XXI.
Plus discriminis (plus discriminis: partitive genitive after the neuter plus; another example is parum temporis below.) apud Grinnes Vadamque. Vadam Civilis, Grinnes Classicus obpugnabant: nec sisti poterant interfecto fortissimo quoque, in quis Briganticus praefectus alae ceciderat, quem fidum Romanis et Civili avunculo infensum diximus. (quem … diximus: in Book 4, ch. 70.) Sed ubi Cerialis cum delecta equitum manu subvenit, (ubi … subvenit: perfect indicative after ubi to indicate action immediately preceding that of the main verb; ubi=‘as soon as’) versa fortuna; praecipites Germani in amnem aguntur. (aguntur: hist. present) Civilis dum fugientis retentat, (dum …retentat: present indicative after dum to express contemporaneity with respect to the action of the main clause) agnitus petitusque telis relicto equo transnatavit; idem Veraci effugium: Tutorem Classicumque adpulsae luntres vexere. (Tutorem Classicumque adpulsae luntres vexere: ‘small boats that came up carried Tutor and Classicus away’.) Ne tum quidem Romana classis pugnae adfuit, et iussum erat, (et iussum erat: ‘and yet orders were issued’; et can have a slightly adversative force in certain contexts.) sed obstitit formido et remiges per alia militiae munia dispersi. Sane Cerialis parum temporis ad exequenda imperia dabat, subitus consiliis set eventu clarus: aderat fortuna, etiam ubi artes defuissent; (aderat fortuna, etiam ubi artes defuissent: when ubi = ‘whenever’, for repeated action, subjunctive usually follows, especially in Tacitus.) hinc ipsi exercituique minor cura disciplinae. (ipsi exercituique minor cura disciplinae: ipsi and exercitui are dative of possessor with implied erat: ‘he himself amd his army had little concern for discipline’.) Et paucos post dies, quamquam periculum captivitatis evasisset, (quamquam periculum captivitatis evasisset: ‘he had , however, barely escaped the risk of being captured’: quamquam, usually followed by indicative, may govern the potential subjunctive, particularly when placed at the outset of a sentence, if its force is that of ‘as yet’, ‘however’, ‘although’ and its role is to restrict or modify what precedes. Cf. G. 605, Remarks 1 and 2.) infamiam non vitavit.