XII.
Relatum inde ad patres a Quintiliano tribuno plebei de libro Sibullae, quem Caninius Gallus quindecimvirum recipi inter ceteros eiusdem vatis et ea de re senatus consultum postulaverat. (relatum [est] inde ad patres a Quintiliano tribuno plebei de libro Sibullae, quem Caninius Gallus quindecimvirum recipi inter ceteros eiusdem vatis et ea de re senatus consultum postulaverat: lit. ‘a submission was made to the senate by the tribune of the plebs Quintilianus in respect to a book of the sibyl which Caninius Gallus of the College of Fifteen had requested be included among the other books of the same prophetess and [wanted] a senate decree on the matter.’ relatum [est] is impersonal use of the passive of a verb, ‘it was submitted to …’; Caninius Gallus quindecimvirum: partitive genitive after a noun, in place of abl. with e or ex (see e consularibus in previous chapter); quindecimvir was a member of the College or Board of Fifteen having charge of the Sibylline Books, the equivalent of the Bible in the Roman world. Caninius Gallus was apparently magister of the college. Tradition says that the books, a collection of cryptic oracles in Greek verses, were sold to Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome, by a sibyl, a woman claiming to have divine powers of prophecy. They were housed in the temple to Jupiter Capitolinus (the ‘Capitol’) and consulted in times of emergency.) quo per discessionem facto (quo per discessionem facto: abl. abs.: lit. ‘which [motion] having been carried by withdrawal …’, i.e. by the members rising from their seats and grouping themselves, to be counted for a vote, around the man proposing the motion. For another example of this manner of voting see facta discessio in Book 3, ch. 69. per discessionem: per + acc. denotes instrument.) misit litteras Caesar, modice tribunum increpans ignarum antiqui moris ob iuventam. Gallo exprobrabat quod scientiae caerimoniarumque vetus incerto auctore ante sententiam collegii, non, ut adsolet, lecto per magistros aestimatoque carmine, apud infrequentem senatum egisset. (Gallo exprobrabat quod scientiae caerimoniarumque vetus incerto auctore ante sententiam collegii, non, ut adsolet, lecto per magistros aestimatoque carmine, apud infrequentem senatum egisset: ‘he sharply upbraided Gallus for having, he a long-time expert in the field of sacred rites, introduced [the issue] in a senate with only few members present, before [eliciting] the opinion of the college (in view of the uncertain authorship), and not, as custom requires, after a reading of the verses and a critical assessment by the college directors.’ quod …egisset: subjunctive for a quod clause in oratio obliqua after exprobrabat; scientiae caerimoniarumque vetus: vetus is regularly with genitive of relation or of respect in Tacitus, in imitation of a Greek usage (Ernout), in place of abl., ‘familiar with the science of rituals’; for another example see vetus operis ac laboris in Book 1, ch. 20. scientiae and ceremoniarum form hendiadys; ut adsolet: ut adduces a comparative remark in support of what precedes, ‘as it is customary’; adsolet is impersonal use of adsoleo. incerto auctore, lecto per magistros aestimatoque carmine: in his unceasing search for brevity, Tacitus favors the abl. abs. over subordinate clauses as being more sparing of words: of the two given here, the first can be replaced by a quod or quia clause (‘since the authorship was doubtful’), the other by a temporal clause with postquam (‘after the verses were read and examined by the magistri’); per magistros: instrument expressed by per + acc. when the agent is personal. Apparently, the College of the Fifteen was headed by five ‘masters’.) simul commonefecit, quia multa vana sub nomine celebri vulgabantur. sanxisse Augustum quem intra diem ad praetorem urbanum deferrentur neque habere privatim liceret. (simul commonefecit, quia multa vana sub nomine celebri vulgabantur. sanxisse Augustum quem intra diem ad praetorem urbanum deferrentur neque habere privatim liceret: ‘he also (simul) called to mind, since many texts of doubtful authenticity were circulated under the famous name [of the sibyl], that Augustus had appointed a day within which (quem intra diem) [all these texts] should be handed in to the urban praetor and having them privately would not be allowed.’ quia …vulgabantur: indicative for a quia clause that is purely explanatory and not part of the indirect discourse ushered in by commonefecit; quem intra diem … deferrentur neque … liceret: the phrase intra quem diem introduces positive indirect command after sanxisse and neque (lit. et ne) an indirect prohibition. See A.G. 588 and Note 2.) quod a maioribus quoque decretum erat post exustum sociali bello Capitolium, (quod a maioribus quoque decretum erat post exustum [est] sociali bello Capitolium: ‘which [rule] had been decreed also by our ancestors after the Capitol was burnt down in the Social War.’ post is short for postquam, part of Tacitus’ habit of omitting any words, or parts thereof, that can be easily understood, all in the interest of brevity and novelty. Capitolium: the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline hill; the temple burned down during the civil conflict between Sulla and Marius in 83 B.C., not during the Social War of 90 – 89 B.C. See Historiae, Book 3, ch. 72.) quaesitis Samo, Ilio, Erythris, per Africam etiam ac Siciliam et Italicas colonias carminibus Sibullae, una seu plures fuere, datoque sacerdotibus negotio quantum humana ope potuissent vera discernere. (quaesitis Samo, Ilio, Erythris, per Africam etiam ac Siciliam et Italicas colonias carminibus Sibullae, una seu plures fuere, datoque sacerdotibus negotio quantum humana ope potuissent vera discernere: two ablative abs. end to end: ‘the Sibylline verses (whether of one sibyl or of more than one) were searched out in Samos, Ilium, Erythraea, throughout Africa, Sicily, and the [Greek] colonies of Italy, and the task being given to the priests to discern, as much as they would have been able to by human powers, the authentic ones.’ Samos is an island off the coast of western Turkey, at about the same latitude as the city of Aydin on the mainland. Ilyum is perhaps the ancient city of Troy, below the Dardanelles in Turkey, although there was another Ilyum in Epirus in NW Greece. Erythraea was the district of Erythrae a city of Boeotia in central Greece, unless the lands of Arabia are meant, since the Red sea was called mare Erythraeum. una seu plures fuere: sive, synonymous with seu, is composed of si + ve = ‘or if’, thus the literal meaning is ‘one or more, if there were’. The verb after seu or sive is usually indicative, except in imperial writings, where subjunctive may also be found.) igitur tunc quoque notioni quindecimvirum is liber subicitur. (igitur tunc quoque notioni quindecimvirum is liber subicitur: ‘consequently, that (is) book of verses was then also subjected to the examination of the College of Fifteen.’)