Bellum Africum 36

B. Afr. 36.1Dum haec ad Ruspinam geruntur, M. Catō, quī Uticae praeerat, dīlēctūs cōtīdiē lībertīnōrum, Āfrōrum, servōrum dēnique et cuiusquemodī generis hominum, quī modo per aetātem arma ferre poterant, habēre atque sub manum Scīpiōnī in castra submittere nōn intermittit.

While these things were going on at Ruspina, Marcus Cato, who was in command at Utica, never stopped holding levies every day of freedmen, Africans, even slaves and men of every kind, so long as they were of an age to bear arms, and sending them straight on to Scipio in his camp.

Note. dīlēctūs … habēre … nōn intermittit: 'did not stop holding levies'. sub manum: 'directly', 'at once'. Cato the Younger governed Utica; after Thapsus he killed himself there.

B. Afr. 36.2Lēgātī interim ex oppidō Thysdrae, in quod trīticī modium mīlia CCC comportāta fuerant ā negōtiātōribus Italicīs arātōribusque, ad Caesarem venīre, quantaque cōpia frūmentī apud sē sit, docent simulque ōrant, ut sibi praesidium mittat, quō facilius et frūmentum et cōpiae suae cōnserventur.

Meanwhile envoys from the town of Thysdra, into which 300,000 pecks of wheat had been gathered by Italian traders and farmers, came to Caesar, told him how great a supply of grain they had, and at the same time begged him to send them a garrison, so that both the grain and their own resources might more easily be kept safe.

Note. modium = modiōrum, an old genitive plural. venīre … docent: venīre is best taken as a historical infinitive, followed by the main verbs docent and ōrant.

B. Afr. 36.3Quibus Caesar in praesentiā grātiās ēgit praesidiumque brevī tempore sē missūrum dīxit cohortātusque ad suōs cīvēs iubet proficīscī.

Caesar thanked them for the present and said that he would send a garrison shortly; he encouraged them and told them to go back to their fellow citizens.

Note. in praesentiā: 'for the moment'. brevī tempore: 'shortly'. sē missūrum [esse]: future infinitive in indirect statement.

B. Afr. 36.4P. Sittius interim cum cōpiīs Numidiae fīnēs ingressus castellum in montis locō mūnītō locātum, in quod Iuba bellī gerendī grātiā et frūmentum et rēs cēterās, quae ad bellum ūsuī solent esse, comportāverat, vī expugnandō est potītus.

Meanwhile Publius Sittius entered the territory of Numidia with his forces and by storming it took possession of a fort set in a strong position on a mountain, into which Juba had brought grain and everything else that is usually of use for war, for the purpose of waging the war.

Note. P. Sittius, a Roman adventurer, fought for King Bocchus of Mauretania and so attacked Juba from the west. vī expugnandō: the gerund in the ablative, 'by storming it by force'. potior usually takes the ablative, but here it governs the accusative castellum, an older construction.