XVII.
Clara ea victoria in praesens, in posterum usui; (usui: dative of purpose) armaque et navis, quibus indigebant, adepti magna per Germanias Galliasque fama libertatis auctores celebrabantur. (magna … fama … celebrabantur: magna fama is abl. of cause: ‘they were exalted in view of their glorious achievement .’) Germaniae statim misere legatos auxilia offerentis: Galliarum societatem Civilis arte donisque (arte donisque: may be hendiadys, ‘with deceptive generosity’) adfectabat, captos cohortium praefectos suas in civitates remittendo, (captos cohortium praefectos suas in civitates remittendo: ‘by returning the prefects to their own communities’; praefectos remittendo: abl. gerund without preposition admits a direct object; suas …civitates: even though praefectos is not subject of the clause, suas and not eorum is used in that the possessive adj. has the emphatic sense of ‘their own’. See B. 244.) cohortibus, abire an manere mallent, data potestate. (cohortibus, abire an manere mallent, data potestate: abl. abs.: ‘permission being granted to the cohorts whether they might prefer to stay or to leave’; abire an manere mallent: alternative indir. question; Tacitus as usual omits the particle before the first part of the question.) manentibus honorata militia, digredientibus spolia Romanorum offerebantur: simul secretis sermonibus admonebat malorum, quae tot annis perpessi miseram servitutem falso pacem vocarent. (admonebat malorum, quae tot annis perpessi miseram servitutem falso pacem vocarent: admoneo requires gen. of the thing to which attention is called: lit. ‘he reminded them of the evils, having tolerated which during so many years, they wrongly called miserable servitude peace.’ perpetior being deponent, its perf. participle has active meaning. vocarent: subjunctive for rel. clause in indir. speech after admonebat; indir. speech continues to the end of the chapter.) Batavos, quamquam tributorum expertis, (quamquam … expertis: quamquam is rarely found with an adjective in classical Latin.) arma contra communis dominos cepisse; prima acie fusum victumque Romanum. quid si Galliae iugum exuant? (quid si Galliae iugum exuant?: subjunctive for question in indirect speech; the present exuant is repraesentatio in place of exuerent, expected after a historical verb of saying. Cf. G. 654, N.) quantum in Italia reliquum? provinciarum sanguine provincias vinci. ne Vindicis aciem cogitarent: (ne Vindicis aciem cogitarent: Julius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, led a rebellion against Nero, but was defeated by Verginius Varus at Vesontio (Besancon) in 68 A.D.) Batavo equite protritos Aeduos Arvernosque; fuisse inter Verginii auxilia Belgas, (Batavo equite protritos Aeduos Arvernosque; fuisse inter Verginii auxilia Belgas: ‘that the Aedui and the Arverni were crushed by Batavian cavalry and that Belgian troops had been among Verginius’ auxiliaries’; the Aedui occupied the region between the rivers Saone and Loire in central east France and the Arverni the Auvergne region of the Massif Central. For Verginius Rufus see previous note.) vereque reputantibus Galliam suismet viribus concidisse. (vereque reputantibus Galliam suismet viribus concidisse: ‘and that for those judging the matter correctly Gaul had fallen by her own strength’; the enclitic –met after suis is for emphasis.) nunc easdem omnium partis, addito si quid militaris disciplinae in castris Romanorum viguerit; (nunc easdem omnium partis, addito si quid militaris disciplinae in castris Romanorum viguerit: lit. ‘now the party of everyone was the same, with something added, if something of the martial drilling [still] lived on in the Roman camps.’ Freely: ‘now they were all on the same side, plus they had whatever was left of the warlike training that was once so important in the Roman camps’; addito is the neuter abl. of additum used as a noun, ‘with one added thing’; si quid …viguerit: quid is for aliquid after si; the perfect subjunctive viguerit corresponds to the perfect indicative viguit of direct discourse. The same applies to procubuerint in the next line. Cf. B. 268, 6.) esse secum veteranas cohortis, quibus nuper Othonis legiones procubuerint. (esse secum veteranas cohortis, quibus nuper Othonis legiones procubuerint: ’that they had with them the veteran [Batavian] cohorts at the hands of which Otho’s legions recently suffered ruin’; these are the eight cohorts that were sent back to Germany by Vitellius (cf. Book 2, ch. 59) and were then stationed at Mogontiacum (cf. ch. 15). For their exploits at the first battle of Bedriacum see Book 2, ch. 43, at the end.) servirent Syria Asiaque et suetus regibus Oriens: (servirent Syria Asiaque et suetus regibus Oriens: servirent is hortatory subjunctive in indir. speech, reflecting servant of direct speech.) multos adhuc in Gallia vivere ante tributa genitos. nuper certe caeso Quintilio Varo (Quintilio Varo: legate of emperor Augustus in Germany, Quintilius Varus was drawn into an ambush by Arminius’ forces in 9 A.D. and suffered a crushing defeat, losing three legions and his own life. Civilis’ assertion that this and other ‘recent’ events of sixty (or many more) years earlier were within memory of living people is scarsely credible.) pulsam e Germania servitutem, nec Vitellium principem sed Caesarem Augustum bello provocatum. (bello provocatum: ‘defied with war’) libertatem natura etiam mutis animalibus datam, virtutem proprium hominum bonum; deos fortioribus adesse: proinde arriperent vacui occupatos, integri fessos. (proinde arriperent vacui occupatos, integri fessos: ‘therefore let them whose hands were free fall on a beleaguered enemy, with fresh forces on a spent enemy.’ arriperent is imperative in indir. discourse, matching the direct arripite.) dum alii Vespasianum, alii Vitellium foveant, patere locum adversus utrumque. (dum alii Vespasianum, alii Vitellium foveant, patere locum adversus utrumque: ‘that while some backed Vespasian and others Vitellius, the field was open against one and the other’; dum …foveant: dum + pres. indicatve in direct speech may become subjunctive by attraction in indir. speech.)