Ch. 18

The Romans Struggles

Sed Vespasianus¹ Romanos his excursibus male affectos aspiciens (nam et terga² dare Judaeis pudebat³, et fugientes⁴ insequi armorum pondere⁵ tardabantur : cum⁶ Judaei semper aliquid agentes, priusquam paterentur, in civitatem refugerent) armatis imperat⁷, ut eorum impetum declinarent, neve⁸ cum⁹ hominibus mortis avidis manum consererent. Nihil¹⁰ esse fortius desperatis. Restingui¹¹ autem illorum impetus, si proposito frustrentur, quasi¹² flammam, si materiam non inveniat. Ad hoc oportere¹³ Romanos cautius¹⁴ quaerere victoriam, augendae¹⁵ possessionis causa non ex necessitate pugnantes. Per sagittarios autem Arabum¹⁶ et Syriae et funditores, perque saxa¹⁷ tormentis emissa plerunque repellebat Judaeos, nulla enim telorum machina quiescebat. Illi¹⁸ autem his quidem male accepti cedebant : verum¹⁹ eminus missa intra²⁰ iactum subeuntes, saevius Romanis²¹ instabant: cum neque²² corpori, neque animae parcerent : sed per²³ vicem utrinque pugnarent, suorum²⁴ quisque laborantibus²⁵ subvenientes²⁶.

1. Sed Vespasianus …. aspiciens: your nominative participle aspiciens starts off indirect statement, with affectos acting as the infinitive verb since a form of sum often drops out, leaving just the PPP ↩

2. terga dare Judaeis: terga dare “to flee,” Judaeis is dative ↩

3. pudebat: pudet is an impersonal verb, “it was shameful” (to the Romans) ↩

4. fugientes insequi ….. tardabantur: take the Romans as your subject, and the fugientes as referring to the Jews when they escape after having destroyed the siege crafts ↩

5. armorum pondere: pondus, -eris (n) is ablative here, NOT an infinitive, by the weight of the armor ↩

6. cum Judaei ….. refugerent: save the priusquam paterentur for last in this phrase. It refers to the Jews taking damage as they were fleeing ↩

7. imperat: the verb impero, imperare takes a dative, armatis, of who is commanded. Then the ut starts an indirect command ↩

8. neve: or that they not…. ne+ve ↩

9. cum hominibus mortis avidis: with men greedy/eager for death ↩

10. nihil esse fortius desperatis: the -ius for a 3rd declension adjective can also be the neuter nom/acc, nothing is stronger than desperate ones ↩

11. restingui: sigh, this is a historical infinitive, which means that it acts as your main verb, and is really in the infinitive for no reason at all. It’s popular with historians, hence the name ↩

12. quasi flammam, si materiam non inveniat: this is a simile, comparing the Jews without anything to attack to fire without any wood to burn ↩

13. oportere Romanos: oportet is another impersonal verb, and takes an accusative of the person, it was fitting for the Romans ↩

14. cautius: note the -ius, making this a comparative adverb ↩

15. augendae possessionis causa: gerundive + causa in the ablative is for the sake of ↩

16. Arabum et Syriae: reinforcements from other parts of the empire ↩

17. saxa tormentis emissa: note that, since saxum is neuter, neuter plurals end in -a, this is absolutely not an ablative absolute ↩

18. Illi autem …. cedebant: the pronoun, illi, shows the change in subject to the Jews ↩

19. verum: but, just like vero ↩

20. intra iactum: within the range, meaning that the Jews were so close that the siege engines could not fire upon them ↩

21. Romanis instabant: compound verbs, like in+stare, take a dative of reference ↩

22. neque corpori, neque animae parcerent: parco, -ere takes a dative ↩

23. Per vicem: in turn ↩

24. suorum quisque: each one of them ↩

25. Laborantibus: first, take this as a substantive participle. Second, laboro, -are is frequently used as to struggle in military contexts, those struggling ↩

26. Subvenientes: subvenio has the idea of coming up to help ↩