Ch. 4

Romans Arrange their Troops

Postero autem die cuncta manu1 comitatus ipse2 consequitur, et post meridiem usque acto3 itinere ad Jotapatam pervenit : adductoque in Septentrionalem4 eius partem exercitu, in quodam tumulo castra ponit, distante5 ab oppido stadiis6 septem. Consulto autem quam7 maxime conspici8 ab hostibus affectabat, ut visu attoniti turbarentur. quod9 etiam factum est: eosque tantus10 continuo stupor invasit, ut muris egredi11 nullus auderet. At Romanos tota die ambulando12 fatigatos civitatim statim aggredi piguit13: ob eam causam duplici acie circumdato oppido, tertium extrinsecus agmen equitum posuere14, omnes Judaeis exitus obstruentes. Sed ea res illos in salutis desperatione audaciores effecit. quippe15 in bello nihil est necessitate pugnacius.

  1. cuncta manu: manus, -us (f) can also be a maniple, which is a group of soldiers ↩

  2. ipse consequitur: ipse refers to Vespasian ↩

  3. acto itinere: recognize iter, itineris (n) as 3rd declension noun in the ablative, not an infinitive. This is an ablative absolute ↩

  4. in Septentrionalem eius partem: take this as the northern part of it. Septentrionalis refers to the constellation of the Big Dipper, called the Septentrion by the Romans, which appears in the northern part of the sky. Eius refers to the city of Jotapata ↩

  5. distante ab oppido stadiis septem: this phrase describes the tumulo in the previous clause ↩

  6. Stadiis: a stade or stadion is a Greek measurement of distance that is roughly 607 feet ↩

  7. quam maxime: quam + superlative is as ____ as possible ↩

  8. conspici: passive infinitive. Vespasian’s goal is to intimidate his adversaries ↩

  9. quod etiam factum est: which actually has been done or has happened ↩

  10. tantus…auderet: tantus sets up a result clause (ut…auderet). ↩

  11. egredi: this is a deponent infinitive from egredior, to go out ↩

  12. ambulando: gerund (FPP used as a noun, a verbal action), from walking. ↩

  13. Romanos…..aggredi piguit: piget is an impersonal verb that takes an accusative. It displased the Romans to attack the city ↩

  14. Posuere: another fake infinitive, short for posuerunt ↩

  15. Quippe in bello nihil est necessitate pugnacius: surely nothing in war is more aggressive than necessity, meaning that those who have to fight will fight very ferociously ↩

All material is taken, with gratitude, from The Latin Library as well as my own work, available under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license CC BY-SA 4.0