Note 8 — URBIS RŌMAE VIRĪ INLŪSTRĒS Complete text as printed
Reading edition
22.8 Cf. the whole description VII, 40-53.
22.9 not ‘occupied.’
22.10 The infinitive depends on indīgnē ferret, an expression of emotion. Cf. p. 19, n. 6.
23.1 plūrimum posset: ‘he possessed great influence.’ plūrimum is an accusative of extent.
23.2 Cf. p. 5, n. 20.
23.3 sē refers to Sextus. Sextus asked his father through the messenger: Quidnam mē facere vīs?
23.4 Adjectives ending in -bundus generally have the force of the English present participle active.
23.5 altissima . . . capita = ‘the heads of the tallest poppies.’ How literally?
23.6 factō is here a noun.
23.7 It has been shown that the whole of this story was derived from Greek sources, and that the incident described in the text is, so far as Gabii is concerned, without foundation.
23.8 H 469, 2 (415, II): M 609: A 244: G 395: B 215.
23.9 iuvenibus rēgiīs: ‘the princes.’
23.10 Incidit . . . mentiō: ‘the conversation happened to turn on (the merits of) their (respective) wives.’ How literally?
23.11 citātīs equīs: ‘at top speed.’ How literally?
23.12 rēgiās nurūs: ‘the king’s daughters-in-law,’ i.e. the princes’ wives.
23.13 convīviō et lūxū: ‘a banquet and luxury’ = ‘a luxurious banquet.’
23.14 The home of Collatinus.
23.15 lānae dēditam: ‘wholly intent on spinning.’ In the oldest times the Roman housewife made all the garments of the household. Hence a frequent laudatory inscription on the tombstones of Roman ladies is lānam fēcit. Macaulay had this feature of Roman life in mind when (Horatius, stanza LXX) he wrote:
“When the goodwife’s shuttle merrily Goes flashing through the loom.”
23.16 vim attulit (adferō): ‘outraged.’
24.1 in exitium rēgum: ‘to kill the royal family (rēgum).’ For in exitium cf. p. 14, n. 4.
24.2 dat. of disadvantage. Translate: ‘against T., on his return to Rome.’
24.3 Sc. est.
24.4 prōdō.
24.5 adeō.
24.6 infin. because dependent on dīxit understood, to be supplied from dīcēbat.
24.7 quasi . . . dēsiperet: ‘thinking that the old woman’s mind was failing through age.’ See p. 3, n. 6.
24.8 dērīdeō.
24.9 abl. of price: H 478 (422): M 652: A 252: G 404: B 225.
24.10 exūrō.
24.11 explained by the clause ut . . . emat.
24.12 ut . . . emat: a substantive clause of purpose depending on rogat: H 565 (498, I): M 894: A 331: G 546: B 295, 4.
24.13 abl. of quality with fit.
24.14 = tālem, as often.
24.15 sc. esse.
24.16 dīgressam (dīgredior) = postquam dīgressa est.
24.17 Librī . . . appellātī: the Sibyllae were inspired maidens devoted to the worship of Apollo. The most famous, from whom Tarquin was believed to have received the Sibylline books, lived at Cumae, on the coast of Campania, in Italy. The books were placed in a vault beneath the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. When this temple was burned in 83 B.C., the senate sent envoys to Greece to make a new collection of oracular sayings. These also were deposited for a time in the temple of Jupiter after its restoration.