I.
Struebat iam fortuna in diversa parte terrarum initia causasque imperio, quod (quod: the antecedent is the dat. imperio.) varia sorte laetum rei publicae aut atrox, ipsis principibus prosperum vel exitio fuit. (ipsis principibus prosperum vel exitio fuit: double dative: ipsis principibus is dat. of possessor, exitio of purpose, lit.‘to the princes themselves prosperous or for their death’; the empire was fortunate for Vespasian and Titus, but ruinous to Domitian who was murdered.) Titus Vespasianus, e Iudaea incolumi adhuc Galba (incolumi adhuc Galba: the phrase has occurred once before in Book 1, ch. 46.) missus a patre, causam profectionis officium erga principem et maturam petendis honoribus iuventam ferebat, (causam profectionis officium erga principem et maturam petendis honoribus iuventam ferebat: ‘he adduced as the reason for leaving his homage to the emperor and his youth, mature for the public honors to be sought’; petendis honoribus is dative of purpose with gerundive in place of the more frequent ad + acc. of the gerundive; cf. A.G. 505. Titus was 29 years of age at this time.) sed vulgus fingendi avidum disperserat accitum in adoptionem. materia sermonibus senium et orbitas principis et intemperantia civitatis, donec unus eligatur, multos destinandi. (intemperantia civitatis, donec unus eligatur, multos destinandi: ‘because of people’s immoderate fondness of designating many [as candidates] until one is chosen’; donec is followed by subjunctive in anticipation of a future event; the gerund multos destinandi is the alternative to the gerundive multorum destinandorum, here possible because the genitive gerund, like the ablative without preposition, admits a direct object.) augebat famam ipsius Titi ingenium quantaecumque fortunae capax, decor oris cum quadam maiestate, prosperae Vespasiani res, praesaga responsa, et inclinatis ad credendum animis loco ominum etiam fortuita. (loco ominum etiam fortuita: ‘even fortuitous events [being seen] as presages’; loco or in loco: ‘by way of’, ‘in the capacity of’) ubi Corinthi, Achaiae urbe, (Corinthi, Achaiae urbe: Corinthus is on the isthmus connecting the Peloponnese peninsula with northern Greece; Corinthi is locative; Achaia was the name of the Roman province occupying most of modern Greece.) certos nuntios accepit de interitu Galbae et aderant qui arma Vitellii bellumque adfirmarent, (aderant qui arma Vitellii bellumque adfirmarent: aderant qui, like sunt qui, introduces a rel. clause of characteristic requiring subjunctive; cf. erant quos … accenderet, Book 1, ch. 25.) anxius animo paucis amicorum adhibitis (paucis amicorum adhibitis: amicorum is partitive genitive, ‘a few of the friends being consulted’; adhibere signifies here ‘to call upon the advice of’.) cuncta utrimque perlustrat: si pergeret in urbem, nullam officii gratiam in alterius honorem suscepti, (nullam officii gratiam in alterius honorem suscepti: ‘[there would be] no appreciation of a homage undertaken in honor of another’; note that the text from si pergeret to the end of the chapter is in indir. discourse introduced by perlustrat.) ac se Vitellio sive Othoni obsidem fore: (se … fore: ‘ that he himself would become …’; in indir. speech the reflexive se, which refers to the person speaking or thinking, becomes the acc. subject of the infinitive fore.) sin rediret, offensam haud dubiam victoris, (offensam … victoris [esse]: ‘that it was an injury done to the victor’) set incerta adhuc victoria et concedente in partis patre (set … concedente in partis patre: abl. abs. of conditional force: ‘but if his father joined the [victor’s] party’; concedo followed by in + acc. has the sense of ‘to transfer allegiance to …’; set is for sed.) filium excusatum. sin Vespasianus rem publicam susciperet, (sin rediret … sin Vespasianus rem publicam susciperet: sin …sin is for si …sin: when two conditions exclude each the other, si normally introduces the first and sin (‘but if’) the second; cf G. 592.) obliviscendum offensarum de bello agitantibus. (obliviscendum [esse] offensarum de bello agitantibus: an example of passive periphrastic conjugation, in this case applied to an intrans. verb, oblivisci, whose gerundive can only be used impersonally to express necessity: ‘that it is imperative for those who think of war to be unmindful of injuries’; obliviscor takes genitive of the thing only when the meaning is that of ‘to banish from the mind’, cf. A.G. 350, a. and b.; agitantibus is dative of agent, cf. G. 251, B. 337, 8. )