Lexitechnia

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 2.23:

Sabino bello ait se militantem, quia propter populationes agri non fructu modo caruerit, sed villa incensa fuerit, direpta omnia, pecora abacta, tributum iniquo suo tempore imperatum, æs alienum fecisse.

He said he served in the Sabine War and that he had not only lost his harvest on account of the pillaging, but his farmhouse had been burned down, everything had been plundered, his cattle was driven off, the war tax was levied at an inopportune time, and he went into debt.

The whole ‘quia propter populationes’ part doesn’t make much sense in English if left where it stands; following one of my reference translations, I had to move it after the verb.

‘Tributum iniquo suo tempore imperatum’came out altogether awkward.   I’ve rewritten it a couple of times, and I seem to be in a corner with it.

[For abigo.]