V
Prima castrorum rudimenta in Britannia Suetonio Paulino, diligenti ac moderato duci, adprobavit, electus quem contubernio aestimaret. (rudimenta…Paulino…adprobavit, electus quem contubernio aestimaret: adprobare aliquid alicui means ‘to do something to someone’s liking’; thus ‘he did his apprenticeship to the satisfaction of Paulinus, being a choice for the contubernium that he [Paulinus] highly valued’; the noun electus, ‘choice’, is apposition of Agricola, the subject of the main clause; the contubernium, lit. ‘the sharing of a tent’, is a general’s suite of young nobles learning the art of war; aestimaret is subjunctive in a rel. clause of consecutive sense, i.e. ‘Agricola was a choice for Paulinus’ retinue such that he [Paulinus] was well pleased with.’) Nec Agricola licenter, more iuvenum qui militiam in lasciviam vertunt, neque segniter ad voluptates et commeatus (ad … commeatus: ‘to secure furloughs’) titulum tribunatus (titulum tribunatus: ‘the distinction of the tribunate’; the tribuni militares, six in a legion, were junior officers in command of a legion, in rotation, for two months; the general took over command in battle.) et inscitiam rettulit: sed noscere provinciam, nosci exercitui, (sed noscere provinciam, nosci exercitui…: noscere, nosci, and the other infinitives that follow are historical infinitives or infinitives of narration: they usually take the place of the imperf. indic. in rapid passages; thus, a more lit. translation would be ‘instead, he would make himself familiar with the province, become known to the troops,…’, etc.) discere a peritis, sequi optimos, nihil adpetere in iactationem, (in iactatione: ‘for ostentation’) nihil ob formidinem recusare, simulque et anxius et intentus agere. Non sane alias exercitatior magisque in ambiguo Britannia fuit: trucidati veterani, incensae coloniae, intercepti exercitus; (trucidati veterani, incensae coloniae, intersaepti exercitus: the veterans were massacred at Colchester, the only Roman colony in Britain; the intercepted armies were in fact the Ninth legion trying to come to the colony’s rescue. These events are mentioned again in ch. 16.) tum de salute, mox de victoria certavere. Quae cuncta etsi consiliis ductuque alterius agebantur, ac summa rerum et recuperatae provinciae gloria in ducem cessit, artem et usum et stimulos addidere iuveni, (artem…addidere iuveni: the subject is quae cunctae, ‘which things added skills to the young man’.) intravitque animum militaris gloriae cupido, ingrata temporibus quibus sinistra erga eminentis interpretatio (ingrata…sinistra erga eminentes interpretatio: ‘a thankless, sinister interpretation towards prominent men’; Nero was emperor at the time, who reigned from 54-68 A.D.) nec minus periculum ex magna fama quam ex mala.