XXVII.
Octavo decimo kalendas Februarias (octavo decimo kalendas Februarias: for kalends, to turn the Roman date into English, add 2 to the number of days in the previous month and subtract the given number; thus: (31 days in January +2) – 18 = Feb. 15) sacrificanti pro aede Apollinis (pro aede Apollinis: the temple of Apollo was near the east side of Domus Augustea, or the house of Augustus on the Palatine Hill.) Galbae haruspex Vmbricius tristia exta et instantis insidias ac domesticum hostem praedicit, audiente Othone (nam proximus adstiterat) idque ut laetum e contrario et suis cogitationibus prosperum interpretante. (idque ut laetum e contrario et suis cogitationibus prosperum interpretante: ‘interpreting what he heard from its opposite as favorable and auspicious to his plans’) nec multo post libertus Onomastus nuntiat expectari eum ab architecto et redemptoribus, (ab architecto et redemptoribus: with the probable double meaning of Otho as the architect of a new world order and his supporters as the ‘redemptors’ or liberators of Rome) quae significatio coeuntium iam militum et paratae coniurationis convenerat. Otho, causam digressus requirentibus, cum emi sibi praedia vetustate suspecta eoque prius exploranda finxisset, (cum emi sibi praedia vetustate suspecta eoque prius exploranda finxisset: the cum temporal clause is dependent on the main verb pergit: ‘after he had pretended he was buying for himself properties that were suspect because of their age and for that reason to be examined first, he proceded to go to …’) innixus liberto (innixus liberto: innitor being deponent, innixus has active meaning, ‘leaning (or ‘having leaned’) on his freedman’.) per Tiberianam domum in Velabrum, inde ad miliarium aureum sub aedem Saturni pergit. (per Tiberianam domum in Velabrum, inde ad miliarium aureum sub aedem Saturni: from the temple of Apollo, Otho walks through the house of Tiberius, an extension of the imperial palace, to the Velabrum, the quarter of Rome nestled in the small valley betwwen the SE slopes of the Capitoline hill and the NW slopes of the Palatine hill; from there he goes NE to the NW corner of the Forum, near the temple of Saturn, where the golden milestone was, a column covered in bronze on which were indicated the roads that connected Rome to the various parts of the empire and their distances from the city.) ibi tres et viginti speculatores consalutatum imperatorem ac paucitate salutantium trepidum et sellae festinanter impositum strictis mucronibus rapiunt; (ibi tres et viginti speculators … rapiunt: with outstanding brevity and one verb only, the sentence manages to relate a chain of rapid actions, in which Otho is made to appear as playing a very passive role.) totidem ferme milites in itinere adgregantur, alii conscientia, plerique miraculo, (conscientia …miraculo: ‘because of complicity’ …’in disbelief’) pars clamore et gladiis, pars silentio, animum ex eventu sumpturi. (pars silentio, animum ex eventu sumpturi: ‘others in silence, intending to decide after the fact’; may also mean ‘waiting to take courage from the outcome’; the plural sumpturi qualifies the collective pars: use of the future participle as an adjective became more frequent with later writers to denote action that is imminent, probable, expected, or planned.)