XVII.
Pisonem ferunt (Pisonem ferunt …prodidisse: impersonal construction of the infinitive clause following an active verb of saying; for personal construction with passive verb cf. Galba …locutus [esse] fertur ch. 15.) statim intuentibus et mox coniectis in eum omnium oculis (statim intuentibus et mox coniectis in eum omnium oculis: ‘to those looking on at that moment and later to all eyes converging on him’; intuentibus and coniectis oculis are indirect objects of prodidisse.) nullum turbati aut exultantis animi motum prodidisse. sermo erga patrem imperatoremque reverens, de se moderatus; nihil in vultu habituque mutatum, quasi imperare posset (quasi imperare posset: like tamquam (cf. tamquam at the end of previous chapter) quasi is followed by a conditional clause of comparison; cf. A.G. 524.) magis quam vellet. consultatum inde, pro rostris an in senatu an in castris adoptio nuncuparetur. (consultatum … [utrum] pro rostris an in senatu an in castris adoptio nuncuparetur: interrogative an, which usually is found introducing the second part of a double question, is repeated if a third part is present; consultatum [est] : impersonal use of passive, ‘it was debated …’) iri in castra placuit: (iri in castra placuit: placeo is here found used on the pattern of iubeo, which is preferably followed by the passive form of the infinitive; lit. ‘it was decided that they be gone to the camp’) honorificum id militibus fore, quorum favorem ut largitione et ambitu male adquiri, ita per bonas artis haud spernendum. (quorum favorem ut largitione et ambitu male adquiri, ita per bonas artis haud spernendum [esse]: ‘whose goodwill, just as it is basely acquired by largesse and intrigue, so it must not be rejected {when acquired] by laudable arts’; the comparative particles ut – ita, the first introducing the dependent, the other the leading clause of a comparative sentence, often compare two adversative actions and ut may be loosely rendered by ‘although’, ‘while’; cf. G. 482, 4. Note that the ut and ita clauses are in indirect discourse introduced by placuit , or by an implied verb of saying, and that the verb of the ut clause is infinitive, not subjunctive as expected. This is so because the verb of the ut clause is borrowed from the ita or leading clause (where it remains merely implied). In such cases the dependent clause is treated as part of the leading clause, i.e. if the verb of the ita clause is infinitive, so must be that of the ut clause; cf. G. 641. ) circumsteterat interim Palatium publica expectatio, magni secreti impatiens; et male coercitam famam supprimentes augebant.