LXX.
Inde Vitellius Cremonam flexit et spectato munere Caecinae insistere Bedriacensibus campis ac vestigia recentis victoriae lustrare oculis (lustrare oculis: lit. ‘to scour with his eyes’) concupivit, foedum atque atrox spectaculum. intra quadragensimum pugnae diem (intra quadragensimum pugnae diem: approx. May 24, as the battle was fought on April 14.) lacera corpora, trunci artus, putres virorum equorumque formae, (formae: an apt word, men and horses reduced to mere ‘forms’ on the ground) infecta tabo humus, protritis arboribus ac frugibus dira vastitas. nec minus inhumana pars viae quam Cremonenses lauru rosaque constraverant, extructis altaribus caesisque victimis regium in morem; (regium in morem: more, in morem, or de more + gen.: ‘in the manner of …’) quae laeta in praesens mox perniciem ipsis fecere. (mox perniciem ipsis fecere: ‘they caused ruin to themselves later’, an allusion to the sack of Cremona after the second battle of Bedriacum; cf. Book 3, ch. 32 ff.) aderant Valens et Caecina, monstrabantque pugnae locos: hinc inrupisse legionum agmen, hinc equites coortos, inde circumfusas auxiliorum manus: (circumfusas auxiliorum manus: the passive of circumfundo has the reflexive sense of ‘to place oneself around someone or something’; ‘the auxiliary units had placed themselves in a circle around [the enemy]’. Note that the passage is in indir. speech introduced by monstrabant) iam tribuni praefectique, sua quisque facta extollentes, falsa vera aut maiora vero (maiora vero: ‘tales greater than the truth’) miscebant. vulgus quoque militum clamore et gaudio deflectere via, spatia certaminum recognoscere, aggerem armorum, strues corporum intueri mirari; (intueri mirari: historical infinitives and perhaps hendiadys: ‘to stare in wonder’; previous deflectere and recognoscere are also hist. infinitives.) et erant quos varia sors rerum lacrimaeque et misericordia subiret. (erant quos varia sors rerum lacrimaeque et misericordia subiret: subjunctive for rel. clause of characteristic; cf. A.G. 535: ‘there were some whom the capricious nature of things, sadness, and pity touched to the core of their being’.) at non Vitellius flexit oculos (at non Vitellius flexit oculos: at here expresses contrast between Vitellius’ insensitivity and the compassionate soldiers’ reaction in the foregoing clause.) nec tot milia insepultorum civium exhorruit: laetus ultro (ultro: ‘nay, he …’) et tam propinquae sortis ignarus instaurabat sacrum dis loci. (instaurabat sacrum dis loci: usually translated as ‘he sacrificed to the local gods’; sacrum, however, is properly a rite, a system or series of ceremonies; the sense of instaurare is ‘to set up’, ‘to initiate’, ‘to institute’, a meaning preserved in the Italian verb ‘instaurare’. The imperfect instaurabat, instead of the perfect instauravit has progressive sense, i.e., ‘oblivious to his own fate, he was setting up …’.)