XXVIII.
Hormine id ingenium, ut Messala tradit, an potior auctor sit C. Plinius, (C. Plinius: Pliny the Elder, the author of Naturalis Historia; his history of this period has not survived.) qui Antonium incusat, haud facile discreverim, (Hormine id ingenium, … an … sit … haud facile discreverim: indirect double question introduced by the particles –ne …an and governed by discreverim, potential perf. subjunctive expressing uncertainty or modesty in the first pers. sing.. The question itself requires subjunctive (sit); Hormi: for Hormus see ch. 12.) nisi quod neque Antonius neque Hormus a fama vitaque sua quamvis pessimo flagitio degeneravere. (nisi quod neque Antonius neque Hormus a fama vitaque sua quamvis pessimo flagitio degeneravere: nisi quod (lit. ‘except the fact that’) introduces an independent explanatory clause (cf. G. 525, 2, N. 2): ‘except that neither Antonius nor Hormus, even by committing so despicable a crime, sank below the level of their normal life and reputation’; pessimo flagitio: it may seem strange that so much is made of a mere gesture; had the incident occurred in a foreign war, it might have passed without notice, but in an internal political conflict to instruct officers to signal the sacrifice of a Roman city to the plundering fury of Roman troops is indeed a serious matter.) non iam sanguis neque vulnera morabantur quin subruerent vallum quaterentque portas, innixi umeris et super iteratam testudinem scandentes prensarent hostium tela brachiaque. (non … morabantur quin subruerent …quaterent …prensarent …: ‘did not deter them from undermining …demolishing …latching on to …’; quin replaces final ne in purpose clauses after verbs of preventing, hindering, delaying, especially when the main clause is negative.) integri cum sauciis, semineces cum expirantibus volvuntur, varia pereuntium forma et omni imagine mortium. (varia pereuntium forma et omni imagine mortium: abl. abs.: ‘the manner of dying (lit. ‘of those dying’) taking all forms, the scenes of death being innumerable’; pereuntium is gen. plur. of the pres. participle periens, -euntis, used here as a noun. Echoes from Virgil’s description of the sack of Troy: …et plurima mortis imago)