XXXVIII
Et nox quidem gaudio praedaque laeta victoribus: (et nox quidem gaudio praedaque laeta victoribus [erat]: ‘and the night truly was for the victors joyful on account of the triumph and the booty’.) Britanni palantes mixto virorum mulierumque ploratu (mixto ploratu: probably abl. of specification, rather than abl. abs.: ‘amidst the general lamentation’) trahere (trahere: infinitive of narration, as are several others that follow) vulneratos, vocare integros, deserere domos ac per iram ultro incendere, eligere latebras et statim relinquere; miscere in vicem consilia aliqua, dein separare; aliquando frangi aspectu pignorum suorum, saepius concitari. Satisque constabat saevisse quosdam in coniuges ac liberos, tamquam misererentur. (tamquam misererentur: conditional tamquam requires subjunctive, ‘as if they pitied [them]’.) Proximus dies faciem victoriae latius aperuit: vastum ubique silentium, secreti colles, fumantia procul tecta, nemo exploratoribus obvius. Quibus in omnem partem dimissis, (quibus …dimissis: abl. abs.) ubi incerta fugae vestigia neque usquam conglobari hostis compertum (et exacta iam aestate spargi bellum nequibat), in finis Borestorum exercitum deducit. (in fines Borestorum exercitum deducit: only mention in Latin literature of a tribe called the Boresti: possibly a corruption of the original text during successive transcriptions. A change has been proposed that would have the text read: in fines boreos totum exercitum deducit , ‘he led his entire force into the northern confines [of Scotland]’.) Ibi acceptis obsidibus, praefecto classis circumvehi Britanniam praecipit. (circumvehi Britanniam praecipit: praecipere is here followed by an infinitive as direct object; also found with subjunctive with or without ut) Datae ad id vires, et praecesserat terror. Ipse peditem atque equites lento itinere, quo novarum gentium animi ipsa transitus mora terrerentur, in hibernis locavit. Et simul classis secunda tempestate ac fama Trucculensem portum (Trucculensem portum: an unknown location; Loch Broom on the NW coast of Scotland, facing Lewis Island in the Hebrides, has been suggested.) tenuit, unde proximo Britanniae latere praelecto omni redierat. (unde … redierat: the meaning is not clear; perhaps the fleet had already visited the harbour of Trucculum in an earlier year while exploring the west coast of Scotland.)