XXXII.
Lectae deinde pro contione epistulae Antonii ad Civilem (epistulae Antonii ad Civilem: for the gist of the letter cf. ch. 13.) suspiciones militum inritavere, tamquam (tamquam: ‘inasmuch as’: causal sense, as is often the case in Tacitus) ad socium partium scriptae et de Germanico exercitu hostiliter. mox adlatis Geldubam in castra nuntiis (adlatis Geldubam in castra nuntiis: the letter was first read to the troops of Castra Vetera; now the men of the Twenty-second and Fourth Macedonian legions at Gelduba have their turn.) eadem dicta factaque, et missus cum mandatis Montanus ad Civilem ut absisteret bello neve externa armis falsis velaret: (ut absisteret bello neve externa armis falsis velaret: positive final clause followed by negative final clause: ‘calling on him to stop fighting and not to mask designs external [to the civil conflict] with misleading acts of war.’ The conj. neve introduces a prohibition after a ut clause with the sense of ‘and not to …’.) si Vespasianum iuvare adgressus foret, satis factum coeptis. (si Vespasianum iuvare adgressus foret, satis factum coeptis: conditional sentence of the potential or ideal type in indir. discourse, the point of view being the past: ‘that if had started a war to help Vespasian, enough had been done with what he had accomplished’ (lit. ‘with his undertakings’). iuvare: infinitive of purpose; cf. A.G. 460.) ad ea Civilis primo callide: (ad ea Civilis primo callide: a verb must be supplied, such as respondit: ‘Civilis in response was artfully guarded’.) post ubi videt (post ubi videt: post: adverb, ‘later’, in the course of the interview’; ubi videt: ubi usually takes perf. indicative; here videt is historical present in place of vidit.) Montanum praeferocem ingenio (Montanum … praeferocem ingenio [esse]: ‘that Montanus was an impetuous man by nature’) paratumque in res novas, orsus a questu periculisque quae (orsus a questu periculisque quae …: lit. ‘he began from the grievances and all the dangers, which …’ The verb orior is usually followed by a or ab to mark a starting point.) per quinque et viginti annos in castris Romanis exhausisset, ‘egregium’ inquit ‘pretium (egregium … pretium: sarcasm) laborum recepi, necem fratris et vincula mea (necem fratris et vincula mea: Civilis’ brother Paulus was executed on Fonteius Capito’s orders, as mentioned in ch. 13. Civilis himself was imprisoned: cf. ch. 13 and Book 1, ch. 59.) et saevissimas huius exercitus voces, quibus ad supplicium petitus iure gentium poenas reposco. vos autem Treviri ceteraeque servientium animae, quod praemium effusi totiens sanguinis expectatis nisi ingratam militiam, immortalia tributa, virgas, securis et dominorum ingenia? en (en: interjection calling attention to something: ‘look!’, ‘see!’) ego (ego: unlike English, personal pronouns are rarely used as subjects in Latin, except to express emphasis, as here, or to make a distinction.) praefectus unius cohortis et Canninefates Batavique, exigua Galliarum portio, vana illa castrorum spatia (vana illa castrorum spatia: vana is used in the sense of ‘containing no real force’, ‘half-empty’; the camp at Vetera had five thousand soldiers in place of the regular complement of twelve thousand, the rest having been sent to fight in Italy.) excidimus vel saepta (saepta: ‘surrounded as with a hedge’ from the verb saepio) ferro fameque premimus. denique ausos aut libertas sequetur aut victi idem erimus.’ sic accensum, sed molliora referre iussum dimittit: ille ut inritus legationis (ut inritus legationis: lit. ‘as frustrated of his embassy’; freely ‘as having failed in his mission’; legationis is genitive after adjctive requiring an object: cf. A.G. 349.) redit, cetera dissimulans, quae mox erupere.