 31. The Beginning of the French and Indian War |
33. Later Events of the War  |
Postrēmō vērō, cum in fīnēs hostium longē iter factum esset, subitō in silvīs Indōrum ululātus est audītus; tum tēla plūrima inmissa sunt, ac mīlitēs Britannicī, quī hostem nūllum vidēbant,[1] undique cadere coepērunt. Colōnī interim in silvam celeriter inrūpērunt, arboribusque interpositīs[2] cum Indīs ācriter pugnābant; at imperātor legiōnēs in viā habēbat[3] instrūctās, nec suōs locō cēdere passus est, quamquam caedem maximam fierī sentiēbat. Itaque illī paene omnēs aut interfectī sunt aut[4] vulnerātī, ac Braddoc ipse vulnus accēpit, ex quō paulō post mortuus est. Vasingtō mīlitēs perterritōs primō cohortārī cōnātus, imperātōre vulnerātō[5] exercitūs reliquiās ad castra redūxit, ubi impedimenta maxima relicta erant. Ibi, conciliō convocātō, tribūnī centuriōnēsque celeriter ē fīnibus hostium sibi discēdendum esse[6] statuērunt.
Quō proeliō admoneor ut[7] dīcam dē incommodō maximō, quod ā Romanīs acceptum est apud lacum Trasumennum,[8] cum Hannibal, dux Poenōrum, ibi īnsidiās clam fēcisset. Secundum lītus est via angusta, tum agrī apertī. In locō apertō[9] Hannibal castra posuit, mīlitēs autem multōs in latebrīs prope viam collocāvit. Tum, cum Rōmānī temerē viā angustā[10] ad Hannibalis castra versus iter facerent, subitō Poenī ē latebrīs ērūpērunt et hostīs perterritōs in lacum compulērunt.
- ↑ vidēbant: we would say “could see”.
- ↑ arboribusque interpositīs: freely, getting behind trees; lit. what?
- ↑ habēbat: kept —— suōs: cf. suōrum, page 30. l. 9 —— locō: from their places; cf. the note on p. 7, l. 4
- ↑ aut … aut: either … or.
- ↑ imperātōre vulnerātō: translate by a phrase introduced by “after”.
- ↑ discēdendum esse: impersonal use of the gerundive.
- ↑ ut: to.
- ↑ apud: at. —— lacum Trasumennum: in north central Italy.
- ↑ in locō apertō: freely, in the open; lit. what?
- ↑ viā angustā: for syntax, cf. the note on quā p. 5 l. 13; here the abl. may be rendered “along’