The annals of Tacitus

8. turn uero, ' now
ON CHAPTERS 16—18 77
especially.'
aequari...indoluit. He complained that to join them with
himself in this prayer for the imperial family was to make as
much of their health, young and vigorous as they were, as of the
grave infirmity of years under which he felt himself to labour
[Merivale].
10. num id...tribuissent, 'whether this was a compliment
paid....'
12. quamquam abnuerent, ' though they denied the imputa-
tion.' For the syntax cf. c. 4.
etenim...erant. This sentence explains the gentleness of the
rebuke.
pars magna, i.e. pontijicum. The young Drusus was himself
a ponti/c'x.
13. ipsius, i.e. of the Emperor.
15. mobiles, 'giddy.'
16. in8tabat...ciuitatem, 'for Sejanus was urgently in-
sinuating that the State was torn asunder.'
19. neque aliud...subuerterentur, 'the only remedy for the
growing schism was to put away one or two of the most active
spirits.'
18
3. Sillo et quod, 'to Silius it was also ruinous that....' It is
in 14 A.D. that we first find him in command nf the army n f
Upper Germany. He remained in the same post till be conquered
Sacrovir in 21 a.d.
ingentis exercitus, i.e. the four legions on the Upper Ehine.
4. triumphalibus. He gained the triumvhalia insignia for
his services in Germany in 15 a .d. The insignia consisted of the
triumphal dress and ornaments ; they could be displayed at the
public games. The triumph proper could only be celebrated by a
member o f the imperial house .
5. quanto maiore...dispergebatur, 'the greater his fall, the
greater the panic it would spread to others.'
7. plerique, tti^XXo i. not oi ttoWq L
9. cum alii...prolaberentvir, ' when others were prone to
mutiny.'