C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino by 86 BC-34? BC Sallust
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page 95 of 256 (37%)
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atque focis suis certare. Homo militaris, quod amplius annos triginta
tribunus aut praefectus aut legatus aut praetor cum magna gloria in exercitu fuerat, plerosque ipsos factaque eorum fortia noverat; ea commemorando militum animos accendebat. [336] _Canere_ is used in different ways: _tubicen canit signum_, 'the trumpeter blows the signal;' _tubicen canit_, 'the trumpeter blows (his instrument);' _signa canuntur_, 'signals are blown' or 'given;' and lastly, _signa canunt_, 'the signals sound.' The last expression is the one used in our passage. [337] _Rupe aspera_, &c. 'For in accordance with the nature of the plain between hills on the left-hand side, and on the right a rugged rock, he drew up (only) eight cohorts in front.' A simpler construction would have been _et rupem asperam a dextra_, but the manuscripts are decidedly in favour of the ablative, which must be considered as an ablative absolute, and as forming a distinct clause. Other editions have the correction _rupis aspera_, 'the rough part of a rock' (_aspera_ being the neut. plur.), but this is a poetical expression. See Zumpt, S 435. [338] Literally, 'The signals (_vexilla_) of the other cohorts he places in the rear as a reserve, more closely together.' _Signa_ here denotes the separate divisions of the troops; that is, the cohorts and the three maniples in each cohort, which are distinguished from one another by their flags or banners (_vexilla_). When an army was drawn up in a spacious plain, a space was left between the several divisions, but in this case, the plain being too narrow, there were no such spaces. [339] 'From among these who were drawn up as a reserve, he draws, for the purpose of strengthening the van, all centurions, picked men (in apposition), and the volunteers who had not been enlisted, as well as |
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