Grande et atrox spectaculum, etc. See a similar description in Sal. Jug. 101. The series of infinitives and the omission of the connectives (asyndeton) make the succession of events very rapid and animated. Compare the famous veni, vidi, vici, of Caesar.
Prout—erat. According to their different natural disposition, i.e. the timid, though armed, turned their backs before inferior numbers; while the brave, though unarmed, met death in the face.
Praestare terga is an expression found only in T.
Et aliquando, etc. Et==ac tamen. And yet (notwithstanding the flight of crowds and the passive death of some as above) sometimes to the conquered also there was anger and bravery. The language is Virgilian, cf. Aen. 2, 367.
Quod. Cf. note 12.—Ni frequens—fiduciam foret. "Had not A., who was everywhere present, caused some strong and lightly equipped cohorts to encompass the ground, while part of the cavalry having dismounted, made their way through the thickets, and part on horseback scoured the open woods, some disaster would have prcoeeded from this excess of confidence." Ky.
XXXVIII. Gaudio praedaque laeta. Cf. note, G. 7: cibos et hortamina. Observe also the juxtaposition of tempestate and fama in this same chapter.
Separare, sc. consilia, i.e. they sometimes act in concert, sometimes provide only for their individual safety.
Pignorum. Cf. note G. 7: pignora—Saevisse. Laid violent hands. "This picture of rage and despair, of tenderness, fury, and the tumult of contending passions, has all the fine touches of a master who has studied human nature." Mur.—Secreti==deserti.
Ubi. When, cf. 26. Its direct influence extends to nequibat, and with its clause, it expresses the reason why A. drew off his forces into the country of the Horesti.—Spargi bellum==diversis locis, vel diviso exercitu, vel vagando bellum geri. E.
Secunda—fama. Favored by the weather and the glory of their past achievements (lit. the weather and fame following them, secunda ==sequunda.)