XXXVIII.
Ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo; (ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo: ‘I (ego), call on you as witnesses, conscript fathers, and desire future generations to remember, that I (me) am mortal, that I do things humans do, and that I am content (satisque habere) that I fill (lit. ‘if I fill’) the first place [in the state].’ officia fungi: the construction of fungor with acc. in place of abl. has occurred before in Book 3, ch. 2, also in connexion with Tiberius’ words. It may be that this was an archaism peculiar to the prince. si locum impleam: subjunctive in indirect discourse after testor, but indicative in direct speech for logical (type I) condition.) qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut maioribus meis dignum, rerum vestrarum providum, constantem in periculis, offensionum pro utilitate publica non pavidum credant. (qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut … credant: ‘who will offer sufficient tribute and more to my memory provided they believe that …’; ut introduces a limiting clause, a proviso, with subjunctive, in a manner similar to modo or dummodo, ‘on the understanding that …’, ‘on condition that …’. Cf. A.G. 528. satis superque: ‘more than enough’) haec mihi in animis vestris templa, hae pulcherrimae effigies et mansurae. (mansurae: in republican times only futurus and venturus could be used as common adjectives independently of the active periphrasis with esse. Later the usage spread to practically to all verbs having a supine.) nam quae saxo struuntur, si iudicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur. proinde socios civis et deos ipsos precor, hos ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint, (hos ut mihi …quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint: ‘these (= the gods) [I beseech] to grant (ut …duint) me a quiet mind, perceptive of the needs of justice, both human and divine.’ duint is an archaic form of dent, present subjunctive of do, ‘to give’; this and other forms of the same tense (duim, duis, duit) were used in prayers.) illos ut, quandoque concessero, (quandoque concessero: ‘whenever I die’ or (less common) ‘when I shall die’ ; the Latin future perfect concessero represents an action completed in the future, before the main action begins. In English this time relationship is hardly marked by the tenses used. In the idiom vita concedere, the verb is often used alone.) cum laude et bonis recordationibus facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur.’ (illos ut … facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur: ‘ …those (socios, cives) [I beseech] to maintain alive my deeds and the memory of my name.’) perstititque posthac secretis etiam sermonibus aspernari talem sui cultum. (talem sui cultum: sui is genitive of the reflexive pronoun se: ‘such cult of himself’.) quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur. (quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur: lit. ‘a fact which some interpreted as modesty, many because he lacked confidence, a few as [the sign of] a declining mind.’ Note the use of three different constructions to maintain variety by avoiding repetition of any of the three. quia diffidaret: subjunctive after quia in indirect speech introduced by interpretabantur) optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere: sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos, Quirinum (Herculem et Liberum … Quirinum: Hercules, Heracles, or Alcides, the mythical son of Zeus and Alcmena; Liberum or Liber, an Italian god of the countryside, later identified with Bacchus or Dionysus; Quirinus is the name of the deified Romulus, the founder of Rome and the personification of the Roman nation.) apud nos deum numero additos: melius Augustum, qui speraverit. cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; (cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum [esse], prosperam sui memoriam: in indirect speech after interpretabantur: ‘the other honors were immediately available to the princes, only one must be worked for without ever being satisfied to the fullest, their glorious renown after death.’ parandum [esse]: convenient use of the passive periphrastic conjugation (see G. 251.) to denote necessity; sui memoriam: ‘the memory of themselves’; the reflexive sui can refer both to a singular or plural noun.) nam contemptu famae contemni virtutes. (contemptu famae contemni virtutes: also in oratio obliqua: ‘that virtues are despised through contempt of fame’)