XI
De minoribus rebus principes consultant; de majoribus omnes: ita tamen, ut ea quoque, quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud principes pertractentur. (ita …, ut … pertractentur: subjunctive in consecutive or result clause) Coeunt, nisi quid fortuitum et subitum inciderit, (coeunt, nisi quid fortuitum et subitum inciderit: conditional sentence with present indicative in the apodosis and perfect subjunctive in the protasis for anterior potential event: ‘they assemble, unless something unforeseen or urgent has happened’; quid is for aliquid after nisi and other particles, such as si, sin, ne, num, an, aut, seu, sive. Cf. G. 107 R.) certis diebus, cum aut inchoatur luna aut impletur: (cum … inchoatur … impletur: tremporal cum may be found with any tense of the indicative, here with present. ) nam agendis rebus (agendis rebus: dative gerundive to express purpose: ‘for matters to be acted on’) hoc auspicatissimum initium credunt. Nec dierum numerum, ut nos, sed noctium computant. (nec dierum numerum … sed noctium computant: mention of such reckoning based on the phases of the moon is also found in Genesis, in Caesar (about the Gauls), in Sanscrit, and other languages. Traces are found in English (e.g. fortnight) and German (e.g. Sonnabend (Saturday).) Sic constituunt, sic condicunt: nox ducere diem videtur. Illud ex libertate vitium, quod (illud ex libertate vitium, quod …: quod is explanatory, it explains what precedes: ‘the fact that’, ‘in that’. However, with quod the causal sense is never far.) non simul, nec ut jussi conveniunt, sed et alter et tertius dies cunctatione coeuntium absumitur. (et alter et tertius dies … absumitur: alter is often used in place of secundus; et …et in this case is not ‘both …and’ but etiam repeated: lit. ‘even a second, even a third day is lost’.) Ut turbae placuit, (ut turbae placuit: temporal ut is very often with perf. indicative.) considunt armati. Silentium per sacerdotes, quibus tum et coercendi jus est, (quibus tum et coercendi jus est: quibus id dat. of possessor with est: ‘they have on such occasions (tum) the power to coerce’.) imperatur. Mox rex vel principes, prout aetas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur, (rex vel principes … audiuntur: principes is an emendation, the original text having princeps, which makes rex vel princeps difficult to explain as subject of audiuntur.) auctoritate suadendi magis, quam jubendi potestate. (auctoritate suadendi … jubendi potestate: example of genitive gerunds governed by nouns, ‘ability to convince …authority to command’) Si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit, frameas concutiunt. (si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit, frameas concutiunt: see note for si prohibuerunt, nulla de eadem re in eundem diem consultatio; sin permissum, auspiciorum adhuc fides exigitur in previous chapter.) Honoratissimum assensus genus est, armis laudare. (laudare: ‘to express approval’)