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[42.5] quō diē: we should expect diē quō, or eōdem diē quō, but the antecedent, as often, is incorporated into the relative clause and made to agree with the pronoun: H 399, 3 (445, 9): A 200, b: G 616: B 251, 4.
[42.6] auspicia habēret: cf. auspicia adhibēre, I, 42.
[42.7] pullārius . . . vescī: on setting out for the seat of war, the commanding general often took with him a cage of sacred chickens, in charge of a special keeper (pullārius). If, when food was thrown before them, the chickens ate so greedily that portions of the food fell from their mouths to the ground, it was considered a very favorable omen. The circumstance described in the text would be regarded by the superstitious soldiery as of very dire significance.
[43.1] infinitive of edō.
[43.2] quasi . . . diīs: ‘because (as they supposed), the gods were angry.’ Cf. [p. 3, n. 6]. īrātīs diīs is an abl. abs.
[43.3] The battle was fought off Drepanum, in Sicily. Appius lost 93 out of 123 ships.
[43.4] que here = ‘but,’ a meaning which it bears more frequently after negative sentences ([p. 13, n. 12]).
[43.5] Cf. [p. 25, n. 6].
[43.6] in . . . carpentō: an abl. abs., giving the cause of optāvit.