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A First Latin Reader/32

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Lesson 32: Braddock’s Defeat


1912
 31. The Beginning of the French and Indian War 33. Later Events of the War 
LESSON 32
Braddock’s Defeat

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.

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  1. vidēbant: we would say “could see”.
  2. arboribusque interpositīs: freely, getting behind trees; lit. what?
  3. habēbat: kept —— suōs: cf. suōrum, page 30. l. 9 —— locō: from their places; cf. the note on p. 7, l. 4
  4. aut … aut: either … or.
  5. imperātōre vulnerātō: translate by a phrase introduced by “after”.
  6. discēdendum esse: impersonal use of the gerundive.
  7. ut: to.
  8. apud: at. —— lacum Trasumennum: in north central Italy.
  9. in locō apertō: freely, in the open; lit. what?
  10. viā angustā: for syntax, cf. the note on quā p. 5 l. 13; here the abl. may be rendered “along’