XLI.
Senatus inchoantibus primoribus ius iurandum concepit quo certatim omnes magistratus, (certatim omnes magistratus: perhaps this eagerness to take the oath implies that none of the magistrates were active as informant during Nero’s reign.) ceteri, ut sententiam rogabantur, (ut sententiam rogabantur: ‘as they were asked their opinion’; or, more pertinently, ‘as their turn came to speak’; the direct object of rogo (sententiam) is retained even though the verb is passive: cf. A.G. 396, b.) deos testis advocabant, nihil ope sua (ope sua: ‘with his help’) factum quo cuiusquam salus laederetur, (quo …laederetur: quo (=ut eo, ‘in order that thereby …’) is rel. conjunction of final sense, thus requiring subjunctive.) neque se praemium aut honorem ex calamitate civium cepisse, trepidis et verba iuris iurandi per varias artis mutantibus, quis flagitii conscientia inerat. (trepidis et verba iuris iurandi per varias artis mutantibus, quis flagitii conscientia inerat: abl. abs. with dependent relative clause: lit. ’those to whom there was conscience of guilt, frightened and changing the words of the oath in various artful ways’; quis is for quibus, dative with inerat. The period from Senatus to conscientia inerat, a long and skilfully constructed sentence, has been reorganized in the free translation, being too complex for a parallel rendition into English. ) probabant religionem patres, periurium arguebant; eaque velut censura (eaque velut censura: ‘this sort of censure’ or ‘this censure, as it might be called’) in Sariolenum Voculam et Nonium Attianum et Cestium Severum (Sariolenum Voculam et Nonium Attianum et Cestium Severum: nothing else is known about these informers.) acerrime incubuit, crebris apud Neronem delationibus famosos. Sariolenum et recens crimen urgebat, quod apud Vitellium molitus eadem foret: (Sariolenum et recens crimen urgebat, quod apud Vitellium molitus eadem foret: ‘recent crimes also (et) haunted Sariolanus, in that he had tried the same practices under Vitellius’; quod is found with subjunctive if the reason given is not the writer’s, but someone else’s opinion.) nec destitit senatus manus intentare Voculae, donec curia excederet. (nec destitit senatus manus intentare Voculae, donec curia excederet: ‘the senators did not stop to shake their fists at Vocula, until he left the chamber’; Voculae is dative with intento; donec is with subjunctive when design or expectation is being suggested.) ad Paccium Africanum (Paccium Africanum: an ex-consul, he survived this ordeal and later became governor of Africa.) transgressi eum quoque proturbant, tamquam Neroni Scribonios fratres (Scribonios fratres: Proculus and Rufus Scribonius, governors of lower and upper Germany respectively, both forced by Nero to commit suicide.) concordia opibusque insignis ad exitium monstravisset. (tamquam … monstravisset: see note for tamquam … deseruisset in ch. 39.) Africanus neque fateri audebat neque abnuere poterat: in Vibium Crispum, cuius interrogationibus fatigabatur, ultro conversus, (in Vibium Crispum …ultro conversus: ‘in his turn rounding on Vibius Crispus,…’. Vibius Crispus was mentioned in Book 2, ch. 10.) miscendo quae defendere nequibat, (miscendo quae defendere nequibat: ‘stirring up things Vibius could not deny’) societate (societate: abl. of cause or instrument) culpae invidiam declinavit.