XXXI.
Isdem ferme diebus isdem causis Germanicae legiones turbatae, quanto plures tanto violentius, (quanto plures tanto violentius: comparative sentence with verbs implied: ‘the more numerous [they were], the more violently [they behaved].’ quanto introduces the dependent clause, tanto the main clause; plures is adj., violentius is adv.) et magna spe fore ut Germanicus Caesar imperium alterius pati nequiret daretque se legionibus vi sua cuncta tracturis. (magna spe fore ut Germanicus Caesar imperium alterius pati nequiret daretque se legionibus vi sua cuncta tracturis: magna spe is abl. abs. governing an infinitive clause with fore ut: lit. ‘the confident hope being that Germanicus would be unable to tolerate the primacy of another man and would give himself to the legions going to draw with their strength all the empire after them.’ The circumlocution with fore ut in place of the future infinitive of nequeo is necessary in that the verb lacks supine from which the future participle is formed. Cf. A.G. 569, a. The verb dare has daturum, but follows the construction of nequeo by attraction. As for the use of se and sua, the first refers to the subject of the infinitive clause, i.e. the German legions, sua refers to the abl. vi with the emphatic sense of ‘their very own strength’; cf. G. 309, 2. tracturis qualifies legionibus: the use of the future participle as a simple noun modifier (often to express result) is only found in poets and later writers. Cf. A.G. 498.) duo apud ripam Rheni exercitus erant: (duo apud ripam Rheni exercitus erant: the two armies had four legions each: the superior was based at Mainz, the inferior at Cologne. The epithets superior and inferior do not relate to latitude, but to the flow of the Rhine, the inferior being more downstream, though more northerly, than the other. Both armies were there to defend against German invasion the territory along the west side of the Rhine, inhabited by German tribes, which was soon to become the two Roman provinces of Germania superior and Germania inferior.) cui nomen superiori sub C. Silio legato, inferiorem A. Caecina (C. Silio … A. Caecina: Gaius Silius, previously a consul, will receive further mention in Book 3, ch. 42 and in Book 4, ch. 18-19. Aulus Caecina was a veteran soldier who had won honors in Pannonia and Moesia. He reappears later with the cognomen ‘Severus’.) curabat. regimen summae rei penes Germanicum agendo Galliarum censui tum intentum. (regimen summae rei penes Germanicum agendo Galliarum censui tum intentum: Silius and Caecina were legati Augusti propraetore of the two armies and ranked second to Germanicus who had proconsulare imperium over them and the Gallic provinces. The prep. penes takes the acc. and is often placed after the noun. agendo …censui …intentum: ‘intent upon the census to be levied’; census is the assessment of property on which to base the tribute.) sed quibus Silius moderabatur, (quibus Silius moderabatur: quibus is dative of indirect object with the intrans. moderor: ‘[the legions] which Silius commanded …’) mente ambigua fortunam seditionis alienae (fortunam seditionis alienae: ‘the outcome of the foreign revolt’, i.e. the revolt in Pannonia) speculabantur: inferioris exercitus miles in rabiem prolapsus est, orto ab unetvicesimanis quintanisque initio, et tractis prima quoque ac vicesima legionibus: (tractis prima quoque ac vicesima legionibus: abl. abs.) nam isdem aestivis in finibus Vbiorum habebantur (isdem aestivis in finibus Vbiorum habebantur: ‘they were given room in the same summer camp among the Ubii’, a German tribe formerly living well east of the Rhine. They were invited by M. Agrippa, son-in-law and friend of Augustus, to settle west of the Rhine in the territory around modern Cologne. Later their main town was made a Roman colony of veterans, named Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) after Agrippina, the granddaughter of Agrippa and mother of the future emperor Nero.) per otium aut levia munia. igitur audito fine Augusti vernacula multitudo, nuper acto in urbe dilectu, (vernacula multitudo, nuper acto in urbe dilectu: the term legiones vernaculae applied to troops who were not Roman citizens, but who received citizenship upon enlistment, in keeping with the principle that legions should consist exclusively of citizens (F. Allen). After the disaster in 9 A.D. in which Varus lost three legions in Germany, troops were hastily levied to fill the void, including large numbers of recruits from the lowest strata of the populace who may not have possessed citizenship, slaves and freedmen among them (vernaculus: ‘native’, ‘home grown’, also said of slaves born in a master’s house). nuper acto in urbe dilectu: abl abs., ‘a levy having been made at Rome not long before’) lasciviae sueta, laborum intolerans, implere ceterorum rudes animos: (implere ceterorum rudes animos: ‘filled the crude minds of the others [with seditious ideas].’ implere is hist. infinitive.) venisse tempus quo veterani maturam missionem, iuvenes largiora stipendia, cuncti modum miseriarum exposcerent saevitiamque centurionum ulciscerentur. non unus haec, ut Pannonicas inter legiones Percennius, nec apud trepidas militum auris, alios validiores exercitus respicientium, (nec apud trepidas militum auris, alios validiores exercitus respicientium: ‘nor was it in the ears of timorous soldiers looking behind them for the support of other and more powerful armies, …’) sed multa seditionis ora vocesque: sua in manu sitam rem Romanam, (rem Romanam: ‘the destiny of Rome’) suis victoriis augeri rem publicam, in suum cognomentum adscisci imperatores. (in suum cognomentum adscisci imperatores: ‘that it was from their own name that army commanders were assigned their titles.’ The verb adscisco or ascisco, here passive infinitive in oratio obliqua, has the peculiar sense of ‘to assume to oneself’, ‘to arrogate (a name, title, rank)’, especially in combination with the reflexive sibi. Nero Claudius Drusus, the brother of emperor Tiberius, was the first to be distinguished by the honorific title of Germanicus for his military exploits in Germany. The title extended to his sons Germanicus, the general, and Claudius, the future emperor. Tiberius himself sometimes bore the name. imperatores stands her for field commanders, not emperors.)