XXI.
Interea Othonem, cui compositis rebus nulla spes, omne in turbido consilium, multa simul extimulabant, luxuria etiam principi onerosa, inopia vix privato toleranda, in Galbam ira, in Pisonem invidia; fingebat et (et: postpositive et has the meaning of etiam.) metum quo magis concupisceret: (fingebat …metum quo magis concupisceret: ‘he invented fears to stimulate his appetites’; quo introduces a final clause, especially when followed by a comparative.) praegravem se Neroni fuisse, nec Lusitaniam (Lusitaniam: cf. ch. 13.) rursus et alterius exilii honorem expectandum. suspectum semper invisumque dominantibus qui proximus destinaretur. (qui proximus destinaretur: ‘who was spoken of as the next [emperor]; destinaretur: subjunctive for rel. clause in indirect speech) nocuisse id sibi apud senem principem, magis nociturum apud iuvenem ingenio trucem et longo exilio efferatum: occidi Othonem posse. proinde agendum audendumque, (agendum audendumque [esse]: impersonal use of passive periphrastic in indir. speech) dum Galbae auctoritas fluxa, Pisonis nondum coaluisset. (dum …nondum coaluisset: dum, ‘until’, requires subjunctive when design or suspense is expressed.) opportunos magnis conatibus transitus rerum, (opportunos [esse] magnis conatibus transitus rerum: ‘[Otho thought that] regime changes were favorable to great enterprises’) nec cunctatione opus, (nec cunctatione opus [esse]: ‘there was the least need of delay’.) ubi perniciosior sit (ubi …sit: sit is in place of esset in indirect discourse governed by historical verb of saying: this abrupt change to the present, for greater immediacy, is called repraesentatio; the same applies to maneat below; cf. B. 318.) quies quam temeritas. mortem omnibus ex natura aequalem oblivione apud posteros vel (vel: cf. note at the end of ch. 19.) gloria distingui; ac si nocentem innocentemque idem exitus maneat, (idem exitus maneat: cf. previous note.) acrioris viri esse merito (acrioris viri esse merito perire: ‘it is the mark of the more resolute man to die deservedly’; acrioris viri is gen. of quality; merito is adverb.) perire.