XXXIX.
Trepidanti inter scelus metumque, ne dilata Blaesi mors maturam perniciem, palam iussa atrocem invidiam ferret, placuit veneno grassari; (trepidanti … ne dilata Blaesi mors maturam perniciem, palam iussa atrocem invidiam ferret, placuit veneno grassari: placuit is impersonal and requires dat. of the person: ‘it seemed appropriate to the vacillating [Vitellius] to proceed with poison, lest the postponed death of Blaesus should bring utter ruin [on one hand], the openly ordered [death] unspeakable odium [to himself on the other]’. ne …ferret is negative purpose clause, as is ne …crederetur at the close of the chapter. ) addidit facinori fidem notabili gaudio, Blaesum visendo. (Blaesum visendo: abl. gerund: ‘after’ or ‘when visiting Blaesus on his sick bed’. The verb viso has this meaning in the present or similar context. Note that abl. gerund without preposition can have a direct object.) quin et (quin et: ‘and furthermore’) audita est saevissima Vitellii vox qua se (ipsa enim verba referam) pavisse oculos (pavisse oculos: from pasco, ‘he had feasted his eyes’) spectata inimici morte (spectata inimici morte: either abl. of instrument, ‘with the ascertained death of his enemy’, or abl. abs., ‘his enemy’s death having been ascertained’) iactavit. (qua … iactavit: ‘wherewith he boasted that …’) Blaeso super claritatem natalium et elegantiam morum fidei obstinatio fuit. (Blaeso … fidei obstinatio fuit: Blaeso is dat. of possessor with fuit; in English it becomes the subject of a clause with the verb ‘to have’: ‘Blaesus had a stubborn persistence in his loyalties’. fidei is objective genitive, ‘stubborness towards loyalty’.) integris quoque rebus a Caecina et primoribus partium iam Vitellium aspernantibus ambitus (ambitus: ‘the advances’) abnuere perseveravit. sanctus, inturbidus, (inturbidus: ‘inimical to disorders’) nullius repentini honoris, adeo non principatus adpetens, (nullius repentini honoris, adeo non principatus adpetens: nullius …honoris goes with adpetens: ‘desirous of no sudden advancement, still less of the empire’; nullus is one of a group of adjectives whose genitive is in –ius: cf. A.G. 113.) parum effugerat ne dignus crederetur.