LXII.
Nec ultra in defectores aut bona cuiusquam saevitum: rata fuere eorum qui acie Othoniana ceciderant, testamenta aut lex intestatis: (rata fuere …testamenta aut lex intestatis: ‘the wills [of the fallen] or the intestacy laws were upheld’.) prorsus, (‘all in all’) si luxuriae temperaret, avaritiam non timeres. (si luxuriae temperaret, avaritiam non timeres: unreality of past condition is normally expressed by the pluperfect subjunctive, temperavisset, timuisses: advancing the condition to the present, as if Vitellius were still alive, imparts greater immediacy to the narrative and the use of the second person sing. enhances the effect: ‘if he were moderate in his gluttony, you would have nothing to fear’. This shifting of events closer to the reader is called repraesentatio; cf. G. 654, N. and A.G. 469, N. Note that luxuriae is dative with the verb tempero.) epularum foeda et inexplebilis libido: ex urbe atque Italia inritamenta gulae gestabantur, strepentibus ab utroque mari itineribus; exhausti conviviorum apparatibus principes civitatum; vastabantur ipsae civitates; degenerabat a labore ac virtute miles adsuetudine voluptatum et contemptu ducis. praemisit in urbem edictum quo vocabulum Augusti differret, Caesaris non reciperet, cum de potestate nihil detraheret. (cum de potestate nihil detraheret: concessive cum requires use of subjunctive.) pulsi Italia mathematici; cautum severe ne equites Romani ludo et harena polluerentur. (cautum [est] severe ne … polluerentur: cautum [est] is example of impersonal use of passive, ‘it was warned severely against disgracing themselves’; caveo is followed by purpose clause with ut or ne.) priores id principes pecunia et saepius vi perpulerant, ac pleraque municipia et coloniae aemulabantur corruptissimum quemque adulescentium (corruptissimum quemque adulescentium: ‘the most dissipated young men’) pretio inlicere.