XVI.
Quinta ferme hora diei (quinta ferme hora diei: for the Romans , six a.m. was the start of the day, or hora prima; ferme is a variant of fere.) erat, cum citus eques adventare hostis, praegredi paucos, (praegredi paucos: ‘that a few were coming ahead of the rest’) motum fremitumque late audiri nuntiavit. (cum … nuntiavit: when the main action in a sentence is expressed by a cum clause, the indicative is used. Cf. A.G. 546, a.) dum Antonius quidnam agendum consultat, (dum Antonius quidnam agendum consultat: dum, ‘while’, requires hist. present; quidnam introduces an indir. question, the enclitic –nam adding emplasis to the pronoun; agendum (with implied esset) is impersonal use of passive periphrastic to express obligastion or necessity: ‘what should be done’.) aviditate navandae operae (aviditate navandae operae: lit. ‘in his desire of good work to be performed’; for similar use of gen. gerundive cf. specie parandarum copiarum in ch. 15.) Arrius Varus cum promptissimis equitum prorupit impulitque Vitellianos modica caede; nam plurium adcursu versa fortuna, (plurium adcursu versa fortuna: ‘with the rushing up of more [of the enemy] fortune was reversed’; this was a cavalry engagement on both sides, as confirmed by laeto inter initia equitum [Vitellianorum] proelio near the outset of ch. 18.) et acerrimus quisque sequentium fugae ultimus erat. (acerrimus quisque sequentium fugae ultimus erat: ‘the most aggressive of the pursuers was [now] the last for the flight’; fugae is dat. of purpose. For the idiomatic use of quisque + superlative cf A.G. 313, b.) nec sponte Antonii properatum, et fore quae acciderant rebatur. (nec sponte Antonii properatum, et fore quae acciderant rebatur: lit. ‘it was all done in haste, not with Antonius’ approval, and he knew in advance that the outcome was going to be what [in fact] had turned out’.) hortatus suos ut magno animo capesserent pugnam, diductis in latera turmis (turmis: turma is a troop of cavalry, usually thirty men, the tenth part of an ala or regiment.) vacuum medio relinquit iter quo Varum equitesque eius reciperet; (quo Varum equitesque eius reciperet: subjunctive in rel. clause of final sense: ‘ by means of which he might receive back Varus and his troopers’; eius, not suorum, since Varus is not the subject of the rel. clause; compare with Varus turbae suorum miscetur below for the reverse case.) iussae armari legiones; (iussae armari legiones: lit. ‘the legions were ordered to be armed’. Verbs which in the active voice are followed by an infinitive with subject acc., such as iubeo , veto, cogo, sino, videor, and others, prefer the personal costruction of the passive, where the acc. subject of the infinitive becomes the nominative subject of the main verb, as is the case with the use of passive of verbs of saying. Cf. G. 528 and B. 332.) datum per agros signum ut, qua cuique proximum, (qua cuique proximum: qua is adverb: ‘by any route closest to each one’.) omissa praeda proelio occurreret. pavidus interim Varus turbae suorum miscetur (Varus turbae suorum miscetur: miscetur is reflexive rather than passive: ‘Varus inserts himself back in the main body of his comrades’. The switch to present imparts greater immediacy to the action. turbae is dative with miscetur. ) intulitque formidinem. pulsi cum sauciis integri suomet ipsi (integri … ipsi: ‘even those unimpaired’) metu (pulsi …suomet … metu: the enclitic –met is for emphasis, as if to say ‘they retreated for no other reason than their own panic’.) et angustiis viarum conflictabantur. (angustiis viarum conflictabantur: ‘struggled because of the narrowness of the roads’; conflictabantur is here passive in form but with sense deponent.)