XXVI.
Vt Cremonam venere, (ut Cremonam venere: ) novum immensumque opus occurrit. Othoniano bello Germanicus miles moenibus Cremonensium castra sua, castris vallum circumiecerat (moenibus …castra sua, castris vallum circumiecerat: ‘had built the camp as a ring for the walls and a rampart as a ring for the camp’; castra and vallum are direct objects, moenibus and castris indirect objects respectively of the transitive circumiecerat.) eaque munimenta rursus auxerat. quorum aspectu haesere victores, incertis ducibus quid iuberent. (incertis ducibus quid iuberent: abl. abs. governing an indir. question and a list of possible actions in answer to that question. These were: (a) to begin the assault (incipere obpugnationem), (b) to build and fortify a camp (munire castra), (c) to march back to Bedriacum (sin Bedriacum redirent); the infinitives incipere and munire are conditional clauses in disguise (si inciperent, si munirent) on the pattern of the third option introduced by sin (‘but if’), in place of si, to contradict the preceding supposition.) incipere obpugnationem fesso per diem noctemque exercitu (fesso per diem noctemque exercitu: abl. of instrument: ‘with an army worn out during an entire day and night’) arduum et nullo iuxta subsidio anceps: (nullo iuxta subsidio anceps: ‘risky because of lack of reinforcements anywhere near’) sin Bedriacum redirent, intolerandus tam longi itineris labor, et victoria ad inritum revolvebatur: (sin Bedriacum redirent, … victoria ad inritum revolvebatur: ‘but if they returned to Bedriacum, their victory would inevitably roll back to nothing’. Example of conditional sentence with a different mood in protasis and apodosis: the condition is potential, likely to be realized, but the point of view is the past; in such cases the imperfect subjunctive coincides with the verb form of conditions contrary to fact. Cf G. 596, 2. and A.G. 511, Footnote 1. The imperfect indicative of the apodosis indicates that the outcome is viewed as a fact, should the condition be fulfilled. The passive revolvebatur has middle sense. ) munire castra, id quoque propinquis hostibus formidolosum, ne dispersos et opus molientis subita eruptione turbarent. (ne … opus molientis … turbarent: negative purpose clause: ‘for fear that the enemy might throw into confusion the men laboring at their task’. The implied subject of turbarent is hostes.) quae super cuncta terrebat ipsorum miles (quae super cuncta terrebat ipsorum miles: ipsorum refers to the Flavian commanders: ‘what above all caused concern [was] their own soldiery’.) periculi quam morae patientior: quippe (quippe: ‘the reason being …’) ingrata quae tuta, ex temeritate spes; omnisque caedes et vulnera et sanguis aviditate praedae pensabantur. (pensabantur: ‘were counterbalanced by …’)