LXVI.
Angebat Vitellium victarum legionum haudquaquam fractus animus. (haudquaquam fractus animus: ‘their spirit not in the least broken’) sparsae per Italiam et victoribus permixtae hostilia loquebantur, (hostilia loquebantur: ‘they entertained hostile designs’.) praecipua quartadecimanorum ferocia, qui se victos abnuebant: quippe (quippe: ‘in fact’) Bedriacensi acie vexillariis tantum pulsis viris legionis non adfuisse. remitti eos in Britanniam, unde a Nerone exciti erant, placuit atque interim Batavorum cohortis una tendere (una tendere: ‘to have them camp together’) ob veterem adversus quartadecimanos discordiam. (ob veterem adversus quartadecimanos discordiam: ‘because of their long-standing feud against the men of the Fourteenth legion’) nec diu in tantis armatorum odiis quies fuit: Augustae Taurinorum, ([Coloniae] Augustae Taurinorum: the colony of the Taurini, a Ligurian tribe, founded by Augustus, modern Turin) dum opificem quendam Batavus ut fraudatorem insectatur, legionarius ut hospitem tuetur, (dum opificem quendam Batavus ut fraudatorem insectatur, legionarius ut hospitem tuetur: ‘while the Batavian berated a certain artificer as a thief and the legionary defended him as his host, …’. Note the use of dum + present indicative.) sui cuique commilitones (sui cuique commilitones: lit. ‘to each [of the two] his own comrades’; cuique is dat. of possessor and commilitones is the item (or persons) possessed.) adgregati a conviciis ad caedem transiere. et proelium atrox arsisset, ni duae praetoriae cohortes causam quartadecimanorum secutae his fiduciam et metum Batavis fecissent: (proelium …arsisset, ni … fecissent: typical unreal conditional sentence with pluperfect subjunctive for both protasis and apodosis for condition contray to fact in the past. Cf. A.G. 517, G. 597.) quos (quos: the antecedent is Batavis.) Vitellius agmini suo iungi ut fidos, legionem Grais Alpibus (Grais Alpibus: the Graian Alps extend from Aosta down to Susa in western Piedmont in NW Italy and include the Little St. Bernard pass, the route taken by the legion.) traductam eo flexu itineris ire iubet quo Viennam vitarent; (eo flexu itineris ire iubet quo Viennam vitarent: lit. ‘he ordered [the legion] to go by that bend in the road by which they would avoid Vienna’. For Vienna cf. Book 1, ch. 65-66. quo …vitarent: quo introduces a purpose clause.) namque et (namque et: ‘for …as well’) Viennenses timebantur. nocte, qua proficiscebatur legio, relictis passim ignibus pars Taurinae coloniae ambusta, quod damnum, ut pleraque belli mala, maioribus aliarum urbium cladibus oblitteratum. quartadecimani postquam Alpibus degressi sunt, seditiosissimus quisque signa Viennam ferebant: (seditiosissimus quisque signa Viennam ferebant: ‘the most undisciplined soldiers were advancing the standards in the direction of Vienna’, i.e., ‘were trying to lead the legion to Vienna’.) consensu meliorum conpressi et legio in Britanniam transvecta.