XXII.
At Vitellianus exercitus, cui adquiescere Cremonae et reciperatis cibo somnoque viribus confectum algore atque inedia hostem postera die profligare ac proruere ratio fuit, (cui … ratio fuit: ‘which had the reasonable choice of …’ cui, dat. of possessor with fuit, refers to exercitus.) indigus rectoris, inops consilii, (indigus rectoris, inops consilii: ‘deprived of leadership and devoid of a plan’) tertia ferme noctis hora (tertia …noctis hora: the Romans divided the interval between sunset and sunrise (as they did daylight) into twelve parts. If, for instance, on Oct. 24, the day of the battle, the sun sets at 6 p.m., hora prima would be between 6 and 7 p.m. and hora tertia between 8 and 9 p.m.) paratis iam dispositisque Flavianis impingitur. (Vitellianus exercitus … Flavianis impingitur: Flavianis is indir. object of impingitur, which is reflexive rather than passive.) ordinem agminis disiecti per iram ac tenebras adseverare non ausim, (adseverare non ausim: the perf. subjunctive ausim is short for ausus sim; both present and perfect are used in guarded, modest assertions in the first person. See A.G. 447, 1.) quamquam alii tradiderint (quamquam alii tradiderint: quamquam + subjunctive became more and more common in later Latin; alii: among them, no doubt, Vipsanus Messala, the commander of the Seventh Galbiana legion during the battle, who wrote a history of the war which Tacitus used as one of his main sources.) quartam Macedonicam dextrum suorum cornu, quintam et quintam decimam cum vexillis (cum vexillis: vexillum here stands for a body of troops separated from its unit of origin and sent out on assignment. See note for aquilarum signorumque ordo in previous chapter.) nonae secundaeque et vicensimae Britannicarum legionum mediam aciem, sextadecimanos duoetvicensimanosque et primanos laevum cornu complesse. (quartam Macedonicam dextrum suorum cornu … complesse: cornu, from cornu –us, is neuter acc. and direct object of complesse or complevisse; suorum: the possessive pronoun is found replacing eorum (even where it does not refer to the subject of the clause, as is the case here) if suus has the emphatic meaning of ‘his own’ or ‘their own’. Cf. B. 244, 4.) Rapaces atque Italici omnibus se manipulis miscuerant; eques auxiliaque sibi ipsi locum legere. proelium tota nocte varium, anceps, atrox, his, rursus illis exitiabile. (proelium … his, rursus illis exitiabile: ‘the fighting was deadly to these, then again to those’.) nihil animus aut manus, ne oculi quidem provisu (oculi … provisu: ‘the eyes, with their power of seeing’) iuvabant. eadem utraque acie arma, crebris interrogationibus notum pugnae signum, permixta vexilla, ut quisque globus capta ex hostibus huc vel illuc raptabat. (ut quisque globus capta ex hostibus huc vel illuc raptabat: ‘as each throng of fighting men made off this way or that way with the standards captured from the enemy’) urgebatur maxime septima legio, nuper a Galba conscripta. occisi sex primorum ordinum centuriones, abrepta quaedam signa: ipsam aquilam Atilius Verus primi pili centurio multa cum hostium strage (multa cum …strage: abl. of manner rather than instrument, as indicated by the use of cum, admissible if a limiting adjective (here multa) is present.) et ad extremum moriens servaverat.