L.
Laeti neque procul Germani agitabant, dum iustitio ob amissum Augustum, (iustitio ob amissum Augustum: lit. ’cessation of activities in view of Augustus having been lost’) post discordiis attinemur. (dum … attinemur: dum, ‘while’, for action concomitant with that of the main verb, is normally with present indicative: ‘while we were held back’) at Romanus agmine propero silvam Caesiam limitemque a Tiberio coeptum scindit, (Romanus … silvam Caesiam limitemque a Tiberio coeptum scindit: the singular Romanus may apply equally well to Germanicus or to an implied exercitus: ‘Germanicus cut through the Caesian forest and [crossed] the fortified line begun by Tiberius.’ Topography is not one of Tacitus’ strong points, possibly because his own sources were just as vague. No other mention can be found of a Caesian forest or of a fortified line laid down by Tiberius. After Varus’ defeat in 9 A.D., Tiberius was sent to take command of the forces in this region and he must have decided to bolster the eastern boundary of the strip of land along the east side of the Rhine which the Romans claimed as their territory. The limes took the form of a roadway of considerable width (enough to accommodate a Roman camp (as we are told next) to serve as a dividing line where no natural barriers existed, such as rivers and mountains. It would have ditches, protective walls on both sides made of earth, masonry, or timber, and be furnished with dugouts and towers. The longest of them all was the Limes Germanicus, constructed under Domitian and extending from Mainz to Regensburg to join the Rhine with the Danube. Other examples are the Hadrian and Antonine walls in Britain. scindit is hist. present as are other verbs in the chapter; it is viewed by many as zeugma in that it properly applies only to limitem, but less well to silvam.) castra in limite locat, frontem ac tergum vallo, latera concaedibus munitus. (frontem ac tergum vallo, latera concaedibus munitus: frontem, tergum, and latera are accusatives of respect, also known as Greek accusatives, with munitus (cf. G. 338): ‘defended by a rampart, as to its front and rear, and by barricades of felled trees as to the sides’.) inde saltus obscuros permeat (saltus obscuros permeat: saltus may be a pass or defile in mountainous terrain or a woodland region broken by clearings; obscurus can mean ‘dark, gloomy’ or ‘little known, unfrequented’: again, there is no sure way of knowing what and where these saltus obscuri were. The general view is that the Roman army crossed the Rhine at Xanten near its confluence with the Lippe, then marched eastward along the south side of the Lippe, past the limes, and, at some point, turned south towards the Ruhr and the territory of the Marsi. Thus, the area in question must have been somewhere between the limes and the Marsi and cannot be identified with the Caesian forest as some have suggested.) consultatque ex duobus itineribus breve et solitum sequatur an inpeditius et intemptatum eoque hostibus incautum. (consultat ex duobus itineribus breve et solitum sequatur an inpeditius et intemptatum eoque hostibus incautum: consultat introduces an alternative indirect question with the interrogative particle omitted in the first part and an heading the second part of the question, a construction very frequent in Tacitus: ‘he pondered whether of two routes he should follow the short and habitual one or the more difficult and unused, for that reason less guarded by the enemy.’ sequatur is deliberative subjunctive in that the speaker direct the question to himself (cf. A.G. 443); incautum: in + cautum from caveo; Tacitus uses the word not as an adjective, but as the passive perfect participle of an imaginary incaveo and even assigns a dative of agent, hostibus, to it.) delecta longiore via cetera adcelerantur: (cetera adcelerantur: cetera refers to anything that pertains to the march itself, i.e. the activity they were engaged in before the halt at the fork in the way.) etenim attulerant exploratores festam eam Germanis noctem ac sollemnibus epulis ludicram. Caecina cum expeditis cohortibus praeire et obstantia silvarum amoliri iubetur: (Caecina … obstantia silvarum amoliri iubetur: lit. ‘Caecina was given orders that the obstacles of the forest be removed.’ obstantia silvarum: Tacitus has real fondness for partitive genitives after the neuter singular or plural of adjectives used as nouns. They add a distinctly poetic touch to his prose.) legiones modico intervallo sequuntur. iuvit nox sideribus inlustris, ventumque ad vicos Marsorum et circumdatae stationes (ventum [est] ad vicos Marsorum et circumdatae [sunt] stationes stratis etiam tum per …: ventum [est] is impersonal use of the passive of intransitive verbs: ‘it was come to the hamlets of the Marsi and detachments of troops were placed all around [the Germans] , even then stretched out on ….’ stationes and stratis are respectively subject and dative of the indirect object of circumdatae [sunt]. The Marsi were located south of the river Lippe and above the Chatti.) stratis etiam tum per cubilia propterque mensas, (propter mensas: propter is here preposition governing the accusative.) nullo metu, non antepositi vigiliis: adeo cuncta incuria disiecta erant neque belli timor, ac ne pax quidem (ac ne pax quidem: because of the noise, laughter, and confusion that go with night revels.) nisi languida et soluta inter temulentos.