LI.
Nunc initia causasque motus Vitelliani expediam. caeso cum omnibus copiis Iulio Vindice (caeso cum omnibus copiis Iulio Vindice: for Vindex’ rebellion see ch. 6 and 8.) ferox praeda gloriaque exercitus, ut cui sine labore ac periculo ditissimi belli victoria evenisset, (ferox … exercitus, ut cui … victoria evenisset: like sunt qui, ut qui introduces a rel. clause of characteristic with subjunctive, but whereas sunt qui has no antecedent for the rel. pronoun, ut qui has, in this case exercitus; also, ut qui entails a notion of cause: lit. ‘the army, proud because to it a victory had occurred, …’; cf. B. 283, G. 631.) expeditionem et aciem, praemia quam stipendia malebat. diu infructuosam et asperam militiam toleraverant ingenio loci caelique et severitate disciplinae, (asperam … ingenio loci caelique et severitate disciplinae: ablatives of cause, ‘harsh on account of the nature and climate of the country’) quam in pace inexorabilem discordiae civium resolvunt, paratis utrimque (utrimque: ‘on either side of the war’) corruptoribus et perfidia impunita. (paratis … corruptoribus et perfidia impunita: abl. abs., ‘corrupting influences being ready to do their work and treason going unpunished’) viri, arma, equi ad usum et ad decus supererant. sed ante bellum centurias tantum suas turmasque (centurias … turmasque: centuries and turmae, the basic units of infantry and cavalry respectively: each legion had 60 centuries, with 60 -100 men to a century, and 4 turmae, with 30 – 33 men each.) noverant; exercitus finibus provinciarum discernebantur: tum adversus Vindicem contractae legiones, seque et Gallias expertae, quaerere rursus arma novasque discordias; nec socios, ut olim, sed hostis et victos (hostis et victos: hendiadys, ‘defeated enemies’) vocabant. nec deerat pars Galliarum, quae Rhenum accolit, easdem partis secuta (nec deerat pars Galliarum, quae … easdem partis secuta [est]: nec deerat is litotes, that is, something is affirmed by the negative of its contrary: ‘a part of Gaul was not lacking which …’ means ‘there was a part of Gaul which …’. Thus: ‘there was also a part of Gaul which sided with the winning party’; easdem partis is the party just mentioned, namely the army that had beaten Vindex.) ac tum acerrima instigatrix adversum Galbianos; hoc enim nomen fastidito Vindice indiderant. (hoc enim nomen fastidito Vindice indiderant: ‘they had bestowed this name, [Galbians], Vindex being [thereby] derided’; fastidito Vindice is abl. abs. In rising up against Nero, Vindex had offered the empire to Galba, hence the name given to his forces.) igitur Sequanis Aeduisque (Sequanis Aeduisque: dative with infensi in the next line. The Sequani inhabited the area around Besançon or Vesontio in today’s Franche-Comté; the Aedui were SW of the Sequani, between Dijon and Lyon, around the town of Autun.) ac deinde, prout opulentia civitatibus erat, (prout opulentia civitatibus erat: ‘in proportion to the wealth the communities possessed’; civitatibus is dat. of possession. ) infensi expugnationes urbium, populationes agrorum, raptus penatium hauserunt animo, (animo: ‘in their hearts’) super avaritiam et adrogantiam, praecipua validiorum vitia, contumacia Gallorum inritati, qui remissam sibi a Galba quartam tributorum partem et publice donatos in ignominiam exercitus (in ignominiam exercitus: ‘to the dishonor of the army’) iactabant. (publice donatos [esse]… iactabant: ‘they boasted that they officially had been granted donations’; the claim was not without foundation, as we know from ch. 8. ) accessit callide vulgatum, temere creditum, decimari legiones et promptissimum quemque centurionum dimitti. undique atroces nuntii, sinistra ex urbe fama; infensa Lugdunensis colonia et pertinaci pro Nerone fide fecunda rumoribus; (fecunda rumoribus: the adj. is found with abl. or gen.) sed plurima ad fingendum credendumque materies (plurima ad fingendum credendumque materies: ‘abundant material for deceiving and exploiting gullibility’; ad + gerund, one of the many ways to express purpose.) in ipsis castris, odio metu et, ubi viris suas respexerant, (ubi … respexerant: ubi requires pluperfect indicative, for action completed before the time of the main clause.) securitate.