Tacitean (slightly revised)
Apr. 22nd, 2003 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quislibetI was reading Tacitus on the train this morning and ended up pretending to be him.
Georgius Dubius clarissimo ut in temporibus patre ortus simulare se malle securiora, periculosiora tamen velle, non satis conpertum interesse rei publicae credens, an pietate erga parentem vel gloria ac opibus alienis incensus an debilitate quadam mentis, quippe ut coniectum ex iuventute eius per vinolentiam vitiaque consumpta, unde maior apud vulgus gratia, tamquam ab uno ex populo fore aequius dominatum. Dabat et famae, ut vocatus potius a re publica, a deis ad mala expugnanda quam per iudicum ambitum et incertis electionibus inrepsisse. Primum ut stultus inrisus, post capitalium urbium clades, post bellum in Bactrios et Parthios, ubi militem gloria, populum specie vectigalis remissionis, cunctos metu peiorum pellexit, nomine libertatis ipsam subruebat, miro inter senatores primoresque silentio, ne patriam odisse viderentur.
[2:30 PM: Emphasis indicates change from earlier version.]
It needs some more revision for style, grammar, and properly Tacitean vocabulary, but not now. But, like Tacitus, I have tried to make it more malicious than may be warranted by the facts, for the amusement of future generations.
Georgius Dubius, born of a father of highest nobility (for the times), pretended to prefer security, but in fact wished for what was more dangerous; it is uncertain whether because he believed this was in the best interest of the state, or was incited by filial piety or by glory and greed for foreign resources, or from some mental deficiency (as was conjectured from his youth, consumed by intoxication and vice, whence greater popularity among the vulgar, as if they would be ruled more fairly by one of the crowd). He also considered his reputation, that he might seem called by god and the state to vanquish evil rather than to have crept into office through the canvassing of judges and uncertain elections. At first mocked by many as a fool, after the disasters in leading cities and wars in Bactria and Parthia, when he had seduced the soldiers by glory, the people by the appearance of favorable taxes, and all by fear of what might be worse, in the name of liberty he began to overthrow liberty itself, with a strange silence among the senators and the leading citizens, lest they seem to hate the fatherland.
I can't figure out how to make Ma Bush into Livia or Agrippina the Younger, though.
Georgius Dubius clarissimo ut in temporibus patre ortus simulare se malle securiora, periculosiora tamen velle, non satis conpertum interesse rei publicae credens, an pietate erga parentem vel gloria ac opibus alienis incensus an debilitate quadam mentis, quippe ut coniectum ex iuventute eius per vinolentiam vitiaque consumpta, unde maior apud vulgus gratia, tamquam ab uno ex populo fore aequius dominatum. Dabat et famae, ut vocatus potius a re publica, a deis ad mala expugnanda quam per iudicum ambitum et incertis electionibus inrepsisse. Primum ut stultus inrisus, post capitalium urbium clades, post bellum in Bactrios et Parthios, ubi militem gloria, populum specie vectigalis remissionis, cunctos metu peiorum pellexit, nomine libertatis ipsam subruebat, miro inter senatores primoresque silentio, ne patriam odisse viderentur.
[2:30 PM: Emphasis indicates change from earlier version.]
It needs some more revision for style, grammar, and properly Tacitean vocabulary, but not now. But, like Tacitus, I have tried to make it more malicious than may be warranted by the facts, for the amusement of future generations.
Georgius Dubius, born of a father of highest nobility (for the times), pretended to prefer security, but in fact wished for what was more dangerous; it is uncertain whether because he believed this was in the best interest of the state, or was incited by filial piety or by glory and greed for foreign resources, or from some mental deficiency (as was conjectured from his youth, consumed by intoxication and vice, whence greater popularity among the vulgar, as if they would be ruled more fairly by one of the crowd). He also considered his reputation, that he might seem called by god and the state to vanquish evil rather than to have crept into office through the canvassing of judges and uncertain elections. At first mocked by many as a fool, after the disasters in leading cities and wars in Bactria and Parthia, when he had seduced the soldiers by glory, the people by the appearance of favorable taxes, and all by fear of what might be worse, in the name of liberty he began to overthrow liberty itself, with a strange silence among the senators and the leading citizens, lest they seem to hate the fatherland.
I can't figure out how to make Ma Bush into Livia or Agrippina the Younger, though.
