XV.
Igitur Galba, adprehensa Pisonis manu, in hunc modum locutus fertur: (Galba …locutus [esse] fertur: personal construction of passive verb of saying, as opposed to the active impersonal construction, for which cf. Pisonem ferunt …prodidisse at outset of ch. 17.) “si te privatus lege curiata apud pontifices, (lege curiata apud pontifices: a lex curiata is a law passed by the comitia curiata, originally an assembly of the people divided into curiae or tribes, later reduced to an assembly of thirty lictors summoned by the pontifex, the assembly representing the civil and the pontifex the religious authority; Galba, as emperor and pontifex maximus is bypassing the regular procedure.) ut moris est, (moris est: moris is predicate gen., ‘is of custom’.) adoptarem, (si te …adoptarem: imperfect subjunctive for unreal condition; the same applies to nisi tu potior esses further down.) et mihi egregium erat (mihi egregium erat: the imperfect indicative in the apodosis of a conditional sentence of the unreal type is found when the fact stated therein is unequivocally true; cf. G. 597, R. 3 (b) and B. 304, 3.) Cn. Pompei et M. Crassi (Cn. Pompei et M. Crassi: both triumvirs with Julius Caesar) subolem in penatis meos adsciscere, et (et …et: ‘both …and’, ‘not only …but also’) tibi insigne Sulpiciae ac Lutatiae (Sulpiciae ac Lutatiae: from the side of Galba’s father and mother respectively) decora nobilitati tuae adiecisse: nunc me deorum hominumque consensu ad imperium vocatum praeclara indoles tua et amor patriae impulit ut principatum, de quo maiores nostri armis certabant, bello adeptus quiescenti offeram, (me …impulit ut principatum … bello adeptus quiescenti offeram: ellipsis for me …impulit ut principatum [quod] bello adeptus [sum] quiescenti [bello] offeram; verbs of compelling like impellere are followed by final ut; ‘has prompted me to offer you, while war rests, the principate I won in war’; quiescenti [bello] is probably abl. abs. rather than abl. of time within which, ‘war being dormant’) exemplo divi Augusti qui sororis filium Marcellum, dein generum Agrippam, mox nepotes suos, postremo Tiberium Neronem (Marcellum …Agrippam …nepotes suos …Tiberium Neronem: Marcellus, son of Augustus’ sister Octavia, married Augustus’ daughter Julia; Marcus Agrippa, Augustus’ closest assistant, married Julia after Marcellus’ death. Their sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, were adopted by Augustus as his heirs. Both died and Augustus adopted Tiberius, the son of his wife Livia by her first marriage, who succeded him.) privignum in proximo sibi fastigio conlocavit. sed Augustus in domo successorem quaesivit, ego in re publica, non quia propinquos aut socios belli non habeam, sed neque ipse imperium ambitione accepi, et iudicii mei documentum sit non meae tantum necessitudines, quas tibi postposui, sed et tuae. (iudicii mei documentum sit non meae tantum necessitudines, quas tibi postposui, sed et tuae: ‘let the proof of my discernment be not only my relatives, whom I placed after you, but yours as well’; sit is jussive subjunctive.) est tibi frater pari nobilitate, natu maior, dignus hac fortuna (dignus hac fortuna: dignus is followed by either gen. or abl.) nisi tu potior esses. ea aetas tua quae cupiditates adulescentiae iam effugerit, ea vita in qua nihil praeteritum excusandum habeas. (quae …effugerit, …in qua …habeas: subjunctive in rel. clauses of consecutive sense; cf. A.G. 537, 2.) fortunam adhuc tantum adversam tulisti: secundae res acrioribus stimulis animos explorant, quia miseriae tolerantur, felicitate corrumpimur. fidem, libertatem, amicitiam, praecipua humani animi bona, tu quidem eadem constantia retinebis, sed alii per obsequium imminuent: inrumpet adulatio, blanditiae [et] pessimum veri adfectus venenum, sua cuique utilitas. (sua cuique utilitas: lit. ‘for each one his own benefit’) etiam si ego ac tu simplicissime inter nos hodie loquimur, (etiam si …loquimur: concessive etiam si takes the same construction as si, in this case indicative for simple condition.) ceteri libentius cum fortuna nostra quam nobiscum; nam suadere principi quod oporteat (quod oporteat: subjunctive in rel. clause of potential sense, ‘what might be necessary’) multi laboris, (multi laboris: ‘of much toil’, gen. of quality, recognizable in that an adj. always accompanies it.) adsentatio erga quemcumque principem sine adfectu peragitur.”