XXIX.
Nec finem labori nox attulit: congestis circum lignis accensisque, simul epulantes, ut quisque vino incaluerat, (incaluerat: pluperfect for action anterior to that of the main verb; Latin is much more attentive to time relationships than English.) ad pugnam temeritate inani ferebantur. quippe ipsorum tela per tenebras (per tenebras: ‘on account of darkness’ or ‘through darkness’) vana: Romani conspicuam barbarorum aciem, et si quis audacia aut insignibus effulgens, ad ictum destinabant. (conspicuam barbarorum aciem, … ad ictum destinabant: lit. ‘they earmarked for a strike the clearly visible barbarian line.’) intellectum id Civili (intellectum id [est] Civili: ‘this was understood by Civilis’. Civili is dat. of agent , found on occasion, especially in Tacitus, with the compound tenses of passive verbs; in such cases the so-called agent would actually benefit from the action expressed by the verb sooner than perform it. Thus, the lit. sense is ‘this became intelligible for him’. Cf. G. 215, 354 and B. 189, 2.) et restincto igne misceri cuncta tenebris et armis iubet. tum vero strepitus dissoni, casus incerti, (casus incerti: ‘unexpected dangers’) neque feriendi neque declinandi providentia: (neque feriendi neque declinandi providentia: lit. ‘no beforehand knowledge of when to strike and when to parry’. feriendi and declinandi are objective genitive gerunds.) unde clamor acciderat, circumagere corpora, tendere (circumagere … tendere: historical infinitives, as others that follow) artus; nihil prodesse virtus, fors cuncta turbare et ignavorum saepe telis fortissimi cadere. apud Germanos inconsulta ira: Romanus miles periculorum gnarus ferratas sudis, gravia saxa non forte iaciebat. (non forte iaciebat: ‘did not throw at random.’) ubi sonus molientium aut adpositae scalae hostem in manus (in manus: ‘within their grasp’) dederant, propellere umbone, (umbone: the boss of the shield) pilo sequi; (pilo sequi: followed up their action by using the javelin.) multos in moenia egressos pugionibus fodere. sic exhausta nocte novam aciem (aciem: in the sense of ‘weapon’) dies aperuit.