LXIV.
Igitur Vitellius metu et odio quod Petroniam uxorem eius mox Dolabella in matrimonium accepisset, (quod Petroniam uxorem eius mox Dolabella in matrimonium accepisset: ‘because Dolabella had soon married his [previous] wife Petronia’. mox: ‘not long after [he, Vitellius, had left her]’. uxorem eius: to avoid confusion, often frequent also in English, Latin uses the possessive adj. suus when it relates to the subject of the clause and the personal pronoun eius when it does not; here eius clearly applies to Vitellius, since Dolabella is the subject of the quod clause. quod …accepisset: subjunctive in that the reason given is not the writer’s, but Vitellius’ construal. ) vocatum per epistulas vitata Flaminiae viae celebritate devertere Interamnium atque ibi interfici iussit. (vocatum per epistulas vitata Flaminiae viae celebritate devertere Interamnium … iussit: ‘he enjoined [Dolabella], summoned by letter, to make a diversion to Interamnium, the congestion of the Via Flaminia being [thus] avoided’. Interamnium: more than one locality went by that name, but modern Terni, 100 Km. or 60 miles north of Rome, is most probably meant. Flaminiae viae: this major road joined Rimini on the Adriatic coast to Rome where it crossed the Tiber at the Milvian bridge, north of the city. See also ch. 89 ahead.) longum interfectori visum: in itinere ac taberna proiectum humi iugulavit, magna cum invidia (magna cum invidia: abl. of manner, ‘to the great discredit of …’.) novi principatus, cuius hoc primum specimen noscebatur. (cuius hoc primum specimen noscebatur: cuius refers to novi principatus: lit. ‘of which [principate] this first sample stood revealed’ or, freely, ‘of the quality of which principate this was the first revelation’.) et Triariae licentiam modestum e proximo (e proximo: ‘from within her own circle’, ‘close by’) exemplum onerabat, Galeria imperatoris uxor non immixta tristibus; (Triariae licentiam modestum exemplum onerabat, Galeria imperatoris uxor non immixta tristibus: ‘an example of modesty made Triaria’s impudence more unacceptable, the emperor’s wife Galeria, never involved in these deplorablw acts’.) et pari probitate mater Vitelliorum Sextilia, antiqui moris: dixisse quin etiam (quin etiam: ‘nay, even …’) ad primas filii sui epistulas ferebatur, non Germanicum (Germanicum: cf. note for Germanicum appellavit in ch. 59.) a se sed Vitellium genitum. nec ullis postea fortunae inlecebris aut ambitu civitatis in gaudium evicta domus suae tantum adversa sensit. (tantum …sensit: tantum, ‘only’, is adverb.)