Matheson Collection > Cornelli Taciti annalium

TACITUS ANNALS : NOTES
struck the sea there on their retreat, Xen. Anab. v 5, and was now
a free city.
discedit : first northwards towards Trapezus, and then, on the
failure of his plan, towards Artaxata.
§ 2. Volandum : exact site unknown ; it stood W. of Artaxata
and S. of the Araxes.
Cornelio Flacco : not elsewhere mentioned ; he was evidently
' legatus legionis.' Insteiua Capito, now promoted from centurion
(ch. 9) to the post of ' praefectus castrorum.'
§ 4. in testudinem conglobatoa : massed together with their
shields locked above their heads.
subruendo : dat. of purpose.
incutere = ' conicere.'
§ 5. libritoribus : these worked the artillery engines (' tor-
menla'j ; the 'funditores' were armed with a sling ('funda').
glandes : leaden balls.
§6. obices portarum, (i) 'barricades at the gateways,' like
'obices viarum,' Liv. ix 3 ; or (2) 'the obstacle presented by the
gates,' like ' se vasti Proteus tegit obice saxi,' Verg. Georg. iv 422.
escensu : ott. tXp.
§ 7. sub corona venundatum, ' were sold as slaves,' the profits
going to the state. It was the custom for captives to be crowned
with wreaths when being sold as slaves.
cetera, &c., ' all the rest, some through fear, others voluntarily ' ;
the omission of ' alia ' before ' terrore ' implies that the majority were
influenced by fear.
§ 8. si . . . transgrederentur . . . dabantur : the indicat. (instead
of ' darentur ' or ' dati essent ') vividly states the unrealized tendency
as though realized in fact : cf. ch. ii I.
procul et latioribus vadis : a condensed expression, ' further
off where the river was broader and so fordable ' (because more
shallow).
Ch. 40, § I. concessisset, ' should he have offered no resistance
to the siege.'
date die, ' when a fit day offeied itself.'
§ 2. non ignaro, &c., ' without taking our general unawares,
since he had arranged his army ready alike for marching or
fighting ' ; for the datives cf. ch. 32 ' ultioni iuxta et securitati.'
§ 3. decumanorum : the main body was left with Ummidius,
ch! 8.
quibus iusserat : cf. ch. 15, 3.
non eequerentur, ' non ' used for ' ne ' to emphasize the negation
of the particular word ' sequerentur ' rather than of the whole
phrase : cf. ' non Teucros agat,' Verg. Aen. xii 78. ' proinde . . .
non ad unum omnia deferrent,' Ami. i 11.
§ 4. prodvxctiore, &:c., ' the left wing extending out further.'
fronte simul et sinu, ' in front and on the flank simultaneously ';
'sinu,' the 'fold' or 'bay' in which the extended left wing would
envelop the enemy making a frontal attack on the centre of the line.
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