LXXIII.
Vix credibile memoratu (vix credibile memoratu: memoratu is abl. supine after an adj. denoting ease or difficulty, right or wrong, pleasure or displeasure; lit. ‘hardly credible in the recalling’) est quantum superbiae socordiaeque Vitellio adoleverit, (quantum superbiae socordiaeque Vitellio adoleverit: lit. ‘how much pride and folly accrued to Vitellius’; adoleverit is perf. subjunctive for indir. question about past events when the main verb is present (est); the intrans. adolesco requires dat. or in + acc.; superbiae and socordiae are partitive genitives after the neuter quantum.) postquam speculatores e Syria Iudaeaque adactum in verba eius Orientem nuntiavere. nam etsi vagis adhuc et incertis auctoribus (etsi vagis adhuc et incertis auctoribus: abl. abs.: ‘however vague and uncertain still being the information’; etsi, quamvis, quamquam, ut are often found used as adverbs modifying adjectives in post-classical times. An example of ut used this way, is ut nullo aemulo below.) erat tamen in ore famaque Vespasianus ac plerumque (plerumque: adv., ‘frequently’) ad nomen eius Vitellius excitabatur: tum ipse exercitusque, ut nullo aemulo, (ut nullo aemulo: abl. abs.: lit. ‘as if there being no rival’; ut is here adverb with the sense of quasi. ) saevitia libidine raptu (saevitia libidine raptu: ablatives of respect) in externos mores proruperant. (in externos mores proruperant: ‘they had let themselves go to barbarian excesses’.)