XX.
Eodem anno Tacfarinas, quem priore aestate pulsum (priore aestate pulsum: actually, the victory over Tacfarinas had occurred three years earlier, in 17 A.D. (cf. Bok 2, ch. 52). Probably priore aestate does not mean the ‘the summer before’, but ‘in a previous summer’.) a Camillo memoravi, bellum in Africa renovat, vagis primum populationibus et ob pernicitatem inultis, dein vicos excindere, trahere gravis praedas; (vicos excindere, trahere gravis praedas: excindere or exscindere and trahere are historical infinitives, a construction much favored by Tacitus and Sallust: ‘he took to destroying villages and drawing off huge quantities of plunder.’) postremo haud procul Pagyda flumine (Pagyda flumine: the river has not been identified.) cohortem Romanam circumsedit. praeerat castello Decrius impiger manu, exercitus militia et illam obsidionem flagitii ratus. (illam obsidionem flagitii [esse] ratus: ‘believing that the siege was a disgrace’: flagitii is most probably partitive genitive: ‘[a form] of disgrace’; cf. cedere loco …consilii quam formidinis arbitrantur, Germania, ch. 6.) is cohortatus milites, ut copiam pugnae in aperto faceret (ut copiam pugnae in aperto faceret: ‘in order to offer battle in the open’, i.e. outside the fortifications; copiam pugnae dare or facere is idiom, ‘to give the enemy the option of fighting it out’) aciem pro castris instruit. primoque impetu pulsa cohorte promptus inter tela occursat fugientibus, increpat signiferos quod inconditis aut desertoribus miles Romanus terga daret; (quod inconditis aut desertoribus miles Romanus terga daret: causal quod is followed by subjunctive whenever the reason is presumed by someone, not officially assigned by the speaker or writer; cf. A.G. 540 and 592, 3.: ‘because Roman soldiers were turning their back to undisciplined deserters’; inconditis: ‘disorderly’, ‘not properly trained’; desertoribus: many, including Tacfarinas, were deserters from Roman service.) simul exceptat vulnera et quamquam transfosso oculo adversum os in hostem intendit (simul exceptat vulnera et quamquam transfosso oculo adversum os in hostem intendit: lit. ‘meanwhile he continued to take wounds, and yet, though his eye being pierced through, he kept facing the enemy.’ et is here with some adversative force, as that of a mild sed (Oxford Lat. Diction). exceptat is historical present, as are others in the chapter. quamquam transfosso oculo is abl. abs. The combination of quamquam with a participle, rare in classical Latin, became common later. Cf. G. 609, N. 1.) neque proelium omisit donec desertus suis caderet. (donec desertus suis caderet: donec in Tacitus is most often with subjunctive; suis is dat. of agent with the passive desertus, in place of a suis, abl. of agent.)