§39.9.1huius mali labes ex Etruria Romam veluti contagione morbi penetravit.
The contagion of this evil penetrated from Etruria to Rome, like the infection of a disease.
primo urbis magnitudo capacior patientiorque talium malorum ea celavit:
At first, the magnitude of the city, more capable of containing and tolerating such evils, concealed them.
§39.9.2tandem indicium hoc maxime modo ad Postumium consulem pervenit.
At length, information reached the consul Postumius, chiefly in the following manner.
P. Aebutius, cuius pater publico equo stipendia fecerat, pupillus relictus, mortuis deinde tutoribus sub tutela Duroniae matris et vitrici T. Sempronii Rutili educatus fuerat.
Publius Aebutius, whose father had served in the cavalry on a public horse, had been left an orphan, and, his guardians having subsequently died, had been brought up under the guardianship of his mother Duronia and his stepfather Titus Sempronius Rutilus.
§39.9.3et mater dedita viro erat, et vitricus, quia tutelam ita gesserat, ut rationem reddere non posset, aut tolli pupillum aut obnoxium sibi vinculo aliquo fieri cupiebat.
The mother was devoted to her husband, and the stepfather, because he had administered the guardianship in such a way that he could not render an account, wished either that the ward should be made away with, or should be made subject to him by some bond.
via una corruptelae Bacchanalia erant.
The Bacchanalia were the sole path to his corruption.
§39.9.4mater adulescentem appellat: se pro aegro eo vovisse, ubi primum convaluisset, Bacchis eum se initiaturam;
The mother addressed the young man: she said that she had made a vow on his behalf when he was sick, that as soon as he recovered, she would initiate him into the rites of Bacchus; that having been bound by her vow through the kindness of the gods, she wished to discharge it.
damnatam voti benignitate deum exsolvere id velle. decem dierum castimonia opus esse: decimo die cenatum, deinde pure lautum in sacrarium deducturam.
She added that there was need of a ten days' abstinence; on the tenth day, after he had dined and then washed himself purely, she would conduct him into the sanctuary.
§39.9.5scortum nobile libertina Hispala Faecenia, non digna quaestu, cui ancillula adsuerat, etiam postquam manumissa erat, eodem se genere tuebatur.
There was a well-known courtesan, a freedwoman named Hispala Faecenia, who deserved a better occupation than that to which she had been accustomed when a young slave girl, and which, even after she had been manumitted, she continued to practice for her support.
§39.9.6huic consuetudo iuxta vicinitatem cum Aebutio fuit, minime adulescentis aut rei aut famae damnosa: ultro enim amatus appetitusque erat, et maligne omnia praebentibus suis meretriculae munificentia sustinebatur.
She had an intimacy with Aebutius, arising from their being neighbors, which was by no means damaging either to the young man's fortune or his reputation; for he was beloved and sought after by her of her own accord, and while his own relations grudgingly supplied his needs, he was supported by the generosity of this courtesan.
§39.9.7quin eo processerat consuetudine capta, ut post patroni mortem, quia in nullius manu erat, tutore ab tribunis et praetore petito, cum testamentum faceret, unum Aebutium institueret heredem.
Indeed, overcome by her affection, she had gone so far that, after the death of her patron, since she was under no one's control, having petitioned the tribunes and the praetor for a guardian, when she made her will, she appointed Aebutius her sole heir.