V. 8
Relatum inde de P. Vitellio et Pomponio Secundo. (de P. Vitellio et Pomponio Secundo: Publius Vitellius was the uncle of the future emperor Aulus Vitellius; he had served under Germanicus, whose loyal friend he was, as legion legate (cf. Book 1, ch. 70, Book 2, ch. 74, and Book 3, ch. 13 ). Tiberius held a grudge against him for his dogged defense of Germanicus and pursuit of his suspected murderer, during the trial against Piso. See Book 3, ch. 13. Publius Pomponius Secundus, a writer of note praised by Quintilian and Pliny the Elder, would become consul in 44 A.D.) illum indices arguebant claustra aerarii, cui praefectus erat, et militarem pecuniam rebus novis obtulisse; (claustra aerarii … et militarem pecuniam rebus novis obtulisse: ‘that he had offered the keys of the army treasury and military funds for subverting the government’; aerarii: the treasury referred to here is the aerarium militare, for which see note in Book 1, ch. 78. rebus novis: dat. of the thing for which; res novae is the Latin term for revolution.) huic a Considio praetura functo obiectabatur Aelii Galli (Aelii Galli: very likely the eldest son of Sejanus, who, as we know from Cassius Dio, had been adopted into the Aelian gens by the knight Aelius Gallus.) amicitia, qui punito Seiano (punito Seiano: ‘Sejanus having been sentenced’; abl. abs. replacing a temporal clause, ‘after Sejanus was executed’) in hortos Pomponii quasi fidissimum ad subsidium perfugisset. neque aliud periclitantibus auxilii quam in fratrum constantia fuit qui vades extitere. (neque aliud periclitantibus auxilii quam in fratrum constantia fuit qui vades extitere: ‘the defendants had no other protection than in the steadfast devotion of their brothers who provided bail [for them].’ periclitantibus is dat. of possessor with fuit; periclitans, from periclitor, means ‘risking one’s life’; auxilii is partitive genitive after the neuter aliud; vades extitere: ‘they were’ or ‘stood sureties [for them]’; vas is someone who guarantees the appearance in court of a defendant; vadimonium is the guarantee itself; extitere stands in for exstiterunt, perfect of exto.) mox crebris prolationibus spem ac metum iuxta gravatus (crebris prolationibus spem ac metum iuxta gravatus: gravatus is to be taken as deponent from gravor, thus having active sense as perfect participles have in English (Ernout): ‘wearily having cast aside (gravatus) hope and fear alike, by reason of the frequent adjournments [of the trial], …’ ) Vitellius petito per speciem studiorum scalpro (petito per speciem studiorum scalpro: abl. abs.: lit. ‘a scraping knife having been asked [by him] under pretext of his studies …’; per speciem is idiomatic phrase expressing manner; others are per vim, per iocum, per metum, per dolum, etc. scalpro, from scalprum, is perhaps what the French call a grattoir, an eraser with which to correct mistakes in writing by scraping.) levem ictum venis intulit vitamque aegritudine animi finivit. at Pomponius multa morum elegantia et ingenio inlustri, (multa morum elegantia et ingenio inlustri: ablatives of quality with adjectives describing nouns, as is the case for the genitive of quality) dum adversam fortunam aequus tolerat, Tiberio superstes fuit. (dum adversam fortunam aequus tolerat, Tiberio superstes fuit: ‘while he patiently (aequus) endured his trials, he outlived Tiberius.’ Tiberio superstes fuit: lit. ‘he was a survivor to Tiberius’; superstes is regularly followed by dat. of person or event survived; aequus: Latin adjectives often have adverbial force in English; cf. A.G. 290. dum, ‘while’, + present indicative became fixed in usage as if it were some kind of a formula, regardless of whether the action is present, past, or future.)