III
Fuisse apud eos et (et: here in place of quoque or etiam) Herculem memorant, primumque omnium virorum fortium ituri (ituri: active future participle as verbal adj. for action closely following that of the main verb) in proelia canunt. Sunt illis haec quoque carmina, (haec quoque carmina: haec points to a special kind of songs, apart from others) quorum relatu, quem baritum vocant, (quorum relatu, quem baritum vocant: ‘by the special performance of which they call baritus; baritus, or barritus, or even barditus properly refers to the trumpeting call of the elephant.) accendunt animos, futuraeque pugnae fortunam ipso cantu augurantur: terrent enim trepidantve, prout sonuit acies. (prout sonuit acies: ‘according to the manner their line has sung the song, …’: an unusual example of the predicative powers of war songs occurs in the Historiae, Book 4, ch. 18 (virorum cantu …sonuit acies). To the hearty and confident shout of Civilis’ German forces the opposing Romans make a more feeble answer and in the subsequent battle are, on the whole, worsted.) Nec tam voces illae, quam virtutis concentus videntur. (nec tam voces illae, quam virtutis concentus videntur: ‘they do not seem mere sound those shouts as much as the concord of valor’; the sentence is comparative with tam introducing the main clause and quam the subordinate clause.) Affectatur praecipue asperitas soni et fractum murmur, objectis ad os scutis, quo plenior et gravior vox repercussu intumescat. (quo plenior et gravior vox repercussu intumescat: quo replaces ut in final clauses when followed by comparative.) Ceterum (ceterum: Tacitus uses the word here as a connective adverb to mark a return to the subject of mythical heroes begun with Hercules. English has no exact equivalent in this respect, so the translator either finds a suitable approximation for ceterum or ignores it.) et Ulixem quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errore in hunc Occanum delatum, adisse Germaniae terras, Asciburgiumque, (Asciburgium: probably Essenburg near Duisburg or Asburg near Moers) quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ab illo constitutum nominatumque. Aram quin etiam (quin etiam: ‘and furthermore’) Ulixi consecratam, (Ulixi consecratam: Ulixi may be dative of agent found used with the perfect participle and tenses formed with it, in place of a or ab + abl.: ‘consecrated by Ulysses’ ) adjecto Laertae patris nomine, eodem loco olim repertam, monumentaque et tumulos (monumentaque et tumulos: viewed by some as hendiadys, where monumenta can be anything that preserves the memory of someone, such as inscriptions on tombs, hence ‘tumulii’ or ‘barrows with inscriptions’) quosdam Graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Rhaetiaeque adhuc exstare: quae neque confirmare argumentis, neque refellere in animo est: ex ingenio suo quisque demat, vel addat fidem. (demat … addat: hortatory subjunctives)