LXVII.
Auxere numerum accusatorum Gellius Publicola et M. Paconius, ille quaestor Silani, hic legatus. (Gellius Publicola et M. Paconius, ille quaestor Silani, hic legatus: it augured ill for Silanus that his two closest associates chose to testify against him. See the similar situation of Granius Marcellus in Book 1, ch. 74.) nec dubium habebatur saevitiae captarumque pecuniarum teneri reum: (nec dubium habebatur saevitiae captarumque pecuniarum teneri reum: teneri: lit. ‘to be caught doing wrong, ‘to be caught out’: ‘no doubt was felt that the defendant was guilty of cruelty and embezzlement.’ teneri functions here as a verb of accusing and takes gen. of the charge; see repetundarum a sociis postulatum in previous chapter.) sed multa adgerebantur etiam insontibus periculosa, (multa …etiam insontibus periculosa: ‘many circumstances perilous even for innocent men’) cum super tot senatores adversos facundissimis (facundissimis: dat. with the intransitive responderet) totius Asiae eoque ad accusandum delectis responderet solus et orandi nescius, (orandi nescius: ‘ignorant of the art of speaking’; objective genitive gerund after an adjective denoting knowledge or lack of it ; cf. A.G. 349.) proprio in metu qui (qui: the antecedent is metus, a masc. noun, hence qui.) exercitam quoque eloquentiam debilitat, non temperante Tiberio quin premeret (cum … responderet … quin premeret: the conj. cum may be here temporal (narrative cum) or causal, the difference between the two being at times difficult to see. In any case, both require subjunctive. quin is in this case mere adverb, not subordinating conjunction; it injects emphasis when adding a new item to an enumeration, thus: ‘yes indeed, and not only that, but [Tiberius] was pressing him …’; premeret is still governed by cum.) voce vultu, eo quod ipse creberrime interrogabat, neque refellere aut eludere dabatur, (eo quod ipse creberrime interrogabat, neque refellere aut eludere dabatur: the adverb eo introduces a causal clause with quod + indicative: ‘by the very fact that he himself was repeatedly assailing him with questions, and it was not allowed to rebut or evade [them].’ Bandying words with the emperor was unthinkable; silence was equally or even more offensive, so admission of guilt was the only way left. dabatur is impersonal use of passive.) ac saepe etiam confitendum erat ne frustra quaesivisset. (saepe etiam confitendum erat ne frustra quaesivisset: ‘often one was even obliged to admit guilt, so that the prince should not have had to ask in vain.’ confitendum erat ne …: impersonal use of the passive periphrastic conjugation, followed by negative purpose clause: lit. ‘it was to be confessed, lest …’. The emperor, being emperor, would accept nothing short of an admission of guilt.) servos quoque Silani ut tormentis interrogarentur actor publicus mancipio acceperat. (servos … ut tormentis interrogarentur actor publicus mancipio acceperat: ‘a state agent had accepted the legal purchase of Silanus’ slaves so that they be interrogated under torture.’ For the reasons of such a procedure see the case of Libo Drusus in Book 2, ch. 30. mancipio accipere or dare: the actual laying hold of something in the presence of witnesses to formalize its purchase.) et ne quis necessariorum iuvaret periclitantem maiestatis crimina subdebantur, vinclum et necessitas silendi. (ne quis necessariorum iuvaret periclitantem maiestatis crimina subdebantur, vinclum et necessitas silendi: lit. ‘and that no connection of his might come to his aid while exposed to danger, charges of treason were added, an unbreakable fetter and a stern enjoinder to keep silent.’ Any attempt to intervene in cases of treason may itself be viewed as treason. quis is always for aliquis after ne. iuvaret periclitantem: the expression was used before in ch. 12 with reference to Piso.) igitur petito paucorum dierum interiectu defensionem sui deseruit, (petito paucorum dierum interiectu defensionem sui deseruit: ‘a deferment of a few days having been applied for, he abandoned his own defense.’ sui is gen. reflexive pronoun, ‘of himself’; it lacks nominative, but has sui, sibi, se, se for the other cases.) ausis ad Caesarem codicillis quibus invidiam et preces miscuerat. (ausis ad Caesarem codicillis quibus invidiam et preces miscuerat: the verb audeo is rarely found in the passive, except in poetry, yet Tacitus uses the passive perfect participle ausis here and the homonymous noun in the previous chapter (see note for obscura initia impudentibus ausis propolluebat): ‘a message to Tiberius having been ventured, in which he had mingled reproaches with prayers’; codicillis refers to a set of writing tablets serving as a letter.)