LIII.
Aegre id pati Antonius et culpam in Mucianum conferre, (pati … conferre: historical infinitives) cuius criminationibus eviluissent pericula sua; (cuius criminationibus eviluissent pericula sua: ‘on account of whose allegations his (Antonius’) dangers had lost their value’; eviluissent: subjunctive for rel. clause in indir. speech; the verb is evilesco.) nec sermonibus temperabat, immodicus lingua et obsequii insolens. litteras ad Vespasianum composuit iactantius quam ad principem, nec sine occulta in Mucianum insectatione: se Pannonicas legiones in arma egisse; suis stimulis excitos Moesiae duces, sua constantia perruptas Alpis, occupatam Italiam, intersepta Germanorum Raetorumque auxilia. quod discordis dispersasque Vitellii legiones equestri procella, mox peditum vi per diem noctemque fudisset, (quod … fudisset: the clause is explanatory, essentially a noun replacement and the subject of the sentence: ‘the fact that he had routed …[was a glorious exploit]’. Cf. G. 524-525. Quod clauses of this type require indicative, except in indir. discourse.) id pulcherrimum et sui operis. (id …sui operis: partitive genitive after the neuter pronoun id: ‘this [was] (of) his work’. Cf. G. 371.) casum Cremonae bello imputandum: maiore damno, plurium urbium excidiis veteres civium discordias rei publicae stetisse. (maiore damno … veteres civium discordias rei publicae stetisse: ‘that the former civil discords had cost Rome greater damage’; used as a verb of rating and buying, stare is construed with abl. and gen.) non se nuntiis neque epistulis, sed manu et armis imperatori suo militare; neque officere gloriae eorum qui Daciam interim composuerint: (sed manu et armis imperatori suo militare; neque officere gloriae eorum qui Daciam interim composuerint: the present infinitives militare and officere may well be examples of the so-called Imperfect Infinitive representing the imperfect indicative of direct discourse expressive of continuous or repeated action in the past. Cf. A.G. 584, a., Note. The perfect subjunctive composuerint is a case of repraesentatio, the tendency to represent all time from the point of view of the speaker, instead of that of the writer. So, if the narrative requires the use of imperfect or plup. subjunctive, present and perfect are used instead to bring events closer, thus more vividly, to the reader. Cf. G. 654 and A.G. 585, b.) illis Moesiae (Daciam … Moesiae: cf. ch. 47: Mucianus had stopped the Dacians, who were threatening Moesia.) pacem, sibi salutem securitatemque Italiae cordi fuisse; (cordi fuisse: ) suis exhortationibus Gallias Hispaniasque, validissimam terrarum partem, ad Vespasianum conversas. sed cecidisse in inritum labores si praemia periculorum soli adsequantur qui periculis non adfuerint. (cecidisse in inritum labores si praemia periculorum soli adsequantur qui periculis non adfuerint: conditional sentence in indir. discourse: the apodosis has perf. infinitive, as required for action in the past, the protasis present subjunctive (in place of imperfect, since the verb of saying is secondary) to reflect the point of view of the speaker. Similarly adfuerint is in place of adfuissent. See note above for sed manu et armis, etc.) nec fefellere ea Mucianum; inde graves simultates, quas Antonius simplicius, Mucianus callide eoque implacabilius nutriebat.