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

ut continuae violentiae [sc. ignium or incendii] campus et velut vacuum
continuae violentiae is in the dative singular (with
occurreret). The description of the city as a campus (‘plain’) suggests the
utter eradication of buildings, as does the self-proclaimed hyperbole
velut vacuum caelum, which evokes the desolation of the Roman skyline.
(continua violentia recalls and replaces continuaverat, said of endless palace
of Nero in 39.1.) Tacitus here mixes c- and v-alliteration (continuae, campus,
caelum; violentiae, velut, vacuum), but does so indiscriminately across the
two themes of ‘conflagration’ and ‘counter-measures.’ The emphatic
position of continuae violentiae also conveys the constant threat of the fire.
necdum positus [sc. erat] The text is
corrupt here, and based on conjecture. Some editors prefer to read levis
instead of plebi. It seems reasonably certain, however, that we are dealing
with the expression of the same thought in two opposite ways (‘still fear,
no hope’), in each case with the verb coming first. The sentence stresses
the despair that prevailed in the populace, with the elusive spes placed
emphatically at the end.
rursum grassatus [sc. est] The verb
(grassatus), once more placed first, is a very strong and evocative one,
again personifying the fire in dramatic fashion: its basic meaning is ‘to
press on, march, advance’, but it can also refer to brigands prowling
around in the search for victims and carries connotations of lawlessness
and violence. An inscription to commemorate the fire says VRBS PER
NOVEM DIES ARSIT NERONIANIS TEMPORIBVS (‘the city burned for
nine days in Neronian times’). 166 If the first fire was six days in duration,
this implies the second blaze lasted three days. After finis, prorutis, and
aedificiis, we now get five words in a row ending in -is: a striking series of
thudding homoioteleuta. patulis ... locis is an ablative of place: this time it
is the more open areas rather than the congested parts which burn.
eoque strages hominum minor [sc. erat]The -que links grassatus [est] and
[erat]. eo is an ablative of the measure of difference (‘to the extent to which’)
that helps to coordinate the two comparatives minor and latius. The more
open areas enabled people to avoid the flames better. The strong word
strages (‘slaughter’, ‘carnage’) reminds us of the damage done by the first
166 See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI.1, 826.