Messalina lines 27-38 - "Widespread knowledge of the affair prompts Narcissus to take action"

For my own revision, GCSE OCR exam board

igitur domus principis inhorruit, maxime que ei qui potentiam habebant timuerunt ne res verterentur;

Therefore, the emperor’s household shuddered, and particularly those who held (any) power feared lest the state be overturned;

spem tamen habebant, si Claudio de atrocitate sceleris persuasissent, Messalinam posee opprimi sine quaestione damnatam.

nevertheless, they had (some) hope that if they convinced Claudius about the enormity of the crime, Messalina could be condemned without a trial and overthrown.

sed periculum esse ne ille defensionem audiret, neve clausae aures etiam confitenti non essent.

But there was a danger that Claudius might listen to her defence or that his ears might not be closed to her, even if she confessed.

Narcissus, occasiones quaerens, cum Caesar diu apud Ostiam moraretur, duas eius paelices largitione et promissis perpulit delationem subire.

Narcissus, looking for opportunities, since Caesar was delaying for a long time at Ostia, compelled two of his concubines by means of largesse and promises to submit an accusation.

exim Calpurnia (id alteri paelici nomen), ubi datum est secretum, ad genua, Caesaris provoluta nupisee Messalina Silio exclamat;

Then Calpurnia (that was the name of one of the two concubines), when she was given a secret audience, prostrating herself at the knees of Caesar, shouted that Messalina had married Silius;

altera paelice haec confirmante, Calpurnia cieri Nacissum postulat.

when the other concubine confirmed this, Calpurnia demanded that Narcissus be summoned.