LV.
Sed Caesar quo famam averteret adesse frequens senatui legatosque Asiae ambigentis quanam in civitate templum statueretur pluris per dies audivit. (Caesar quo famam averteret adesse frequens senatui legatosque Asiae ambigentis quanam in civitate templum statueretur pluris per dies audivit: ‘to deflect from himself the unfavorable talk of the people, Tiberius was frequently present in the senate and for many days listened to embassies of Asia wrangling in which city the temple should be built’. templum: the temple to Tiberius himself, mentioned in ch. 15; quo …averteret: in purpose clauses quo may replace ut , especially when a comparative is present, as in quo acrius experiretur in previous chapter; adesse …senatui: dative with adsum, lit. ‘attended to’ or ‘gave heed to the senate’; adesse is historical infinitive; quanam in civitate …statueretur: subjunctive in indirect question introduced by interrogative quanam) undecim urbes certabant, pari ambitione, viribus diversae. neque multum distantia inter se (undecim urbes certabant, pari ambitione, viribus diversae. neque multum distantia inter se: ‘eleven cities were competing with equal ambition, different as to resources. The diversity among them [of their claims] was not much.’ multum is adverb.) memorabant de vetustate generis, studio in populum Romanum per bella Persi et Aristonici aliorumque regum. (per bella Persi et Aristonici aliorumque regum: lit. ‘during the wars of Perseus, of Aristonicus, and of other kings’; Perseus, the last of the Macedonian kings, was ultimately defeated at Pydna in central-northern Greece in 168 B.C. by L. Aemilius Paulus. Persi, in place of Persei, is one of Tacitus’ archaisms, gen. of Perses . Aristonicus was the brother of Attalus III, the king of Pergamus, who at his death bequeathed the kingdom to the Romans. Aristonicus contested the gift but was defeated in 129 B.C. The other kings may be Mithridates, Pharnaces of Pontus and various Parthian kings.) verum Hypaepeni Trallianique Laodicenis ac Magnetibus simul tramissi ut parum validi; (verum Hypaepeni Trallianique Laodicenis ac Magnetibus simul tramissi ut parum validi: verum, adverb, may on occasion have strong adversative sense: ‘but in fact, the people of Hypaepa, Tralles, together with those of Laodicea and Magnesia were passed over for not being important enough.’ Hypaeni: Hypaepa was in Lydia in central-west Turkey, about 45 miles east of Izmir on the Aegean coast. Tralliani: Tralles was in Caria, very near the southern border with Lydia. Laodicenis: Laodicea was on the river Lycus in Phrygia, the region east of Lydia and Caria. Magnetibus: Magnesia near the river Meander is here meant, not the nearby Magnesia a Sipylo. It was located just north of the Meander river in Ionia, a coastal region west of Lydia. Laodicenis ac Magnetibus simul: simul is preposition with abl., with or without cum, found in poets and later writers, ‘together with’. Here simul is postponed (anastrophe). The construction has occurred before in Book 3, ch. 64. parum is in this case adverb, not noun, ‘not …enough’) ne Ilienses quidem, cum parentem urbis Romae Troiam referrent, nisi antiquitatis gloria pollebant. (ne Ilienses quidem, cum parentem urbis Romae Troiam referrent, nisi antiquitatis gloria pollebant: ‘not even the people od Ilium, though they could point to Troy as the parent of Rome, did not carry much weight otherwise than (nisi) by virtue of their antiquity.’ Ilienses …Troiam: the ancient city of Troy (or Ilium), the site of the ten-year war sung by Homer in the Iliad, was located at the entrance to the Dardanelles in the NW corner of Turkey in the Troad region. The city, according to legend, was stormed and burned by the Greeks. The Trojan prince Aeneas, with a few survivors, was able to escape from the burning city and to make his way to Italy, where his descendants founded Rome. ne …quidem …pollebant, nisi gloria antiquitatis: when nisi is without a verb of its own, after a negative main clause, its meaning is ‘but’, ‘except’, ‘otherwise than’. cum …referreent: concessive cum takes subjunctive.) paulum addubitatum quod Halicarnasii mille et ducentos per annos nullo motu terrae nutavisse sedes suas vivoque in saxo fundamenta templi adseveraverant. (paulum addubitatum quod Halicarnasii mille et ducentos per annos nullo motu terrae nutavisse sedes suas vivoque in saxo fundamenta templi [fore] adseveraverant: lit. ‘it was hesitated a little because the Halicarnassians had stated that their location had not shaken from an earthquake for twelve hundred years and that the foundation of the temple would be on living rock.’ addubitatum [est]: impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb, ‘it was lingered awhile’; other examples are creditum and deliberatum below, only the verbs there are transitive. Halicarnassii: the ancient city of Halicarnassus was on the Aegean coast of Caria, NE of the island of Kos or Cos. It was the site of the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.) Pergamenos (eo ipso nitebantur) aede Augusto ibi sita satis adeptos creditum. (Pergamenos (eo ipso nitebantur) aede Augusto ibi sita satis adeptos creditum: ‘it was thought that the Pergamenes had obtained enough [honor] with the temple of Augustus, located there (they based their claim on that very fact).’ Pergamum is located in the coastal region of Aeolia in Mysia (northwestern Turkey) at about the same latitude as the nearby island of Lesbos. aede Augusto: abl. of instrument, ‘by the temple to Augustus’) Ephesii Milesiique, hi Apollinis, illi Dianae caerimonia occupavisse civitates visi. (Ephesii Milesiique, hi Apollinis, illi Dianae caerimonia occupavisse civitates visi: ‘the Ephesians and the Milesians seemed (visi [sunt]) that they had [already] had enough on their hands, these with the worship of Apollo, those of Diana.’ caeremonia is abl. with occupo (Oxf. Lat. Dict.).) ita Sardianos inter Zmyrnaeosque deliberatum. (ita Sardianos inter Zmyrnaeosque deliberatum: ‘thus, it was now weighed between the Sardians and the Smyrneans.’ Both Smyrna and Sardis are in Lydia in western Tukey at about the same latitude, the first on the Aegean coast at the east end of the gulf of Izmir, the modern name of Smyrna, the other in central Lydia, just north of Hypaepa mentioned above.) Sardiani decretum Etruriae recitavere ut consanguinei: nam Tyrrhenum Lydumque Atye rege genitos ob multitudinem divisisse gentem; (Sardiani decretum Etruriae recitavere ut consanguinei: nam Tyrrhenum Lydumque Atye rege genitos ob multitudinem divisisse gentem: ‘the Sardians quoted a decree of Etruria as proof of (ut = ‘in the guise of’) consanguinity, since Tyrrhenus and Lydus, the offspring from king Atys, had divided the nation on account of their excessive numbers.’ ut consanguinei: freely, ‘as is done among people of the same blood’) Lydum patriis in terris resedisse, Tyrrheno datum novas ut conderet sedes; et ducum e nominibus indita vocabula illis per Asiam, his in Italia; (ducum e nominibus indita vocabula illis per Asiam, his in Italia: ‘from the names of the leaders, designations were given to those in Asia [Lydians] and to these in Italy [Tyrrhenians, later Etrurians or Etruscans].) auctamque adhuc Lydorum opulentiam missis in Graeciam populis cui mox a Pelope nomen. (missis in Graeciam populis cui mox a Pelope nomen [fuit]: abl. abs. with dependent relative clause: ‘communities having been sent to Greece, who had their name from Pelops’; cui is dat. of possessor with implied fuit. The reference is to the large Peloponnese peninsula hanging on to the mainland of Greece by the vey thin isthmus of Corinth.) simul litteras imperatorum et icta nobiscum foedera bello Macedonum ubertatemque fluminum suorum, temperiem caeli ac ditis circum terras memorabant. (litteras imperatorum et icta nobiscum foedera bello Macedonum … memorabant: ‘they brought forward letters of military commanders and the pacts struck with us in the war with (of) the Macedonians.’ bello Macedonum is very likely the war with Perseus mentioned above.)