XXII.
Non erat Othonis mollis et corpori similis animus. et intimi libertorum servorumque, corruptius quam in privata domo habiti, (corruptius quam in privata domo habiti: ‘treated more permissively than in private households’) aulam Neronis et luxus, adulteria, matrimonia ceterasque regnorum libidines avido talium, (avido talium: lit. ‘to him avid of such things’) si auderet, ut sua ostentantes, quiescenti ut aliena exprobrabant, (si auderet, ut sua ostentantes, quiescenti ut aliena exprobrabant: ‘reproved him, showing [these luxuries] as belonging to him, if he dared, as belonging to another if he did nothing’; quiescenti is dat. with exprobabant, lit. ‘they levelled the blame at him doing nothing’.) urgentibus etiam mathematicis, dum novos motus et clarum Othoni annum observatione siderum adfirmant, (dum …adfirmant: ‘since they assured him that …’; dum may at times have causal sense, but retains pres. indicative.) genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper (vetabitur semper: by Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Vitellius, and later by Constantine and Valentinian) et (et …et: ‘both …and’) retinebitur. multos secreta Poppaeae mathematicos pessimum principalis matrimonii instrumentum, habuerant: (multos secreta Poppaeae mathematicos …habuerant: ‘Poppaea’s boudoir had held many astrologers’.) e quibus Ptolemaeus Othoni in Hispania comes, cum superfuturum eum Neroni promisisset, (cum superfuturum eum Neroni promisisset: order: cum promisisset eum superfuturum [esse] Neroni, ‘ when he had promised he was going to survive Nero’; temporal cum requires subjunctive when the tense is either imperfect or pluperfect; superfuturum [esse] is example of active periphrastic conjugation; Neroni is dative with the intrans. supersum.) postquam ex eventu fides, (postquam ex eventu fides: ‘when credit [came] from the event’ i.e. ‘when events proved him right’) coniectura iam et rumore senium Galbae et iuventam Othonis computantium (coniectura iam et rumore senium Galbae et iuventam Othonis computantium: ‘by his own conjectures and then from the talk of those speculating on Galba’s age and Otho’s youth …’) persuaserat fore ut in imperium adscisceretur. (persuaserat fore ut in imperium adscisceretur: ‘he had persuaded [him] that he would be summoned to the throne’; the periphrasis fore ut, followed by a consecutive clause with subjunctive is the usual way to express future infinitive when the verb is passive; this in preference to the seldom found future infinitive passive with the supine of the verb + iri, i.e. in this case persuaserat eum adscitum iri; cf. A.G. 509, Note 1 and 569, 3a.) sed Otho tamquam peritia et monitu fatorum praedicta (tamquam peritia et monitu fatorum praedicta: ‘as if foretold with the help of the [astrologer’s] science and the warnings of fate’; peritia and monitu are most likely ablatives of instrument; tamquam is here adverb, not conjunction.) accipiebat, cupidine ingenii humani libentius obscura credendi. (cupidine … credendi: lit. ‘because of the desire of believing’; credendi is objective genitive.) nec deerat Ptolemaeus, iam et sceleris instinctor, (iam et sceleris instinctor: ‘now also the instigator of crime’) ad quod facillime ab eius modi voto transitur. (ad quod facillime ab eius modi voto transitur: the antecedent of quod is sceleris, ‘the passage to which from desires of that kind is very easy’; transitur is impersonal use of passive of an intransitive verb, ‘it is passed’)