LII.
Sub ipsas superioris anni (superioris anni: 68 AD) kalendas Decembris Aulus Vitellius inferiorem Germaniam (inferiorem Germaniam: cf. ch. 7.) ingressus hiberna legionum cum cura adierat: (cum cura adierat: ‘had visited with care’; cum cura is abl. of manner.) redditi plerisque ordines, (redditi plerisque ordines: ‘rank was restored to many’) remissa ignominia, adlevatae notae; (adlevatae notae: adlevare may mean both ‘to alleviate’ and ‘to cancel’; notae are the penalties for various faults, such as corporal punishment, monetary fines, transfer to less prestigious units, loss of rank, dishonorable discharge, etc. In Galba’s eyes the fault these troops had committed was defeating Vindex, who had backed his claim to the throne. This was disloyalty to the new emperor, a serious charge; the decimatio mentioned in the preceding chapter may well have appeared a real possibility to the disgraced soldiers.) plura ambitione, quaedam iudicio, in quibus sordis et avaritiam Fontei Capitonis (Fontei Capitonis: cf. ch. 7.) adimendis adsignandisve militiae ordinibus integre mutaverat. (plura ambitione, quaedam iudicio, in quibus sordis et avaritiam Fontei Capitonis adimendis adsignandisve militiae ordinibus integre mutaverat: ‘most things [he did] out of self aggrandizement, some out of fairness, among which he had put an end to F. Capito’s mean practices in taking away or awarding military rank’; sordes and avaritiam form endiadys, ‘stinginess’ and ‘graspingness’; the gerundives adimendis adsignandisve …ordinibus show the use of dat. gerundive to express purpose, lit. ‘for ranks to be removed or assigned’) nec consularis legati mensura sed in maius omnia accipiebantur. (nec consularis legati mensura sed in maius omnia accipiebantur: ‘all was taken for more than it was, not just the purview of a consular legate’) et [ut] Vitellius apud severos humilis, ita comitatem bonitatemque faventes vocabant, quod sine modo, sine iudicio donaret sua, largiretur aliena; simul (simul: here perhaps with the sense of ‘besides’) aviditate imperitandi ipsa vitia pro virtutibus interpretabantur. (aviditate imperitandi ipsa vitia pro virtutibus interpretabantur: aviditate imperitandi may refer to Vitellius himself, ‘his very vices, [stemming] from hunger of being in control, were taken for virtues’.) multi in utroque exercitu (in utroque exercitu: that is, the armies of Upper and Lower Germany) sicut modesti quietique ita mali et strenui. (sicut … ita: introduce a comparative sentence: ‘just as there were …so also there were …’; the verb is understood.) sed profusa cupidine et insigni temeritate legati legionum Alienus Caecina et Fabius Valens; (Caecina … Valens: Caecina was in command of a legion at Vindonissa in Upper Germany, Valens in command of a legion at Bonn in Lower Germany.) e quibus Valens infensus Galbae, tamquam (tamquam: for Tacitus’ use of tamquam cf. note in ch. 48 .) detectam a se Verginii cunctationem, (Verginii cunctationem: for Verginius Rufus see ch. 8 and 9.) oppressa Capitonis consilia (Capitonis consilia: see ch. 7.) ingrate tulisset, instigare (instigare: hist. infinitive) Vitellium, ardorem militum ostentans: ipsum celebri ubique fama, (ipsum celebri ubique fama: in indirect discourse like the remainder of the period: ‘[Valens said] that he [Vitellius] himself enjoyed an excellent reputation everywhere’; an implied infinitive like frui or uti, which requires abl., explains celebri …fama.) nullam in Flacco Hordeonio (Flacco Hordeonio: Hordeonius Flaccus became governor of Upper Germany after the removal of Verginius Rufus; see ch. 8 at the end and ch. 9 at the outset.) moram; adfore Britanniam, secutura Germanorum auxilia: male fidas provincias, precarium seni imperium et brevi transiturum: panderet modo sinum et venienti Fortunae occurreret. (panderet modo sinum et venienti Fortunae occurreret: sinus is a fold in a garment, but can also be metonymy for ‘embrace’, ‘open arms’, etc.; panderet …occurreret: hortatory subjunctives in indir. discourse, ‘let him open his arms to …let him welcome Fortune coming to meet him’; the two subjunctives correspond to the imperatives pande and occurre of direct speech.) merito dubitasse Verginium equestri familia, ignoto patre, imparem si recepisset imperium, tutum si recusasset: Vitellio tris patris consulatus, censuram, collegium Caesaris (collegium Caesaris: ‘the colleagueship of the emperor’, in this case Claudius) et imponere iam pridem imperatoris dignationem et (et … et: ‘not only …but also’) auferre privati securitatem. quatiebatur his segne ingenium ut concupisceret magis quam ut speraret.