XIX.
Post quos Sex. Marius Hispaniarum (Hispaniarum: plural to include all three Roman provinces of Spain, Hispania Tarraconensis, Lusitania, and Hispania Baetica) ditissimus defertur incestasse filiam (Sex. Marius …defertur incestasse filiam: ‘Sextus Marius was reported to have had incestuous relations with his own daughter.’ Personal construction when the verb of saying is passive with nominative subject of the infinitive clause, in place of accusative. Cf. A.G. 582. defertur is historical present.) et saxo Tarpeio (saxo Tarpeio: a precipice somewhere along the north side of the Forum from which criminal and traitors were thrown headlong. See note in Book 2, ch. 32.) deicitur. ac ne dubium haberetur magnitudinem pecuniae malo vertisse, aurariasque eius, quamquam publicarentur, sibimet Tiberius seposuit. (ne dubium haberetur magnitudinem pecuniae malo vertisse, aurariasque eius, quamquam publicarentur, sibimet Tiberius seposuit: lit. ‘lest any doubt be had that the immensity of his wealth had turned to his undoing, he appropriated Marius’ (eius) [silver] snd gold mines for himself, although they were confiscated for public use (publicarentur).’ The presence of the enclitic conjunction -que after aurarias can only be explained by a missing word, such as argentarias, which in fact is added to the text in some editions.) inritatusque suppliciis cunctos qui carcere attinebantur accusati societatis cum Seiano (accusati societatis cum Seiano: societatis is gen. of the charge, cum Sejano abl. of accompaniment.) necari iubet. iacuit immensa strages, omnis sexus, omnis aetas, inlustres ignobiles, dispersi aut aggerati. neque propinquis aut amicis adsistere, inlacrimare, ne visere quidem diutius dabatur, (ne visere quidem diutius dabatur: ‘not even to look for too long was permitted’; diutius is an absolute comparative, having nothing to compare with; in English ‘too’ or similar adverb expressing disproportion is required before the comparative.) sed circumiecti custodes et in maerorem cuiusque intenti corpora putrefacta adsectabantur, dum in Tiberim traherentur (circumiecti [sunt] custodes et in maerorem cuiusque intenti corpora putrefacta adsectabantur, dum in Tiberim traherentur: ‘guards were posted all around, closely attentive to the signs of grieving of whomever [present], and escorted the decaying corpses until they were dragged into the Tiber.’ in maerorem …intenti: intentus is found with dat., in +acc., and adversus + acc.; dum …traherentur: temporal dum with the sense of ‘until’, like donec or quoad, takes subjunctive if intention is being expressed.) ubi fluitantia aut ripis adpulsa non cremare quisquam, non contingere. (ubi fluitantia aut ripis adpulsa non cremare quisquam, non contingere: ‘where, flowing [with the current] or driven to the banks, no one (non …quisquam) cremated, no one touched [them]’; ubi …cremare …contingere: ubi, usually followed by perfect indicative in narratives, is here with historical infinitives; fluitamtia aut …adpulsa, the first present participle of fluito, the second perfect participle of appello, qualify as adjectives the previous corpora, agreeing with it in gender and number.) interciderat sortis humanae commercium vi metus, quantumque saevitia glisceret, miseratio arcebatur. (interciderat sortis humanae commercium vi metus, quantumque saevitia glisceret, miseratio arcebatur: ‘the fear caused by the use of force had cut short the reciprocal decencies of the human condition and the more ground cruelty gained, [the more] compassion was pushed back.’ vi is abl. of cause; quantum …glisceret, …arcebatur: comparative sentence with quantum in the dependent clause and without a correlative (e.g., tantum) in the main clause, not a rare thing in Tacitus. Comparative or correlative sentences have normally (not always) the indicative in both main and subordinate clause: here glisceret is perhaps potential subjunctive after quantum, ‘to the extent that cruelty might grow, …’. Besides, as Ernout stated, the preference for the subjunctive in dependent clauses, especially in ut clauses, became more marked after classical times.)