Metrum 6

Meter: Sapphic hendecasyllable (cretic + headless hipponactean).

line 1

1: Lines 1-2: the great fire at Rome of A.D. 64; rumors of an imperial arsonist were spread by well-placed citizens.
quantas dederit ruinas: indirect question; the subject is the relative clause (lines 3-7).

line 2

2: Lines 1-2: the great fire at Rome of A.D. 64; rumors of an imperial arsonist were spread by well-placed citizens.
urbe: urbe . . . caesis: ablative absolute.
patribus: "senators."
caesis: urbe . . . caesis: ablative absolute.

line 3

fratre: fratre . . . interempto: Tiberius Claudius Caesar, son of Claudius, murdered by his adoptive brother in A.D. 55.
interempto: fratre . . . interempto: Tiberius Claudius Caesar, son of Claudius, murdered by his adoptive brother in A.D. 55.

line 4

matris effuso: matris effuso . . . cruore: ablative of means with maduit. Refers to the murder of Agrippina in 59 A.D.: the rumor that the murderous son cast a coolly appraising eye over his mother's corpse is repeated by Tacitus (Ann. 14.3ff), but neither endorsed nor scotched by him.
cruore: matris effuso . . . cruore: ablative of means with maduit. Refers to the murder of Agrippina in 59 A.D.: the rumor that the murderous son cast a coolly appraising eye over his mother's corpse is repeated by Tacitus (Ann. 14.3ff), but neither endorsed nor scotched by him.

line 5

uisu: < uisus, "sight, vision."

line 7

censor: here, "evaluator, judge."

line 9

9: Lines 9-13: Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.

line 10

10: Lines 9-13: Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.

line 11

11: Lines 9-13: Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.
septem: septem . . . triones: literally, "the seven plough-oxen," i.e., the seven stars constituting the constellation known variously as the Wain, Ursa Maior, the Big Dipper).
triones: septem . . . triones: literally, "the seven plough-oxen," i.e., the seven stars constituting the constellation known variously as the Wain, Ursa Maior, the Big Dipper.

line 12

12: Lines 9-13: Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.
Notus: south wind.

line 13

13: Lines 9-13: Rome's sway reaches from west to east and from north to south.

line 15

uertere: last syllable is closed (thus long) before pr-.
Neronis: the name is postponed as long as possible; the identity was clear to B.'s readers as early as line 3.

line 16

grauem sortem: accusative of exclamation.