LXVIII.
Haud minus inquies Cermanus spe, cupidine et diversis ducum sententiis agebat, (inquies Cermanus spe, cupidine et diversis ducum sententiis agebat: ’disquiet agitated the Germans with expectation, desires, and the conflicting counsels of the leaders.’) Arminio sinerent egredi egressosque rursum per umida et inpedita circumvenirent suadente, atrociora Inguiomero et laeta barbaris, ut vallum armis ambirent: (Arminio sinerent … suadente, atrociora Inguiomero [suadente] … ut … ambirent: abl. abs. with suadente followed by complementary clause, in one case with subjunctive alone, in the other with ut + subjunctive.) promptam expugnationem, plures captivos, incorruptam praedam fore. igitur orta die (orta die: Tacitus relies on a number of expressions to signify dawn or dusk: cf. capta luce in ch. 65.) proruunt fossas, iniciunt cratis, summa valli prensant, raro super milite et quasi ob metum defixo. (raro super milite et quasi ob metum defixo: super is adverb, not prep.: ‘few and sparse the soldiers above (= on top of the wall), as though transfixed by fear’; the Romans pretended fear and fewness of numbers to lure the Germans closer to the rampart.) postquam haesere munimentis, (postquam haesere munimentis: postquam is most frequently found with perfect indicative: ‘when they were clinging to the fortifications, …’.) datur cohortibus signum cornuaque ac tubae concinuere. exim (exim: or exin or exinde: ‘thereupon’) clamore et impetu tergis Germanorum circumfunduntur, exprobrantes non hic silvas nec paludes, sed aequis locis aequos deos. hosti facile excidium et paucos ac semermos cogitanti sonus tubarum, fulgor armorum, quanto inopina tanto maiora offunduntur, cadebantque, ut rebus secundis avidi, ita adversis incauti. (hosti facile excidium et paucos ac semermos cogitanti sonus tubarum, fulgor armorum, quanto inopina tanto maiora offunduntur, cadebantque, ut rebus secundis avidi, ita adversis incauti: hosti …cogitanti is dative with offunduntur: lit. ‘the sound of trumpets, the glitter of arms (the more unexpected, so much greater in their effect, overpowered an enemy presuming an easy massacre and few poorly armed defenders; [the Germans] fell just as disheartened now in defeat as [they had been] overconfident in victory.’ The passive offundor has the active sense of ‘to envelop’, ‘to spread over’, ‘to overwhelm’. The correlative pairs quanto …tanto and ut …ita govern comparisons with or without a verb. inopina and maiora are substantivized adjectives and appositives of sonus and fulgor: as such they need to agree only in case with the nouns, whereas if they were attributes (i.e. regular adjectives) they would agree in case, number, and gender.) Arminius integer, Inguiomerus post grave vulnus pugnam deseruere: vulgus trucidatum est, donec ira et dies permansit. (donec ira et dies permansit: donec with the sense of quamdiu, ‘as long as’, in place of ‘until’ takes indicative; ira et dies: Tacitus is fond of juxtaposing some feature of the physical world and a human state of mind; cf. as example mutuo metuo aut montibus in Germania , ch. 1.) nocte demum reversae legiones, quamvis plus vulnerum, eadem ciborum egestas fatigaret, vim sanitatem copias, cuncta in victoria habuere. (quamvis plus vulnerum, eadem ciborum egestas fatigaret, vim sanitatem copias, cuncta in victoria habuere: concessive sentence with quamvis introducing the dependent clause in the subjunctive (A.G. 527, a.): ‘even though more wounds and the same scarcity of food wore them down, they found strength, health, and abundance in victory.’ vulnerum is partitive genitive after the neuter plus.)