XIX.
Haut perinde Germanos vulnera, luctus, excidia quam ea species dolore et ira adfecit. (haut perinde Germanos vulnera, luctus, excidia quam ea species dolore et ira adfecit: adfecit agrees in number with the nearest subject, ea species, rather than with the plural vulnera, luctus, excidia: lit. ‘the wounds, the grieving, the indiscriminate killing did not affect the Germans with pain and anger as much as (haud perinde … quam) that display.’ ea species refers to the trophy erected by the Roman troops. dolore et ira is abl. of cause or instrument.) qui modo abire sedibus, trans Albim concedere parabant, pugnam volunt, arma rapiunt; plebes primores, inventus senes (plebes primores, inventus senes: note the absence of the comma within each antithetical pair of nouns (asyndeton): the desire for revenge drives all to arms, without distinction of class or age.) agmen Romanum repente incursant, turbant. postremo deligunt locum flumine et silvis clausum, (deligunt locum flumine et silvis clausum: ‘they choose a place closed by the river and the forests.’ Germanicus and the army had probably marched forward to another river east of the Weser, like the Aller or the Leine. deligunt is historical present, as are several other main verbs in this and other chapters. In Tacitus the narrative weaves out of past tense into present, and vice versa, with remarkable abandon.) arta intus planitie et umida: (arta intus planitie et umida: abl. abs.: ‘an open space being inside, narrow and sodden’) silvas quoque profunda palus ambibat nisi quod latus unum Angrivarii lato aggere extulerant quo a Cheruscis dirimerentur. (silvas … palus ambibat nisi quod latus unum Angrivarii lato aggere extulerant quo a Cheruscis dirimerentur: ‘a swamp encircled the forests, except that the Angrivarii had raised one side with an extensive earthwork in order to be separated from the Cherusci.’ The Angrivarii were located north of the Cherusci, in the district around Hannover. The locution nisi quod has none of the conditional force of nisi and has instead a purely restrictive sense, ‘except (the fact) that’, ‘only that’; the best example, by which to remember it, is the quip nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat, ‘he has no faults, except that he has no faults’ (cf. L. 1848). quo …dirimentur: quo (‘that thereby’) regularly replaces final ut in the presence of a comparative, but is found occasionally with clauses that have no comparative.) hic pedes adstitit: equitem propinquis lucis texere ut ingressis silvam legionibus a tergo foret. (equitem propinquis lucis texere ut ingressis silvam legionibus a tergo foret: the subject of texere or texerunt is ‘they’, i.e., the Germans: ‘they hid their cavalry in the nearby groves, so as to be at the back of the legions after they entered the wooded area.’ propinquis lucis: abl. of place where, normally with in, except in poetry; a tergo: lit. ‘from behind’; ingressis silvam legionibus is dat. of reference, also called Dative of Advantage or Disadvantage (dativus commodi aut incommodi); thus, the lit. meaning is: ‘so as to be in the rear for the disadvantage of the legions having entered the woods’. Cf. A. G. 376, 377.)