VIII.
At Piso praemisso in urbem filio datisque mandatis (per quae principem molliret: relative clause replacing a purpose clause with ut: ‘instructions wherewith he might soften the prince’) ad Drusum pergit, quem haud fratris interitu trucem quam remoto aemulo aequiorem sibi sperabat. (quem haud …trucem quam … aequiorem sibi sperabat: quem haud trucem quam is ellipsis for quem haud tam trucem quam, tam and quam being correlatives in comparisons: ‘he hoped that Drusus would not be so disagreeable to him rather than friendly.’ aequiorem is an example of comparative absolute, as it lacks the second term of comparison. In English it is expressed by modifying the positive by means of adverbs such as ‘rather’, ‘too’, ‘somewhat’, ‘especially’ etc.) Tiberius quo integrum iudicium ostentaret, (quo integrum iudicium ostentaret: quo may be found in Tacitus replacing ut in purpose clauses even if no comparative is present: ‘that thereby he should show a judgement free of prejudice’) exceptum comiter iuvenem sueta erga filios familiarum nobilis liberalitate auget. (sueta erga filios familiarum nobilis liberalitate auget: ‘he added with generosity the gifts usually given to the noble sons of Roman families.’ liberalitate is abl. of manner, without cum as in poetry; erga; the prep. is used by Tacitus for every kind of mental relations to persons and things.) Drusus Pisoni, si vera forent quae iacerentur, praecipuum in dolore suum locum respondit: (si vera forent quae iacerentur, praecipuum in dolore suum locum respondit: lit. ‘he answered that if the rumors that were circulating were true, his own place in displeasure would be foremost.’ si vera forent, praecipuum suum locum [futurum esse]: conditional sentence in indir. speech, with future (potential or type II) condition; imperfect subjunctive after the historical respondit in the protasis and implied future infinitive with esse in apodosis. suum refers to the speaker, Drusus.) sed malle falsa et inania nec cuiquam mortem Germanici exitiosam esse. haec palam et vitato omni secreto; neque dubitabantur praescripta ei a Tiberio, cum incallidus alioqui et facilis iuventa senilibus tum artibus uteretur. (cum incallidus alioqui et facilis iuventa senilibus tum artibus uteretur: causal cum + subjunctive: ‘because, ingenuous in other respects and without reserve [as one is] in youth, he made at that time (tum) use of the shrewdness of old age)