L.
Origo illi e municipio Ferentio, (Ferentio: today’s Ferento, five miles north of Viterbo in Latium) pater consularis, avus praetorius; maternum genus impar nec tamen indecorum. pueritia ac iuventa, qualem monstravimus. (pueritia ac iuventa, qualem monstravimus: cf. Book 1, ch. 13.) duobus facinoribus, (duobus facinoribus: i. e. Galba’s murder and his own suicide) altero flagitiosissimo, altero (altero … altero: ‘one …the other’) egregio, tantundem apud posteros meruit bonae famae quantum malae. (tantundem …bonae famae quantum malae: bonae famae and malae [famae] are partitive genitives after the neuter tantundem and quantum.) ut conquirere fabulosa et fictis oblectare legentium animos procul gravitate coepti operis (procul gravitate coepti operis [esse]: ‘is far from the seriousness of the work undertaken’) crediderim, ita vulgatis traditisque demere fidem (vulgatis traditisque demere fidem: ‘to deprive of credibity things [once] widely known and handed down [to us]’ …; vulgatis traditisque is dative with demere.) non ausim. (ut …crediderim, ita …non ausim: ut introduces the subordinate clause and the correlative ita the main clause of a comparative sentence, ‘just as I …so I …’. Note that ut …ita are often adversative, with the sense of ‘although …yet’, as proposed in the translation text. See also G. 642, R. 3. The perfect crediderim and ausim are first-person potential subjunctives that moderate the tone of asseverations and turn them into modest opinions; both present and perfect are used. Cf. G. 257. ausim is the preferred shortened form of ausus sim.) die, quo Bedriaci certabatur, avem invisitata specie apud Regium Lepidum (Regium Lepidum: modern Reggio Emilia, between Parma and Modena) celebri luco consedisse incolae memorant, nec deinde coetu hominum aut circumvolitantium alitum territam pulsamve, donec Otho se ipse interficeret; (donec Otho se ipse interficeret: = donec Otho ipse se interficeret; for donec + subjunctive see note for donec omnes inviolati digrederentur in previous chapter.) tum ablatam ex oculis: et tempora reputantibus initium finemque miraculi cum Othonis exitu competisse. (tempora reputantibus initium finemque miraculi cum Othonis exitu competisse: ‘to those calculating the times, the beginning and the end of the miracle were in keeping with Otho’s decline and fall’. The infinitive clause is in indir. discourse introduced by reputandibus.)