LXX.
Caecina paucos in Helvetiis moratus dies (paucos … dies: acc. of time duration) dum sententiae Vitellii certior fieret, (dum … certior fieret: dum , with the meaning of ‘until’ like donec , requires subjunctive when the action is prospective rather than present or past.) simul transitum Alpium parans, laetum ex Italia nuntium accipit alam Silianam (alam Silianam: cf. note for ala Taurina, ch. 59; the same applies to ala Petriana further down in this chapter.) circa Padum agentem sacramento Vitellii accessisset. pro consule Vitellium Siliani in Africa (in Africa: for Africa cf. note in ch. 7) habuerant; mox a Nerone, ut in Aegyptum praemitterentur, exciti et ob bellum Vindicis revocati ac tum in Italia manentes, instinctu decurionum, (instinctu decurionum: ‘on instigation of the decurions’: a decurio commanded a decuria, the smallest unit of cavalry with 10 men; cf. note near the end of ch. 54.) qui Othonis ignari, Vitellio obstricti robur adventantium legionum et famam Germanici exercitus attollebant, transiere in partis et ut donum aliquod (ut donum aliquod: ‘as some sort of gift’) novo principi firmissima transpadanae regionis municipia, Mediolanum ac Novariam et Eporediam et Vercellas, (Mediolanum ac Novariam et Eporediam et Vercellas: respectively Milan, Novara, Ivrea, Vercelli, all located north of the river Po.) adiunxere. id Caecinae per ipsos compertum. et quia praesidio alae unius latissima Italiae pars defendi nequibat, praemissis Gallorum Lusitanorumque et Britannorum cohortibus et Germanorum vexillis (Germanorum vexillis: vexillum is here synonymous with cavalry unit; see note bolow for subsignanum militem.) cum ala Petriana, (cum ala Petriana: ‘ with Petra’s cavalry regiment’, Petra being probably the man who had originally formed the unit) ipse paulum cunctatus est num Raeticis iugis in Noricum (in Noricum: a Roman province limited by Raetia to the west, Pannonia to the east, the Danube to the north and the Alps to the south; it was considered a province of minor importance and was governed by a procurator, not by a proconsul.) flecteret (num … flecteret: here num introduces an indirect question requiring subjunctive; use of the particle in place of –ne or nonne suggests a negative answer, but only in direct speech.) adversus Petronium Vrbicum procuratorem, qui concitis auxiliis et interruptis fluminum pontibus fidus Othoni putabatur. sed metu ne amitteret (metu ne amitteret: ne introduces a neg. final clause after verbs, or other words, of fearing: ‘out of fear that he would miss…’) praemissas iam cohortis alasque, simul reputans plus gloriae retenta Italia (retenta Italia: abl. abs., ‘with Italy being under control’) et, ubicumque certatum foret, (ubicumque certatum foret: rel. clause in indirect discourse introduced by reputans: ‘wherever it would have been fought’. The pluperfect subjunctive certatum foret is impersonal use of the passive of the intransitive verb certare.) Noricos (Noricos: i.e. the inhabitants of Noricum) in cetera victoriae praemia cessuros, Poenino itinere (Poenino itinere: the Great St. Bernard pass in the Pennine Alps in the NW corner of Italy, north of Aosta.) subsignanum militem (subsignanum militem: units within a legion followed the signa, or standards, three for each cohort of three manipuli; the legion as a whole followed the aquila, or eagle, while cavalry units followed the vexilla. Thus, subsignanus miles, or troops under the signa, designates troops below legion strength. As we are told in ch. 61, both Valens’ and Caecina’s army consisted of detachments of men picked from different legions and of just one complete legion.) et grave legionum (legionum: actually only one legion, the Twenty-first) agmen hibernis adhuc Alpibus (hibernis adhuc Alpibus: lit. ‘the Alps still being wintry’) transduxit.