XCVII.
Auxilia tamen e Germania Britanniaque et Hispaniis (Hispaniis: plural to indicate the three Spanish provinces, Tarraconensis, Lusitanica, and Baetica.) excivit, segniter et necessitatem dissimulans. perinde legati provinciaeque cunctabantur, (perinde legati provinciaeque cunctabantur: ‘generals and provinces were equally hesitant’.) Hordeonius Flaccus suspectis iam Batavis anxius proprio bello, Vettius Bolanus numquam satis quieta Britannia, (Vettius Bolanus numquam satis quieta Britannia: supply anxius, ‘Vettius Bolanus was preoccupied in a Britain never peaceful’.) et uterque ambigui. neque ex Hispaniis properabatur, nullo tum ibi consulari: (nullo tum ibi consular: because Cluvius Rufus was governing Spain from Rome; cf. ch. 65.) trium legionum legati, pares iure et prosperis Vitellii rebus certaturi ad obsequium, adversam eius fortunam ex aequo detrectabant. (prosperis Vitellii rebus certaturi ad obsequium, adversam eius fortunam ex aequo detrectabant: ‘Vitellius’ fortunes being prosperous, they would have been ready to fight one another to show obedience; they recoiled with equal alacrity from his adverse fortunes’. prosperis Vitellii rebus certaturi ad obsequium is equivalent to a conditional sentence contrary to fact, the abl. abs. prosperis …rebus being the protasis and certaturi, plus implied form of esse in the subjunctive, the apodosis.) in Africa legio cohortesque delectae a Clodio Macro, mox a Galba dimissae, rursus iussu Vitellii militiam cepere; simul cetera iuventus dabat impigre nomina. quippe integrum illic ac favorabilem proconsulatum Vitellius, famosum (famosum: ‘infamous’) invisumque Vespasianus egerat: proinde socii de imperio utriusque coniectabant, (proinde socii de imperio utriusque coniectabant: ‘the [African] allies formed their idea accordingly as to the kind of government of either man’.) sed experimentum contra fuit.