XXXIV.
Sed Germanicus quanto summae spei propior, tanto impensius pro Tiberio niti. (Germanicus quanto summae spei propior, tanto impensius pro Tiberio niti: comparative sentence with tanto … quanto: ‘the closer Germanicus [was] to the supreme hope, the more unstintingly he strove on behalf of Tiberius.’ niti is historical infinitive.) Seque et proximos et Belgarum civitates (seque et: the original text has only seque: et was added so as to have -que join the new sentence with the preceding one ending with niti and the added et join se with proximos. Others instead change seque to Sequanos to have Sequanos proximos et Belgarum civitates …) in verba eius adigit. dehinc audito legionum tumultu raptim profectus obvias extra castra habuit, deiectis in terram oculis velut paenitentia. postquam vallum iniit dissoni questus audiri coepere. (postquam vallum iniit dissoni questus audiri coepere: ‘after he entered the rampart, confused plaints began to be heard.’ postquam, unlike its opposite antequam, is regularly with the indicative; the active forms of coepi are rarely found with a passive infinitive, except in poets and Livy (Furneaux): normally, the passive of coepi is used, in this case questus audiri coepti sunt.) et quidam prensa manu eius per speciem exosculandi inseruerunt digitos ut vacua dentibus ora contingeret; (quidam prensa manu eius per speciem exosculandi inseruerunt digitos ut vacua dentibus ora contingeret: lit. ‘some of the soldiers, his hand having been taken with the pretext of kissing it, inserted the fingers, so he would feel their mouths empty of teeth.’ exosculandi is objective gen. gerund after a noun; dentibus is abl. of specification, ‘empty in respect of teeth’) alii curvata senio membra ostendebant. adsistentem contionem, quia permixta videbatur, discedere in manipulos I ubet: sic melius audituros responsum; (discedere in manipulos iubet: sic melius audituros responsum: ‘he orders them to divide into maniples: it was answered they would hear him better the way they were.’ If responsum is taken to be a noun, it would mean ‘[they said] the way they were they would hear his reply better.’) vexilla praeferri ut id saltem discerneret cohortis: (vexilla praeferri ut id saltem discerneret cohortis: the main verb is still iubet, but the construction is changed, since here the infinitive clause has a subject, vexilla: in such cases the infinitive verb is turned to passive, in this case praeferri: ‘[he ordered] the standards to be brought forward, so as something (id) should at least distinguish the cohorts.’ Germanicus’ intent was to establish some modicum of order and thereby induce the troops to act less as a disordered mob and more like soldiers.) tarde obtemperavere. tunc a veneratione Augusti orsus flexit ad victorias triumphosque Tiberii, praecipuis laudibus celebrans quae apud Germanias illis cum legionibus pulcherrima fecisset. (celebrans quae apud Germanias illis cum legionibus pulcherrima fecisset: Tiberius had conducted a number of campaigns in Germany, the first in 9 B.C., the last in 9 – 11 A.D., after the loss of three legions by Varus.) Italiae inde consensum, Galliarum fidem extollit; nil usquam turbidum aut discors. (nil usquam turbidum aut discors: supply esse: ‘and that nothing anywhere in the empire was turbulent or discordant’; discors is neuter acc. in oratio obliqua just as turbidum is.) silentio haec vel murmure modico audita sunt.