LXXI.
Exim (exim: exim or exinde: ‘next’ ) Bononiae (Bononiae: locative) a Fabio Valente gladiatorum spectaculum editur, (editur: switch to present tense, a rhetorical device that brings past events closer to the reader.) advecto ex urbe cultu. (advecto ex urbe cultu: ‘the necessary equipment having been transported form Rome’) quantoque magis propinquabat, tanto corruptius iter immixtis histrionibus et spadonum gregibus et cetero Neronianae aulae ingenio; (quantoque magis propinquabat, tanto corruptius iter immixtis histrionibus et spadonum gregibus et cetero Neronianae aulae ingenio: quanto …tanto + comparative introduce the dependent and main clause respectively of a comparative sentence: lit. ‘the closer he came to Rome, the more chaotic [became] his going, what with actors mixed [with the soldiers], herds of eunuchs, and all the other inventions of Nero’s court’) namque et Neronem ipsum Vitellius admiratione celebrabat, (namque et Neronem ipsum Vitellius admiratione celebrabat: ‘for in fact he applauded Nero himself with admiration’; namque et: et reinforces namque.) sectari cantantem solitus, non necessitate, qua honestissimus quisque, (non necessitate, qua honestissimus quisque [sectari cantantem solitus erat]: ‘not from compulsion, under which (qua) the best citizens regularly attended the performing prince’.) sed luxu et saginae mancipatus emptusque. (sed luxu et saginae mancipatus emptusque: ‘but [because he was] a man given over to gluttony and corrupted by luxury’. Striking juxtaposition of both the instruments of vice, luxu and saginae, and of their moral effects, mancipatus emptusque, in place of an expected word order such as luxu emptus et saginae mancipatus.) ut Valenti et Caecinae vacuos honoris mensis aperiret, coartati aliorum consulatus, (coartati aliorum consulatus: cf. Book 1, ch. 77 for Otho’s assignment of the consulates: Vitellius did not change them, only made them shorter.) dissimulatus Marci Macri tamquam Othonianarum partium ducis; (dissimulatus Marci Macri tamquam Othonianarum partium ducis: ‘[the consulate] of Marcus Macer being ignored because he had been a leader of the Othonian party’; tamquam (‘as if’) is found in Tacitus almost with the sense of quia or quod. For Marcus Macer see ch. 23.) et Valerium Marinum destinatum a Galba consulem distulit, nulla offensa, (nulla offensa: abl. of cause: ‘not because of any offense’) sed mitem et iniuriam segniter laturum. (iniuriam segniter laturum [esse]: infinitive in indir. discourse introduced by implied verb of saying with distulit: ‘[saying that] Marinus would bear the insult quietly’) Pedanius Costa omittitur, ingratus principi ut adversus Neronem ausus et Verginii extimulator, sed alias protulit causas; actaeque insuper Vitellio gratiae consuetudine servitii. (consuetudine servitii: abl. of cause: ‘from habit of servility’)