XV
Namque absentia legati remoto metu (absentia legati remoto metu: absentia is abl. of cause, remoto metu is abl. abs.: ‘fear being removed in view of the governor’s absence’) Britanni agitare inter se mala servitutis, conferre iniurias et interpretando accendere: (agitare…conferre… accendere: infinitives of narration also called historical infinitives; they are used for dramatic effect in place of imperfect indicative.) nihil profici (profici: infinitive in ind. speech introduced by agitare, conferre, accendere and continuing to the end of the chapter) patientia nisi ut (nisi ut graviora …imperentur: ‘except to have heavier burdens imposed on …’; subjunctive for logical condition in indir. speech; the use of nisi ut is post-classical; cf. G. 591, b, R 4.) graviora tamquam ex facili tolerantibus (tamquam ex facili tolerantibus: ‘as on men easily tolerant’; tolerantibus is dative with imperentur; ex facili or in facili or de facili or facili = ’easily’, ‘yieldingly’) imperentur. Singulos sibi olim reges fuisse, nunc binos imponi, e quibus legatus (e quibus legatus: e quibus is abl. of separation, ignored in translation as pleonastic.) in sanguinem, procurator (procurator: cf. procuratorem in ch. 4 and procuratores in ch.9.) in bona saeviret. Aeque discordiam praepositorum, aeque concordiam subiectis exitiosam. Alterius manum (manum: tool, squad, gang) centuriones, alterius servos (centuriones…servos: both apposition of manum, ‘the hand of the one, the centurions, [the hand] of the other, the slaves, …’) vim et contumelias miscere. Nihil iam cupiditati, nihil libidini exceptum. In proelio fortiorem esse qui spoliet: nunc ab ignavis plerumque et imbellibus eripi domos, (ab ignavis plerumque et imbellibus eripi domos: ‘their houses were robbed for the most part by cowards and softies’) abstrahi liberos, iniungi dilectus, tamquam mori tantum pro patria nescientibus. (iniungi dilectus, tamquam mori tantum pro patria nescientibus: lit. ‘exacted recruitment as on men incapable of dying solely in their own country’s defense’; nescientibus is dat. with iniungi.) Quantulum enim transisse militum, (quantulum enim transisse militum: the diminutive quantulum, used here interrogatively, has disparaging sense, a way of saying ‘how puny’ ; militum is partitive genitive after the neuter word of quantity quantulum. Note the use of the infinitive transisse, in place of subjunctive, when an indirect question is purely rhetorical.) si sese Britanni numerent? (si sese Britanni numerent: the pres. subjunctve numerent is in place of the imperf. numerarent (required with an historical main verb), a case of repraesentatio ; cf. A.G. 585. b. N.) Sic Germanias excussisse iugum: et flumine, non Oceano defendi. Sibi patriam coniuges parentes, illis avaritiam et luxuriam causas belli esse. Recessuros, ut divus Iulius recessisset, (ut …recessisset: subjunctive as for all dependent clauses in indir. speech; the same applies to si …numerent above and [si] modo …aemularentur below.) modo (modo: for si modo, ‘if only’) virtutem maiorum suorum aemularentur. Neve proelii unius aut alterius eventu pavescerent: (neve proelii unius aut alterius eventu pavescerent: ‘they should not be frightened by the outcome of one or another battle’; pavescerent is hortatory subj.) plus impetus felicibus, maiorem constantiam penes miseros esse. (plus impetus felicibus, maiorem constantiam penes miseros esse: felicibus is dat. of possessor with esse, a construction equivalent to the English verb ‘to have’; penes is a prep. requiring the acc. of the person: penes miseros: ‘in the hands of the unfortunate’) Iam Britannorum etiam deos miserere, (Britannorum misereri: misereor requires gen. of the person being pitied.) qui Romanum ducem absentem, qui relegatum in alia insula exercitum detinerent; iam ipsos, quod difficillimum fuerit, deliberare. Porro (porro: adv., ‘henceforth’) in eius modi consiliis periculosius esse deprehendi quam audere. (in eius modi consiliis periculosius esse deprehendi quam audere: ‘in [secret] consultations of that kind it was more dangerous to be detected than to dare.’)