XIII.
Nocte coepta (nocte coepta: abl. of time when, ‘at dusk’, lit. ‘night being started’) egressus augurali (egressus augurali: ‘having come out of his pavilion’; augurali is abl. of place from which, usually with e, ex. a, ab, or de, here without, as is often the case in poetry. According to some, the augurale is the general’s tent itself, the Praetorium; others say it is the Auguratorium, a separate structure on the right of the Praetorium, where the auspices were taken.) per occulta et vigilibus ignara, comite uno, contectus umeros ferina pelle, (contectus umeros ferina pelle: umeros is acc. of relation, also known as Greek acc.: lit. ‘covered as to the shoulders with the fleece of a wild animal’; Germanicus probably wants to pass for one of the Gallic or German auxiliaries.) adit castrorum vias, adsistit tabernaculis fruiturque fama sui, (fruitur … fama sui: ‘takes delight in his popularity’; lit. ‘finds pleasure in the fame of himself’; sui is the genitive of the reflexive se, itself an accusative (the nominative does not exist, replaced by the determinative is); fama is abl. with fruitur, a hist. present, as are others in the chapter.) cum hic nobilitatem ducis, decorem alius, plurimi patientiam, comitatem, per seria per iocos eundem animum laudibus ferrent reddendamque gratiam in acie faterentur, simul perfidos et ruptores pacis ultioni et gloriae mactandos. (cum … laudibus ferrent reddendam [esse] gratiam in acie faterentur, simul perfidos et ruptores pacis ultioni et gloriae mactandos: ‘as they raised him to the skies with their praises and agreed that gratitude must be shown [him] in battle and that those sneaks and breakers of peace treaties were at the same time to be slain in a sacrifice to vengeance and to the glory [of Germanicus].’ Arminius had a peace treaty with Rome when he suddenly destroyed Varus’ three legions. laudibus ferre is idiom, ‘to enthuse about’; cum …ferrent …faterentur: cum + subjunctive, or narrative or historical cum, points to the circumstance(s) that occasions the action or state in the main clause; its function is in some way similar to that of the abl. abs. perfidos et ruptores pacis: hendiadys, two nouns in Latin where English prefers one noun and a modifier) inter quae unus hostium, Latinae linguae sciens, (Latinae linguae sciens: Latinae linguae is objective genitive with an adjective or participle denoting knowledge.) acto ad vallum equo voce magna coniuges et agros et stipendii in dies, donec bellaretur, sestertios centenos, si quis transfugisset, Arminii nomine pollicetur. (acto ad vallum equo voce magna coniuges et agros et stipendii in dies, donec bellaretur, sestertios centenos, si quis transfugisset, Arminii nomine pollicetur: lit. ‘the horse having been pushed to the camp rampart, he loudly promises in Arminius’ name spouses, land, and a hundred sesterces a day (in dies) for as long as the war should last, if any man would have defected.’ donec bellaretur: with the sense of ‘as long as’, donec is usually with subjunctive in Tacitus. sestertius centenos: the distributive adj. centenos answers to the question How many at a time? si quis transfugisset: potential condition in the protasis of a conditional sentence in indir. speech; the sentence itself is somewhat elliptic and involute (as is often the case in Tacitus), but becomes clearer if a close equivalent is substituted for it, as follows: pollicetur Arminium daturum [esse] coniuges et agros et …., si quis transfugisset: ‘he promised that Arminius would give women, land, and …, if anyone would have deserted.’ pollicetur, the verb of saying, is hist. present, which functions here as historical tense, like pollicebatur or pollicitus est, in relation to sequence of tenses. In the apodosis, the subjunctive of direct speech is turned into the future participle in –urus + esse, as required when the condition is potential (ideal or type II); cf. G. 656, 658, B. 320. The pluperfect subjunctive, transfugisset, in the protasis represents in oratio obliqua a future action contemplated in the past, anterior to the action of the apodosis; it corresponds to transfugerint of direct speech. quis is always for aliquis after si.) intendit ea contumelia legionum iras: veniret dies, daretur pugna; (veniret dies, daretur pugna: hortatory or, rather, jussive subjunctive in oratio obliqua depending on a verb of saying to be understood from the context: ‘[they cried] “Let the day come, let battle be given!”) sumpturum militem Germanorum agros, tracturum coniuges; accipere omen et matrimonia ac pecunias hostium praedae destinare. (sumpturum … tracturum … accipere … destinare: two future and two present infinitives for clauses in indir. speech, the first two for future actions, the latter two for current action; destinare refers to things earmarked for a certain use, here ‘for plunder’, praedae, dat. of destination.) tertia ferme vigilia (tertia …vigilia: Romans divided the night, from sunset to sunrise, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., into four vigiliae of three hours each: tertia vigilia would begin at midnight.) adsultatum est castris (adsultatum est castris: impersonal use of the passive of an intransitive verb, ‘it was made an assault on the camp.’ adsulto is with dative, lit. ‘it was jumped towards the camp.’) sine coniectu teli, postquam crebras pro munimentis cohortes et nihil remissum sensere. (postquam … sensere: posquam is almost regularly found followed by perfect indicative.)