XLVI.
Omnia deinde arbitrio militum acta: praetorii praefectos sibi ipsi legere, Plotium Firmum e manipularibus quondam, (e manipularibus quondam: ‘formerly from the ranks’: manipularis is a general term for common soldier or private; there were three manipuli in a cohort, thirty in a legion, each consisting of two centuries.) tum vigilibus praepositum et incolumi adhuc Galba (incolumi adhuc Galba: ‘Galba being still alive’) partis Othonis secutum; adiungitur Licinius Proculus, intima familiaritate Othonis (intima familiaritate Othonis: ‘because of the close friendship of Otho’) suspectus consilia eius fovisse. urbi Flavium Sabinum (Flavium Sabinum: Vespasian’s elder brother) praefecere, iudicium Neronis secuti, (iudicium Neronis secuti: ‘following Nero’s choice’; sequor being deponent, secuti has active sense, ‘following’ or rather ‘having followed’.) sub quo eandem curam obtinuerat, plerisque Vespasianum fratrem in eo respicientibus. (plerisque Vespasianum fratrem in eo respicientibus: abl. abs. of causal sense, ‘for many saw in him his brother Vespasian’; for Vespasian see ch. 10 at the end.) flagitatum ut vacationes (vacationes: vacatio is exemption from military duties, but here is metonymy for the fee paid to obtain such exemption) praestari centurionibus solitae (praestari centurionibus solitae: lit. ‘usual to be given to the centurions’) remitterentur; namque gregarius miles ut tributum annuum pendebat. (gregarius miles ut tributum annuum pendebat: ‘the common soldier paid as a kind of tribute each year.’) quarta pars manipuli sparsa per commeatus aut in ipsis castris vaga, dum mercedem centurioni exolveret, (dum … exolveret: dum in place of dummodo, i.e. with the sense of ‘provided that’, ‘so long as’, requires subjunctive; not once does Tacitus use dummodo in the Histories, always dum; cf. G. 573.) neque modum oneris quisquam neque genus quaestus pensi habebat: (neque modum oneris quisquam neque genus quaestus pensi habebat: ‘no one considered of importance the fairness of the burden or the way of acquiring the money’; aliquid pensi habere is idiom, ‘to consider something of importance’.) per latrocinia et raptus aut servilibus ministeriis militare otium redimebant. tum locupletissimus quisque miles labore ac saevitia fatigari (fatigari: hist. infinitive, ‘were worn down’) donec vacationem emeret. (donec … emeret: Tacitus freely uses subjunctive after donec when expectancy is implied.) ubi sumptibus exhaustus (sumptibus exhaustus: ‘made poor by lavish spending’) socordia insuper elanguerat, (ubi … elanguerat: ‘after he had lost his vigour’; ubi is found with pluperfect indicative to denote recurrent action in the past when the main verb is historical, in this case redibat; cf. B. 287, 2.) inops pro locuplete et iners pro strenuo in manipulum redibat, ac rursus (rursus: ‘in turn’) alius atque alius, eadem egestate ac licentia corrupti, ad seditiones et discordias et ad extremum bella civilia ruebant. sed Otho ne vulgi largitione centurionum animos averteret, (ne … averteret: negative purpose clause) fiscum suum vacationes annuas exoluturum promisit, (vacationes annuas exoluturum: ‘that his treasury would pay for the annual dispensations’) rem haud dubie utilem et a bonis postea principibus perpetuitate disciplinae (perpetuitate disciplinae: lit. ‘in the perpetuity of military service’) firmatam. (rem … utilem … firmatam: acc. because apposition of vacationes annuas exoluturum) Laco praefectus, tamquam in insulam seponeretur, (tamquam in insulam seponeretur: ‘[sent away] as if he were being banished to an island’; a clause with tamquam or quasi follows the rules for sequence of tenses, rather than the rules governing conditional clauses.) ab evocato, quem ad caedem eius Otho praemiserat, confossus; in Marcianum Icelum ut in libertum palam animadversum. (animadversum [est]: impersonal use of passive of intransitive verb, ‘it was proceeded against’; the punishment implied was crucifiction, the same as for slaves.)