XXIX.
Ignarus interim Galba et sacris intentus fatigabat alieni iam imperii deos, (fatigabat alieni iam imperii deos: ‘was troubling the gods of an empire that now was another’s’.) cum adfertur rumor rapi in castra incertum quem senatorem, mox Othonem esse qui raperetur, (qui raperetur: subjunctive in rel. clause in indirect speech) simul ex tota urbe, ut quisque obvius fuerat, alii formidine augentes, quidam minora vero, (simul ex tota urbe, ut quisque obvius fuerat, alii formidine augentes, quidam minora vero: ‘at the same time, according as anyone had met [Otho] on the way, [people came in], some exaggerating the facts out of fear, others reporting them smaller than the truth’; ut is rel. adverb, not conjunction; vero is abl. of comparison.) ne tum quidem obliti adulationis. (ne tum quidem obliti adulationis: obliviscor being deponent, its perf. participle has active sense; gen. or acc. may be found after it; lit. ‘not even then having forgotten (of) flattery’.) igitur consultantibus placuit pertemptari animum cohortis, (placuit pertemptari animum cohortis: for use of impersonal placuit followed by passive infinitive with its own acc. subject, cf. note for iri in castra placuit in ch. 17.) quae in Palatio stationem agebat, nec per ipsum Galbam, cuius integra auctoritas maioribus remediis servabatur. Piso pro gradibus domus vocatos in hunc modum adlocutus est: “sextus dies agitur, (sextus dies agitur: lit. ‘the sixth day is now in progress’; unlike us, the Romans included also the starting day in their count: so in counting from the 10th to the 15th of January, both the 10th and the 15th were included.) commilitones, ex quo ignarus futuri, et sive optandum hoc nomen sive timendum erat, (sive optandum …sive timendum erat: example of impersonal use of passive periphrastic conjugation to express necessity, obligation, or propriety.) Caesar (Caesar: the name, passed down by Julius Caesar to his adopted son Octavian, (later emperor Augustus), was assumed by subsequent emperors.) adscitus sum. quo domus nostrae aut rei publicae fato in vestra manu positum est, non quia meo nomine tristiorem casum paveam, (non quia … paveam: quia is followed by subjunctive when the reason given is not official but subjective.) ut qui adversas res expertus cum maxime discam ne secundas quidem minus discriminis habere: (ut qui adversas res expertus cum maxime discam ne secundas quidem minus discriminis habere: ‘being a man skilled in adversity, especially since I am now made aware that not even prosperity has less danger’; ut qui, introducing a rel. clause of characteristic and normally followed at some point by maxime, is used in a vaguely causal sense, ‘inasmuch as someone having experienced adversity’; the deponent expertus has the active meaning of the English perf. participle; cum is causal as indicated by the use of the subjunctive; discriminis is partitive gen. after the neuter minus.) patris et senatus et ipsius imperii vicem (vicem: ‘plight’, ‘lot’, a defective noun found only in the gen., acc., abl. singular; in the plural not found in the gen.) doleo, si nobis aut perire hodie necesse est aut, quod aeque apud bonos miserum est, occidere. solacium proximi motus habebamus incruentam urbem (incruentam urbem: Piso forgets the massacre of the classiarii at the Milvian bridge: cf. ch. 6.) et res sine discordia translatas: provisum adoptione videbatur ut ne post Galbam quidem bello locus esset.’ (ut ne post Galbam quidem bello locus esset: ut ne is found for ne in negative final clauses with no difference in meaning (cf. G. 444, 1, N. 2), ‘lest there be occasions for war’, but here ne may rather go with quidem, ‘…not even after Galba.’)