LXXXVI.
Patrem illi . . . Luceriam. (Patrem illi . . . Luceriam: there is a gap in the Latin text at this point that has been filled in differing ways. The simplest reading was adopted here. Luceria, modern Lucera, is about 20 km. or 13 miles NW of Foggia in Apulia.) septimum et quinquagensimum aetatis annum explebat, consulatum, sacerdotia, nomen locumque inter primores nulla sua industria, sed cuncta patris claritudine adeptus. principatum ei detulere qui ipsum non noverant: studia exercitus raro (raro: adv.) cuiquam bonis artibus quaesita perinde adfuere quam (perinde …quam: ‘to the same degree as …’) huic (cuiquam …huic: datives of agent with the passive quaesita sometimes found in place of a or ab plus abl., especially in Tacitus and other post-classical prose writers.) per ignaviam. inerat tamen simplicitas ac liberalitas, quae, ni adsit modus, (ni adsit modus: ‘unless due measure be present’; indicative is found more often than nor after ni or nisi in a negative condition; the subjunctive adsit denotes here doubt of the condition ever proving false in Vitellius’case.) in exitium vertuntur. amicitias dum magnitudine munerum, non constantia morum contineri putat, (dum …putat: dum is almost causal in this context, ‘since he believed that …’; in this case the dum clause can be replaced by a present participle, putans. Cf. G. 570, N. 2.) meruit magis quam habuit. rei publicae haud dubie intererat Vitellium vinci, sed imputare perfidiam non possunt qui Vitellium Vespasiano prodidere, cum a Galba descivissent. (imputare perfidiam non possunt qui Vitellium Vespasiano prodidere, cum a Galba descivissent: Tacitus’ argument is this: Galba was a legitimate ruler since he was chosen by the senate and the people to replace Nero. Those who betrayed Vitellius, like Caecina and Bassus, cannot claim to hava done it out of love of country, since they had previously betrayed Galba, the constitutional choice of senate and people. cum descivissent: causal cum require use of subjunctive.) Praecipiti in occasum die (praecipiti in occasum die: ‘the day plunging into sunset’; apt image of Vitellius’ headlong fall) ob pavorem magistratuum senatorumque, qui dilapsi ex urbe aut per domos clientium semet (semet: the enclitic particle –met is for emphasis.) occultabant, vocari senatus non potuit. Domitianum, postquam nihil hostile metuebatur, (Domitianum, postquam nihil hostile metuebatur: Tacitus , who hated Domitian, as made clear in his shorter work Agricola, wastes no opportunity to hint at his cowardice, both here and in ch. 74.) ad duces partium progressum et Caesarem consalutatum miles frequens utque erat in armis (miles …utque erat in armis: possibly an ironic allusion to the long-standing ban prohibiting soldiers from carrying weapons within the city walls, just another law made futile by the civil convulsion. Cf. also armati per urbem victores below, at the start of Book 4.) in paternos penatis deduxit.