“Dēnuō iste Nerō atrōx!” inquit Cornēlia. “Hoc, crēdō, fuit tempus, quō ille suam culpam in Chrīstiānōs miserōs contulit.[1] Nihil profectō tam erat inhūmānum et crūdēle, quod ille nōn cupidē faceret.”
“Erat certē imperātor minimē laudandus,” inquit frāter rīdēns. “Audīvistīne eum[2] semel atque iterum mātrem interficere cōnātum esse?”
“Hoc quidem nōn audīvī,” inquit Cornēlia; “sed facile crēdō rem ita sē habuisse.”
At Pūblius: “Multī tum id prō certō crēdēbant; ac postquam eius māter mortua est, hī versūs sine nōmine prōpositī sunt:
“Hahahae!” inquit Sextus. “Profectō ille audācissimus erat, quī volēbat etiam sine nōmine tālia prōpōnere. Sed ut[8] ad priōra redeāmus, vērumne est Nerōnem ipsum Rōmam incendisse?”
“Dē hōc haud satis liquet,”[9] inquit frāter; “etsī dīcitur ille dēfōrmitāte[10] veterum aedificiōrum et angustiīs flexūrīsque[11] viārum offēnsus esse; ac fāma est eum, dum incendium saevit, ē turrī propinquā prōspicientem cantū[12] sē dēlectāsse.
“Sed quōcumque modō[13] haec rēs sē habet, per sex diēs septemque noctēs flammae ārsērunt, ac plēbs[14] inops,[15] ex domiciliīs[16] expulsa, etiam sepulchrīs prō tēctīs ūtī coācta est.
- ↑ in … contulit, put off upon.
- ↑ eum: subject of cōnātum esse.
- ↑ Aenēae: gen.
- ↑ stirps, stirpis, f., stock.
- ↑ Nerōnem: sc. esse.
- ↑ Sustulit … sustulit: punning, carried off. The effect is enhanced by the solemnity of line 93.
- ↑ hic … ille, the one … the other.
- ↑ ut: purp.
- ↑ liqueō, liquēre, licuī: intr.; liquet, impers., it … is clear.
- ↑ dēformitās, -ātis, f., ugliness.
- ↑ flexūra, -ae, f., bend, turn.
- ↑ cantū, music.
- ↑ quōcumque modō, howsoever.
- ↑ plēbs, plēbis, f., the common people.
- ↑ inops, -opis, adj., destitute.
- ↑ domicilium, -ī, n., home.
