VII.
Tum facta patribus potestate statuendi de Caeciliano senatore (tum facta patribus potestate statuendi de Caeciliano senator: abl abs.: lit. ‘the power being then given to the senate of deciding about Caecilianus, one of its members.’ Caeciliano is otherwise unknown; the absence of the prenomen may indicate that Tacitus viewed the man as insignificant. potestate statuendi: objective genitive gerund after a noun; cf. A.G. 348.) qui plurima adversum Cottam prompserat, placitum eandem poenam inrogari quam in Aruseium et Sanquinium, accusatores L. Arruntii: (placitum [est] eandem poenam inrogari quam in Aruseium et Sanquinium, accusatores L. Arruntii: ‘it was decided that the same penalty be inflicted as (quam) against Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of Lucius Arruntius.’ Aruseius may be the man mentioned in ch. 40 ahead, while Sanquinius remains unidentified. The trial referred to must have been reported in the missing parts of Book 5. eandem …quam: idem …quam means ‘the same as’.) quo non aliud honorificentius Cottae evenit, (quo non aliud honorificentius Cottae evenit: ‘nothing else more honorifical than that ever came Cotta’s way.’ quo is abl. of comparison (ablativus comparationis); see G. 398. The antecedent of quo is the action expressed in the preceding clause.) qui nobilis quidem set egens ob luxum, per flagitia infamis, sanctissimis Arruntii artibus dignitate ultionis aequabatur. Q. Servaeus … et Minucius Thermus inducti, (Q. Servaeus posthac et Minucius Thermus inducti: ‘thereafter, Quintus Servaeus and Minucius Thermus were taken to court.’ For Servaeus see Book 2, ch. 56, Book 3, ch. 13 and 19. Minucius Thermus may be the father of the homonymous praetor mentioned in Book 16, ch. 20.) Servaeus praetura functus et quondam Germanici comes, Minucius equestri loco, modeste habita Seiani amicitia; unde illis maior miseratio. (modeste habita Seiani amicitia; unde illis maior miseratio: abl. abs.: lit. ‘Sejanus’ friendship having been enjoyed within the bounds of propriety, hence the greater the empathy for them’) contra Tiberius praecipuos ad scelera increpans admonuit C. Cestium patrem dicere senatui quae sibi scripisset, (admonuit C. Cestium patrem dicere senatui quae sibi scripisset: ‘he bid the elder Gaius Cestius to reveal to the senate the things he had written to himself’, i.e. to Tiberius, who, though not the subject of the relative clause, is the subject of the main clause whose words and thought the dependent clause reflects; see A.G. 300, 2. C. Cestium patrem: the father of the C. Cestius mentioned in Book 15, ch. 25; patrem could also mean senator.) suscepitque Cestius accusationem. quod maxime exitiabile tulere illa tempora, cum primores senatus infimas etiam delationes exercerent, (quod maxime exitiabile tulere illa tempora, cum primores senatus infimas etiam delationes exercerent: ‘this [was] the most calamitous thing that age manifested, given that even the leading senators practised the most degrading kinds of informing.’ The relative quod placed at the head of a sentence has the demonstrative force of et id; see note for quae cuncta in ch. 5; cum …exercerent: causal cum, unlike quod, quia, quoniam, quando, regularly takes subjunctive.) alii propalam, multi per occultum; neque discerneres (neque discerneres: ‘one could not distinguish …’ or ‘you would not have distinguished …’: use of potential subjunctive in the impersonal second person singular; this transposition of eventuality to the past by means of the imperfect is of ancient origin and is found in all periods. Cf. G. 258.) alienos a coniunctis, amicos ab ignotis, quid repens aut vetustate obscurum: perinde in foro, in convivio, quaqua de re locuti incusabantur, ut quis praevenire et reum destinare properat, (perinde in foro, in convivio, quaqua de re locuti incusabantur, ut quis praevenire et reum destinare properat: lit. ‘having spoken (locuti) of whatever matter, in the Forum as well as (perinde) at table, people were incriminated, as anyone hastened to precede and to expose the [alleged] offender.’ ut here is causal conjunction, normally followed by indicative; quaqua de re: the abl. quaqua of the indefinite feminine adjective quaeque (from the pronoun quisque) is rarely found and only in later Latin; cf. A.G. 151, b., Note 1.) pars ad subsidium sui, plures infecti quasi valetudine et contactu. (pars ad subsidium sui, plures infecti quasi valetudine et contactu: ‘….some of them for their own protection, many as if contaminated by an infectious disorder’; ad subsidium sui: the phrase ad subsidium is in place of the dative subsidio, ad + acc. being preferable in that it suggests motion towards a goal; the reflexive gen. sui (here ‘of themselves’) always refers to the subject of the clause, in this case pars. valetudine et contactu form hendiadys; the simple abl. is of the agent, without a or ab when the agent is a thing, in which case it is also called abl. of efficient cause. infecti quasi: Tacitus often uses subordinating conjunctions, such as quasi, in combination with a participle, though the usage was rare in classical times. Cf. G. 609, Note 1 and 666, Note. Another example is quamquam …incelebrata at the end of the chapter.) sed Minucius et Servaeus damnati indicibus accessere. (Minucius et Servaeus damnati indicibus accessere: ‘the condemned Minucius and Servaeus added themselves to the informers.’ indicibus accessere: the verb accedo, in the sense assigned to it here, is found with either dative or ad + acc.) tractique sunt in casum eundem Iulius Africanus e Santonis Gallica civitate, (Iulius Africanus e Santonis Gallica civitate: ‘Julius Africanus, from the Gallic nation of the Santones, …’; the Santones were located around modern Saintes, not far northeast of the mouth of the Garonne river in southwestern France.) Seius Quadratus: originem non repperi. neque sum ignarus a plerisque scriptoribus omissa multorum pericula et poenas, dum copia fatiscunt aut quae ipsis nimia et maesta fuerant ne pari taedio lecturos adficerent verentur: (dum copia fatiscunt aut quae ipsis nimia et maesta fuerant ne pari taedio lecturos adficerent verentur: dum, followed by present or perfect indicative, can indicate the cause, however involuntary, of an action (Ernout): ‘…, as they are exhausted by the number [of trials and penalties] or they fear that the things that had been excessively depressing to themselves might affect future readers with the same tedium’; nimia et maesta form hendiadys; ipsis, dat. of interest, is in place of sibi, the direct reflexive that would be used if scriptores was the subject of the relative clause. In such cases ipse is used as indirect reflexive. See A.G. 300, 2., Note. ne …taedio lecturos adficerent werentur: the verb vereor when followed by a ne clause expresses fear that something undesirable may happen; when followed by a ut clause, the fear is that something desirable may not happen. lecturos: in republican times the future participle was limited mainly to the active periphrastic conjugation (see B. 115); only futurus and venturus are found employed as ordinary adjectives. With Virgil and Livy the domain expanded considerably and the future participle became current without the verb sum. Tacitus here goes one step further and uses lecturos as a noun, ‘future readers’.) nobis pleraque digna cognitu obvenere, quamquam ab aliis incelebrata. (nobis pleraque digna cognitu obvenere, quamquam ab aliis incelebrata: lit. ‘many occurrences have come to my attention worthy of being reported, though left ignored by others.’ nobis …obvenere: nobis, here dative with obvenio, is use of the so-called royal we, more deferential than the singular I. digna cognitu: the adjectives dignus and idignus take abl. of specification; cognitu is the passive supine form in -u of cognitum, ‘[worthy] in respect of being known’. incelebrata is not, strictly speaking, a perfect participle, but an adjective formed by in + pple. of celebro, a trouvaille of Sallust which Tacitus imitates (Oxf. Lat. Dict.).)