IV.
Titus spectata opulentia donisque regum quaeque alia laetum antiquitatibus Graecorum genus incertae vetustati adfingit, (quaeque alia laetum antiquitatibus Graecorum genus incertae vetustati adfingit: ‘and all the other things the Greek race, delighting in antiquities, attributes to a dubious past’) de navigatione primum consuluit. postquam pandi (pandi: passive of pandere, ‘to be open’, ‘unobstructed’) viam et mare prosperum accepit, de se per ambages (per ambages: ‘in a roundabout way’) interrogat caesis compluribus hostiis. Sostratus (sacerdotis id nomen erat) ubi laeta et congruentia (laeta et congruential: hendiadys, ‘uniformly favorable’) exta magnisque consultis adnuere deam videt, (magnisque consultis adnuere deam videt: ‘sees the goddess give her consent to great designs’; the historical present videt, like aperit in the next line, brings past events closer to the reader.) pauca in praesens et solita respondens, petito secreto (petito secreto: abl. abs., ‘a secret interview being requested’) futura aperit. Titus aucto animo ad patrem pervectus suspensis provinciarum et exercituum mentibus ingens rerum fiducia accessit. (suspensis provinciarum et exercituum mentibus ingens rerum fiducia accessit: ‘great confidence of success accrued to the anxious minds of the provincials and of the troops.’) Profligaverat bellum Iudaicum Vespasianus, obpugnatione Hierosolymorum reliqua, duro magis et arduo opere ob ingenium montis et pervicaciam superstitionis quam quo satis virium obsessis ad tolerandas necessitates superesset. (oppugatione Hierosolymorum reliqua, duro magis et arduo opere ob ingenium montis et pervicaciam superstitionis quam quo satis virium obsessis ad tolerandas necessitates superesset: the case of an abl. abs. (oppugnatione … reliqua) followed by apposition in the form of a comparison, of which the second part is a causal clause introduced by quo. Thus: ‘[only] the assault on Jerusalem being left, a complicated and difficult undertaking, more because (ob) of the nature of the terrain and the obstinacy of superstitious credulity than because (quo) sufficient forces remained to the besieged for the hardships to be endured’; quo is causal conj. requiring subjunctive (superesset), in that the stated reason is rejected; virium is partitive gen. after neuter satis; ad tolerandas necessitates: ad + gerundive, one of ways to express purpose in Latin; ingenium montis: ingenium is also evocative of human ingenuity adding to the hostile nature of the terrain.) tres, ut supra memoravimus, (ut supra memoravimus: in Book I, ch. 10) ipsi Vespasiano legiones erant, exercitae bello: quattuor Mucianus obtinebat in pace, sed aemulatio et proximi exercitus gloria depulerat segnitiam, quantumque illis roboris discrimina et labor, tantum his vigoris (quantum illis roboris …, tantum his vigoris [erat]: comparative sentence with quantum – tantum, ‘the more strength those had, the more verve these had’; illis and his are datives of possessor with an understood form of esse; roboris and vigoris are partitive genitives after the neuter quantum and tantum.) addiderat integra quies et inexperti belli labor. (inexperti belli labor: ‘preoccupation with war yet untried’; labor here expresses the mental ordeal of soldiers eager to undergo the test of war ) auxilia utrique cohortium alarumque et classes regesque ac nomen dispari fama celebre. (ac nomen dispari fama celebre: short for ac [utrique] nomen dispari fama celebre [erat], ‘yet each had a name famous because of a differing reputation’; the conj. ac can have a slightly adversative sense.)