3 vetusto the first noticeable Dolabella was consul in 81 B.C. and was accused of extortion by Caesar. What we know of other members of the family (e.g. Tullia's third husband) is not greatly to their credit. Note the change from prepositional phrase to participle.

5 bello: for the dative cf. sup. 22. 11.

6 expediri is the correction of Faernus for expedire of the Florentine MSS. Ritter prefers to insert se before secum. See on sup. 10. 8. L. Vitellium: for the further proceedings of this scoundrel (par vitiis fratri) see II. 54, III. 37, 38, 76, 77, IV. 2.

7 cultu="treatment," implying a certain amount of respect; cf. Sall. Jug. 5 Jugurtham―quem Masinissa—privatum dereliquerat, eodem cultu quo liberos suos domi habuit.

8 urbis really only those who might be asked to join the expedition.

ΤΟ desides = "" lazy," indisposed for any activity, often, as here, referring to a temper acquired by idle habits. Segnis is a more general word implying a disposition inclined to avoid everything unpleasant (especially danger, wherefore it is often rendered 'cowardly '). Notice that these are all attributes, pavidi being the predicate to the whole.

12 occultare et abdere are mere synonyms used for emphasis (unless abdere means "to suppress").

12 manifestius: for the omission of tanto see on sup. 14. 15. 13 ambitione="ostentation"; see on sup. 1. 10.

14 quidam is in apposition to qui, irregularly, as no distributive word has preceded it, and it is not the normal practice of Latin to distribute a relative.

17 improvidus: note the change of degree, cf. sup. 35. 5. Only one class is meant- "the worthless rabble who had no forethought," the copula being used as in sup. 19. 3 medii ac plurimi.

adflicta fide="because their (commercial) credit was ruined," causal with the adjectives, all of which are to be taken as predicates. Cf. 111. 65 et credebatur adfectam (‘shaken') eius fidem parce iuvisse, Cic. Leg. Man. 19 scimus Romae solutione impedita fidem concidisse. Both the Florentine MSS. give multis afflicta fides in pace ac si, and the restoration is not quite certain.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

I vulgus is either the same as populus or distinguished from it and equivalent to plebs in sup. 4. 13, &c.

magnitudine nimia communium curarum expers" which owing

D. T.

12

to its excessive bulk cared nothing for public interests." Recent editors have doubted much about this passage, but I fail to see the force of their objections. Some have taken the ablative to depend on expers, thus making magnitudine nimia entirely otiose.

Heräus inserts imperii after magnitudine, and Walther suarum after nimia. Surely the reflection that the members of a large body have less esprit de corps is not unknown or inappropriate or unlike the manner of Tacitus. The prevalent political ignorance is mentioned in sup. 1. 7, where another reason is assigned (ut alienae); cf. II. 90, vulgus vacuum curis, Juv. X. 77 sqq.

iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli

vendimus, effudit (populus) curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium fasces legiones omnia, nunc se

continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,

panem et circenses.

3 intentis="raised" does not seem to be technical in this use. Cf. sup. 12. 15.

4 quae the antecedent is mala.

motu: ablative of time, which is used more freely by Tacitus than by classical authors.

5 legiones: i.e. those of Verginius.

7 res Caesarum composuit=“organized the power of the Caesars."

in="so as to result in," cf. sup. 11. 12.

9 pacis adversa: i.e. the evils of tyranny, false accusations, &c. For perculere cf. sup. 53. 12 atrocibus edictis aut damno finium perculerat. The reading of the following words is not certain.

Seriboniani. M. Furius Camillus Scribonianus was governor of Dalmatia under Claudius: in 42 A.D. he sought to excite a rebellion, but was crushed in five days and lost his life; cf. 11. 75, Ann. XII. 52, Suet. Claud. 13.

13 urbanus miles, here obviously the cohortes urbanae, not as in sup. 4. 8.

Oriens, &c., for Vitellius commanded Germany, Gaul and Spain, while all the provinces east of the Adriatic were still under allegiance to Otho.

