LIV.
Ceterum (ceterum: from Sallust on this adverbial accusative came to be used mostly as an alternative to sed (Ernout).) Seianus maerentem et improvidam altius perculit, immissis qui per speciem amicitiae monerent paratum ei venenum, vitandas soceri epulas. (immissis qui per speciem amicitiae monerent paratum ei venenum, vitandas soceri epulas: abl. abs. followed by relative clause of final sense with subjunctive: ‘agents (qui) being set to work who, under the guise of friendship, would warn that poison was readied for her and that eating her father-in-law’s food must be avoided. vitandas [esse] …epulas: the passive gerundive construction is a convenient way to express necessity or obligation.) atque illa simulationum nescia, cum propter discumberet, non vultu aut sermone flecti, nullos attingere cibos, (cum propter discumberet, non vultu aut sermone flecti, nullos attingere cibos: ‘when she reclined at table hard by him, she did not speak or relaxed her features and did not touch her food.’ cum propter discumberet: use of narrative cum with subjunctive; see note for cum …viseret in previous chapter. propter may be adverb rather than prep.: ‘in close proximity’. non vultu aut sermone flecti: sermone is with flecti by zeugma, so a separate verb must be used in English: lit. ‘she was not relaxed as to her features, she kept silent, and did not touch her food.’ flecti and attingere are historical infinitives; vultu and sermone are ablatives of respect or specification; cf. A.G. 418.) donec advertit Tiberius, forte an quia audiverat; (donec advertit Tiberius, forte an quia audiverat: ‘until Tiberius noticed [her behaviour], either by chance or perhaps because he had heard [of it]’; donec, ‘until’, is with indicative (usually perfect) to indicate a factual time limit in the past. forte an quia audiverat: the particle an may be found, especially in Tacitus, used as a disjunctive conjunction with the sense of ‘or possibly’, ‘or perhaps’. See L 1675.) idque quo acrius experiretur, poma, ut erant adposita, laudans nurui sua manu tradidit. (idque quo acrius experiretur, poma, ut erant adposita, laudans nurui sua manu tradidit: ‘and in order to investigate the matter (id) more deeply, he offered, praising it, some fruit to his daughter-in-law with his own hand, just as it had been placed [before him].’ quo is preferred to ut in purpose clauses if a comparative is present. ut erant adposita: temporal ut, ‘as soon as’, takes plup. indicative. adposita goes with poma, neuter plural.) aucta ex eo suspicio Agrippinae et intacta ore servis tramisit. (aucta ex eo suspicio Agrippinae et intacta ore servis tramisit: ‘Agrippina’s suspicion grew deeper on that account and passed the fruit to the servants without tasting it.’ ex eo: for that reason; intacta ore: abl. abs., lit. ‘being untouched by her lips’; intacta refers to poma.) nec tamen Tiberii vox coram secuta, sed obversus ad matrem non mirum ait si quid severius in eam statuisset a qua veneficii insimularetur. (nec tamen Tiberii vox coram secuta, sed obversus ad matrem non mirum ait si quid severius in eam statuisset a qua veneficii insimularetur: ‘yet no comment of Tiberius overtly followed, but turning to his mother said that it was not surprising if he would have decided something fairly severe against a woman by whom he was accused of poisoning.’ Suetonius says that Tiberius never invited Agrippina to his table again. si …statuisset: si is here interrogative, not conditional, particle comparable to num or an, used to ask an indirect question, therefore with subjunctive. English uses ‘if’ in the same way. Cf. G. 460, b. and A.G. 576, a. The plup. subjunctive statuisset represents future in past time and corresponds to the future perfect of direct speech. a qua …insimularetur: relative clause with subjunctive in oratio obliqua; si quid severius: quid is for aliquid after si and other particles; severius: the suffix -ior and -ius may often have no comparative value, but be merely intensives, indicating increased emphasis or force. expressed in English by such modifiers of the adjective or adverb as ‘fairly’, ‘rather’, particularly’, ‘too’, and the like.) inde rumor parari exitium neque id imperatorem palam audere, secretum ad perpetrandum quaeri. (secretum ad perpetrandum quaeri: in indirect speech after rumor: ‘that he was searching for a secret way of doing [it]’; ad perpetrandum: acc. gerund with ad to express purpose)