VI.
Antonio vexillarios e cohortibus et partem equitum ad invadendam Italiam rapienti comes fuit Arrius Varus, (Antonio … rapienti comes fuit Arrius Varus: Antonio rapienti is dat. of possessor with fuit: ‘Antonius , rushing forward the …, had as companion Arrius Varus’.) strenuus bello, quam gloriam et dux Corbulo et prosperae in Armenia res addiderant. (quam gloriam et dux Corbulo et prosperae in Armenia res addiderant: ‘which reputation both Corbulo, as commander, and success in Armenia had made larger’; et …et: ‘both …and …’) idem secretis apud Neronem sermonibus ferebatur Corbulonis virtutes criminatus; (idem …ferebatur …criminatus [esse]: another example of personal construction with the passive of a verb of saying; cf. note for idemque, quod coeptante legionum motu profugus, dein sponte remeaverat, perfidiae locum quaesisse credebatur in ch. 4.) unde infami gratia (infami gratia: ‘by means of an underhand service’) primum pilum adepto (primum pilum adepto: abl. abs., ‘having obtained the rank of primum pilum’, the senior centurion of a legion, i.e. the commander of the first century of the first cohort; adepto, as perf. participle of a deponent verb, has active meaning and accepts a direct object.) laeta ad praesens male parta (male parta: lit. ‘things dishonestly acquired’; parta is from the verb parere; laeta, in the same line, is adj. modifying parta.) mox in perniciem vertere. (laeta ad praesens … mox in perniciem vertere: it is not known how Varus ultimately paid for his betrayal of Corbulo) sed Primus ac Varus occupata Aquileia (Aquileia: town northeast of Trieste, west of Monfalcone, near the Slovenian border. Aquileia was the gate to Italy from the east. The Huns under Atila took the same route when invading northern Italy in the fourth century. The Via Postumia started here and crossed northern Italy, ending on the coast of the gulf of Genoa.) <per> proxima quaeque (<per> proxima quaeque: ‘through each of the neighboring districts’; per was not in the original text and was added to restore meaning; same case for conatus below) et Opitergii et Altini (Opitergii et Altini: Opitergium, modern Oderzo, 20 km. or 13 miles ENE of Treviso on the Via Postumia; Altinum, today’s Altino near the Adriatic coast, just east of Venice.) laetis animis accipiuntur. relictum Altini praesidium adversus classis Ravennatis <conatus>, nondum defectione eius audita. inde Patavium et Ateste (Patavium et Ateste: Patavium is Padua and Ateste is Este, 15 miles or 25 km. southwest of Padua.) partibus adiunxere. illic cognitum tris Vitellianas cohortis et alam, cui Sebosianae nomen, (alam, cui Sebosianae nomen: the unit is very likely named after one Sebosus, the original organizer; cf. ala Auriana in prfevious chapter.) ad Forum Alieni (ad Forum Alieni: probably modern Legnago, 20 miles or 32 km. west of Este, on the river Adige; some think the place was closer to Este, perhaps Mantagnana.) ponte iuncto (ponte iuncto: lit. ‘a bridge having been joined together’ i.e. a series of barges each tied to the previous one in succession until the opposite bank is reached) consedisse. placuit occasio invadendi incuriosos; (placuit occasio invadendi incuriosos: ‘the opportunity of attacking the unsuspecting [Vitellians] seemed good’; placuit is here predicate of occasio, not impersonal use of the verb; invadendi is objective genitive gerund ) nam id quoque nuntiabatur. luce prima inermos plerosque oppressere. praedictum ut paucis interfectis ceteros pavore ad mutandam fidem cogerent. (praedictum ut paucis interfectis ceteros pavore ad mutandam fidem cogerent: ‘it was directed beforehand that after a few had been killed they would force the rest to change sides out of fear’.) et fuere qui se statim dederent: plures abrupto ponte instanti hosti viam abstulerunt. (instanti hosti viam abstulerunt: instanti hosti is abl., rather than dat., with aufero. Tha abl. of the present participles instans has the –i ending when used as adjective; lit. ‘they took the road away from the pressing enemy’.) principia belli secundum Flavianos data. (principia belli secundum Flavianos data [sunt]: ‘the first move of the war was decided in favor of the Flavians’; secundum, ‘in favor of’, is prep. governing the accusative.)