V.
Miles urbanus longo Caesarum sacramento imbutus et ad destituendum Neronem (ad destituendum Neronem: though the form is the same, destituendum is gerundive (passive), not gerund (active), ‘for Nero to be abandoned’, not ‘to abandon Nero’, as the acc. gerund after ad does not admit a direct object; cf. A.G. 506, Note 2.) arte magis et impulsu quam suo ingenio traductus, postquam neque dari donativum sub nomine Galbae promissum neque magnis meritis ac praemiis eundem in pace quem in bello locum praeventamque gratiam intellegit apud principem a legionibus factum, pronus ad novas res scelere insuper Nymphidii Sabini praefecti imperium sibi molientis agitatur. (miles urbanus …, postquam neque dari donativum …neque …eundem in pace quem in bello locum [esse] praeventamque gratiam intelligit apud principem a legionibus factum, pronus ad novas res scelere insuper Nymphidii Sabini praefecti imperium sibi molientis agitatur: the literal line of thought in this tightly woven passage –a sample of Tacitus’ compressed style – runs as follows: ‘The urban soldiery, after they realized that the donative would not be given them, that opportunities would not be the same in peace as those in war, and that the affections of a prince chosen by the legions were [already] engaged, prone [as they felt] to change, were also made uneasy by the treachery of Nymphidius Sabinus, their prefect, striving to grasp the empire for himself’; neque …eundem in pace quem in bello locum [esse]: lit. ‘that the opportunity was not the same which in war’, i.e. ‘not the same [as] that in war’; the relative quem, whose antecedent is locum, ‘opportunity’, is equivalent to a demonstrative pronoun (‘that’) and as such becomes acc. in the infinitive clause in indir. discourse governed by intelligit; cf. B. 314, 4; insuper is here adverb, not preposition, ‘in addition’, ‘besides’; sibi is dat. of advantage or dativus commodi; scelere ia abl. of cause with agitatur.) et Nymphidius quidem (quidem: ‘true enough’) in ipso conatu oppressus, set quamvis capite defectionis ablato manebat plerisque (manebat plerisque: the verb maneo is found followed by abl. with or without in.) militum conscientia, nec deerant sermones senium atque avaritiam Galbae increpantium. (nec deerant sermones senium atque avaritiam Galbae increpantium: ‘there was no shortage of acrimonious talk of those exclaiming against Galba’s debility and stinginess’) laudata olim et militari fama (militari fama: ‘by word of soldier’s mouth’) celebrata severitas eius angebat aspernantis veterem disciplinam atque ita quattuordecim annis a Nerone adsuefactos ut haud minus vitia principum amarent quam olim virtutes verebantur. (ita …adsuefactos ut haud minus vitia principum amarent quam olim virtutes verebantur: ita introduces the main clause of a consecutive sentence, ut the result or dependent clause requiring subjunctive; here the ut clause is at the same time the dependent clause of a comparative sentence introduced by haud minus …quam. Note that haud minus itself, like the similar potius, requires subjunctive when used in combination with quam.) accessit Galbae vox pro re publica honesta, ipsi anceps, legi a se militem, non emi; (legi a se militem, non emi: although Galba is not the grammatical subject of the infinitive clause, or even of the main clause, the use of the reflexive a se, in place of ab eo is justified by the fact that Galba is the actual subject of discourse; cf. A.G. 300, 2 Note.) nec enim ad hanc formam cetera erant. (nec enim ad hanc formam cetera erant: ‘indeed all the rest was not up to that standard’)