VIII.
Sub idem tempus Achaia atque Asia falso exterritae velut Nero adventaret, (velut Nero adventaret: ‘as if Nero was about to arrive’; velut introduces a conditional clause of comparison requiring subjunctive; the tenses follow the rules of sequence, rather than those governing conditional clauses. Cf. G. 602.) vario super exitu eius rumore eoque pluribus vivere eum fingentibus credentibusque. (vario super exitu eius rumore eoque pluribus vivere eum fingentibus credentibusque: abl. abs.: ‘various rumors [circulating] on his death and for that reason many believing or pretending to believe he was alive’; super: here with abl. in place of acc. The mysterious circumstances of Nero’s suicide and his hasty burial spread the belief he was not dead and encouraged more than one pretender to impersonate him.) ceterorum casus conatusque in contextu operis dicemus: (ceterorum casus conatusque in contextu operis dicemus: ‘I shall relate the fate and attempts of the other [impostors] in the course of my work’. Parts of Tacitus’ work here referred to have gone lost.) tunc (tunc: ‘this time’, ‘in this case’) servus e Ponto sive, ut alii tradidere, libertinus ex Italia, citharae et cantus peritus, unde illi super similitudinem oris propior ad fallendum fides, (unde illi … propior ad fallendum fides [erat]: ‘hence he had the readier trust [of the people] in deceiving [them]’; illi is dat. of possessor with an implied erat.) adiunctis desertoribus, quos inopia vagos ingentibus promissis corruperat, mare ingreditur; ac vi tempestatum Cythnum insulam (Cythnum insulam: one of the islands of the Cyclades group, today’s Therma, SW of the island of Samos off the coast of SW Turkey) detrusus et militum quosdam ex Oriente commeantium (militum quosdam …commeantium: ‘a certain number of soldiers going home on leave’) adscivit vel abnuentis interfici iussit, et spoliatis negotiatoribus mancipiorum valentissimum quemque (valentissimum quemque: ‘all the strongest men’; for quisque accompanied by superlative cf. A.G 313, b.) armavit. centurionemque Sisennam dextras, concordiae insignia, (dextras, concordiae insignia: cf. Book 1, ch. 54.) Syriaci exercitus nomine ad praetorianos ferentem variis artibus adgressus est, donec Sisenna clam relicta insula trepidus et vim metuens aufugeret. (donec …aufugeret: in Tacitus donec, ‘until’, is often found followed by subjunctive, even when classical usage would require the indicative; cf. A.G. 556, N.) inde late terror: multi ad celebritatem nominis erecti rerum novarum cupidine et odio praesentium. gliscentem in dies famam fors discussit. (gliscentem in dies famam fors discussit: ‘chance dashed a fame growing by the hour’.)