XI.
Igitur castris, uti diximus, (uti diximus: Tacitus resumes the narrative interrupted at the end of ch. 1 by the excursus into Jewish culture and religion.) ante moenia Hierosolymorum positis instructas legiones ostentavit: Iudaei sub ipsos muros struxere aciem, rebus secundis longius ausuri et, si pellerentur, parato perfugio. (rebus secundis longius ausuri et, si pellerentur, parato perfugio: ‘things going well, they would venture further; an escape having been prepared if they were repulsed’: two conditional sentences back to back in a chiastic or X arrangement, with one abl. abs. being the protasis of the first sentence and another the apodosis of the second. The condition is given as possible (Type II); the point of view is the past.) Missus in eos eques cum expeditis cohortibus ambigue certavit; mox cessere hostes et sequentibus diebus crebra pro portis proelia serebant, (proelia serebant: ‘they kept engaging the enemy’.) donec adsiduis damnis intra moenia pellerentur. (donec adsiduis damnis intra moenia pellerentur: ‘until they were forced inside the walls by frequent losses’; donec …pellerentur: Tacitus often uses subjunctive after donec even when intention or expectation is absent and the indicative would seem more appropriate. Here the sense of donec is a factual ‘until the moment when …’. Compare with use of donec at the end of next chapter. adsiduis damnis: when the agent is a thing, simple abl. is used, in which case it may be viewed as the cause.) Romani ad obpugnandum versi; (Romani ad obpugnandum versi: ‘the Romans turned their thoughts to the storming of the city’. The passive versi has middle sense; the acc. gerund + ad takes the place of a purpose clause.) neque enim dignum videbatur famem hostium opperiri, poscebantque pericula, pars virtute, multi ferocia et cupidine praemiorum. Ipsi Tito Roma et opes voluptatesque ante oculos; ac ni statim Hierosolyma conciderent, morari videbantur. (ni statim Hierosolyma conciderent, morari videbantur: the subject of videbantur is opes voluptatesque: ‘unless they took Jerusalem [those pleasures] seemed to be slow in coming’: conditional sentence with negative protasis introduced by ni (nisi) followed by subjunctive for condition that may or may not be fulfilled; the apodosis has indicative in that it is always true, except in the one case — as yet unverified — stated in the protasis. morari has the sense of ‘to be late in being realized’) Sed urbem arduam situ opera molesque firmaverant, quis vel plana satis munirentur. (urbem arduam situ opera molesque firmaverant, quis vel plana satis munirentur: ‘ huge defence works, with which even level places would be sufficiently protected, had strengthened the city, already hard to scale on account of its position’. opera molesque is hendiadys; quis is an old form of quibus; the particle vel, an old imperative of volo, means ‘even’, ‘possibly’, ‘also’; munitrentur is subjunctive in rel clause of consecutive force, ‘so huge that …’. ) Nam duos collis in immensum editos claudebant muri per artem obliqui aut introrsus sinuati, (duos collis … claudebant muri per artem obliqui aut introrsus sinuati: ‘the city walls, very ingeniously curving outwards or inwards, enclosed two hills’. obliqui aut introrsus sinuati: ‘following a wavy course, now outwards now inwards from their general direction’; the two hills are Bezetha towards the north of the city and Acra immediately north of the temple. Other hills were Mount Moriah on which the temple stood and Mount Zion, the location of Herod’s palace.) ut latera obpugnantium ad ictus patescerent. Extrema rupis abrupta, et turres, ubi mons iuvisset, in sexagenos pedes, inter devexa in centenos vicenosque attollebantur, (turres, ubi mons iuvisset, in sexagenos pedes, inter devexa in centenos vicenosque attollebantur: iuvisset is iterative subjunctive found when the particle ubi is used as an indefinite relative with the sense of ‘whenever’. In such cases the construction is the same as for a protasis, particularly in Tacitus and later writers: the ubi clause (protasis) has imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the main verb (apodosis) imperfect indicative for repeated action in past time (cf. A.G. 542 and 518, c.). Lit. ‘whenever the hill had contributed [its height], the towers rose to sixty feet and in the presence of depressions to one hundred and twenty feet’. in sexagenos pedes, … in centenos vicenosque: use of distributive numerals, answering to the question quoteni, ‘how many apiece or at a time?’; see G. 97.) mira specie ac procul intuentibus pares. (turres …mira specie ac procul intuentibus pares: ‘the towers were of striking appearance, all of equal height to those looking from afar’; mira specie is abl. of quality or descriptive abl.) Alia intus moenia regiae circumiecta, conspicuoque fastigio turris Antonia, (conspicuoque fastigio turris Antonia: may mean: (a) ‘Antony’s tower on a prominent hill’ (Mt. Moriah); (b) ‘Antony’s tower with its conspicuous roof’) in honorem M. Antonii ab Herode appellata.