III.
Ceterum (ceterum: see note in ch. 75 of Book 4.) ex eo praerupta iam et urgens dominatio: (ex eo praerupta iam et urgens domination: ‘since that event, the despotic regime [became] soon (iam) harsh and oppressive.’ praeruptus is said of cliffs and rock faces, ‘inaccessible’, ‘forbidding’, ‘hostile’) nam incolumi Augusta erat adhuc perfugium, quia Tiberio inveteratum erga matrem obsequium neque Seianus audebat auctoritati parentis antire: (neque Seianus audebat auctoritati parentis antire: ‘neither did Sejanus dare to overstep the authority of the mother.’ auctoritati is dat. with anteire.) tunc velut frenis exoluti proruperunt (tunc velut frenis exoluti proruperunt: ‘then, as if released from restraints, they gave free scope to their worst instincts.’ velut or velut si, is a conjunction usually found in conditional clauses of comparison, but here velut is adverb qualifying the participle exoluti, a usage mainly confined to later Latin. Another example of a subordinating conjunction combined with a participle is etsi … invectus below.) missaeque in Agrippinam ac Neronem litterae quas pridem adlatas et cohibitas ab Augusta credidit vulgus: haud enim multum post mortem eius recitatae sunt. verba inerant quaesita asperitate: (verba inerant quaesita asperitate: ‘words were therein (i.e. ‘in the letter’) of deliberate harshness.’ quaesita asperitate is abl. of quality.) sed non arma, non rerum novarum studium, (rerum novarum studium: ‘unquestioning support for political change’, i.e. ‘revolution’) amores iuvenum et impudicitiam nepoti obiectabat. in nurum ne id quidem confingere ausus, adrogantiam oris et contumacem animum incusavit, magno senatus pavore ac silentio, (magno senatus pavore ac silentio: abl. abs.: ‘great being the fear and the silence of the senate’; may also be abl. of attendant circumstance, ‘amidst the fear and silence …’.) donec pauci quis nulla ex honesto spes (et publica mala singulis in occasionem gratiae trahuntur) ((publica mala singulis in occasionem gratiae trahuntur): ‘public evils are turned by some into opportunities for personal advancement.’ singulis is dat. of agent with the passive trahuntur, occasionally found in poetry replacing abl. + a or ab, rarely in prose.) ut referretur postulavere, (donec pauci … ut referretur postulavere: ‘until a few demanded that the matter be laid before the senate.’; donec …postulavere: both Tacitus and Livy prefer subjunctive after donec, ‘until’, if the clause implies intention or expectancy, but use perfect indicative if donec refers to an actual time limit in the past. The verb postulo may be found complemented by an infinitive or by a ut or ne clause.) promptissimo Cotta Messalino (Cotta Messalino: Tacitus has little regard for this man whom he considered a servile flatterer. See ch. 20, Book 2, ch. 32, and Book 6, ch. 5.) cum atroci sententia. sed aliis a primoribus maximeque a magistratibus trepidahatur: quippe Tiberius etsi infense invectus cetera ambigua reliquerat. (quippe Tiberius etsi infense invectus cetera ambigua reliquerat: quippe is here causal conjunction: ‘the reason being that Tiberius had left all else undecided, in spite of his violent outburst’; infense invectus: lit. ‘violently carried away’; for etsi in combination with invectus see note above for velut …exoluti.)