III.
Ceterum (ceterum: with the adversative force of sed or tamen, as often in Tacitus) plena Caesarum domus, iuvenis filius, nepotes adulti (nepotes adulti: the ‘grown-up grandsons’ were, in order of age, Nero, Drusus, and the young Caligula, the sons of Germanicus, who was the adopted son of Tiberius. Much younger were the twins Tiberius and Germanicus, the offspring of Drusus, the son of the emperor.) moram cupitis adferebant; (moram cupitis adferebant: ‘entailed a delay to his aspirations’; cupitis is dat. plur. of cupidus, the perfect participle of cupio, ‘to desire’.) et quia vi tot simul corripere intutum dolus intervalla scelerum poscebat. (quia vi tot simul corripere intutum dolus intervalla scelerum poscebat: ‘because to sweep off by force so many at one time [was] dangerous; treachery demanded the spacing out of the crimes’; scelerum is objective genitive after a noun.) placuit tamen occultior via et a Druso incipere, in quem recenti ira ferebatur. (ira ferebatur: ‘bore a grudge’) nam Drusus impatiens aemuli et animo commotior (impatiens aemuli et animo commotior: ‘intolerant of rivals and too fiery as to temper’; commotior: the suffix -ior is in this case not comparative, but an intensifier: it merely determines the degree of emphasis to be assigned to the adjective. It is usually translated as ‘very’, ‘somewhat’, ‘a little too …’, ‘rather’, ‘particularly’ or similar adverbs. animo is abl. of respect.) orto forte iurgio intenderat Seiano manus et contra tendentis os verberaverat. (intenderat Seiano manus et contra tendentis os verberaverat: lit. ‘he had lifted his fist against Sejanus and struck the face of the latter moving on him.) igitur cuncta temptanti promptissimum visum ad uxorem eius Liviam convertere, (cuncta temptanti promptissimum visum ad … Liviam convertere: lit. ‘to him assessing every course of action, it seemed that the easiest way [was] to turn to Livia.’ temptandi is dat. with visum [est].) quae soror Germanici, formae initio aetatis indecorae, mox pulchritudine praecellebat. hanc ut (ut: here without verb in conditional comparison, ‘just as if’, ‘as though’) amore incensus adulterio pellexit, (adulterio pellexit: ‘he inveigled her to adultery.’ pellicio is usually with ad + acc., but Tacitus often prefers dat.) et postquam primi flagitii potitus est (postquam primi flagitii potitus est: ‘after he gained her submission by a first crime, …’; potior is found more frequently with abl., but gen. and acc. are not rare. postquam takes indicative, usually in the perfect.) (neque femina amissa pudicitia alia abnuerit), (abnuerit: potential subjunctive, ‘she would assent’; the present and the perfect are used interchangeably without detectable difference in meaning. Cf. B. 280, 1.) ad coniugii spem, consortium regni et necem mariti impulit. atque illa, cui avunculus Augustus, socer Tiberius, ex Druso liberi, (cui avunculus Augustus, socer Tiberius, ex Druso liberi [erant]: ‘who had Augustus for great-uncle, Tiberius for father-in-law, and children from Drusus’; Livia or Livilla was the sister of Germanicus; their mother was Antonia, the daughter of Marc Antony and Octavia, Augustus’ sister. Thus, Augustus was Livia’ grand-uncle. cui is dat. of possessor with implied erat.) seque ac maiores et posteros municipali adultero foedabat ut pro honestis et praesentibus flagitiosa et incerta expectaret. (se …municipali adultero foedabat ut pro honestis et praesentibus flagitiosa et incerta expectaret: ‘because of a small-town paramour she was bringing [such] shame upon herself in order to hope for criminal prospects that might never realize in exchange for her honored and secure standing.’) sumitur in conscientiam Eudemus, amicus ac medicus Liviae, specie artis frequens secretis. (sumitur in conscientiam Eudemus, … specie artis frequens secretis: ‘Eudemus is taken into the plot, under the cover of his profession often taking part in their secret confabulations.’ sumitur is historical present.) pellit domo Seianus uxorem Apicatam, ex qua tres liberos genuerat, ne paelici suspectaretur. (ne paelici suspectaretur: ‘lest he might be suspected by his mistress’; paelici (from paelex) is dative of agent, usually reserved for the passive periphrastic construction, but sometimes found in poetry and writers like Tacitus with the passive of other verbs, in place of abl. with a or ab. The passive of suspecto is rarely used.) sed magnitudo facinoris metum, prolationes, diversa interdum consilia adferebat.