XX.
Batavi cum castris Bonnensibus propinquarent, (cum … propinquarent: for temporal cum followed by imperfect subjunctive see note for cum … pergerent in previous chapter.) praemisere qui Herennio Gallo mandata cohortium exponeret. (qui Herennio Gallo mandata cohortium exponeret: rel. clause of final sense; for Herennius Gallus see previous chapter.) nullum sibi bellum adversus Romanos, pro quibus totiens bellassent: (nullum sibi bellum adversus Romanos pro quibus totiens bellassent: ‘that they had no dispute with the Romans, on whose behalf they had so often fought’; bellassent: the rel. clause becomes subjunctive in indir. speech. sibi is dat. of possessor with implied esse.) longa atque inrita militia fessis patriae atque otii cupidinem esse. (longa atque inrita militia fessis patriae atque otii cupidinem esse: lit. ‘that to them, tired from long and unprofitable service, was a desire for home and rest’; fessis is dative of possessor with esse. ) si nemo obsisteret, innoxium iter fore: sin arma occurrant, ferro viam inventuros. (si nemo obsisteret, innoxium iter fore: sin arma occurrant, ferro viam inventuros: two conditional sentences in indir. discourse, one excluding the other: ‘that if no one opposed resistance, their journey would be harmless; but if they were met with arms, they would find a way with their swords’; si is used for the first condition, sin for the other. Cf. G. 592. Note the variation of tense in obsisteret and occurrant, the latter being repraesentatio for which see B. 318. Tacitus affects these changes occasionally for the sake of variety, especially as they do not alter meaning.) cunctantem legatum milites perpulerant fortunam proelii experiretur. (milites perpulerant fortunam proelii experiretur: perpello is regularly followed by a ut clause, here without ut: ‘the soldiers prevailed on him to try the fortunes of battle.’) tria milia legionariorum et tumultuariae Belgarum cohortes, (tumultuariae … cohortes: ‘improvised cohorts’, ‘raised to deal with a tumultus’) simul paganorum lixarumque ignava sed procax ante periculum manus omnibus portis prorumpunt ut Batavos numero imparis circumfundant. illi veteres militiae (veteres militiae: ‘veterans of army service’) in cuneos congregantur, densi undique et frontem tergaque ac latus tuti; (frontem tergaque ac latus tuti: frontem, terga, latus are Greek accusatives, ‘safe as to their front, rear, and sides; the construction, usually confined to poetry, is found with both adjectives and verbs and specify the object –most often a part of the body—to which the quality or action refers. Cf. B. 180, G. 338.) sic tenuem nostrorum aciem perfringunt. cedentibus Belgis pellitur legio, et vallum portasque trepidi petebant. ibi plurimum cladis: (plurimum cladis: partitive genitive after the neutral plurimum) cumulatae corporibus fossae, (fossae: the ditch (often more than one in parallel) along the base of the rampart. The earth dug in making the ditch went to build the rampart.) nec caede tantum et vulneribus, sed ruina et suis plerique telis interiere. (nec caede tantum et vulneribus, sed ruina et suis plerique telis interiere: ‘many died not slain in battle, but from falling in the rout and impaled on their own weapons.’) victores colonia Agrippinensium (colonia Agrippinensium: present day Cologne or Koln, north of Bonn, principal center of the Ubii, named after Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus and mother of Caligula. ) vitata, nihil cetero in itinere hostile ausi, Bonnense proelium excusabant, tamquam petita pace, postquam negabatur, sibimet ipsi consuluissent. (Bonnense proelium excusabant, tamquam petita pace, postquam negabatur, sibimet ipsi consuluissent: ‘they justified the fracas at Bonna, inasmuch as they themselves had provided for their own safety after peace was solicited and refused.’ tamquam …consulissent: in Tacitus tamquam + subjunctive has often causal sense. Cf. G. 602, Note 4. petita pace: abl. abs., ‘peace having been applied for’; sibimet: dative of interest; the enclitic –met is for emphasis. (Note: if excusabant introduces indir. speech in the above sentence, the use of indicative in postquam negabatur, in place of subjunctive, may indicate that the temporal clause is explanatory, something added by the writer to improve clarity.)