XXI.
Horum adventu redintegratur seditio et vagi circumiecta populabantur. (redintegratur … populabantur: the first historical present, the second imperfect indicative: changing tenses adds vigor to the narrative, keeps it from growing stale and perdictable; there are seven other historical presents in the chapter.) Blaesus paucos, maxime praeda onustos, ad terrorem ceterorum adfici verberibus, claudi carcere iubet; nam etiam tum legato a centurionibus et optimo quoque manipularium parebatur. (nam etiam tum … parebatur: parebatur, like adcurritur below, is impersonal use of the passive: ‘even at that point in time it was obeyed’. Tacitus means that as thing deteriorated, discipline broke down totally: tribunes and centurions had to flee or hide to save their lives. See note for iam below.) illi obniti trahentibus, (illi obniti trahentibus: trahentibus is dat. with obniti, which is historical infinitive from obnitor: ‘those arrested offered resistance to the men dragging them away’. Other examples of hist infinit. are prensare, and ciere.) prensare circumstantium genua, ciere modo nomina singulorum, modo centuriam quisque cuius manipularis (manipularis: the term designates one of the rank and file, a private; there were thirty maniples in a legion, each composed of two centuries: three maniples made a cohort and ten cohorts a legion.) erat, cohortem, legionem, eadem omnibus inminere clamitantes. simul probra in legatum cumulant, caelum ac deos obtestantur, (caelum ac deos obtestantur: caelum ac deos may be hendiadys: ‘they called to witness the gods in heaven’.) nihil reliqui faciunt quo minus invidiam misericordiam metum et iras permoverent. (nihil reliqui faciunt quo minus … permoverent: reliquum, n. is ‘that which remains to do’; reliqui facere is idiom for ‘to leave something undone’; nihil reliqui facere is ‘to leave nothing undone’. Thus, lit. ‘they leave nothing undone on account of which they should the less excite …’, or, freely, ‘they do everything to excite [resentment, pity], …’; quominus is found in place of ut, ne, or ut non after verbs of preventing, refusing, opposing; the sense is partly final, partly consecutive. Cf. G. 547-549. reliqui is partitive genitive after the neuter nihil.) adcurritur ab universis, et carcere effracto solvunt vincula desertoresque ac rerum capitalium damnatos (rerum capitalium damnatos: ‘men convicted of capital crimes’) sibi iam (iam: ‘now’, ‘already’: the mutiny has now reached its peak; cf. note for nam etiam tum … parebatur above.) miscent.