XXXVIII.
Nota per eos dies Iunii Blaesi (Iunii Blaesi: cf. Book 2, 59.) mors et famosa fuit, de qua sic accepimus. (de qua sic accepimus: ‘about his death this much have we learnt’.) gravi corporis morbo aeger Vitellius Servilianis hortis (Servilianis hortis: the Servilian gardens were located on th slope of the Aventine hill leading down to the Tiber in the SW sector of Rome.) turrim (turrim: not necessarily a tower but a high edifice) vicino sitam conlucere per noctem crebris luminibus animadvertit. sciscitanti causam apud Caecinam Tuscum epulari multos, praecipuum honore Iunium Blaesum nuntiatur; (sciscitanti … nuntiatur: ‘to him asking it was told that …’) cetera in maius, (cetera in maius: ‘the rest [was reported] in magnified form’) de apparatu et solutis in lasciviam animis. (de …solutis in lasciviam animis: ‘about the mood verging on license’) nec defuere qui ipsum Tuscum et alios, sed criminosius Blaesum incusarent, (nec defuere qui …incusarent: cf. note for nec defuit qui …eblandiretur in previous chapter.) quod aegro principe laetos dies ageret. (quod aegro principe laetos dies ageret: lit. ‘because, their prince being ill, they spent happy days’. The quod clause is with subjunctive given that it depends on another subjunctive clause (modal attraction, cf. G. 663).) ubi asperatum Vitellium et posse Blaesum perverti satis patuit iis qui principum offensas acriter speculantur, (ubi asperatum [esse] Vitellium et posse Blaesum perverti satis patuit iis qui principum offensas acriter speculantur, …: ‘when it became sufficiently clear to those who closely study the animosities of princes, that Vitellius was affronted and that Blaesus could be compromised, …’; ubi …patuit: temporal ubi normally takes perfect indicative.) datae L. Vitellio delationis partes. ille (ille: here with disparaging sense, ‘that infamous man’) infensus Blaeso aemulatione prava, quod eum omni dedecore maculosum egregia fama anteibat, (infensus Blaeso aemulatione prava, quod eum …egregia fama anteibat: ‘he was bitterly antagonistic to Blaesus out of spiteful jealousy, because he surpassed hin by his spotless reputation’. quod … anteibat: as a causal conjunction, quod is normally with indicative.) cubiculum imperatoris reserat, (reserat: dramatic switch to present.) filium eius (filium eius: whereas English has only the possessive ‘his’ to work with, the distinction between suus and eius in Latin makes clear who the possessor is.) sinu complexus et genibus accidens. causam confusionis quaerenti, non se proprio metu nec sui anxium, sed pro fratre, pro liberis fratris preces lacrimasque attulisse. (non se proprio metu nec sui anxium, …preces lacrimasque attulisse: se is the accusative subject of the infinitive clause in indir. discourse introduced by an implied verb of saying and continuing to the end of the chapter: ‘[he replied] that it was not out of private fear or anxiety for himself that he (se) had brought prayers and tears’. sui anxium, lit. ‘anxious of himself, is an example of objective genitive found with nouns, verbs, or, as in this instance, with an adjective. As the object of anxium, the reflexive sui represents that with respect to which the feeling or stste of mind described by the adjective esists. Cf. A.G. 349.. Reflexive pronouns like se and sui can only refer to the subject of the sentence.) frustra Vespasianum timeri, quem tot Germanicae legiones, tot provinciae virtute ac fide, tantum denique terrarum ac maris immensis spatiis (virtute ac fide, … immensis spatiis: ablatives of instrument) arceat: (quem … tantum … terrarum … arceat: ‘whom so much land keeps at a distance’; arceat, and ostentet further on, are in place of arceret and ostentaret expected in historical narrative. The change to present subjunctive is a case of repraesentatio, the tendency to view past events as occurring in the narrator’s time. Cf. A.G. 585, b.; arceat agrees with the nearest subject, tantum terrarum, where terrarum is partitive genitive after the neuter pronoun tantum.) in urbe ac sinu cavendum hostem, Iunios Antoniosque avos (Iunios Antoniosque avos: the Junii were the Roman gens derived from Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman republic; the Antonii were the descendant of Marc Antony.) iactantem, qui se stirpe imperatoria comem ac magnificum militibus ostentet. (qui se stirpe imperatoria comem ac magnificum militibus ostentet: ‘who exhibits himself to the troops as the elegant, munificent man of imperial descent’; ostentet is subjunctive for rel. clause in indirect discourse, as are sciat and sentiat after qua below.) versas illuc omnium mentis, dum Vitellius amicorum inimicorumque neglegens fovet (dum …fovet: dum may retain use of present indicative even in indir. discourse. Cf. G. 655, R. 3 and 663, 1, N. 1.) aemulum principis labores e convivio (e convivio: ‘from the banquet couch’) prospectantem. reddendam pro intempestiva laetitia maestam et funebrem noctem, (reddendam pro intempestiva laetitia maestam et funebrem noctem: ‘a mournful and fatal night shuld be returned in exchange for his ill-timed festiveness) qua sciat et sentiat (qua sciat et sentiat: ‘whereby he may know and feel that …’) vivere Vitellium et imperare et, si quid fato accidat, (si quid fato accidat: ‘should something be destined to occur’; fato ia abl. of cause. The construction si …accidat would be the same in direct speech for potential condition in the present. For use of the present subjunctive accidat, and also the preceding sciat and sentiat, cf. note for quem … tantum … terrarum … arceat above.) filium habere.