XI.
Legiones velut tabe infectae Aponium Saturninum Moesici exercitus legatum eo atrocius adgrediuntur, quod non, ut prius, labore et opere (labore et opere: ‘toil + work’, endiadys, two nouns of similar meaning reinforcing each other; English prefers one noun and a suitable modifier, e.g. ‘back-breaking work’. ) fessae, sed medio diei exarserant, vulgatis epistulis, quas Saturninus ad Vitellium scripsisse credebatur. (vulgatis epistulis, quas Saturninus ad Vitellium scripsisse credebatur: abl. abs. with dependent rel. clause; Saturninus …scripsisse credebatur is personal construction with passive of verbs of saying, believing, etc. (vs. active Saturninum scripsisse credebant); cf. A.G. 582.) ut olim virtutis modestiaeque, tunc procacitatis et petulantiae certamen erat, (ut olim virtutis modestiaeque, tunc procacitatis et petulantiae certamen erat: ut …, tunc …erat: tunc here stands for ita tunc in the main clause of a comparative sentence, to balance the correlative ut olim of the dependent clause. virtutis modestiaeque ,,, procacitatis et petulantiae certamen: ‘contest of bravery and obedience …of effrontery and insubordination’) ne minus violenter Aponium quam Flavianum ad supplicium deposcerent. (ne … deposcerent: negative purpose clause) quippe (quippe: ‘as expected’, ‘needless to say’) Moesicae legiones adiutam a se Pannonicorum ultionem referentes, (Moesicae legiones adiutam [esse] a se Pannonicorum ultionem referentes: ‘the Moesian legions bringing to mind that the revenge of the Pannonians had been aided by them’) et Pannonici, velut absolverentur aliorum seditione, (velut absolverentur aliorum seditione: velut introduces a conditional clause of comparison requiring subjunctive. Cf. A.G. 524. seditione is abl. of instrument) iterare culpam gaudebant. in hortos, in quibus devertebatur Saturninus, pergunt. nec tam Primus et Aponianus et Messala, quamquam omni modo nisi, (quamquam omni modo nisi: ‘although exerting themselves in every way’; nisi or nixi is from deponent nitor, the perf. participle having thus active sense.) eripuere Saturninum quam obscuritas latebrarum, quibus occulebatur, vacantium forte balnearum fornacibus abditus. mox omissis lictoribus Patavium concessit. digressu consularium (consularium: under the Empire, the term consularis referred to senators who had either served as consuls or were admitted to the rank as a special privilege. The status was a requirement for senators holding the proconsular office of provincial governors, especially in the case of the more important provinces, such as those hosting more than one legion. Minor provinces were governed by procuratores, men of equestrian origin or senators without the rank of consularis. Both Aponius Saturninus and Tampius Flavianus were consulares, the first governor of Moesia (cf. Book 2, 85), the latter of Pannonia (cf. ch. 4.) uni Antonio (uni Antonio: dat. of possessor with fuit; cf. note for uni Antonio apertae militum aures in previous chapter.) vis ac potestas in utrumque exercitum fuit, cedentibus collegis et obversis militum studiis. (cedentibus collegis et obversis militum studiis: abl. abs. explaining the preceding statement: ‘since his colleagues deferred to him and the soldiers’ devotion was entirely his’) nec deerant qui crederent (nec deerant qui crederent: subjunctive in clause of characteristic) utramque seditionem fraude Antonii coeptam, ut solus bello frueretur.