LI.
Interea barbari catervis decurrentes (barbari catervis decurrentes: ‘the natives rushing down in droves’) nunc in vallum manualia saxa, praeustas sudes, decisa robora (manualia saxa, praeustas sudes, decisa robora: ‘stones that can be thrown by hand (as opposed to large stones hurled by catapults), stakes with pointed ends hardened by fire, sturdy branches lopped from oaks’) iacere, nunc virgultis et cratibus et corporibus exanimis complere fossas, quidam pontis et scalas ante fabricati inferre propugnaculis eaque prensare, detrahere et adversum resistentis comminus niti. (quidam pontis et scalas ante fabricati inferre propugnaculis eaque prensare, detrahere et adversum resistentis comminus niti: ’some brought gangboards and ladders, readied in advance, to the defence works (the lorica mentioned in ch. 49), straining (niti) to reach them and tear them down, [engaging] the defenders a close quarters.’ inferre, prensare, detrahere are historical infinitives; there are more in the rest of the chapter.) miles contra deturbare telis, pellere umbonibus, muralia pila, congestas lapidum molis provolvere. (miles contra deturbare telis, pellere umbonibus, muralia pila, congestas lapidum molis provolvere: ‘our soldiers, on their side, drove them off using missiles, forced them back with their shields, [hurled] at them siege javelins, and rolled down on them whole piles of heavy stones.’ umbonibus: ‘with the bosses of the shields’; muralia pila, congestas lapidum molis provolvere: muralia pila are javelins with longer and stronger shafts than the regular infantry weapon; here used with provolvere by zeugma, since the verb applies correctly only to molis; a separate verb must be used in translation; congestas lapidum molis: ‘great quantities of stones brought together’) his partae victoriae spes et si cedant insignitius flagitium, (his partae victoriae spes et si cedant insignitius flagitium: the main verb is the phrase addunt animos below: ‘for the Romans (his) the hopes of the success already gained (partae victoriae) were an added incentive (addunt animos), and, if they gave way, a more inexcusable disgrace.’ si cedant: potential condition with subjunctive; cedant is repraesentatio (cf. A.G. 469, N. and 585, b., N.) for cederent, since the clause is in virtual oratio obliqua, revealing what goes on in the soldiers’ minds.) illis extrema iam salus et adsistentes plerisque matres et coniuges earumque lamenta addunt animos. (illis extrema iam salus et adsistentes plerisque matres et coniuges earumque lamenta addunt animos: ‘to the Thracians (illis), the fact of this being by now (iam) their last hope of liberty, and for many of them the presence of mothers and spouses and their cries, added courage [to fight]. addunt is historical present, whose function is to add vividness to the narrative by bringing the action closer to the reader.) nox aliis in audaciam, aliis ad formidinem opportuna; incerti ictus, vulnera improvisa; suorum atque hostium ignoratio et montis anfractu repercussae velut a tergo voces adeo cuncta miscuerant ut quaedam munimenta Romani quasi perrupta omiserint. (suorum atque hostium ignoratio et montis anfractu repercussae velut a tergo voces adeo cuncta miscuerant ut quaedam munimenta Romani quasi perrupta omiserint: ‘the impossibility of knowing (ignoratio) friends from foes and the shouting (voces) reverberated as if from their rear by the tortuous mountain valleys so confused everything, that it seemed that the Romans had abandoned some part of their lines, broken trough [by the enemy].’ ut quasi perrupta… omiserint: consecutive clause anticipated in the main clause by adeo; the subjunctive tense in consecutive clauses is independent of the sequence of tenses; instead the tendency is to conserve the tense the clause would have if it were independent: here, omiserint reflects the perfect indicative used if the clause was not subordinate. Cf. A.G. 485, c. and Note 2. quasi, ‘as if’, normally a conditional conjunction, is here semi-adverbial modifying a perfect participle, a post-classical usage.) neque tamen pervasere hostes nisi admodum pauci: (nisi admodum pauci: ‘but only relatively few’; nisi without verb has often the meaning of ‘save only’, ‘but only’) ceteros, deiecto promptissimo quoque aut saucio, (deiecto promptissimo quoque aut saucio: abl. abs.: ‘all the most courageous men having been repulsed or wounded’; for the use of quisque + superlative see B. 252, 5c.) adpetente iam luce (adpetente iam luce: abl. abs. rather than abl. of time when: ‘dawn now approaching’) trusere in summa castelli ubi tandem coacta deditio. (ceteros … trusere in summa castelli ubi tandem coacta [est] deditio: ’they pushed back those remaining to the very top of their fortified position [in the mountains], where finally surrender was imposed [on them]. Temporal ubi is mostly followed by perfect indicative in historical narrative.) et proxima sponte incolarum recepta: (proxima sponte incolarum recepta: deditio from the previous line is left understood to avoid repetition: ‘surrender was accepted by the will of the neighboring inhabitants.’ sponte is not adverb but the abl. of manner or means of spons, –ntis.) reliquis quo minus vi aut obsidio subigerentur praematura montis Haemi et saeva hiems subvenit. (reliquis quo minus vi aut obsidio subigerentur praematura montis Haemi et saeva hiems subvenit: lit. ‘to the remaining rebels, the premature and bitter winter of the Haemus mountains brought relief (subvenit) from being subjected to assault or blockade. montis Haemi: the Rhodope mountains in southern Bulgaria and northern Thrace; quo minus vi aut obsidio subigerentur: ‘quominus introduces a relative clause of purpose of negative sense after verbs of hindering, preventing, and others. Lit. ‘that thereby the less they should be subjected to violent attack or a siege’. Cf. G. 549. vi and obsidio are dat. with subigo.)