LXIX.
At Cornelius Dolabella dum adulationem longius sequitur (Dolabella dum adulationem longius sequitur: ‘Dolabella, pushing even further his flattery, …’; Cornelius Dolabella is the incorrigible sycophant who was laughed at in ch. 47. dum, ‘while’ is almost invariably followed by present indicative.) increpitis C. Silani moribus addidit ne quis vita probrosus et opertus infamia provinciam sortiretur, idque princeps diiudicaret. (addidit ne quis vita probrosus et opertus infamia provinciam sortiretur, idque princeps diiudicaret: ‘he added that anyone, shameful as to his life and secretive as to his infamy, ought not to choose a province’ (lit. ‘ought not to cast lots over a province’) and that the prince should be the judge in the matter’; ne …sortiretur and diiudicaret are jussive subjunctives in indirect speech, the first negative, the other positive. Cf. A.G., 431, Note 2. vita and infamia are ablatives of relation or respect; cf. G. 397.) nam a legibus delicta puniri: (a legibus delicta puniri: a legibus is abl. of the agent with passive puniri, legibus being used in a personified sense, hence with the prep. a.) quanto fore mitius in ipsos, melius in socios, provideri ne peccaretur? (quanto fore mitius in ipsos, melius in socios, provideri ne peccaretur?: quanto asks a rhetorical indirect question, equivalent to a statement, hence the infinitive fore, not foret, in indirect discourse (cf. B. 162, 3. and 315, 2.): ‘how much kinder would it be for the offenders themselves, better for the allies, to take care that they did not offend?’ provideo is regularly followed by a complementary final clause with ut or ne. See G. 346 and Notes for list of verbs and nouns so constructed.) adversum quae disseruit Caesar: non quidem sibi ignara quae de Silano vulgabantur, sed non ex rumore statuendum. (non ex rumore statuendum: impersonal use of the passive periphrasis to express obligation: ‘that one must not make decisions grounded on rumor’; ex rumore is abl of cause.) multos in provinciis contra quam spes aut metus de illis fuerit egisse: (multos in provinciis contra quam spes aut metus de illis fuerit egisse: ‘that many in the provinces had governed quite otherwise than the expectation or fear concerning them had been’; contra quam, like contra atque, secus quam, alius quam, etc. (see L. 1895), introduces a dependent clause of comparison which is necessarily with subjunctive in oratio obliqua; fuerit is in place of fuisset after the historical main verb disseruit, a case of repraesentatio, for which see A.G. 585, b. and Note. Another example of repraesentatio is gliscat below, in place of glisceret.) excitari quosdam ad meliora magnitudine rerum, hebescere alios. neque posse principem sua scientia cuncta complecti neque expedire ut ambitione aliena trahatur. (neque posse principem … expedire ut ambitione aliena trahatur: ‘nor could the emperor [always] manage to avoid (expedire) that he be led astray by the ambitious scheming of others’) ideo leges in facta constitui quia futura in incerto sint. (quia futura in incerto sint: sint is subjunctive after quia in that the clause is in indirect discourse.) sic a maioribus institutum ut, si antissent delicta, poenae sequerentur. (sic a maioribus institutum ut, si antissent delicta, poenae sequerentur: the case of a conditional sentence in indirect discourse governed by consecutive ut: ‘that so was it arranged by our ancestors that, if crimes had come first, penalties must follow’; subjunctive in both protasis and apodosis according to the sequence of tenses when the verb of saying (disseruit) is historical and the condition is logical or type I; antissent …sequerentur: plup. for action anterior to the action of the imperfect sequerentur; Latin is much stricter than English in matters of time relations.) ne verterent sapienter reperta et semper placita: (ne verterent sapienter reperta et semper placita: command in indirect speech: ‘they must not overturn institutions wisely invented and always accepted.’ In direct speech: nolite vertere sapienter reperta et ….) satis onerum principibus, satis etiam potentiae. minui iura quotiens gliscat potestas, nec utendum imperio ubi legibus agi possit. (minui iura quotiens gliscat potestas, nec utendum imperio ubi legibus agi possit: ‘that the force of the laws was diminished each time imperial power gained strength and that there should be no recourse to the emperor whenever action was possible through the laws.’ possit is used impersonally: lit. ‘whenever it was possible to be handled by the laws’.) quanto rarior apud Tiberium popularitas tanto laetioribus animis accepta. (quanto rarior apud Tiberium popularitas tanto laetioribus animis accepta: comparative sentence with tanto and quanto heading the dependent and the main clause respectively: ‘the more rare [was] liberality with Tiberius, all the more joyously it [was] received.’) atque ille prudens moderandi, (prudens moderandi: ‘capable of restraint’; moderandi is objective genitive after an adjective.) si propria ira non impelleretur, addidit insulam Gyarum immitem et sine cultu hominum esse: darent Iuniae familiae et viro quondam ordinis eiusdem ut Cythnum potius concederet. (darent Iuniae familiae et viro quondam ordinis eiusdem ut Cythnum potius concederet: ‘darent is hortatory or jussive subjunctive in indirect speech: ‘[he said] that they should grant to the Junian family and to a man formerly of their own order, that [Silanus] might retire to Cythnus instead’; Cythnus today is Kythnos in the northwest part of the Cyclades in the Aegean sea, south od Kea and north of Serifos; dare is here followed by a completive clause with ut; also found with acc. + infinitive.) id sororem quoque Silani Torquatam, priscae sanctimoniae virginem, expetere. in hanc sententiam facta discessio. (facta discessio: lit. ‘a division having been called’, in reference to the senate system of voting: the members rose from their seats and grouped themselves around the person with whose proposal they agreed, so that the votes could be counted.)