius domus sacerdotium esset pro qua vota persolverentur. (ideo Augustalis adiectos quia proprium eius domus sacerdotium esset pro qua vota persolverentur: ‘that the Augustales had been added because they were a specific priesthood of that (eius) house, for which (pro qua) the vows were being observed’; eius domus: eius is in this case not possessive pronoun, but demonstrative adjective in place of illius, ‘of that’; pro is always with abl.; ideo …quia is redundancy, since ideo already means ‘for the reason that …’. Such unnecessary repetitions become accepted after long usage, like the English ‘the reason is because …’ or ‘the reason why …’, etc. esset and persolverentur are subjunctives in dependent clauses in indirect speech.)