Annals Chapter 3

Question 1

igitur Nero vitare secretos eius congressus, abscedentem in hortos aut Tusculanum vel Antiatem in agrum laudare, quod otium capesseret.

Answer 1

Therefore Nero began to avoid private meetings with her, and when she went away to her gardens, or to her estate at Tusculum or Antium, he praised her on the grounds that she was choosing a life of leisure.

Question 2

postremo, ubicumque haberetur, praegravem ratus interficere constituit

Answer 2

At last, wherever she might be kept, considering her a most serious problem, he decided to kill her,

Question 3

hactenus consultans, veneno an ferro vel qua alia vi.

Answer 3

debating on this point only whether by poison, by the sword, or by some other means.

Question 4

placuitque primo venenum. sed inter epulas principis si daretur, referri ad casum non poterat tali iam Britannici exitio;

Answer 4

Poison was his first choice, but if it were given at the emperor’s table, it could not be passed off as an accident, since such had already been Britannicus’ demise;

Question 5

et ministros temptare arduum videbatur mulieris usu scelerum adversus insidias intentae;

Answer 5

and trying the servants seemed difficult, since she was a woman experienced in crime and alert against plots;

Question 6

atque ipsa praesumendo remedia munierat corpus.

Answer 6

moreover, by the taking of remedies beforehand she had protected her body.

Question 7

ferrum et caedes quonam modo occultaretur, nemo reperiebat;

Answer 7

As for slaughter by the sword, no one was able to work out any means by which to conceal it,

Question 8

et ne quis illi tanto facinori delectus iussa sperneret metuebat.

Answer 8

and he feared that anyone chosen for so great a crime would reject their orders.

Question 9

obtulit ingenium Anicetus libertus, classi apud Misenum praefectus

Answer 9

Anicetus the freedman offered his ingenuity—he was commander of the fleet at Misenum,

Question 10

et pueritiae Neronis educator ac mutuis odiis Agrippinae invisus.

Answer 10

Nero’s tutor in boyhood, and hated by Agrippina with a hatred, returned.

Question 11

ergo navem posse componi docet, cuius pars ipso in mari per artem soluta effunderet ignaram:

Answer 11

He explained that a ship could be constructed so that part of it, being broken up by design, would pour out of her unawares while actually out at sea.

Question 12

nihil tam capax fortuitorum quam mare;

Answer 12

He said that nothing offered so much scope for accidents as the sea;

Question 13

et si naufragio intercepta sit, quem adeo iniquum, ut sceleri adsignet, quod venti et fluctus deliquerint?

Answer 13

and if she were cut off by a shipwreck, who would be so unfair as to blame a crime for what the winds and waves have done wrong?

Question 14

additurum principem defunctae templum et aras et cetera ostentandae pietati.

Answer 14

The emperor would then add a temple, altars, and other displays to show his sense of duty to his dead mother.