XXXIX.
Profecto Brixellum Othone honor imperii penes Titianum fratrem, vis ac potestas (vis ac potestas: hendiadys) penes Proculum praefectum; Celsus et Paulinus, cum prudentia eorum nemo uteretur, inani nomine ducum alienae culpae praetendebantur; (Celsus et Paulinus, cum prudentia eorum nemo uteretur, inani nomine ducum alienae culpae praetendebantur: ‘Celsus and Paulinus, since no one made use of their experience, they were put forward as a cover for the mistakes of others, by reason of their pointless title of generals’. cum …uteretur: causal cum always takes subjunctive.) tribuni centurionesque ambigui quod spretis melioribus deterrimi valebant; (quod …valebant: causal quod is normally followed by indicative.) miles alacer, qui tamen iussa ducum interpretari quam exequi mallet. (qui tamen … mallet: subjunctive in relative clause of concessive force; tamen, ‘however’, intensifies the concessive sense.) promoveri ad quartum a Bedriaco castra placuit, (promoveri ad quartum [miliarium] a Bedriaco castra placuit: ‘it was decided to move the camp to the fourth milestone from Bedriacum’. For impersonal use of placeo followed by passive infinitive cf. note for occupari nutantem fortunam et offerri principem placuit in ch. 56 of Book 1.) adeo imperite ut quamquam verno tempore anni et tot circum amnibus penuria aquae fatigarentur. (adeo imperite ut …fatigarentur: subjunctive in consecutive clause introduced by adeo …ut.) ibi de proelio dubitatum, Othone per litteras flagitante ut maturarent, militibus ut imperator pugnae adesset poscentibus: (Othone flagitante ut maturarent, militibus ut imperator pugnae adesset poscentibus: abl. abs. with dependent noun clauses with ut : ‘Otho insisting that matters be brought to a head, soldiers demanding that the emperor be present at the battle’; both flagito and posco require a completive clause with ut.) plerique copias trans Padum agentis acciri postulabant. nec proinde diiudicari potest quid optimum factu fuerit, quam pessimum fuisse quod factum est. (nec proinde diiudicari potest quid optimum factu fuerit, quam pessimum fuisse quod factum est: ‘it is not in the same degree possible to decide what would have been best in the doing, as it is [to decide] that what was done had been the worst’. optimum factu: abl. supine, i. e. a verbal noun of the 4th declension used mostly as the complement of adjrctives, ‘best in the doing’. The two particles proinde …quam introduce the dependent and main clause respectively of a comparative sentence.)