LXIV.
Nondum ea clades exoleverat cum ignis violentia urbem ultra solitum adfecit, (nondum ea clades exoleverat cum ignis violentia urbem ultra solitum adfecit: the temporal cum clause is placed after the main clause, a case of inverse cum, so called because the dependent clause appears to take over the function of the main clause and carry the main idea. It is a construction, occurring in English also, meant to express the suddenness of an event that is not foreseen. Cf. G. 581.) deusto monte Caelio; (deusto monte Caelio: abl. abs.: ‘the Caelian Hill having been burned down completely’; the Caelian Hill was east of the Palatine and south of the Esquiline Hill; it was also one of the fourteen districts or wards into which Rome was divided.) feralemque annum ferebant et ominibus adversis susceptum principi consilium absentiae, (feralemque annum ferebant et ominibus adversis susceptum principi consilium absentiae: lit. ‘[people] maintained that the year was ill-omened and that the decision for his absence had been adopted under portents adverse for the prince.’ ominibus adversis is probably abl. of attendant circumstance.) qui mos vulgo, fortuita ad culpam trahentes, ni Caesar obviam isset tribuendo pecunias ex modo detrimenti. (qui mos vulgo, fortuita ad culpam trahentes, ni Caesar obviam isset tribuendo pecunias ex modo detrimenti: lit. ‘in the manner the multitude has, [always] pinning (trahentes) chance occurrences on [someone’s] fault, had not Caesar intervened by distributing financial assistance in proportion to the damage’; qui mos vulgo [est]: qui is adverb, an ancient abl. form (in keeping with Tacitus’ love of archaisms), equivalent to quomodo or ut (cf. L. 689, 706, 1972); vulgo is dat. of possessor with est understood; in English it becomes subject in a clause with ‘has’. ni …obviam isset: plup. subjunctive in protasis with contrary to fact condition (type III) for action envisioned in the past. tribuendo pecunias: the abl. gerund without prep. can have a direct object.) actaeque ei grates apud senatum ab inlustribus famaque apud populum, quia sine ambitione aut proximorum precibus ignotos etiam et ultro accitos munificentia iuverat. (ignotos etiam et ultro accitos munificentia iuverat: ‘he had assisted by his generosity even strangers, encouraged [to apply], without being solicited by them.’ ultro: adverb, ‘of his own accord’) adduntur sententiae ut mons Caelius in posterum Augustus appellaretur, quando cunctis circum flagrantibus sola Tiberii effigies sita in domo Iunii senatoris inviolata mansisset. (quando cunctis circum flagrantibus sola Tiberii effigies …inviolata mansisset: ‘since with everything burning all around only Tiberius’ statue had remained undamaged’; quando is here causal, followed by subjunctive in that the clause is in indirect speech after adduntur sententiae, where adduntur is historical present.) evenisse id olim Claudiae Quintae (Claudiae Quintae: Claudia Quinta was also a member, like Tiberius, of the Claudia gens. She was famous for having drawn, unaided, a ship off a sandbank that was carrying the sacred stone of Cybele, the mother of the gods, when the cult was introduced in Rome in 204 B.C. The story is told in Ovid’s Fasti.) eiusque statuam vim ignium bis elapsam maiores apud aedem matris deum consecravisse. sanctos acceptosque numinibus Claudios et augendam caerimoniam loco in quo tantum in principem honorem di ostenderint. (augendam caerimoniam loco in quo tantum in principem honorem di ostenderint: still in indirect discourse: ‘that more religious homage should be paid to a place where the gods had shown such favor to the prince’; augendam [esse] caerimoniam: use of passive periphrastic conjugation (gerundive + forms of esse expressed or implied) to mark obligation or propriety; ostenderint: perfect subjunctive in place of ostendissent to reflect the perfect indicative that would be used in direct speech.)