LVIII.
Profectio arto comitatu fuit: (profectio arto comitatu fuit: ‘his departure was with a slender escort’) unus senator consulatu functus, Cocceius Nerva, cui legum peritia, eques Romanus praeter Seianum ex inlustribus Curtius Atticus, (Cocceius Nerva … Curtius Atticus: the first is best known as the grandfather of the future emperor Nerva, the twelfth since Augustus, between Domitian and Trajan. Atticus appears to have been a literary critic; he was later put to death at Sejanus’ urging; cf. Book 6, ch. 10.) ceteri liberalibus studiis praediti, ferme Graeci, quorum sermonibus levaretur. (ceteri liberalibus studiis praediti, ferme Graeci, quorum sermonibus levaretur: ‘the others were men possessed of the liberal art, predominantly (ferme) Greek, by whose conversation he would be alleviated.’ ferme is an alternate form of fere; quorum levaretur: subjunctive for relative clause of final sense.) ferebant periti caelestium iis motibus siderum excessisse Roma Tiberium ut reditus illi negaretur. (iis motibus siderum excessisse Roma Tiberium ut reditus illi negaretur: ‘that Tiberius had departed from Rome under such motions of the stars (iis motibus), that return [to Rome] would be denied to him (illi)’; iis …ut …negaretur: the sentence is consecutive in indirect discourse after ferebant; the pronominal adjective iis has here the heightened sense of talibus, from talis (see G. 308, Remark 1.), and iis …ut = ‘such …that’ + subjunctive.) unde exitii causa multis fuit properum finem vitae coniectantibus vulgantibusque; (unde exitii causa multis fuit properum [esse] finem vitae coniectantibus vulgantibusque: ‘from which [prevision] (unde) came the cause of ruin for many conjecturing and divulging that the end [of Tiberius] was approaching.’ properum finem: finis is here masculine.) neque enim tam incredibilem casum providebant ut undecim per annos libens patria careret. (neque enim tam incredibilem casum providebant ut undecim per annos libens patria careret: ’indeed, they did not foresee such incredible eventuality as his voluntary absence from home for eleven years.’ tam …, ut …patria careret: consecutive construction with tam …ut + subjunctive: ‘such that he might be without his home’; the verb careo takes abl. of the thing. undecim per annos: per + accusative answers the question For how long?) mox patuit breve confinium artis et falsi veraque quam obscuris tegerentur. (mox patuit breve confinium artis et falsi veraque quam obscuris tegerentur: ‘later, the narrow separation of science (artis) and falsehood became evident and how the truth (vera) was hidden by mystery.’ obscuris is abl. of the neuter plural obscura used as a noun; quam …tegerentur: subjunctive in indirect question ushered in by interrogative quam) nam in urbem non regressurum haud forte dictum: (nam in urbem non regressurum haud forte dictum: ‘for that he would not return to the city was not a lucky guess.’ haud forte dictum [est]: ‘was not said fortuitously’ The sentence expresses Tacitus’ belief that astrology is a valid science (i.e. that men’ lives are indeed governed by the stars), but that it attracts fraudulent practitioners, devoid of true knowledge.) ceterorum nescii egere, (ceterorum nescii egere: ‘of all else, the pundits remained ignorant.’ ceterorum is a kind of objective genitive completing nescii; it may be viewed as a genitive of specification (cf. A.G. 349, d.), in that it points to something with respect to which the quality expressed by the adjective (here ignorance) exists.) cum propinquo rure aut litore et saepe moenia urbis adsidens extremam senectam compleverit. (cum propinquo rure aut litore et saepe moenia urbis adsidens extremam senectam compleverit: ‘since, [sojourning] in the country or on the coast near Rome and often pausing near to the walls of the city, he reached an extreme old age’; moenia …adsidens: the verb adsideo is usually with dat.; in Virgil it occurs with both dat. and acc. cum …compleverit: subjunctive in causal clause with cum; Tacitus often uses the perfect rather than the expected pluperfect after a historical main verb, in that the perfect expresses the thoughts of the writer in a more lively and more direct manner than the pluperfect (Ernout).)