XLI.
Viso comminus (comminus: ‘not far away’) armatorum agmine vexillarius comitatae Galbam cohortis (Atilium Vergilionem fuisse tradunt) dereptam Galbae imaginem solo adflixit: eo signo manifesta in Othonem omnium militum studia, (eo signo manifesta in Othonem omnium militum studia: ‘with that signal the preference of all the soldiers for Otho became manifest.’) desertum fuga populi forum, destricta adversus dubitantis tela. iuxta Curtii lacum (Curtii lacum: a small temple in the center of the Forum where once was a small pond named after a certain Curtius, a Sabine, who risked drowning in it during a scuffle with the Romans.) trepidatione ferentium Galba proiectus e sella ac provolutus est. extremam eius vocem, ut cuique odium aut admiratio fuit, (ut cuique odium aut admiratio fuit: lit. ‘to the extent that hatred or admiration was to each [teller]’, or ‘in proportion to the hate or admiration each [teller] felt [for Galba]; cuique is dat. of possessor with fuit.) varie prodidere. (prodidere: the grammatical subject is either an impersonal ‘they’ or alii …plures in the next sentence.) alii suppliciter interrogasse quid mali meruisset, (quid mali meruisset: ‘what misdeed had earned him [such treatment]?’; in direct discourse the same question would be quid mali merueram?; mali is partitive genitive after the neuter quid.) paucos dies exolvendo donativo (exolvendo donativo: dative of purpose, ‘for the donative to be paid’) deprecatum: plures obtulisse ultro percussoribus iugulum: agerent ac ferirent, (agerent ac ferirent: imperative in indirect discourse; corresponds to agite ac ferite of direct speech; cf. A.G. 588.) si ita [e] re publica videretur. (si ita [e] re publica videretur: ita here stands for the pronoun ‘it’, like ‘so’ may do in English, ‘if so appeared [to be] in the interest of the state’; the prep. e or ex can have the value of ‘in accordance with’, ‘in favor of’.) non interfuit occidentium quid diceret. (non interfuit occidentium quid diceret: when used impersonally, intersum takes gen. of the person: ‘it made no difference to the assassins what he might say’; diceret is potential subjunctive.) de percussore non satis constat: quidam Terentium evocatum, (evocatum: a soldier who, having completed the required number of years of military service, chooses to remain in the army and becomes the recipient of many special privileges and dispensations) alii Laecanium; crebrior fama tradidit Camurium quintae decimae legionis militem impresso gladio iugulum eius hausisse. (impresso gladio iugulum eius hausisse: ‘that he had gouged his throat, the sword being driven in’) ceteri crura brachiaque (nam pectus tegebatur) foede laniavere; pleraque vulnera feritate et saevitia (feritate et saevitia: ‘with bestiality and cruelty’, hendiadys) trunco iam corpori adiecta. (trunco iam corpori adiecta: adiecta refers to vulnera, ‘aimed at the already headless body’.)