[266] XCI. After marching the whole night.—He seems to have marched in the night for the sake of coolness.
[267] XCII. All his undertakings, etc.—Omnia non bene consulta in virtutem trahebantur. "All that he did rashly was attributed to his consciousness of extraordinary power." If they could not praise his prudence, they praised his resolution and energy.
[268] Difficult of execution—Difficilem. There seemed to be as many impediments to success as in the affair at Capsa, though the undertaking was not of so perilous a nature.
[269] In the midst of a plain—Inter caeteram planitiem. By caeteram he signifies that the rest of the ground, except the part on which the fort stood, was plain and level.
[270] Directed his utmost efforts to take—Summâ vi capere intendit. It is to be observed that summâ vi refers to intendit, not to capere. Summâ ope animum intendit ut caperet.
[271] Among the vineae—Inter vineas. "Inter, for which Müller, from a conjecture of Glareanus, substituted intra is supported by all the manuscripts, and ought not to be altered, although intra would have been more exact, as the signification of inter is of greater extent, and includes that of intra. Inter is used when a thing is inclosed on each side; intra, when it is inclosed on all sides. If the soldiers, therefore, are considered as surrounded with the vineae, they should be described as intra vineas; but as there is no reason why they may not also be contemplated as being inclosed only laterally by the vineae, the phrase inter vineas may surely in that case be applied to them. Gronovius and Drakenborch ad Liv., i. 10, have observed how often these propositions are interchanged when referred to time." Kritzius. On vineae, see c. 76.
[272] XCIII. A certain Ligurian—in the auxiliary cohorts—The Ligurians were not numbered among the Italians or socii in the Roman army, but attached to it only as auxiliaries.
[273] A desire—of seeing what he had never seen—More humani ingenii, cupido ignara visundi invadit. This is the reading of Cortius, to which Muller and Allen adhere. Gerlach inserted in his text, More humani ingeni, cupidio difficilia faciundi animum vortit; which Kritzius, Orelli, and Dietsch, have adopted, and which Cortius acknowledged to be the reading of the generality of the manuscripts, except that they vary as to the last two words, some having animad vortit. The sense of this reading will be, "the desire of doing something difficult, which is natural to the human mind, drew off his thoughts from gathering snails, and led him to contemplate something of a more arduous character." But the reading of Cortius gives so much better a sense to the passage, that I have thought proper to follow it. Burnouf, with Havercamp and the editions antecedent to Cortius, reads more humanae cupidinis ignara visundi animum vortit, of which the first five words are taken from a quotation of Aulus Gellius, ix. 12, who, however, may have transcribed them from some other part of Sallust's works, now lost.
[274] Horizontally—Prona. This word here signifies forward, not downward, as Anthon and others interpret, for trees growing out of a rock or bank will not take a descending direction.
[275] As nature directs all vegetables—Quò cuncta gignentium natura fert. It is to be observed that the construction is natura fert cuncta gignentium, for cuncta gignentia. On gignentia, i.e. vegetable, or whatever produces any thing, see c. 79, and Cat., c. 53.