Commentary (draft) onTacitus Annales 14.55

A.M. Gowing (aka Tacitus Posterus)

AG = Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar

OLD = Oxford Latin Dictionary

Woodcock = E.C. Woodcock, A New Latin Syntax

[1]

quae: i.e., Seneca’s remarks in Chaps. 53-54

quod..occurram: ‘the fact that…’ Relative clause, the ‘postcedent’ of which is id; for the construction, see AG 307d. The clause helps specify the ‘gift’ of Seneca’s which Nero valued most highly, namely, the fact that he had learned from Seneca to deal swiftly (cf. statim) and decisively with matters both anticipated (praevisa, OLD s. praevideo, b) and unexpected (subita)

meditatae: (<meditor, -ari, -atus) ‘rehearsed’ or ‘scripted’ (see OLD s.v. 5), doubtless to be understood as a cynical remark

occurram: here, to ‘counter’ (an argument), + dat. (OLD s.v. 6b)

tui muneris: partitive genitive with primum (OLD s.v. primum, -i, 6). Here, munus=’service’ (OLD s.v. 6a)

habeo: ‘regard’ (OLD s. habeo 25a), thus introducing the indirect statement (habeo id [esse] primum…)

[2]

Agrippae et Maecenati: Augustus’ right-hand men. Agrippa was the man reputed to have won most of Augustus’ major battles for him as well as a consummate engineer (responsible for, among other things, the original Pantheon); Maecenas was well known as the foremost literary patron of the Augustan period and one of the emperor’s closest advisors.

in ea…aetate: the period post-Actium in 31 BC, i.e., the Augustan regime proper. The point is that Augustus had not permitted either man to ‘retire’ until that period when he was overseeing the state himself. As often, the remark put in Nero’s mouth contains a backhanded criticism of himself and a sly jab at the nature of the principate in general: in the imperial period, otium must be granted, not merely earned. The language here underscores Nero’s message to Seneca that he’s in charge (concessit...tueretur…tribuisset).

cuius: as the forward-looking ea suggests (AG 297d), the antecedent is auctoritas, which oddly depersonalizes the assertion. It was not Augustus who safeguarded their otium, but rather the ‘authority’ of the age

quicquid illud et qualecumque: the referent of illud is otium, ‘any leisure, and of whatever kind…’ For the adjectival use of quisquis in this sense see OLD s.v. B8a

tribuisset: plup. subjunctive representing past action in a subordinate clause introduced by qualecumque

datis a se praemiis: ablatives of separation (Woodcock 41.8, AG 400-402) with exuit, ‘deprive’

versata est: < verso, with in + abl., ‘to be involved in’ or ‘subject to’. The sense is that Augustus’ spent his youth in their company, and thus he owed them something. But there may also be a slight sense that while he was ‘subject’ to them as a young man, they were in turn subject to him when he became emperor.

[3]

defuissent: pluperfect subjunctive in a contrary-to-fact condition, the protasis of which is supplied by in participial phrase in armis agenti (which modifies mihi). For the participle so used see AG 512c. The imperial peace meant that Nero had no experience of – and no need for experience of – war. But if he had, Seneca (it is suggested) would have been by his side, as Agrippa (and, less so, Maecenas) had been by Augustus’.

praesens condicio: i.e., the imperial peace – the fact that there are no wars to be fought by Nero. Nero was schooled by his mentors in the peaceful arts (ratione consilio praeceptis, instrumental ablatives with fovisti), not, as Augustus’ mentors had schooled him, in civil war (bello et periculis)

quae: n. pl. acc., direct obj. of habes and looking ahead to its ‘postcedents’ horti et faenus et villae, the subjects of the verb.

dum vita suppetet, aeterna erunt: the illogicality of this evidently escapes Nero.

casibus: < casus, -us, m., ‘accidents’ or ‘chance events’ (OLD s.v. 3).

obnoxia: n. pl. (for the gender, see AG 287.3). This stands in contrast to aeterna.

[4]

multa: neuter for the same reason as the preceding quae and obnoxia, ‘although your possessions seem numerous…’

libertinos: imperial freedmen thrived under Nero, but despite Nero’s pudet, it is certainly a slap in the face of Seneca, known to have been an extremely wealthy man, to suggest that they were better off than he.

spectantur: < specto, ‘are judged to be’

rubori mihi: double dative (AG 382, with Note 1)

quod…antecellis: this constitutes the subject of est

praecipuus: w/abl. (caritate), ‘surpassing [everyone] in…’

fortuna: abl. of respect with antecellis (OLD s. antecello 1)