XXVI.
Tum Othonianus pedes erupit; protrita hostium acie versi in fugam (protrita hostium acie versi [sunt] in fugam: ‘their line having been crushed, the enemy were forced to turn and flee’; protrita is from protero) etiam qui subveniebant; nam Caecina non simul cohortis sed singulas acciverat, quae res in proelio trepidationem auxit, cum dispersos nec usquam validos pavor fugientium abriperet. (cum dispersos nec usquam validos pavor fugientium abriperet: ‘since the panic of those fleeing was dragging away the troops coming up dispersed, nowhere sufficiently strong [to resist]’; the cum clause is causal.) orta et (et: when not the fist word in a clause, et is usually for etiam.) in castris seditio quod non universi ducerentur:) (quod non …ducerentur: not quod non ducebantur, since the reson given is not the writer’s, but the view of the troops; cf. A.G. 540.) vinctus praefectus castrorum (praefectus castrorum: or praefectus legionis, in charge of logistics and commissariat, of locating and surveying suitable sites for a camp, and of policing the camp.) Iulius Gratus, tamquam fratri apud Othonem militanti proditionem ageret, (tamquam … ageret: in Tacitus, tamquam is often found with almost the causal sense of quod; cf. G. 602, N. 4.) cum fratrem eius, (eius: for use of eius in place of the possessive adj. suus, cf. uxorem quoque eius in ch. 20.) Iulium Frontonem tribunum, Othoniani sub eodem crimine vinxissent. (cum fratrem eius … Othoniani sub eodem crimine vinxissent: lit. ‘[just] when the Othonians had put in chains his brother under the same charges’. Temporal cum requires subjunctive if the tense is pluperfect.) ceterum (ceterum: cf. note for ceterum in ch. 21.) ea ubique formido fuit apud fugientis occursantis, in acie pro vallo, (pro vallo: it is not clear what wall, rampart, or other defense vallo refers to, since there is no previous mention of it, unless perhaps the entrenchment work is meant that Paulinus had his men engaged in, before giving the signal to attack; cf. ch. 25.) ut deleri cum universo exercitu Caecinam potuisse, ni Suetonius Paulinus receptui cecinisset, utrisque in partibus percrebruerit. (ea ubique formido fuit apud fugientis occursantis … ut deleri cum universo exercitu Caecinam potuisse, ni Suetonius Paulinus receptui cecinisset, utrisque in partibus percrebruerit: order: ea ubique formido fuit apud fugientis occursantis … ut utrisque in partibus percrebruerit deleri cum universo exercitu Caecinam potuisse, ni Suetonius Paulinus receptui cecinisset: ea has the sense of talis: ‘such was the panic among the Vitellians fleeing or rushing forward that it was widely believed on both sides that Caecina with all his army could have been destroyed, had not Paulinus sounded the retreat’. The correlative pair ea …ut introduces a consecutive sentence with ea at the head of the main clause and ut of the subordinate or result clause; the perfect subjunctive percrebruerit, from percrebresco, reflects the perfect indicative that would be used if the clause were independent. For full treatment of consecutive sentences see G. 551-558, A.G. 536-538, and B. 284, 268, 6. Next in the above selection is a conditional sentence in indirect speech introduced by percrebruerit, the apodosis, or main clause, deleri …potuisse, being infinitive, as required by the rules governing indir. discourse, and the protasis or subordinate clause, ni (nisi) …cecinisset, with pluperfect subjunctive for condition contrary to fact in the past. Cf. G. 597, 659. Finally, receptui is dative of purpose, ‘for the retreat’.) timuisse se Paulinus ferebat tantum insuper laboris atque itineris, (timuisse se Paulinus ferebat tantum insuper laboris atque itineris: ‘Paulinus sustained he had feared so much added labor and distance’; insuper is adverb, not prep., ‘over and above’. Paulinus’ point is that he would have had to march his army, after the battle, all the way to Caecina’s camp, 12 miles away near Cremona, then attack the fresh forces in the camp with exhausted troops. timuisse se: se refers to the person speaking, Paulinus, and is the acc. subject of the infinitive in indirect discourse.) ne Vitellianus miles recens e castris fessos adgrederetur et perculsis nullum retro subsidium foret. ([timuisse] ne Vitellianus miles recens e castris fessos adgrederetur et perculsis nullum retro subsidium foret: ‘[that he had feared] the Vitellian forces, fresh from the camp, would attack his spent troops and that there would be no support in the rear for his repulsed men’. Verbs of fear, like timeo, vereor, metuo, paveo and similar, are followed by a noun (object) clause introduced by ne or ut + subjunctive, the first particle indicating the fear that something undesirable would occur, as in this case, the second that something desirable would not occur. The construction with ne still survives in modern French. Cf. G. 550, A.G. 564.) apud paucos ea ducis ratio probata, in vulgus adverso rumore fuit. (in vulgus adverso rumore fuit: order: vulgus in adverso rumore fuit, lit. ‘the multitude was in the reverse gossip’; freely, ‘the mass of the soldiers held to the opposite view in their tattle’.)