XXX.
Eduxerant Batavi turrim duplici tabulato, (duplici tabulato: ‘with a double platform [one above the other]’ ) quam praetoriae portae (is aequissimus locus) propinquantem (praetoriae portae … propinquantem: ‘approaching the praetorian gate’, so called in relation to the general’s headquarters or praetorium near the gate facing the enemy; praetoriae portae is dat. with propinquo.) promoti contra validi asseres et incussae trabes perfregere (quam … promoti contra validi asseres et incussae trabes perfregere: ‘which [tower] hefty poles pushed outwards [from the wall] and beams, driven with force against it, demolished’; perfregere is from perfringo.) multa superstantium pernicie. pugnatumque in perculsos (in perculsos: ‘against the enemy thrown into disarray’) subita et prospera eruptione; simul a legionariis peritia et arte praestantibus plura struebantur. (plura struebantur: ‘were constructing many devices’.) praecipuum pavorem intulit suspensum et nutans machinamentum, (suspensum et nutans machinamentum: ‘a contrivance suspended in the air, movable [in the vertical sense]’: Tacitus is describing a machine known to the Romans as a tolleno (tolleno, –onis, m.), one of Archimedes’ inventions used during the siege of Syracuse in the second Punic war. It consisted of an upright beam with at the top a crosspiece on a pivot with arms of unequal length and movable up and down. The longer arm could be lowered and raised by moving a weight along the shorter arm. By suddenly lowering the longer arm, a special hook hanging from it would catch one or more of the enemy and hoist the victims aloft when the arm was raised. As the vertical beam could be rotated, the crane-like device would then turn on itself and deposit the haul inside the camp.) quo repente demisso (quo repente demisso: abl. of instrument rather than abl. abs.: ‘with which, suddenly lowered, [one or several Germans were …]’) praeter suorum ora (praeter suorum ora: lit. ‘past the faces of their comrades’; freely ‘under the eyes of their comrades’. suorum: the subject of the sentence being singuli pluresve hostium, the reflexive pronoun refers to the Germans.) singuli pluresve hostium sublime rapti verso pondere (verso pondere: abl. abs.: ‘the balancing weight having been changed [on the short arm of the tolleno]’) intra castra effundebantur. Civilis omissa expugnandi spe rursus per otium adsidebat, nuntiis et promissis fidem legionum convellens. (fidem …convellens: ‘trying hard to subert the loyalty’)