X.
Ne feminae quidem exsortes periculi. quia occu pandae rei publicae argui non poterant, ob lacrimas incusabantur; (ne feminae quidem exsortes periculi. quia occupandae rei publicae argui non poterant, ob lacrimas incusabantur: lit. ‘not even women were relieved of danger and since they could not be accused of taking over the state, they were indicted for their tears.’ quia occu pandae rei publicae argui non poterant: the verb arguo is here followed by gen. gerundive of the charge, occupandae rei publicae, lit. ‘of the government to be seized’; also with acc. if the charge is s neuter pronoun; cf. B. 178, d.; quia and quod take indicative, except in indirect discourse. See the next note.) necataque est anus Vitia, Fufii Gemini mater, quod filii necem flevisset. (quod filii necem flevisset: ‘…because she had mourned her son’; flevisset: the quod clause has subjunctive in that it reports the words of the accusation, thus is in virtual oratio obliqua) haec apud senatum: nec secus apud principem (nec secus apud principem: secus is adverb: ‘not otherwise [were things] with the emperor.’ The criminal jurisdiction of the emperor had already started under Augustus, side by side with thar of the senate. As an illustration of this judicial prerogative see the trial of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso in Book 3, ch.10. The emperor also functioned as a court of appeal.) Vescularius Flaccus ac Iulius Marinus (Vescularius Flaccus ac Iulius Marinus: for Vescularius Flaccus see Book3, ch. 28; of Julius Marinus nothing is known beside what is reported here.) ad mortem aguntur, e vetustissimis familiarium, Rhodum secuti et apud Capreas individui, Vescularius insidiarum in Libonem internuntius; Marino participe Seianus Curtium Atticum oppresserat. (Vescularius insidiarum in Libonem internuntius; Marino participe Seianus Curtium Atticum oppresserat: ‘Vesculariuus [had been] the linkman of the plot against Libo and Sejanus had demolished Curtius Atticus with the help of Marinus.’ For the Libo affair see Book 2, ch. 27ff; for Curtius Atticus see Book 4, ch. 58. His death was probably reported in the lost part of Book 5. Marino participe: abl. abs., ‘Marinus being an accomplice’) quo laetius acceptum sua exempla in consultores recidisse. (quo laetius acceptum sua exempla in consultores recidisse: the conjunction quo usually replaces ut in final clauses when a comparative is present, but here the sense is more causal than final (‘wherefore’ or ‘for which reason’ rather than ‘in order that …’): lit. ‘for which reason it was heard with special joy that their own examples [of evildoing] had redounded on the authors [themselves].’ sua exempla: the reflexive adj. sua refers to Vescularius and Marinus, since they are the logical subject of discourse, though not the grammatical subject of the sentence; this is especially true when suus has the emphatic sense of ‘one’s own’ or ‘one’s very own’; laetius is absolute comparative; another example is graviorem at the end of the chapter; see note for occultius in ch. 8.) Per idem tempus L. Piso pontifex, rarum in tanta claritudine, fato obiit, nullius servilis sententiae sponte auctor et quoties necessitas ingrueret sapienter moderans. (L. Piso pontifex, rarum in tanta claritudine, fato obiit, nullius servilis sententiae sponte auctor et quoties necessitas ingrueret sapienter moderans: lit. ‘the pontiff Lucius Piso died of old age, a rare thing in the light of such renown; he [was] the proponent, willingly, of no toadish recommendations and whenever necessity forced [him], wisely advising a moderate course.’ This Lucius Piso was consul in 15 B.C. fato obit: the verb obeo, when used intransitively, takes dative, ‘he succumbed to fate’; synonymous idioms are concedere fato or perfungere fato. in tanta claritudine: in denotes here the condition under which an action or situation occurs: ‘in view of’, ‘in consideration of’, ‘considering’, etc. quoties …ingrueret: subjunctive of repeated action which gained full acceptance in imperial times, perhaps in imitation of cum historicum or of a Greek construction, but more probably, as Ernout asserts, because of its similarity with the potential subjunctive, both expressive of eventual or prospective action, the actual meaning here being ‘on any occasion necessity would force him, he …’. The usage, first found in Catullus and Caesar, became common in Livy and Tacitus. See L. 1730 and G. 567, N.) patrem ei censorium fuisse memoravi; (patrem ei censorium fuisse memoravi: ‘I have [already]mentioned that his father had been a censor.’ The earlier mention is missing, probably occurring in the lost part of Book 5; his father was father-in-law to Julius Caesar. ei is dat. of possessor with fuisse.) aetas ad octogesimum annum processit; decus triumphale in Thraecia meruerat. sed praecipua ex eo gloria quod praefectus urbi recens continuam potestatem et insolentia parendi graviorem mire temperavit. (praecipua ex eo gloria quod praefectus urbi recens continuam potestatem et insolentia parendi graviorem mire temperavit: ‘his main claim to glory [came] from the fact that (ex eo quod) as city prefect he admirably tempered the power of an office recently [made] permanent and much disliked (graviorem) in view of [people’s] aversion to obedience.’ recens is adverb; insolentia parendi: genitive gerund object of a noun, insolentia, abl. of cause)