XI.
Aegyptum copiasque, quibus coerceretur, (quibus coerceretur: ‘by which [Egypt] was kept in line’; subjunctive in relative clause of final sense) iam inde a divo Augusto equites Romani obtinent loco regum: ita visum expedire, provinciam aditu difficilem, annonae fecundam, (annonae fecundam: ‘productive of grain’; Egyptian shipments of grain to Rome were so important, that Augustus feared the city might starve if anyone gained control of the province and cut off supplies.) superstitione ac lascivia discordem et mobilem, insciam legum, ignaram magistratuum, domui retinere. (domui retinere: ‘to retain for the imperial house’; domui is dative, domi locative.) regebat tum Tiberius Alexander, eiusdem nationis. Africa (Africa: cf. note at the outset of ch. 7) ac legiones in ea interfecto Clodio Macro contenta qualicumque principe post experimentum domini minoris. (domini minoris: Macer himself) duae Mauretaniae, Raetia, Noricum, Thraecia (duae Mauretaniae, Raetia, Noricum, Thraecia: the two Mauretanias were Mauretania Caesariensis, today’s Algeria, and Mauretania Tingitana, today’s Morocco; Raetia or Rhaetia was a province in the Alps and included Tyrol, parts of Bavaria and Switzerland; Noricum was east of Raetia, roughly corresponding to modern Austria; Thracia or Thraecia was the eastern part of today’s Greece and the European portion of Turkey.) et quae aliae procuratoribus (procuratoribus: during the empire, the term procurator applied also to governors of minor provinces, generally those without an army; cf. also note for procurator at the end of ch. 2 and at the outset of ch. 7.) cohibentur, ut cuique exercitui vicinae, ita (ut cuique exercitui vicinae, ita …: ‘to the extent that they were near whichever army, so they …’; ut …ita introduce the two parts of a comparative sentence.) in favorem aut odium contactu valentiorum agebantur. inermes provinciae atque ipsa in primis Italia, cuicumque servitio exposita, (cuicumque servitio exposita: ‘exposed to whatever domination’) in pretium belli cessurae erant. (in pretium belli cessurae erant: ‘were going to be turned into the rewards of war’) hic fuit rerum Romanarum status, cum Servius Galba iterum Titus Vinius consules (Servius Galba iterum Titus Vinius consules: Tacitus ends his overview of the conditions, both internal and external, of the Roman empire with words he had used at the outset of ch. 1. Against this somber background, the stage is set for the tumultuous events of 69 A.D.) inchoavere annum sibi ultimum, rei publicae prope supremum.