I'm kind of lost at "narrāvī quod eram". Here's what I've got so far:Wheelock, adapted from Horace wrote:Nūlla fors mihi tē, Maecēnās, obtulit: optimus Vergilius et post hunc Varius dīxērunt quid essem. Ut ad tē vēnī, singultim pauca locūtus (nam pudor prohibēbat plūra profārī), ego nōn dīxī mē clārō patre nātum esse sed narrāvī quod eram.
"No accident offered you to me, Maecenas: the very great Virgil, and after him Varius, told you what I am. As I came to you, I said few things (for modesty kept me from saying more), I did not say I was born to a famous father but I spoke because I was(?)."
This just doesn't quite make sense to me. I don't think it could be "I said what I was", which I think would be "quid essem" (as in the first sentence of the passage). So it doesn't seem that "quod" is "what" here. But "because I was" doesn't make sense to me either. Because he was what? Because he was there? And what exactly did he say?