XXXVII.
Invenio apud quosdam auctores pavore belli seu fastidio utriusque principis, quorum flagitia ac dedecus (flagitia ac dedecus: endiadys, as is spatium ac moras and even gloriam nomenque further on ) apertiore in dies (apertiore in dies: ‘more apparent every day’) fama noscebantur, dubitasse exercitus num posito certamine vel ipsi in medium consultarent, vel senatui permitterent legere imperatorem, atque eo duces Othonianos spatium ac moras suasisse, (dubitasse exercitus num posito certamine vel ipsi in medium consultarent, vel senatui permitterent legere imperatorem, atque eo duces Othonianos spatium ac moras suasisse: ‘that the armies had considered whether they should either reach a compromise themselves, their arms having being laid down, or let the senate choose an emperor, and that, for that very reason (eo), the Othonians commanders had counselled lengthy delays’. In indirect questions, num loses the negative force it has in direct questions and becomes similar to the enclitic particle –ne with the sense of ‘whether.’ vel …vel: also found as aut …vel or vel …-ve, ‘either …or’) praecipua spe Paulini, (praecipua spe Paulini: ‘Paulinus’ hopes being particularly high’) quod vetustissimus consularium et militia clarus gloriam nomenque Britannicis expeditionibus meruisset. (quod vetustissimus consularium … meruisset: ‘since, as the eldest ex-consul, he had earned …’. Paulinus had been consul for the first time almost thirty years earlier. quod …meruisset: subjunctive in that the quod clause is in indir. discourse introduced at the outset of the chapter.) ego ut concesserim (ego: the use of the personal pronoun is for emphasis, ‘for my part’.) apud paucos tacito voto (tacito voto: ‘in their silent prayers’) quietem pro discordia, bonum et innocentem principem pro pessimis ac flagitiosissimis expetitum, (bonum …principem pro pessimis ac flagitiosissimis expetitum [esse]: ‘that a good prince had been preferred in place of [two] of the worst and most despicable …’) ita neque Paulinum, qua prudentia fuit, (qua prudentia fuit: ‘where (‘in whom’) good judgement lay’) sperasse corruptissimo saeculo tantam vulgi moderationem reor ut qui pacem belli amore turbaverant, bellum pacis caritate deponerent, (ut concesserim … ita neque Paulinum … sperasse … tantam vulgi moderationem [esse] reor ut …qui pacem belli amore turbaverant, bellum pacis caritate deponerent: concesserim: use of potential subjunctive in modest or guarded assertions in the first person singular, ‘I may grant’ or ’I might grant’; the present and perfect subjunctive are found with no detectable difference in meaning. Cf. A.G. 447, 1. ‘just as I might concede that …so also I do not believe that Paulinus had hoped that there was so much moderation in the mass of common soldiers such that those who had destroyed peace for love of war, would relinquish war for love of peace’. ut …ita: the correlative particles usher in the two parts of a comparative sentence in indir. speech headed by reor. Similarly, tantam … ut introduce the main clause and the dependent clause respectively of a result or consecutive sentence. The relative clause qui …turbaverant has the verb in the indicative in that the clause is explanatory, inserted , as it were, for the reader’s benefit, thus outside the rules governing indir. discourse. See also note for cui Victoria institerat, Book 1, ch. 86.) neque aut exercitus linguis moribusque dissonos in hunc consensum potuisse coalescere, aut legatos ac duces magna ex parte luxus egestatis scelerum sibi (sibi: ethical dative, ‘to themselves’, or ‘within themselves’; cf. G. 350.) conscios nisi pollutum obstrictumque meritis suis principem passuros. (nisi pollutum obstrictumque meritis suis principem passuros [esse]: the subject is legati ac duces, ‘they were going to put up with a prince unless he was compromised and obliged to them for their services.’)