XXXVI.
Haud dubiae iam in castris omnium mentes tantusque ardor ut non contenti agmine et corporibus in suggestu, in quo paulo ante aurea Galbae statua fuerat, medium inter signa Othonem vexillis circumdarent. (haud dubiae …omnium mentes tantusque ardor [erat] ut non contenti agmine et corporibus in suggestu,…Othonem vexillis circumdarent: lit. ‘everyone’s mind was made up and such was the enthusiasm that, not content with crowding [around Otho] and [protecting him] with their bodies, [the soldiers} surrounded him on the platform with their banners’; tantus …ut introduces the two parts of a consecutive sentence, tantus the main clause and ut the dependent clause, the latter requiring subjunctive.) nec tribunis aut centurionibus adeundi locus: (adeundi locus: ‘no opportunity of approaching [the platform]’; locus is here with gen. rather than dat.; adeundi is gen. gerund.) gregarius miles caveri insuper praepositos iubebat. (miles caveri … praepositos iubebat: for use of passive infinitive with iubeo cf. note for appellari singulos iussit, ch. 20.) strepere cuncta (strepere cuncta: ‘the whole place was filled with noise’; strepere, like the following prensare, conlocare, praeire, commendare, adorare, iacere, is infinitive of narration, also called historical infinitive; it is used for dramatic effect in place of imperfect indicative.) clamoribus et tumultu et exhortatione mutua, non tamquam in populo ac plebe, variis segni adulatione vocibus, sed ut quemque adfluentium militum aspexerant, prensare manibus, complecti armis, (complecti armis: the perf. participle of a deponent verb has active sense, ‘having embraced’) conlocare iuxta, praeire sacramentum, modo imperatorem militibus, modo milites imperatori commendare, nec deerat Otho protendens manus adorare vulgum, iacere oscula et omnia serviliter pro dominatione. (pro dominatione: ‘for the sake of’ or ‘in return for absolute power’) postquam universa classicorum legio sacramentum eius accepit, fidens viribus, et quos adhuc singulos extimulaverat, accendendos in commune ratus (accendendos [esse] in commune ratus: ratus, being deponent, has active sense, ‘deciding they should be roused all together’) pro vallo castorum ita coepit