XXVIII
Eadem aestate cohors (cohors: one of the ten units forming a legion, usually about 360 men strong) Usiporum (Usiporum: a Germanic tribe on the Rhine, in the Mainz-Wiesbaden area) per Germanias conscripta et in Britanniam transmissa magnum ac memorabile facinus ausa est. Occiso centurione ac militibus, qui ad tradendam disciplinam inmixti manipulis (immixtis manipulis: a manipulus is equivalent to a company in today’s armies, three per cohort, about 120 men apiece) exemplum et rectores habebantur, (qui …exemplum et rectores habebantur: ‘who were had’, i.e. ‘were there’, ‘as example and tutors’) tris liburnicas adactis per vim gubernatoribus ascendere; (tres liburnicas adactis per vim gubernatoribus ascendere: ascendere is infinitive of narration: ‘they boarded three galleys, their pilots being forced [to cooperate]’; liburnica is a swift galley of the type used in Liburnia, a district of Illyricum north of Dalmatia in the Adriatic.) et uno remigante, suspectis duobus eoque interfectis, (suspectis duobus eoque interfectis: ‘two being suspected and for that reason killed’) nondum vulgato rumore ut miraculum praevehebantur. (nondum vulgato rumore ut miraculum praevehebantur: ‘the rumour not being yet spread about, the were carried away like a truly wonderful thing’) Mox ubi aquam atque utilia raptum (aqua atque utilia raptum: an example of use of acc. supine after verbs of motion to express purpose) exissent, (ubi …exissent: ubi is occasionally found with pluperf. subjunctive for repeated action completed in the past; cf. A.G. 543, a.) cum plerisque Britannorum sua defensantium proelio congressi (cum plerisque Britannorum sua defensantium proelio congressi: ‘they engaged in battle with a good many of the Britons defending their own.’) ac saepe victores, aliquando pulsi, eo ad extremum inopiae venere, ut infirmissimos suorum, mox sorte ductos vescerentur. (eo …ut …vescerentur: ‘to such an extent that they would devour …’: the clause is consecutive.) Atque ita circumvecti Britanniam, (circumvecti Britanniam: the dep. perf. participle circumvecti, has active sense, ‘having circumnavigated Britain’; the mutineers probably started from the Clyde estuary, sailed up the west coast of Scotland and came round the north end.) amissis per inscitiam regendi (per inscitiam regendi: ‘through ignorance of managing [ships]’; example of ojective genitive gerund after a noun) navibus, pro praedonibus habiti, primum a Suebis, mox a Frisiis (Suebis …Frisiis: the Suebi or Suevi ultimately settled in the area around Stuttgart in Germany; the Frisii occupied the coastal regions of Holland.) intercepti sunt. Ac fuere quos per commercia venumdatos et in nostram usque ripam mutatione ementium adductos indicium tanti casus inlustravit. (fuere quos per commercia venumdatos et in nostram usque ripam mutatione ementium adductos indicium tanti casus inlustravit: ‘there were those whom, sold by way of trade and brought as far as our bank [of the Rhine] by a succession of buyers, the story [of such adventure] made famous’; fuere quos …indicium inlustravit: clauses introduced by sunt qui are generally known as Relative Clauses of Characteristic; the sense is usually consecutive and the verb’s mood is subjunctive, even though exceptions occur, as here.)