XXXII.
Plebs interim Cremonensium inter armatos conflictabatur; nec procul caede aberant, cum precibus ducum mitigatus est miles. (cum … mitigatus est: use of perfect indicative after temporal cum to mark the point in past time at which the action of the main verb occurred.) et vocatos ad contionem Antonius adloquitur, magnifice victores, victos clementer, de Cremona in neutrum. (in neutrum: ) exercitus praeter insitam praedandi cupidinem vetere odio ad excidium Cremonensium incubuit. (incubuit: implies inveterate resolve or desire.) iuvisse partis Vitellianas Othonis quoque bello credebantur; ([Cremonenses] iuvisse partis Vitellianas Othonis quoque bello credebantur: evidence of this was, for example, the royal reception given to Vitellius by the people of Cremona in Book 2, ch. 70, when he visited the battlefield of Bedriacum.) mox tertiadecimanos ad extruendum amphitheatrum relictos, ut sunt procacia urbanae plebis ingenia, petulantibus iurgiis inluserant. (petulantibus iurgiis inluserant: ‘they made fun with malicious and insulting remarks of …’; the subject is Cremonenses) auxit invidiam editum illic a Caecina gladiatorum spectaculum eademque (eadem: i.e. Cremona, ‘that very same town’) rursus belli sedes et praebiti in acie Vitellianis cibi, (praebiti in acie Vitellianis cibi: ‘the food offered to the Vitellians in the field’; as recounted in ch. 21, the Vitellian legions and other troops had left Hostilia in a hurry without wasting time to take food.) caesae quaedam feminae studio partium ad proelium progressae; tempus quoque mercatus ditem alioqui (alioqui: ‘already’, ‘in any case’) coloniam maiore opum specie complebat. ceteri duces in obscuro: Antonium fortuna famaque omnium oculis exposuerat. is balineas abluendo cruori (abluendo cruori: dative gerundive to express purpose after certain verbs like peto; cf A.G. 500, 4 and Note.) propere petit. excepta vox est, cum teporem incusaret, statim futurum ut incalescerent: vernile dictum omnem invidiam in eum vertit, (excepta vox est, cum teporem incusaret, statim futurum ut incalescerent: vernile dictum omnem invidiam in eum vertit: the passage is often read quite differently from the sense proposed in the present translation: vox is taken to be Antonius’ voice, exclaiming impatiently that he would soon make things hot for some people if something was not done about the water. This slangy way of speaking (vernile dictum: ‘language proper for a slave’ rather than ‘the words of a slave’) was seen as a signal to torch Cremona, given also that the subject of incalescerent is left undefined. It may be an impersonal ‘things’, it may be balinae (‘the baths’), but it may also be the Cremonese people who would soon feel the heat. Perhaps Tacitus is willfully being obscure to avoid inculpating Antonius direcly, while not clearing him of blame altogether. The periphrastic future infinitive futurum [esse] ut + subjunctive is resorted to when a verb, such as incalesco, lacks supine and therefore future participle. cum teporem incusaret: for tense and mood after temporal cum cf. note in previous chapter.) tamquam signum incendendae Cremonae dedisset, (tamquam signum …dedisset: conditional clause of comparison requiring subjunctive: ‘as if he had given the signal’) quae iam flagrabat.