_Pudet dictu_. The supine after _pudet_ is found only here. Quintilian
however has _pudendum dictu_. Cf. Or. in loc.; and Z. 441. 443.
_Commendent_, etc. _Although they give up their blood to_ (i.e. _shed it
in support of_) _a foreign tyrant_.--_Tamen_ is antithetic to _licet_:
_although_ they give, _yet longer enemies, than slaves_ (of Rome).
_Metus--est_. _It is fear and terror_ (sc. that keep them in subjection),
_weak bonds of affection_.
_Removeris--desierint_. Fut. perf. Cf. note, G. 23: _indulseris_.
_Nulla--aut alia_. Some of the Roman soldiers had lost all attachment to
country and could not be said to have any country; others had one, but it
was not Britain, it was far away.
_Ne terreat_. The third person of the imperative is for the most part
avoided in ordinary language; and the pres. subj. is used in its stead.
Z. 529, Note.
_Nostras manus_, i.e. those ready to join us and aid our arms, viz. (as
he goes on to say), the Gauls and Germans, as well as the Britons now in
the Roman ranks.--_Tamquam_==_just as_ (_tam-quam_). Död. renders, _just
as certainly as_.
_Vacua.--Destitute of soldiers.--Senum_, sc. veterani et emeriti. Cf.
note, 15. _Aegra==disaffected_. Cf. H. 2, 86.
_Hic dux_, etc. _Here a general, here an army_ (sc. the Roman, awaits
you); _there tributes, mines_, &c. (and you must conquer the former or
endure the latter--these are your only alternatives).
_In hoc campo est_. _Depends on this battle field_.--T. has laid out all
his strength on this speech. It can hardly be matched for martial force
and sententious brevity. It breathes, as it should in the mouth of a
Briton, an indomitable spirit of liberty, and reminds us, in many
features, of the concentrated and fiery eloquence, which has so often
roused our American Indians to defend their altars and revenge their
wrongs.
XXXIII. _Ut barbaris moris_. Al. et barbari moris. But compare 39: ut
Domitiano moris erat; His. 1, 15: ut moris est. Supply _est_ here: _as is
the custom of_ (lit. _to_) _barbarians_. Z. 448, & H. 402, I.
_Agmina_, sc. conspiciebantur.--_Procursu_ is the means by which the
gleam of armor was brought into view.
_Acies_, sc. Britannorum. The _Roman_ army was still within the camp, cf.
_munimentis coercitum_, below.
_Coercitum_==qui coerceri potest. The part, used in the sense of a verbal.
So _monstratus_, G. 31, which, Freund says, is Tacitean. The perf. part.
pass. with negative prefix _in_ often takes this sense. Z. 328. Cf. note,
His. 5, 7: _inexhaustum_.
_Octavus annus_. This was Agricola's _seventh summer_ in Britain. See
note 29: _initio aestatis_. But it being now later in the season, than
when he entered Britain, he was now entering on his _eighth year_. Cf.
Rit. in loc.
_Virtute--Romani_. _By the valor and favoring auspices of the Roman
Empire_. War was formerly carried on auspiciis _Populi_ Rom. But after
Augustus, auspiciis _Imperatoris_ or _Imperii_ Rom.
_Expeditionibus--proeliis_. These words denote the _time_ of _poenituit_
(_in_ or _during_ so many, etc.)--_Patientia_ and _labore_ are abl. after
_opus_.
_Terminos_. Acc. after _egressi_ (H. 371, 4): _having transcended the
limits_. Cf. Z. 387.
_Fama, rumore_. Synonyms. Also _castris, armis_. Cf. note, 30.
_Vota--aperto_. _Your vows and your valor now have free scope_ (are in the
open field), cf. note 1: _in aperto_.
_In frontem_. Antith. to _fugientibus_. Hence==progredientibus.
_Hodie_. _To-day_, i.e. _in our present circumstances of prosperity_.
Wr.
_Nec--fuerit_. _Nor will it have been inglorious_, sc. when the thing
shall have been _done_ and men shall look _back_ upon our achievements.
The fut. perf. is appropriate to such a conception.
_Naturae fine_. Cf. note, G. 45: _illuc usque natura_.
XXXIV. _Hortarer_. Literally, _I would be exhorting you_. The use of the
imperf. subj. in hypothetical sentences, where we should use a plup. (I
would have exhorted you), is frequent both in Greek and Latin, even when
it denotes a _complete_ past action, cf. Z. 525. When the action is not
complete, as here, the Latin form is at once more lively and more exact
than the English.--_Proximo anno_. This same expression may signify
either the next year, or the last year. Here of course: _the last year_,
referring to the battle described in 26, cf. also note 29: _Initio
aestatis_.
_Furto noctis_. Cf. Virg. Aen. 9, 397: fraude noctis.
_Contra ruere_. _Rush forth to meet, penetrantibus_, etc. R. and Wr. take
_ruere_ for perf. 3d pl. instead of _ruerunt_, since T. uses the form in
_ere_ much more than that in _erunt_. Rit. makes it inf. after _solet_
understood, or rather implied in _pelluntur_, which==_pelli solent_.
_Quos--quod_. _Whom, as to the fact that you have at length found (it is
not because) they have taken a stand, but they have been overtaken_. Cf.
