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

... audebat), he again continues with two different constructions indicating
cause: an ablative of cause (minis) and a quia-clause.
The verb reinforces the impression that the fire acts like a hostile
army bidding to sack the city.
(a) crebris (b) multorum (a) minis restinguere (b)The wordorder
is interlaced here: crebris goes with minis, multorum with prohibentium.
Tacitus first stresses the shamelessness of these men with palam, before
finishing his account of the fire as he began it – with suggestion of a sinister
and deliberate hand behind this disaster. The unnamed auctorem (instigator,
mastermind) lends an air of supernatural mystery and suspicion.
Tacitus concludes with an
‘alternative motivation’, pondering the reality of Nero’s hand in the whole
disaster. He first mentions the possibility that looting was the cause (as
it surely was to some extent), before adding the succinct, yet vague and
ominous alternative seu iussu. The ablative of cause, rather than the purpose
clause ut ... exercerent, continues to linger in the mind.
Chapter 39
ignis propinquaret. neque tamen sisti potuit quin et Palatium et domus
et cuncta circum haurirentur.
After his protestations of devotion to the city in chapter 36, it is not to
Nero’s credit that he is not in Rome at the time of the fire but staying in his
luxury villa at Antium. As we saw earlier (15.23), Antium was the town
of Nero’s birth. While it does perhaps support the idea that Nero was
not responsible for the fire, his nonchalance contrasts sharply with the
efforts of his predecessors. Apart from the passages cited above, see also
Suetonius, Claudius 18.1: Cum Aemiliana pertinacius arderent, in diribitorio
duabus noctibus mansit ac deficiente militum ac familiarum turba auxilio plebem
per magistratus ex omnibus vicis convocavit ac positis ante se cum pecunia fiscis
ad subveniendum hortatus est, repraesentans pro opera dignam cuique mercedem