Annals Chapter 2

Question 1

tradit Cluvius ardore retinendae Agrippinam potentiae eo usque provectam, ut medio diei,

Answer 1

Cluvius reports that Agrippina, with passion for retaining her power, went so far that in the middle of the day,

Question 2

cum id temporis Nero per vinum et epulas incalesceret, offerret se saepius temulento comptam in incesto paratam;

Answer 2

at that time when Nero was heated on account of wine and fine food, she rather often offered herself to him in his drunken state, dressed up and ready for incest.

Question 3

iamque lasciva oscula et praenuntias flagitii blanditias adnotantibus proximis,

Answer 3

And already provocative kisses and caresses that foretold of the scandal to come were being noticed by those nearby.

Question 4

Senecam contra muliebris inlecebras subsidium a femina petivisse,

Answer 4

It was Seneca that sought protection against these female temptations from a woman,

Question 5

immissamque Acten libertam, quae simul suo periculo et infamia Neronis anxia

Answer 5

and that the freedwoman Acte was sent in, who, anxious both for her own safety and for Nero’s disgrace,

Question 6

deferret pervulgatum esse incestum gloriante matre,

Answer 6

was to report that the incest was being talked about everywhere, since his mother was boasting about it,

Question 7

nec toleraturos milites profani principis imperium.

Answer 7

and that the soldiers would not tolerate the authority of an impious emperor.

Question 8

Fabius Rusticus non Agrippinae sed Neroni cupitum id memorat eiusdemque libertae astu disiactum.

Answer 8

Fabius Rusticus, however, says that it was desired not by Agrippina but by Nero, and that it was broken off by the cleverness of that same freedwoman.

Question 9

sed quae Cluvius, eadem ceteri quoque auctores prodidere, et fama huc inclinat,

Answer 9

But the other authorities have also recorded the same facts as Cluvius, and rumour inclines in that direction,

Question 10

seu concepit animo tantum immanitatis Agrippina,

Answer 10

whether Agrippina merely conceived such a great monstrosity in her mind,

Question 11

seu credibilior novae libidinis meditatio in ea visa est,

Answer 11

or whether the consideration of a new depravity seemed more believable in one

Question 12

quae puellaribus annis stuprum cum Lepido spe dominationis admiserat,

Answer 12

who, while still a girl, had accepted sexual disgrace with Lepidus in hopes of power,

Question 13

pari cupidine usque ad libita Pallantis provoluta et exercita ad omne flagitium patrui nuptiis.

Answer 13

and later for the same reasons threw herself down even at the whim of Pallas, and trained herself in all manner of depravities by marriage to her uncle.