Tacitus, Annals, 15.20­-23, 33­-45. Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary, 2013a

the major hyperbaton cupidine ... promiscas scaenas frequentandi (the
genitive of the gerund depends on cupidine and takes promiscas
scaenas as accusative object) enmeshes and overpowers the emperor,
who is caught in the middle.
the passive verb adigebatur and the inversion of normal word order
(verb – subject, rather than subject – verb) again suggests that Nero’s
rational agency is compromised: he is pushed along by his desires.
the placement of verb and subject in the middle produces a
powerful climax: we first get the ever-increasing desire, then
the disconcerting intelligence that it has been overpowering the
emperor, and, finally, the clarification of what the desire consists
in: repeated (cf. frequentandi) appearances on stage in performances
open to the public (cf. promiscas).
promiscas refers to the fact that Nero’s stage
performances were now open to the public. He needed now to have
indiscriminate access to the stage, no-holds-barred (cf. immodicus above).
nam adhuc per domum aut hortos cecinerat Iuvenalibus ludis, quos
Tacitus frequently
supplies background information in a main clause in the pluperfect, set up
by an adverb such as adhuc or iam, and followed by a subordinate clause
situated in the narrative present. In terms of syntax, the sentence here
recalls 23.2: iam senatus uterum Poppaeae commendaverat dis votaque publice
susceperat, quae multiplicata exolutaque: (i) adverb (iam; adhuc); (ii) a main
clause in the pluperfect (commendaverat, susceperat; cecinerat) providing
background information; (iii) a relative clause that details actions in the
narrative present (quae ... exsolutaque; quos ... spernebat). Both sentences
are perfect illustrations of Tacitus’ habit of distributing information in
surprising ways across main and subordinate clauses.
The reference is to the Juvenile Games that Nero
celebrated in AD 59, at the occasion of his first shave as a 21-year-old.
These games took place in Nero’s palace and his gardens, i.e. were
not open to the general public. Special festivities at this rite of passage
were unremarkable. See Cassius Dio 48.34.3 on how Caesar Octavianus
celebrated the occasion: ‘For example, when Caesar now for the first time
shaved off his beard, he held a magnificent entertainment himself besides