XXIII.
Civilem cupido incessit navalem aciem ostentandi: (Civilem cupido incessit navalem aciem ostentandi: lit. ‘the desire assailed Civilis of showing his naval force’; navalem aciem ostentandi is an example of active gen. gerund admitting a direct object, in place of the passive gerundive navalis aciei ostentandae.) complet quod biremium quaeque simplici ordine agebantur; (complet quod biremium quaeque simplici ordine agebantur: lit. ‘he manned what of biremes [he had] and all [ships] that were propelled by a single bank [of oars]’. biremium is partitive genitive after the neuter quod; simplici ordine is abl. of agent with agebantur, without a or ab if the agent is not a person; complet is hist. present, like dirimuntur below.) adiecta ingens luntrium vis, tricenos quadragenosque … armamenta Liburnicis solita; (adiecta ingens luntrium vis, tricenos quadragenosque … armamenta Liburnicis solita: one or more words are missing in the original text after quadragenos, but not enough to affect meaning; tricenos quadragenosque are distributive numerals: they answer the question ‘how many men for each ship?’; Liburnicis, dat. with solita armamenta, are swift, agile galleys originally from the Istria, Dalmatia regions at the north end of the Adriatic sea. Liburnicus is from Liburnia, the country of the Liburni, a people of Illyria, the Balkan region that later became Jugoslavia.) et simul captae luntres sagulis versicoloribus haud indecore pro velis iuvabantur. (simul captae luntres sagulis versicoloribus haud indecore pro velis iuvabantur: ‘added to these, the captured vessels were aesthetically improved through the use of variegated (striped) plaids serving as sails’. captae luntres are the captives naves mentioned in the preceding chapter.) Spatium velut aequoris electum quo Mosae fluminis os amnem Rhenum Oceano adfundit. (spatium velut aequoris electum quo Mosae fluminis os amnem Rhenum Oceano adfundit: velut aequoris is ellipsis for velut spatium aequoris: ‘the place, large as that of an open sea, was chosen where the mouth of the Mosa river spills to the ocean the waters of the Rhine’. Oceano is dative with adfundit. Rhenum: here the Waal: Tacitus uses Rhenus indifferently for both the Waal and the Lower Rhine (Nederrijn), the two arms into which the river divides before reaching the sea. Mosa is the Maas or Meuse river.) Causa instruendae classis (causa instruendae classis: causa instruendae classis is genitive gerundive after the abl. causa (‘because of’); cf. A.G. 359, b.) super insitam genti vanitatem ut eo terrore commeatus Gallia adventantes interciperentur. (ut eo terrore commeatus Gallia adventantes interciperentur: ‘so that by that threat the supplies arriving from Gaul might be interdicted’; supplies were brought up from Gaul by the Meuse. Gallia: rather rare use of the name of acountry without prep. to express Place from Which.) Cerialis miraculo magis quam metu (miraculo magis quam metu: Cerialis is surprised that Civilis should venture into naval warfare where the Romans were so obviously superior.) derexit classem, numero imparem, usu remigum, gubernatorum arte, navium magnitudine potiorem. His flumen secundum, illi vento agebantur: (his flumen secundum, illi vento agebantur: ‘to the Romans the current was helpful, the Germans were propelled by the wind’.) sic praevecti temptato levium telorum iactu dirimuntur. (sic praevecti temptato levium telorum iactu dirimuntur: ‘so, having sailed by each other, they separated, an exchange of light projectiles having been tried’.) Civilis nihil ultra ausus trans Rhenum concessit: Cerialis insulam Batavorum hostiliter populatus agros villasque Civilis intactas nota arte ducum (nota arte ducum: the tactic, mentioned by several ancient historians, was to leave the property of the enemy leader intact, so as to make him suspect, in the eyes of his own people, of collusion with the opposing side.) sinebat, cum interim flexu autumni et crebris per aequinoctium imbribus (cum interim flexu autumni et crebris per aequinoctium imbribus: ‘with the sun nearing its turning point and with the frequent rains occurring at the equinox, …’; cum …flexu …et …[cum] imbribus is abl. of attendant circumstance, similar to abl. of accompaniment; flexus autumni is the turning point at the end of fall, when the sun reaches the lowest point on the horizon before reversing its course; per aequinoctium: either ‘on account of the equinox’ or ‘through the equinoctial period’) superfusus amnis palustrem humilemque insulam in faciem stagni opplevit. (palustrem humilemque insulam in faciem stagni opplevit: ‘filled the swampy, low-lying island to the state or appearance of a pond’) Nec classis aut commeatus aderant, castraque in plano sita vi fluminis differebantur.