XLIV.
Nec multo post Drusus in Illyricum (in Illyricum: the Roman province comprising all the lands along the eastern coast of the Adriatic sea including the western part of Pannonia in the north. It was renamed Dalmatia under Vespasian.) missus est ut suesceret militiae (ut suesceret militiae: ‘to get used to military life’; militiae is dat. with suesco.) studiaque exercitus pararet; simul iuvenem urbano luxu lascivientem melius in castris haberi Tiberius seque tutiorem rebatur utroque filio legiones obtinente. (iuvenem urbano luxu lascivientem melius in castris haberi Tiberius seque tutiorem rebatur utroque filio legiones obtinente: ‘Tiberius thought that it was better that the young man, growing lax on account of the pleasures of the city, be kept in camps, and himself more secure with either son holding legions.’ utroque filio legiones obtinente: abl. abs., ‘each of the sons commanding legions’) sed Suebi praetendebantur auxilium adversus Cheruscos orantes; nam discessu Romanorum ac vacui externo metu gentis adsuetudine et tum aemulatione gloriae arma in se verterant. (discessu Romanorum ac vacui externo metu gentis adsuetudine et tum aemulatione gloriae arma in se verterant: discessu, adsuetudine, aemulatione, are ablatives of cause, externo metu is abl. of separation: ‘in view of the departure of the Romans and also (ac) being free from foreign threats, the Germans turned their arms against themselves, in keeping with the custom of the race and, just then (tum), from rivalry of glory.’ ac makes the added term more emphatic, ‘and what is more’. See also Semnones ac Langobardi in next chapter.) vis nationum, virtus ducum in aequo; set Maroboduum regis (Suebi … Cheruscos … Maroboduum regis: for the Suebi or Suevi and their king Marobodus see ch. 26. The last mention of the Cherusci, Arminius’ tribe, was also in ch. 26.) nomen invisum apud popularis, Arminium pro libertate bellantem favor habebat. (Maroboduum regis nomen invisum apud popularis, Arminium pro libertate bellantem favor habebat: an unusual construction with nomen and favor as subjects and Maroboduum and Arminium direct objects of habebat. The verb applies fairly well to the first part of the sentence, but not at all to the second, unless one assigns to habebat a meaning it does not have, a case of zeugma: ‘the name of king had (or ‘rendered’) Maroboduus unpopular with the people; favor ‘helped’ (?) Arminius, the champion of liberty.’)