XCV.
Quin et (quin et: ‘what is more’) natalem Vitellii diem Caecina ac Valens editis tota urbe vicatim gladiatoribus celebravere, ingenti paratu et ante illum diem insolito. (editis tota urbe vicatim gladiatoribus …ingenti paratu et ante illum diem insolito: abl. abs.: ‘gladiatorial shows being exhibited on a gigantic and unprecedented scope by district in the entire city’) laetum foedissimo cuique apud bonos invidiae fuit quod (laetum foedissimo cuique apud bonos invidiae fuit quod …: ‘it was a joyful event for the worthless rabble of Rome, a ground for disapproval for all decent citizens, because …’; foedissimo cuique is dat of possessor with fuit; invidiae is dat. of purpose or destination; apud bonos is in place of bonis, another dat. of possessor, to avoid three datives in succession, cuique, bonis, invidiae.) extructis in campo Martio aris inferias Neroni fecisset. (quod extructis in campo Martio aris inferias Neroni fecisset: ‘because he had performed a funeral service for Nero, an altar having been erected on the Campus Martius’. The Campus Martius was an open area between the city walls and the Tiber near the NW sector of the city.) caesae publice victimae cremataeque; facem Augustales subdidere, quod sacerdotium, ut Romulus Tatio regi, ita Caesar Tiberius Iuliae genti sacravit. ([Augustales], quod sacerdotium, ut Romulus Tatio regi, ita Caesar Tiberius Iuliae genti sacravit: ‘[the Augustales], which religious order Caesar Tiberius dedicated to the Julian house, just as Romulus did to king Tatius’. Tatio regi: Tatius was the Sabine king who ruled Rome jointly with Romulus after its foundation. The particle ut and its correlative ita introduce respectively the dependent and the main clause of a comparative sentence within the rel. clause quod sacerdotium …sacravit.) nondum quartus a victoria mensis, et libertus Vitellii Asiaticus Polyclitos Patrobios (Asiaticus Polyclitos Patrobios: for Asiaticus cf. ch. 57, for Polyclitus and Patrobius cf. Book 1, ch. 37 and 49 respectively. The use of acc. plural for the last two names is to denote contempt, ‘rascals of that sort’. See also below Vinios, Fabios, Icelos, Asiaticos.) et vetera odiorum nomina (et vetera odiorum nomina: ‘and the old objects of hatred’) aequabat. nemo in illa aula (illa aula: illa is deprecatory, ‘that infamous court’.) probitate aut industria certavit: unum ad potentiam iter, prodigis epulis et sumptu ganeaque (sumptu ganeaque: ’with expense and eating’, i.e. ‘with wasteful feasting’) satiare inexplebilis Vitellii libidines. ipse abunde ratus si praesentibus frueretur, nec in longius consultans, paucissimis mensibus intervertisse creditur. (ipse abunde [esse] ratus si praesentibus frueretur, nec in longius consultans, noviens miliens sestertium paucissimis mensibus intervertisse creditur: the passage is in personal construction with the passive creditur, the subject of which and of the infinitive intervertisset being ipse, qualified by ratus and consultans: ‘he is believed that, heedless of the future and convinced that it was more than enough if he could enjoy the present, he alone (ipse) swallowed up nine hundred million sesterces in a very few months’. For personal construction with passive of verbs of saying and thinking, cf. G. 528 and note for unde primum creditur Caecinae fides fluitasse in ch. 93. noviens miliens sestertium: miliens, in association with sestertium, is elliptic for milliens centena milia sestertium; thus, 9 x 1000 x 100,000 = 9 million sesterces; it is difficult to give the equivalence in today’s money, but 40 – 60 million dollars may not be far-fetched.) magna et misera civitas, eodem anno Othonem Vitellium passa, (eodem anno Othonem Vitellium passa: the deponent perf. participle passa has active meaning, ‘having endured an Otho and a Vitellius in the same year’) inter Vinios Fabios Icelos Asiaticos varia et pudenda sorte agebat, (inter Vinios Fabios Icelos Asiaticos varia et pudenda sorte agebat: ‘[Rome] managed to survive in an uncertain and shameful climate under the likes of Vinius, Fabius, Icelus, and Asiaticus’. For Vinius cf. Book 1, ch. 6ff.; for Icelus cf. Book 1, ch. 13, 46; for Asiaticus ch. 57; Fabius is the general Fabius Valens, Caecina’s rival.) donec successere Mucianus et Marcellus (donec successere Mucianus et Marcellus: donec + indicative to denote the event that terminates the action of the main verb. Marcellus is Marcellus Eprius; cf. Ch. 53.) et magis alii homines quam alii mores.