Histories-Book 1: Chapter 90, Annotated Latin Text

XC.

Pridie idus Martias (pridie idus Martias: i.e. on the 14^th,  as the ides of March fall on the 15^th) commendata patribus re publica reliquias Neronianarum sectionum nondum in fiscum conversas (reliquias Neronianarum sectionum nondum in fiscum conversas: ‘whatever money remained of the sale of properties confiscated by Nero and not yet added to the imperial tresury’) revocatis ab exilio concessit, iustissimum donum et in speciem magnificum, sed festinata iam pridem exactione (festinata iam pridem exactione: ‘the confiscated properties having long before been processed in a hurry’) usu sterile. (usu sterile: ‘futile in practice’; sterile agrees with donum) mox vocata contione maiestatem urbis et consensum populi ac senatus pro se (pro se: ‘in his favor’; the reflexive se must as a rule refer to the subject of the clause.) attollens, adversum Vitellianas partis modeste disseruit, inscitiam potius legionum quam audaciam increpans, nulla Vitellii mentione, sive ipsius ea moderatio, seu scriptor orationis sibi metuens contumeliis in Vitellium abstinuit, quando, ut in consiliis militiae Suetonio Paulino et Mario Celso, ita in rebus urbanis Galeri Trachali ingenio Othonem uti credebatur; et erant qui genus ipsum orandi noscerent, (erant qui … noscerent: cf. erant quos …accenderet, ch. 25.) crebro fori usu celebre et ad implendas populi auris latum et sonans. ([genus orandi] crebro fori usu celebre et ad implendas populi auris latum et sonans: ‘[his oratorical style] notorious because of its frequent use at the bar, expansive, high-sounding to fill the ears of the people’;  fori: forum is here metonymy for ‘the courts’, ‘the bar’.) clamor vocesque vulgi ex more adulandi nimiae et falsae: quasi dictatorem Caesarem aut imperatorem Augustum prosequerentur, (quasi … prosequerentur: quasi introduces a conditional clause of comparison, which differs from standard conditional clauses in that it follows the rules of the regular sequence of tenses; cf. G. 602.) ita studiis votisque certabant, nec metu aut amore, sed ex libidine servitii: ut in familiis, (ut in familiis: familia is here used with the sense of ‘the slaves of a household’.) privata cuique stimulatio, et vile iam decus publicum. (vile iam decus publicum: ‘the honor of the state [was] no longer held in any esteem’.) profectus Otho quietem urbis curasque imperii Salvio Titiano fratri permisit.