Wr. and Or. in loc. On _deprehensi_, cf. note, 7. On _quod==as to this,
that_, see examples in Freund, or in any Lexicon.
_Novissimae--vestigiis_. _The extremity of their circumstances, and their
bodies_ (motionless) _with terror have brought them to a stand for battle
on this spot_, etc. One MS. reads _novissime_ and omits _aciem_, which
reading is followed in the common editions.
_Extremo metu_ is to be closely connected with _corpora_. For the sense
of _defixere_, cf. Ann. 13, 5: pavore defixis.
_Ederetis_. Subj. cf. H. 500, 2; Z. 556, a.
_Transigite cum expeditionibus_==finite expeditiones. Dr. Cf. G. 19:
cum spe--transigitur, note.
_Quinquaginta annis_. So many years, it might be said to be in round
numbers, though actually somewhat _less_ than fifty years, since the
dominion of Rome was first established in Britain under the Emperor
Claudius. Cf. 13, supra.--The speech of A. is not equal to that of
Galgacus. He had not so good a cause. He could not appeal to the sacred
principles of justice and liberty, to the love of home and household
gods. But he makes the best of a bad cause. The speech is worthy of a
Roman commander, and touches with masterly skill all those chords in a
Roman soldier's breast, that were never touched in vain.
XXXV. _Et==both_. Both while he was speaking and after he had ceased, the
soldiers manifested their ardor, etc.
_Instinctos_. Cf. note 16: instincti.
_Aciem firmarent_==aciem firmam facerent, of which use there are examples
not only in T., but in Liv. Dr. The auxiliary foot _formea_ or _made up_
(not merely strengthened) _the centre_.--_Affunderentur. Were attached
to_.--_Pro vallo. On the rampart_; properly on the fore part of it. Cf.
note, H. 1, 29.
_Ingens--decus_. In app. with _legiones--stetere_.
_Bellanti_, sc. Agricolae. Al. bellandi.
_In speciem_. Cf. in suam famam, 8, and in jactationem, 5.
_Aequo_. Supply consisteret to correspond with _insurgeret_. Zeugma. Cf.
note, 18: in aequum.
_Media campi_. _The intervening parts of the plain_, sc. between the two
armies.--_Covinarius_ is found only in T. _Covinarii_==the essedarii of
Caesar. Covinus erat currus Belgarum, a quibus cum Britanni acceperant.
Dr.
_Pedes_. Nom. sing, in app. with subject of _constitit_.
XXXVI. _Indentibus gladiis_, etc. So below: _parva scuta_, etc. The small
shield and broad sword of the Highlanders.
_Donec--cohortatus est_. Cf. note, G. 37: _affectavere_.--_Batavorum
cohortes_. Al. _tres--cohortes_. But the number is not specified in the
best MSS. In the Histories, eight cohorts of Batavians are often
mentioned as constituting the auxiliaries of the 14th legion, which was
now in Britain. See Rit. in loc.
_Ad mucrones_. The Britons were accustomed to fight with the edge of the
sword, and cut and hew the enemy. The Romans, on the contrary, made use
of the _point_. Of course in a close engagement, they would have greatly
the advantage. Br.--_Ad manus_. The opposite of _eminus_, i.e. _a close
engagement_. The same thing is expressed below by _complexum armorum_.
_In aperto pugnam_. Literally a fight in the open field, i.e. a
_regular_ pitched _battle_, which with its compact masses would be less
favorable to the large swords of the Britons, than a battle on ground
uncleared of thickets and forests. Al. _in arto_.
_Miscere, ferire_, etc. A series of inf. denoting a rapid succession of
events, cf. note, 5: noscere--nosci; G. 30: praeponere.
_Equitum turmae_, sc. Britannorum. The word _turmae_ is applicable to
such a cavalry as theirs, cf. Ann. 14, 34: _Britannorum_ copiae passim
per catervas et _turmas_ exsultabant. Br. Ky. and others here understand
it of the Roman cavalry. But R. Dr. and Wr. apply it to the Britons, and
with reason, as we shall see below, and as we might infer indeed from its
close connexion with _covinarii_, for the _covinarii_ were certainly
Britons.
_Peditum proelio, hostium agminibus_. These also both refer to the
_Britons_. The covinarii were interspersed among their own infantry, and,
as the Romans advanced, became entangled with them. This is disputed. But
the small number of Romans slain in the whole battle is alone enough to
show, that _their_ cavalry was not routed, nor _their_ infantry broken in
upon by the chariots of the enemy. Moreover, how could T. properly use
the word _hostium_ of his own countrymen?
_Minimeque_, etc. This is one passage, among a few in T., which is so
manifestly corrupt that no sense can be made of it, as it stands in the
MSS. The reading given in the text is the simplest of all the conjectural
readings that have been proposed. It is that of Br. and E., and is
followed by the common editions. Cavalry took a large part in the battle.
But the battle wore little the aspect of an equestrian fight; for the
Britons, after maintaining their position with difficulty for some time,
were at length swept away by the bodies (the _mere uncontrolled bodies_)
of the horses--in short, the riders had no control over horses or
chariots, which rushed on without drivers obliquely athwart, or directly
through the lines, as their fears severally impelled them; all which was
in marked contrast to a Roman's idea of a regular battle of cavalry.