VI.
Insigne visum est earum Caesaris litterarum initium; nam his verbis exorsus est: ‘quid scribam vobis, patres conscripti, aut quo modo scribam aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore, di me deaeque peius perdant quam perire me cotidie sentio, si scio.’ (quid scribam vobis, … aut quo modo scribam aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore, di me deaeque peius perdant quam perire me cotidie sentio, si scio: quid …aut quomodo scribam aut …non scribam …si scio: the rather unusual case of a subject reporting his own words and thoughts through indirect questions introduced by quid and quo modo and followed by subjunctive, as expected. In direct speech scribam would remain unchanged, but would be future, not present subjunctive. di me …perdant …, si scio: conditional sentence with optative present subjunctive (cf. A.G. 441) in the apodosis and present indicative in the protasis for logical (type 1) condition.) adeo facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant. neque frustra praestantissimus sapientiae firmare solitus est, (praestantissimus sapientiae firmare solitus est: ‘the paragon of wisdom used to affirm …’; Socrates is the man referred to here and the sentiments expressed are in Plato’s Gorgias. solitus est is perfect of soleo, a semi-deponent verb having all tenses derived from the perfect indicative of passive form. firmare is for adfirmare, as Tacitus prefers simple (and more poetical) to compound forms of verbs.) si recludantur tyrannorum mentes, posse aspici laniatus et ictus, (si recludantur tyrannorum mentes, posse aspici laniatus et ictus: conditional clause in indirect discourse after firmare: ‘that if the minds or tyrants are opened, tears and wounds can be seen’; the condition is logical, thus, recludantur and posse correspond to the indicatives recluduntur and possunt of direct discourse.) quando ut corpora verberibus, ita saevitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceretur. (quando ut corpora [dilacerentur] verberibus, ita saevitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceretur: lit. ‘since, just as bodies [are scored] by lashes, so is the soul scored by cruelty, lust, and evil intents’; comparative sentence with ut …ita within a causal clause. The verb of the quando clause is at the same time the verb of the ita or main clause of the comparative sentence, here subjunctive in indirect discourse.) quippe Tiberium non fortuna, non solitudines protegebant quin tormenta pectoris suasque ipse poenas fateretur. (Tiberium non fortuna, non solitudines protegebant quin tormenta pectoris suasque ipse poenas fateretur: lit. ‘not his state, not the solitude [of Capri] protected Tiberius that he himself should not confess the torments of his conscience and his own anguish’, or, loosely, ‘did not protect him from having to confess …’; non …protegebant quin …fateretur: the conjunction quin (from the ancient interrogative abl. qui + non, ‘why not’) introduces a complementary clause with subjunctive after a negative main verb of preventing and impeding (see list of verbs in G. 548, N. 1.) solitudines: Tacitus often prefer plural to singular nouns as having more the quality of poetry.)