15 longo bello materia: see on sup. 87. 1 belli (or bello). The apodosis is suggested by the word materia, which implies capacity. These resources were actually materials for a long war, and would have

produced one, if the leaders had been determined. For longo cf. sup. 5. I.

16 moras, &c.="a hindrance in the shape of a religious objection arising from the fact that the sacred shields had not been put away." The copula is explanatory as in sup. 19. 3 medii ac plurimi. For the participial phrase see on sup. I. The sacred shields of Mars were brought out from their place of custody (either the temple of Mars or the curia Saliorum on the Palatine) on the first of March and used in processions and dances by the Salii during that month. Otho set out on the 14th. An interesting instance of the insertion of a gloss into the text occurs here in the Florentine MSS., which give ancilium scutum vel arma caelestia.

17 adferrent: cf. Cic. Verr. II. iv. 78 tibi illa Diana in pace atque in otio religionem nullam attulit?

CHAPTER XC.

2 reliquias Neronianarum sectionum: i.e. what was left of the property confiscated by Nero after the auctions which he had held, or rather after the auctions which Galba had ordered (sup. 20); the genitive is used with reliquiae of that which spares or leaves as in Verg. Aen. 111. 87 reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli; contrast sup. 87. 4 reliquos caesorum. See note on sup. 20. 10 sector. Galba had recalled the exiles banished by Nero, but had destined their property, after recovering it from Nero's creatures, for the imperial treasury (sup. 20). For convertere of applying money to a new use cf. sup. 89. 2.

4 in speciem treats the impression produced as result, though practically it does not differ from specie.

festinata cf. sup. 76. 21.

5 usu="in practice" adverbially, or possibly ablative with sterile, "void of utility"; cf. Lucr. II. 844 et sonitu sterila et suco ieiuna feruntur, Plin. Pan. c. 56 quod momentum quod immo temporis punctum aut beneficio sterile aut vacuum laude?

6 pro se is used adjectivally and is to be taken with consensum.

II

rebus urbanis = "matters of civil" or "domestic policy." Heräus compares Cic. de Off. 1. 76 sed tamen id ipsum est gestum consilio urbano sine exercitu, where there is the same contrast with things military.

12 Trachali: consul in 68 A.D. He was saved from destruction

after the success of Vitellius by his relationship with that emperor's wife Galeria; cf. II. 60. Some would eject Othonem. Perhaps Otho would be better; see on sup. 50. 4 exercitus.

13 genus ipsum orandi = "his very style of oratory."

usu is causal with celebre, "well-known owing to his continual practice in the law-courts."

14 latum et sonans="copious and sonorous"; for latus of style cf. Cic. de Fin. II. 17 quod latius loquerentur rhetores, dialectici autem compressius, id. Brut. 120 ut Stoicorum astrictior est oratio aliquantoque contractior, quam aures populi requirunt, sic illorum liberior et latior quam patitur consuetudo iudiciorum et fori, where a similar reflection on the popular taste is suggested. Sonans also refers to the style. Quintilian speaks of a sonus Trachali in XII. 10. 11, and gives further remarks on his capacities in XII. 5. 5. Trachalus had a fine voice, but surely Otho did not reproduce that.

15 nimiae: according to classical usage the predicate would be

neuter.

16 imperatorem: this title seems to have been assumed by Augustus as a praenomen as early as 40 B.C. Cf. sup. 57. 4 imperatorem Vitellium consalutavit. It was customarily adopted by the emperors after Gaius.

17 nec=" and that not"; cf. IV. 42 sponte Caesaris accusationem subisse iuvenis admodum, nec depellendi periculi sed in spem potentiae videbatur.

18 ex libidine servitii="because they took a pleasure in being slavish." Some, less probably, take servitii as equivalent to a mere adjective "their slavish humour." It is explained by the following words, for familiis means slaves, as frequently. For the reflection in the next words cf. sup. 19. 4 privatas spes agitantes sine publica cura, Ann. XII. 48 paucis decus publicum curae.

19 profectus seems to imply that this took place on the same date. Suetonius assigns the departure to the 24th of March.

20 Titiano: cf. sup. 75. 7.

I.

INDEX TO THE TEXT.