XLVI.
Opperiebatur Otho nuntium pugnae nequaquam trepidus (nequaquam trepidus: ‘not in the least anxious’) et consilii certus. maesta primum fama, dein profugi e proelio perditas res patefaciunt. non expectavit militum ardor vocem imperatoris; bonum haberet animum iubebant: (bonum haberet animum iubebant: ‘they bade him to have good courage’; iubeo is found followed by infinitive or by subjunctive with or without ut.) superesse adhuc (adhuc: ‘still’) novas viris, et ipsos extrema passuros ausurosque. neque erat adulatio: ire in aciem, excitare partium fortunam furore quodam et instinctu flagrabant. (furore quodam et instinctu flagrabant: ‘were burning with a certain irresistible impulse’) qui procul adstiterant, tendere manus, et proximi prensare genua, promptissimo Plotio Firmo. (promptissimo Plotio Firmo: abl. abs.:’foremost among them being Plotius Firmus’) is praetorii praefectus identidem orabat ne fidissimum exercitum, ne optime meritos milites desereret: (identidem orabat ne …desereret: oro is followed by ut (or ne) + subjunctive or by infinitive: ‘was repeatedly begging him not to abandon …’.) maiore animo tolerari adversa quam relinqui; fortis et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere spei, (fortis … insistere spei: ‘that brave men held on to hope’; spei is dative with insistere.) timidos et ignavos ad desperationem formidine properare. quas inter voces ut flexerat vultum aut induraverat Otho, clamor et gemitus. (quas inter voces ut flexerat vultum aut induraverat Otho, clamor et gemitus: ‘among these entreaties there were loud cries of approval or groans as Otho relaxed or hardened his face’; ut is temporal with the sense of ‘whenever’.) nec praetoriani tantum, proprius Othonis miles, sed praemissi e Moesia eandem obstinationem adventantis exercitus, legiones Aquileiam ingressas (legiones Aquileiam ingressas: three legions, the Third, Seventh, and Eighth; Aquileiam: Aquileia is at the east end of the Via Postumia, west of Monfalcone in the SE corner of Northern Italy.) nuntiabant, ut nemo dubitet (ut nemo dubitet: the sense is consecutive, ‘so that no one would doubt that …’. The use of present subjunctive with a historical main verb is an example of repraesentatio, for which see B. 318.) potuisse renovari bellum atrox, lugubre, incertum victis et victoribus.