accesserunt tantis ex principe malis probisque quaedam et fortuita
We discussed for a while today what the phrase tantis ex principe malis probisque was doing. Two possibilities arose:
- It is in the dative, and is an indirect object of accesserunt (“were added to”)
- It is some sort of ablative of circumstance, interpreting accesserunt as “occurred”
Although opinion in class seemed to incline toward the latter, the OLD does not give very strong support for that interpretation of accesserunt. Definition 13 (of 17!) is “(of conditions, feelings, etc.) to come on, set in, supervene, become operative”. This could perhaps allow a reading like “certain accidents also occurred, while such great evils and shameful acts (came) from the princeps”.
However, definition 15, “to be added (to elements already present)” seems to fit much better. “certain accidents were also added to such great evils…” Most examples of this sense in the OLD use “ad + noun phrase” rather than the dative. However there appears to be an example of this syntax in Suetonius’ Life of Tiberius. At the start of section 17 we find Cui gloriae amplior adhuc ex opportunitate cumulus accessit.
Thus the correct translation appears to be “certain accidents were also added to such great evils and shameful acts from the princeps” (which is what I think Sara may have said to start with!)