XXXVII
Et Britanni, qui adhuc pugnae expertes summa collium insederant et paucitatem nostrorum vacui (pugnae expertes … vacui: ‘having no share of the fight … idle’) spernebant, degredi paulatim et circumire terga vincentium coeperant, (circumire terga vincentium coeperant: ‘they began to force their way round to the rear of our victorious troops’) ni id ipsum veritus (id ipsum veritus: veritus, from dep. vereor, has active sense, ‘having feared this very thing’.) Agricola quattuor equitum alas, ad subita belli retentas, (ad subita belli retentas: ‘kept back for the emergencies of war’) venientibus opposuisset, quantoque ferocius adcucurrerant, tanto acrius pulsos in fugam disiecisset. (ni … Agricola … alas … opposuisset … [et Britannos] disiecisset: ‘if Agricola had not opposed his cavalry and repulsed the enemy’; ni or nisi introduces a condition contrary to fact requiring subjunctive, replaced in the free translation with independent clauses.) Ita consilium Britannorum in ipsos versum, transvectaeque praecepto ducis a fronte pugnantium alae aversam hostium aciem (aversam …aciem: lit. ‘the line facing the wrong way’ i.e. the enemy line with its back towards the new attackers.) invasere. Tum vero patentibus locis (patentibus locis: ‘in open spaces’) grande et atrox spectaculum: sequi, (sequi: infinitive of narration, as are the three that follow) vulnerare, capere, atque eosdem oblatis aliis (oblatis aliis: abl. abs., ‘others having presented themselves’) trucidare. Iam hostium, prout cuique ingenium erat, (prout cuique ingenium erat: lit. ‘according as the temperament was to each man’) catervae armatorum paucioribus terga praestare, quidam inermes ultro (ultro: ‘voluntarily’) ruere ac se morti offerre. Passim arma et corpora et laceri artus et cruenta humus; et aliquando etiam victis ira virtusque. Nam postquam silvis adpropinquaverunt, primos sequentium incautos collecti (collecti: ‘reorganized’) et locorum gnari circumveniebant. Quod ni (quod ni: cf. note in ch. 16.) frequens ubique (frequens ubique: ‘attentive everywhere’) Agricola validas et expeditas cohortis indaginis modo (indaginis modo: ‘in the manner of a ring of huntsmen thrown around a wood’) et, sicubi artiora errant, (sicubi artiora erant: ‘wherever spaces were more confined’) partem equitum dimissis equis, simul rariores silvas equitem persultare iussisset, acceptum aliquod vulnus (aliquod vulnus: ‘some injury’) per nimiam fiduciam foret. (quod ni …Agricola …iussisset,…acceptum vulnus…foret: plup. subjunctive – here both active and passive – in conditional sentence contrary to fact in past time; cf. A.G. 514, C; for quod followed by ni or nisi cf. note in ch. 16.) Ceterum (ceterum: cf. note in ch. 11.) ubi compositos firmis ordinibus sequi rursus videre, in fugam versi, non agminibus, ut prius, nec alius alium respectantes; (alius alium respectantes: ‘helping each other’) rari e vitabundi in vicem longinqua atque avia petiere. Finis sequendi nox et satietas fuit. Caesa hostium ad decem milia: nostrorum trecenti sexaginta cecidere, in quis Aulus Atticus praefectus cohortis, iuvenili ardore et ferocia equi hostibus inlatus.