XIV.
Is quoque annus (is quoque annus: i.e. like the year before; see Book 3, ch. 60 – 63) legationes Graecarum civitatium habuit, Samiis Iunonis, Cois Aesculapii delubro vetustum asyli ius ut firmaretur petentibus. (Samiis … Cois … petentibus: abl. abs: ‘the habitants of Samos and Cos petitioning …’; the islands of Samos and Cos are both off the western coast of modern Turkey, Samos at the same latitude as the city of Aydin on the mainland, Cos further south in line with Izmir.) Samii decreto Amphictyonum nitebantur, quis praecipuum fuit rerum omnium iudicium, qua tempestate Graeci conditis per Asiam urbibus ora maris potiebantur. (Samii decreto Amphictyonum nitebantur, quis praecipuum fuit rerum omnium iudicium, qua tempestate Graeci conditis per Asiam urbibus ora maris potiebantur: ‘the people of Samos relied on a decree of the Amphictyones, who were the supreme arbiter on all questions, at that time in which (ea tempestate qua) the Greeks controlled the coastal areas, having established cities in Asia.’ Amphictyonum: members of a powerful league or association of cities and states in ancient Greece) neque dispar apud Coos antiquitas, et accedebat meritum ex loco: (accedebat meritum ex loco: nam …: ‘a particular merit [deriving] from the place added itself [to their claim], namely …’ ex loco is abl. of origin.) nam civis Romanos templo Aesculapii induxerant, cum iussu regis Mithridatis apud cunctas Asiae insulas et urbes trucidarentur. (civis Romanos templo … induxerant, cum iussu regis Mithridatis apud cunctas Asiae insulas et urbes trucidarentur: ‘…they had sheltered in the temple Roman citizens in the wake of king Mithridates’ order to all the islands and cities of Asia that they be slaughtered.’ In 88 B.C. Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, during the first Mithridatic war, ordered the massacre of no lees than eighty thousand Romans. cum …trucidarentur: subjunctive after causal cum) variis dehinc et saepius inritis praetorum questibus, (variis dehinc et saepius inritis praetorum questibus: abl. abs.: ‘next in the order of things being the various and usually (saepius: ‘too often’) ignored complaints of the praetors’) postremo Caesar de immodestia histrionum rettulit: multa ab iis in publicum seditiose, foeda per domos temptari; (multa ab iis in publicum seditiose, foeda per domos temptari: ‘much was effected (temptari) by them of a seditious nature against the public order, shameful acts in each (per) home of the city.’ The text is in oratio obliqua after rettulit to the end of the chapter.) Oscum quondam ludicrum, levissimae apud vulgum oblectationis, (Oscum quondam ludicrum, levissimae apud vulgum oblectationis: ‘that the Oscan farce once the most trivial amusement with the multitude’; Oscan was the language of the Oscans, a people living in central-south Italy, below Rome. The Oscan stage plays were known as Fabulae Atellanae, humorous, salacious pieces with set characters and plots exploiting situations, much like the later Italian Commmedia dell’Arte of the 16th and 17th century.) eo flagitiorum et virium venisse ut auctoritate patrum coercendum sit. (eo flagitiorum et virium venisse ut auctoritate patrum coercendum sit: ‘[he said that the farce] had arrived at such a level of impropriety and violence that it should be put down by the authority of the senate’; eo …venisse ut …coercendum sit: consecutive sentence with eo …ut in indirect discourse, thus with infinitive in the main clause introduced by eo; flagitiorum et virium: partitive genitive after an adverb of place, here eo; auctoritate is instrumental abl.) pulsi tum histriones Italia.