XXX.
“Nihil adrogabo mihi nobilitatis aut modestiae; neque enim relatu virtutum in comparatione Othonis opus est. (relatu …opus est: opus est requires abl. of the thing needed.) vitia, quibus solis gloriatur, evertere imperium, etiam cum amicum imperatoris ageret. (cum … ageret: use of subjunctive after temporal cum if the tense is imperfect or pluperfect) habitune et incessu an illo (illo: denotes contempt.) muliebri ornatu mereretur imperium? (habitune et incessu an …muliebri ornatu mereretur imperium?: ‘should he deserve the empire because of his bearing and gait or because of his womanish costume?’ –ne …an introduce the two parts of a double question; mereretur is potential subjunctive in questions that expect a negative answer; cf. G. 259; the deponent form mereor is found just as often as the active form mereo.) falluntur quibus luxuria specie liberalitatis imponit: (falluntur (ei) quibus luxuria specie liberalitatis imponit: ‘those are deceived, on whom his extravagance imposes in the guise of liberality’; impono is here with dative.) perdere iste sciet, donare nesciet. stupra nunc et comissationes et feminarum coetus volvit animo: (volvit animo: ‘turns over in his mind’) haec principatus praemia putat, quorum libido ac voluptas penes ipsum sit, (quorum libido ac voluptas penes ipsum sit: libido and voluptas are possibly hendiadys, as are rubor and dedecus next; sit is subjunctive for rel. clause in indir. speech introduced by putat; penes ipsum: ‘belonging to him only’; the prep. penes requires acc. of the person.) rubor ac dedecus penes omnis; nemo enim umquam imperium flagitio quaesitum bonis artibus exercuit. Galbam consensus generis humani, me Galba consentientibus vobis Caesarem (Caesarem: cf. note in ch. 29) dixit. si res publica et senatus et populus vacua nomina sunt, vestra, commilitones, interest ne (vestra,…interest ne …: impers. use of intersum with vestra, the feminine abl. sing. form of the possessive pronoun vester, in place of the gen. personal pronoun vestri, with following final clause with ut or ne, lit. ‘it is in your advantage to see to it that …’; cf. G. 381, A.G. 355, B. 210.) imperatorem pessimi faciant. legionum seditio adversus duces suos audita est aliquando: vestra fides famaque inlaesa ad hunc diem mansit. et Nero quoque vos destituit, non vos Neronem. minus triginta transfugae et desertores, (transfugae et desertores: hendiadys) quos centurionem aut tribunum sibi eligentis nemo ferret, (quos centurionem … sibi eligentis nemo ferret: subjunctive in a relative conditional sentence contrary to fact, where centurionem sibi eligentis is equivalent to the protasis si qui centurionem sibi eligerent and quos nemo ferret to the apodosis eos nemo ferret; cf. A.G. 519; ferret is imperf. subjunctive for unreal condition in the present, sibi is dative of advantage.) imperium adsignabunt? admittitis exemplum et quiescendo commune crimen facitis? transcendet haec licentia in provincias, et ad nos scelerum exitus, bellorum ad vos pertinebunt. nec est plus quod pro caede principis quam quod innocentibus datur, sed proinde a nobis donativum ob fidem quam ab aliis pro facinore accipietis.’’ (proinde …quam: ‘exactly as’)