LIII.
Notabile iurgium fuit quo Licinius Caecina Marcellum Eprium (Licinius Caecina Marcellum Eprium: the first is otherwise unknown, the latter was a famous orator and an informer under Nero.) ut ambigua disserentem (ut ambigua disserentem: ‘inasmuch as speaking ambiguously’) invasit. nec ceteri sententias aperiebant: sed invisum memoria delationum expositumque ad invidiam Marcelli nomen inritaverat Caecinam, (sed invisum memoria delationum expositumque ad invidiam Marcelli nomen inritaverat Caecinam ut …: ‘but the name of Marcellus, unpopular on account of the memory of his activities as an informer and exposed to censure, had spurred Caecina to …’. ) ut novus adhuc et in senatum nuper adscitus magnis inimicitiis claresceret. (ut novus adhuc et in senatum nuper adscitus magnis inimicitiis claresceret: ‘to gain notoriety through great enmities, [being] still unknown and only recently admitted to the senate’.) moderatione meliorum dirempti. et rediere omnes Bononiam, (Bononiam: now Bologna) rursus consiliaturi; (rursus consiliaturi: the active future participle can, in later writers, denote purpose, intent , design: ‘with the intent of deliberating again’; cf. A.G. 499, 2.) simul medio temporis plures nuntii sperabantur. Bononiae, (Bononiae: locative) divisis per itinera qui recentissimum quemque percontarentur, (divisis … qui recentissimum quemque percontarentur: single-word abl. abs. with dependent relative clause of characteristic: ‘[men] being assigned to separate places who would question anyone recently arrived’) interrogatus Othonis libertus causam (interrogatus …causam: causam is an example of Greek accusative with passive interrogatus, lit. ‘questioned as to the reason …’. Cf. interrogatus sententiam, ‘being asked his opinion’. See A.G. 397, b. and G. 338.) digressus habere se suprema eius mandata respondit; ipsum viventem quidem relictum, sed sola posteritatis cura et abruptis vitae blandimentis. hinc admiratio et plura interrogandi (plura interrogandi …pudor: one of the two cases where gerund admits a direct object, genitive — as here — and abl. without preposition) pudor, atque omnium animi in Vitellium inclinavere. (atque omnium animi in Vitellium inclinavere: bitter reflection on the volatility of human loyalties)