LXVIII.
Tiberius quae in Silanum parabat quo excusatius sub exemplo acciperentur, (quo excusatius sub exemplo acciperentur: quo replaces ut in purpose clauses when a comparative is present: ‘in order that [his measures] might be accepted with more justification under the cover of a precedent’; sub + abl. may have the force of ‘under the protection.’ Cf. Oxf. Lat. Dictionary.) libellos divi Augusti de Voleso Messala (libellos divi Augusti de Voleso Messala: ‘…. the accusations of divine Augustus concerning Volesus Messala’; consul in 5 A.D. under Augustus, Messala was later governor of the province of Asia, where he committed atrocities for which he was indicted.) eiusdem Asiae pro consule factumque in eum senatus consultum recitari iubet. tum L. Pisonem (L. Pisonem: Lucius Calpurnius Piso, consul in 1 B.C., was most likely the brother of Gnaeus Piso, the man suspected of poisoning Germanicus. Cf. Book 2, ch, 32 and 34.) sententiam rogat. ille multum de clementia principis praefatus aqua atque igni Silano interdicendum censuit (aqua atque igni Silano interdicendum censuit: ‘he proposed that the interdiction from water and fire should be pronounced for Silanus.’ The interdictio meant that no one was to supply the essentials for life, within a given territory (usually Italy), from which a man condemned to exile was banned.) ipsumque in insulam Gyarum (in insulam Gyarum: a rocky islet of the Cyclades in the Aegean sea.) relegandum. eadem ceteri, nisi quod Cn. Lentulus separanda Silani materna bona, quippe Atia parente geniti, (eadem ceteri, nisi quod Cn. Lentulus separanda Silani materna bona, quippe Atia parente geniti: ‘the other senators {held] the same view, except that Gnaeus Lentulus [proposed] that the maternal property of Silanus ought to be kept separate, inasmuch as he [was] born of a [maternal] parent named Atia.’ geniti from genitus agrees in case with Silani; Atia: the original text appears to have alia, meaningless in the context. Atia makes sense in that Augustus’ mother was also named Atia and the two may have been related. Confiscation was waved out of consideration for the imperial family. Confiscation of property went hand in hand with a sentence of exile. nisi quod: nisi is often used adverbially, largely without conditional sense: word for word, ‘except the fact that …’, where quod is explanatory. Gnaeus Lentulus was probably the augur Lentulus mentioned in ch. 59.) reddendaque (interdicendum … relegandum … separanda …reddenda: repeated use of the passive periphrastic conjugation to express obligation or necessity, all four in indirect speech with esse understood, the first two used impersonally, the rest in personal constructions.) filio dixit, adnuente Tiberio.