C.
Caecina e complexu Vitellii multo cum honore digressus partem equitum ad occupandam Cremonam praemisit. mox vexilla primae, quartae, quintaedecimae, sextaedecimae legionum, dein quinta et duoetvicensima secutae; postremo agmine unaetvicensima Rapax et prima Italica incessere cum vexillariis trium Britannicarum legionum et electis auxiliis. profecto Caecina scripsit Fabius Valens exercitui, quem ipse ductaverat, ut in itinere opperiretur: (scripsit …ut in itinere opperiretur: lit. ‘he wrote that he should be awaited on the march’.) sic sibi cum Caecina convenisse. (sic sibi cum Caecina convenisse: ‘that he had so agreed with Caecina’) qui praesens eoque validior mutatum id consilium finxit ut ingruenti bello tota mole occurreretur. (mutatum [esse] id consilium finxit ut ingruenti bello tota mole occurreretur: lit. ‘he pretended that that arrangement had been changed, so that it might be hurried to the impending war with the entire force’. ut …occurreretur is impersonal use of the passive of intrans. verbs.) ita adcelerare legiones Cremonam, pars Hostiliam (Hostiliam: modern Ostiglia on the north side of the Po river, south of Verona and SE of Mantova.) petere iussae: ipse Ravennam (Ravennam: Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast, was the home port of the Adriatic fleet, just as Misenum, near Naples, was the base of the Mediterranean fleet.) devertit praetexto classem adloquendi; (praetexto classem adloquendi: ‘on the pretext of addressing the fleet’, an example of gen. gerund followed by dir. object, instead of the gerundive classis adloquendae, as is the case below with componendae proditionis, this time in place of proditionem componendi.) mox Patavii secretum componendae proditionis quaesitum. (mox Patavii secretum componendae proditionis quaesitum: the oldest manuscript of the Histories, of which all others are copies, has patui, taken to be Patavi, modern Padua; others prefer patui to mean patuit, which in the context of mox patuit secretum componendae proditionis quaesitum gives, lit., ‘later it was discovered that a secret place of the treason to be arranged was sought’. The gen. componendae proditionis may be viewed as a special case of the gen. of quality.) namque Lucilius Bassus post praefecturam alae Ravennati simul ac Misenensi classibus a Vitellio praepositus, (Lucilius Bassus post praefecturam alae Ravennati simul ac Misenensi classibus a Vitellio praepositus: the conjunctional phrase simul ac, ‘as soon as’, introduces a temporal clause, like cum primum or ut primum: ‘as soon as Lucilius Bassus, after being prefect of a cavalry regiment, was put by Vitellius at the head of the Ravenna and the Misenum fleet, …’. ) quod non statim praefecturam praetorii adeptus foret, iniquam iracundiam flagitiosa perfidia ulciscebatur. (quod non statim praefecturam praetorii adeptus foret, iniquam iracundiam flagitiosa perfidia ulciscebatur: ‘because he had not immediately obtained command of the praetorian guard, was avenging his inexcusable rancour by a monstrous deed of treachery’. quod non …adeptus foret: quod followed by subjunctive when the reason given is not the writer’s but someone else’s opinion or perception.) nec sciri potest traxeritne Caecinam, an, quod evenit inter malos ut et similes sint, (quod evenit inter malos ut et similes sint: ‘since it happens among evil men that they are also alike’. The impersonal evenit is completed by a consecutive clause with ut + subjunctive. Cf. A.G. 568, N. 2.) eadem illos pravitas impulerit. (nec sciri potest traxeritne Caecinam, an … impulerit: -ne …an introduce a disjunctive question, ‘whether …or …’ + subjunctive. The perfects traxerit and impulerit correspond to traxit an impulit of dir. speech.)