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

also in the context of a fire (cited above). Cf. Suetonius, Nero 38.2: tunc praeter
immensum numerum insularum domus priscorum ducum arserunt (‘at that time,
besides an immense number of dwellings, the houses of leaders of old were
burned’), who hands syntactical prominence to the aristocratic domus.
The sed marks the contrast between the countless domus and insulae
that fell victim to the flames, and the significant number of highly sacred
temples and objects that perished – and which can be taken stock of, as
Tacitus goes on to do.
sed vetustissima religione, quod Servius Tullius Lunae [sc. sacraverat], et
Vestae cum Penatibus populi Romani exusta [sc. erant]In the previous
sentence Tacitus explained that he would not enter into an itemized
accounting of ordinary buildings (including temples) that fell victim to the
flames. But (sed), he now lists those temples of most venerable age and
religious import that burnt down. vetustissima religione is an ablative of
quality or characteristic modifying the understood subject templa; the main
verb comes at the end: exusta, sc. sunt. In-between we get a list of the sacred
sites that were destroyed: 173
[templum], quod Servius Tullius Lunae (or Lucinae) [sc. sacraverat]
magna ara fanumque, quae praesenti Herculi Arcas Evander sacraverat
aedes Statoris Iovis vota Romulo
Numae regia
delubrum Vestae cum penatibus populi Romani
The delayed and strengthened verb (ex-usta), right at the end of the huge
list, stresses the total destruction of these sites and how all of them shared
one common fate.
Tacitus uses a prolonged polysyndeton
in his enumeration of the buildings, which is well-balanced between et and
-que and helps to generate a good sense of the large number of buildings that
burnt down – an effect further enhanced by the sheer length of the sentence,
173 Miller (1973) 92 regards vetustissima religione as ‘a loosely attached abl. of attendant
circumstances or quality.’ Cf. fessa aetate (38.4).