XLIX.
Diversa omnium, quae umquam accidere, civilium armorum facies. (diversa omnium, quae umquam accidere, civilium armorum facies: diversus followed by genitive has the sense of ‘the reverse of’, ‘the opposite of’: ‘the scene was the contrary of every civil conflict that ever occurred.’ accidere is hist. infinitive) non proelio, non adversis e castris, sed isdem e cubilibus, quos simul vescentis dies, simul quietos nox habuerat, discedunt in partis, ingerunt tela clamor vulnera sanguis palam, causa in occulto; cetera fors regit. et quidam bonorum caesi, postquam intellecto in quos saeviretur pessimi quoque arma rapuerant. (postquam intellecto in quos saeviretur pessimi quoque arma rapuerant: intellecto is abl. abs. introducing an indirect question with subjunctive: lit. ‘after the mutineers had also seized weapons, having been understood against whom the rage was being vented.’) neque legatus aut tribunus moderator adfuit: permissa vulgo licentia atque ultio et satietas. mox ingressus castra Germanicus, non medicinam illud plurimis cum lacrimis (plurimis cum lacrimis: abl. of manner: when an adjective accompanies the noun, cum may be used, but only if interposed.) sed cladem appellans, (non medicinam illud … sed cladem appellans: illud is emphtic: ‘calling that bloody purge not a remedy, but a massacre’) cremari corpora iubet. Truces etiam tum animos cupido involat eundi in hostem, piaculum furoris; (truces etiam tum animos cupido involat eundi in hostem, piaculum furoris: ‘the urge to march against the enemy, the expiatory victim of their fury, seized on the spirits of the soldiers, even then (etiam tum) thirsting for blood.’ piaculum is apposition of hostem, thus in the same case; eundi is objective genitive gerund after nouns of feelings, such as cupido, desiderium, metus, and others.) nec aliter posse placari commilitonum manis quam si pectoribus impiis honesta vulnera accepissent. (nec aliter posse placari commilitonum manis quam si pectoribus impiis honesta vulnera accepissent: ‘not otherwise could the shades of their comrades be placated than if they would have received legitimate wounds in their polluted breasts’: conditional sentence of comparison in oratio obliqua, in that it reflects the thoughts of the soldiers; the correlatives non (haud) aliter and quam si introduce the main and dependent clause respectively; the first is infinitive, as required by the rules governing indir. speech, the latter with plup. subjunctive, this tense and the imperfect being quite regularly found after quam si, since the condition is expressly contrary to fact.) sequitur ardorem militum Caesar iunctoque ponte (iunctoque ponte: abl. abs. or instrumental ablative: ‘by building a bridge of boats yoked together one after the other across the river until the opposite bank was reached’) tramittit duodecim milia e legionibus, sex et viginti socias cohortis, octo equitum alas, (octo equitum alas: an ala was either about 500 or 1000 men divided into 16 or 32 turmae (‘troops’) of 30-32 men each; ala is generally translated as ‘squadron’, but a squadron, at least in modern terminology, consists of two or in any case only a few troops or turmae. Given the large body of men in an ala, it would seem more appropriate to translate the term as ‘regiment’, bringing it in line with today’s military practice.) quarum ea seditione intemerata modestia fuit.