XXXII.
Nec legatus obviam ibat: quippe plurium vaecordia constantiam exemerat.(nec legatus obviam ibat: quippe plurium vaecordia constantiam exemerat: ’the legate did not go and face [the mutineers], the reason being that the frenzy of the most part [of the soldiers] had quite unmanned him’; obviam is adverb, not adj. quippe is here conjunction of causal sense, found regularly with indicative. Note the juxtaposition of vaecordia and constantiam. Caecina’s reaction contrasts sharply with that of Blaesus in ch. 18.) repente lymphati (lymphati: the word, probably influenced by the Greek word nympha, and meaning ‘deranged’, evocative of Bacchic frenzy, is based on a popular belief that whoever caught sight of a nymph would go quite mad.) destrictis gladiis in centuriones invadunt: ea vetustissima militaribus odiis materies et saeviendi principium. (odiis materies et saeviendi principium: ‘fuel (or ‘food’) for hatreds and the earliest phase of going on a rampage’; the gerund saeviendi is objective genitive after a noun.) prostratos verberibus mulcant, sexageni singulos, (prostratos verberibus mulcant, sexageni singulos: mulcant is historical present: ‘they beat [the centurions] knocked down to the ground, sixty to one.’ sexageni is distributive numeral, answering to the question ‘how many at a time’: sexageni singulos is ellipsis for sexageni mulcant singulos. There were sixty centurions in a legion, one for each of he sixty centuries.) ut numerum centurionum adaequarent: tum convulsos laniatosque et partim exanimos ante vallum aut in amnem Rhenum proiciunt. Septimius cum perfugisset ad tribunal pedibusque Caecinae advolveretur, eo usque flagitatus est donec ad exitium dederetur. (Septimius cum perfugisset ad tribunal pedibusque Caecinae advolveretur, eo usque flagitatus est donec ad exitium dederetur: temporal cum + subjunctive gives the background circumstances immediately preceding or accompanying the action of the main verb: ‘Septimius, when he had fled to the tribunal and groveled at Caecina’s feet, so obstinately was he demanded that (until) he was abandoned to his fate.’; donec has here the consecutive sense of ut, hence the subjunctive. eo usque or usque eo: ‘to such an extent’) Cassius Chaerea, mox caede Gai Caesaris memoriam apud posteros adeptus, (mox …memoriam apud posteros adeptus]: ‘not much later having won fame with posterity,…’; mox: in reality Caligula’s assassination occurred twenty-seven years later, in 41 A.D., when Chaerea was already an old man; memoriam …adeptus: the perf. participle of the deponent adipiscor has active sense, as does the perf. participle in English.) tum adulescens et animi ferox, (adulescens et animi ferox: apparently Chaerea was already thirty years old at this time, if not older; animi ferox: animi may well be locative, rather than objective genitive, ‘fearless at heart’.) inter obstantis et armatos ferro viam patefecit. non tribunus ultra, non castrorum praefectus ius obtinuit: vigilias, stationes, et si qua alia praesens usus indixerat, (si qua alia praesens usus indixerat: simple real condition expressed by pluperfect indicative; cf. L. 2048 – 2051; qua is for aliqua after si.) ipsi partiebantur. (partiebantur: deponent from partior, though the active partio also exists.) id militaris animos altius coniectantibus praecipuum indicium magni atque inplacabilis motus, quod neque disiecti nec paucorum instinctu, set pariter ardescerent, pariter silerent, (id militaris animos altius coniectantibus praecipuum indicium … [erat], quod … pariter ardescerent, pariter silerent: ‘to those interpreting more deeply the state of mind of soldiers this was the most revealing sign, the fact that …they exploded into fury at the same time and at the same time fell silent, ….’; quod is explanatory (see G. 525) and is followed by subjunctive in that the views of persons other than the writer are presented, essentially a form of oratio obliqua.) tanta aequalitate et constantia ut regi crederes. (tanta aequalitate et constantia ut regi crederes: consecutive sentence with tanta and ut introducing respectively the main and the dependent clause. The verbs of the main clause are the same as those of the preceding quod clause, ardescerent, silerent. Thus: tanta aequalitate et constantia ardescerent, silerent ut regi crederes: ‘they would burst into furor and fall silent with such uniform regularity that you could suppose they were being led.’ aequalitate et constantia is hendiadys; crederes is potential subjunctive with the indefinite second person sing.)