XI.
Namque antea profectis domo regibus ac mox magistratibus, ne urbs sine imperio foret in tempus deligebatur qui ius redderet ac subitis mederetur; (ne urbs sine imperio foret in tempus deligebatur qui ius redderet ac subitis mederetur: negative purpose clause followed by main clause with dependent relative clause: ’lest the city might not be left without government, someone was chosen temporarily (in tempus) who would render justice and take action in unexpected situations’; qui …redderet …mederetur: subjunctive in relative clause of characteristic or tendency having consecutive force; cf G. 631. Other examples are qui …usurpet and qui coerceret below. subitis is dat. with medeor and is the neuter plur. of subitus used as a noun.) feruntque ab Romulo Dentrem Romulium, post ab Tullo Hostilio Numam Marcium et ab Tarquinio Superbo Spurium Lucretium impositos. dein consules mandabant; (feruntque ab Romulo Dentrem Romulium, post ab Tullo Hostilio Numam Marcium et ab Tarquinio Superbo Spurium Lucretium impositos. dein consules mandabant: ’they report that Denter Romolius was appointed [to such a post] by Romulus, later Numa Marcius by Tullius Hostilius, and Spurius Lucretius by Tarquinius Superbus, then the consuls had the power [to appoint].’ Romulus was the founder and first king of Rome; Tullus Hostiliua and Tarquinius Superbus were respectively the third and the last of the seven kings of Rome. Of the three prefects named here, Denter is otherwise unknown, Numa Marcius was the son-in-law of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, and the father of Ancus Martius or Marcius, the fourth Roman king; Spurius Lucretius was the father of Lucretia, the virtuous matron raped by the son of Tarquinius Superbus, an event that triggered the ousting of the last king and the establishment of the republic.) duratque simulacrum quoties ob ferias Latinas praeficitur qui consulare munus usurpet. (durat simulacrum quoties ob ferias Latinas praeficitur qui consulare munus usurpet: lit. ’a likeness [of that practice] still persists each time that (quoties) someone is appointed who assumes the consul’s duties on the occasion of the Latin festival.’ qui consulare munus usurpet: relative clause in place of a purpose clause, an added reason, beside the one noted above, for the use of subjunctive: freely, ‘to take over the functions of the consul’. The same applies to qui coerceret below.) ceterum Augustus bellis civilibus Cilnium Maecenatem equestris ordinis cunctis apud Romam atque Italiam praeposuit: (ceterum Augustus bellis civilibus Cilnium Maecenatem equestris ordinis cunctis apud Romam atque Italiam praeposuit: ’moreover, Augustus during the civil war put Cilnius Maecenas of the equestrian order in charge of everything in Rome and Italy.’ Maecenas is famous for having been the close friend and collaborator of Augustus. He has become a synonym for patron of the arts for his generosity towards men of letters like Horace and Virgil. ceterum: an adverb of many shades of meaning, as already noted more than once; here nothing more than a copulative conjunction, like ‘and’, or ‘also’; apud Romam atque Italiam: with names of places apud can often be just a substitute for in. bellis civilibus: during the civil struggle between Octavian (later Augustus) and Marc Antony in 31 B.C.) mox rerum potitus ob magnitudinem populi ac tarda legum auxilia sumpsit e consularibus qui coerceret servitia et quod civium audacia turbidum, nisi vim metuat. (sumpsit e consularibus qui coerceret servitia et quod civium audacia turbidum, nisi vim metuat: lit. ’he engaged one of the ex-consuls who would keep the slaves in line and what part of the citizenry [is] turbulent from too much freedom (audacia) unless it fears coercion.’ nisi …metuat: being dependent on qui coerceret, this protasis must necessarily have subjunctive by modal attraction, regardless of type of condition (see G. 663); metuat is for condition referred to the present. quod civium …: direct object of coerceret like servitia; civium is partitive gen. after the neuter quod. e conularibus is abl. of origin.) primusque Messala Corvinus (Messala Corvinus: a famous orator mentioned in Book 3, ch. 34 as the father of Valerius Messalinus) eam potestatem et paucos intra dies finem accepit quasi nescius exercendi; (quasi nescius exercendi: ‘ostensibly as incapable of performing’; he withdrew after six days in office. nescius exercendi: objective gen. gerund after an adjective expressing knowledge or lack of it; quasi here gives an assumed reason; the use of subordinating conjunctions in combination with an adjective is not rare; less so with participles, except in imperial writers, especially in Tacitus; for an example see quamquam provecta aetate below.) tum Taurus Statilius, quamquam provecta aetate, egregie toleravit; (Taurus Statilius, quamquam provecta aetate, egregie toleravit: ‘Taurus Statilius, despite his advanced age, bore the weight [of the office] efficiently.’ Taurus was the father of Sisenna Statilius, consul for the year 16 A.D.; see Book 2, ch. 1. He replaced Augustus when the latter left Rome for Gaul in 16 B.C.) dein Piso viginti per annos pariter probatus (pariter probatus: ‘judged as good [as Taurus}) publico funere ex decreto senatus celebratus est.