"Anulum abiecit, cum sese nimis felicem esse censeret. (…) Tum amīcus eius, rēx Aegyptī, cum felīcitātem atque glōriam eius ingentem vidēret, tyrannō suāsit, ut iactūram faceret eius reī quā māximē omnium dēlectābātur: ita deōrum invidiam āvertī posse spērābat. "
“He threw the ring, because he thought that he was very happy(?). Then his firend, king of Egypt, when he saw his happiness and his great glory, advised the tyran to make throwing of his thing which (?): and so he hoped being able to avoid the trap of the gods”
I’m having trouble understanding these highlighted words and phrases.
“He urged the tyran to get rid of this thing by which he was delighted most of all” > “He urged the tyran to get rid of this thing which delighted him more than anything else”.
Anulum abiecit, cum sese nimis felicem esse censeret: He threw away the ring, since he reckoned he was too happy. (nimis not just “very” but excessively, overly.) censeo takes an acc.&infin. construction. sese (= se) is the required accusative, referring to the subject of censeret. Lit. he thought himself to be too happy. Compare e.g. censeo me stultum esse, I reckon I’m stupid.
tyrannō suāsit, ut iactūram faceret eius reī quā māximē omnium dēlectābātur: He urged the tyrant to make a throwing-away of that thing by which he was delighted most of all, i.e. to jettison the thing that was most precious of all to him.
iactura is cognate with (ab)iecit.
ita deōrum invidiam āvertī posse spērābat: In this way he was hoping that the envy of the gods could be averted. (invidia not insidiae!) Another acc.&inf., and averti is passive not active.
