In aperto. Literally, in the open field or way; hence, free from obstructions. Sal. (Jug. 5) uses it for in open day, or clear light. But that sense would be inappropriate here. Easy. Not essentially different from pronum, which properly means inclined, and hence easy. These two words are brought together in like manner in other passages of our author, cf. 33: vota virtusque in aperto, omniaque prona victoribus. An inelegant imitation may be thus expressed in English: down-hill and open-ground work.
Sine gratia aut ambitione. Without courting favor or seeking preferment. Gratia properly refers more to the present, ambitio to the future. Cf. Ann. 6, 46: Tiberio non perinde gratia praesentium, quam in posteros ambitio. Ambitio is here used in a bad sense (as it is sometimes in Cic.) For still another bad sense of the word, cf. G. 27.
Celeberrimus quisque. Such men as Pliny the elder, Claudius Pollio, and Julius Secundus, wrote biographies. Also Rusticus and Senecio. See chap. 2.
Plerique. Not most persons, but many, or very many. Cf. His. 1, 86, and 4, 84, where it denotes a less number than plures and plurimi, to which it is allied in its root (ple, ple-us, plus, plerus. See Freund ad v.)
Suam ipsi vitam. Autobiography. Cic. in his Epist. to Lucceius says: If I cannot obtain this favor from you, I shall perhaps be compelled to write my own biography, multorum exemplo et clarorum virorum. When ipse is joined to a possessive pronoun in a reflexive clause, it takes the case of the subject of the clause. Cf. Z. 696, Note; H. 452, 1.
Fiduciam morum. A mark of conscious integrity; literally confidence of, i.e. in their morals. Morum is objective gen. For the two accusatives (one of which however is the clause suam—narrare) after arbitrati sunt, see Z. 394; H. 373. A gen. may take the place of the latter acc., esse being understood, Z. 448.
Rutilio. Rutilius Rufus, consul A.U.C. 649, whom Cic. (Brut. 30, 114.) names as a profound scholar in Greek literature and philosophy, and Velleius (2, 13, 2.) calls the best man, not merely of his own, but of any age. He wrote a Roman history in Greek. Plut. Mar. 28. His autobiography is mentioned only by Tacitus.
Scauro. M. Aemilius Scaurus, consul A.U.C. 639, who wrote an autobiography, which Cic. (Brut. 29, 112.) compares favorably with the Cyropaedia of Xenophon.
Citra fidem. Cf. note G. 16.—Aut obtrectationi. Enallage, cf. note, G. 15. Render: This in the case of Rutilius and Scaurus did not impair (public) confidence or incur (public) censure.
Adeo. To such a degree, or so true it is. Adeo conclusiva, et in initio sententiae collocata, ad mediam latinitatem pertinet. Dr. Livy uses adeo in this way often; Cic. uses tantum.