X.
In tradenda morte Drusi quae plurimis maximaeque fidei auctoribus memorata sunt rettuli: (in tradenda morte Drusi quae plurimis maximaeque fidei auctoribus memorata sunt rettuli: ‘in passing down the death of Drusus I have reported the facts that (quae = ea quae) were recorded by the historians of greatest reliability.’ in tradenda morte Drusi: since the active gerund in tradendo mortem cannot be used (since the abl. gerund + prep. does not admit a direct object), Tacitus uses the passive gerundive, which gives ‘in Drusus’ death to be passed down, …’. Also, the gerundive denotes duty and indirectly reflects on the historian’s responsibility to be accurate and objective.) set non omiserim eorundem temporum rumorem validum adeo ut noudum exolescat. (non omiserim eorundem temporum rumorem validum adeo ut noudum exolescat: for non omiserim see note for congruens crediderim in ch 6.: ‘I would not ignore a rumor of those times so tenacious as not to be forgotten until now.’ exolescat is subjunctive in consecutive clause introduced by adeeo ut.) corrupta ad scelus Livia (corrupta ad scelus Livia: abl. abs., ‘Livia having been suborned to [commit] crime’. At this point oratio obliqua comes in without warning and the verb of saying must be derived from the context, in this case mainly from the noun rumor. See also G. 649, N. 2.) Seianum Lygdi quoque spadonis animum stupro vinxisse, quod is [Lygdus] (is [Lygdus]: most probably a gloss or note left by a reader, reminding himself whom is stood for, and later incorporated in the text by a careless copyist.) aetate atque forma carus domino interque primores ministros erat; (quod …erat: the relative clause with indicative is within oratio obliqua after exolescat (see note above), but not part of the words or thought being reported, being merely incidental and explanatory. Cf. G. 655, Remark 2. The same applies to postquam …inierat below.) deinde inter conscios ubi locus veneficii tempusque composita sint, (deinde inter conscios ubi locus veneficii tempusque composita sint: ‘then, when among the plotters the time and the place of the poisoning was agreed upon, …’; ubi, normally with indicative unless it marks repetition, is here followed by subjunctive in indirect discourse.) eo audaciae provectum ut verteret (eo audaciae provectum ut verteret: ‘Sejanus was swept forward to such a degree of impudence as to reverse direction.’ The correlatives eo …ut brings in the two parts of a consecutive sentence, the dependent part with subjunctive.) et occulto indicio Drusum veneni in patrem arguens moneret Tiberium (occulto indicio Drusum veneni in patrem arguens moneret Tiberium …: lit. ‘in veiled terms he warned Tiberius, accusing Drusus of the poison against the father.’ arguens …veneni: with genitive of the grounds for accusation; also found with abl. with or without de) vitandam potionem quae prima ei apud filium epulanti offerretur. ea fraude captum senem, (ea fraude captum senem: ‘the old emperor was caught with that snare’, i.e. he believed the story.) postquam convivium inierat, (postquam …inierat: the plup. indicative after postquam indicates that the action was not immediate after moneret (Rescigno). See also note for quod …erat above.) exceptum poculum Druso tradidisse; atque illo ignaro et iuveniliter hauriente auctam suspicionem, tamquam metu et pudore sibimet inrogaret mortem quam patri struxerat. (illo ignaro et iuveniliter hauriente auctam suspicionem, tamquam metu et pudore sibimet inrogaret mortem quam patri struxerat: illo ignaro et iuveniliter hauriente is abl. abs. replacing a causal cause with quod or quia: ‘because he knew nothing of the plot and drank with juvenile relish, suspicion rose, as if out of fear and shame he would inflict on himself the death he had prepared for his father. tamquam inrogaret: imperfect subjunctive in a conditional clause of comparison with tamquam to mark the unreality of the comparison; sibimet: the enclitic -met is for emphasis.)