Hist. 1.58.1Nocte quae kalendās Iānuāriās secūta est in colōniam Agrippīnēnsem aquilifer quartae legiōnis epulantī Vitelliō nūntiat quartam et duetvīcēnsimam legiōnēs prōiectīs Galbae imāginibus in senātūs ac populī Rōmānī verba iūrāsse.On the night that followed the first of January, the eagle-bearer of the Fourth Legion brings word to Vitellius, as he dined in the Colony of Agrippina, that the Fourth and Twenty-second legions had thrown down Galba's images and sworn allegiance to the senate and the Roman people. Hist. 1.58.1Id sacrāmentum ināne vīsum: occupārī nūtantem fortūnam et offerrī prīncipem placuit.That oath seemed empty: they decided to seize fortune while it wavered and offer an emperor. Hist. 1.58.1Missī ā Vitelliō ad legiōnēs lēgātōsque quī dēscīvisse ā Galbā superiōrem exercitum nūntiārent: proinde aut bellandum adversus dēscīscentīs aut, sī concordia et pāx placeat, faciendum imperātōrem: et minōre discrīmine sūmī prīncipem quam quaerī.Men were sent by Vitellius to the legions and their legates to announce that the upper army had revolted from Galba: so either they must make war on the rebels or, if harmony and peace were preferred, they must make an emperor: and there was less danger in accepting an emperor than in looking for one.
Lectitō › Tacitus › Histories, Book 1 › Histories 1.58
Tacitus · Historiae I
Histories 1.58
Vitellius seizes his chance
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Read in LectitōGrammar in this passage: ablative absolute ×1, indirect statement ×4, gerunds and gerundives ×2
Latin vocabulary for this passage (56 words)
| nox, noctis, f. | night |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| Kalendae, -ārum f. pl. | the Kalends (1st day of the month) |
| Iānuārius, -a, -um | of January (Kalendae Iānuāriae: 1 January) |
| sequor, sequī, secūtus | follow |
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| in, prep. with acc. and abl. | with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on |
| colōnia, -ae f. | settlement, colony |
| Agrippīnēnsis, -e | of Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) |
| aquilifer, -ferī m. | eagle-bearer, standard-bearer of a legion |
| quartus, -a, -um | fourth |
| legiō, -ōnis f. | legion |
| epulor, -ārī, -ātus sum | feast, banquet |
| nūntiō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | report, announce |
| et, conj. | and; et ... et, both ... and |
| duoetvīcēsimus (duetvīcēnsimus), -a, -um | twenty-second |
| prōiciō, -icere, -iēcī, -iectus | throw forth or down, cast away, throw |
| imāgō, -inis f. | likeness, image, portrait |
| senātus, -ūs m. | senate |
| atque, ac (conj.) | and; after comparisons: as, than (ac only before consonants) |
| populus, -ī m. | people, nation |
| Rōmānus, -a, -um | Roman |
| verbum, -ī, n. | word |
| iūrō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | swear; iūs iūrandum, oath |
| is, ea, id, dem. pron. | this, that; he, she, it, they |
| sacrāmentum, -ī n. | military oath (of allegiance) |
| inānis, -e | empty |
| videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsus | see; pass., seem |
| occupō, -cupāre, -cupāvī, -cupātus | seize; fill |
| nūtō, -āre, -āvī | nod, sway |
| fortūna, -ae, f. | fortune |
| offerō, offerre, obtulī, oblātus | bear to, proffer, offer |
| prīnceps, -ipis | first, chief; as noun: leader |
| placeō, -ēre, placuī, placitum (+ dat.) | please (placuit eī: he decided) |
| mittō, mittere, mīsī, missus | send |
| ā, ab (prep. + abl.) | away from, from; by (ā only before consonants) |
| ad, prep. with acc. | to, toward; at, near; for |
| lēgātus, -ī, m. | ambassador |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| dēscīscō, -ere, -scīvī, -scītum | break away, revolt, desert (from: ab) |
| superior, -ius, adj. | higher; former, previous, preceding |
| exercitus, -ūs, m. | army |
| proinde (adv.) | therefore, accordingly; so then |
| aut, conj. | or; aut ... aut, either ... or |
| bellō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum | wage war, fight |
| adversum (prep. + acc.; also adversus) | against, opposite |
| sī, conj. | if |
| concordia, -ae f. | agreement, harmony |
| pāx, pācis f. | peace |
| faciō, facere, fēcī, factus | make, do; iter facere, see iter |
| imperātor, -ōris, m. | commander, general |
| parvus, -a, -um | little, small |
| discrīmen, -crīminis, n. | crisis, peril, danger |
| sūmō, sūmere, sūmpsī, sūmptus | take under or up, take; poenam sūmere, to exact or inflict punishment |
| quam, adv. | how? as; than; with superl., as ... as possible |
| quaerō, quaerere, quaesīvī, quaesītus | seek; ask, inquire |
Tacitus, Historiae I. Latin text: C. D. Fisher, Cornelii Taciti Historiarum Libri (Oxford, 1911), public domain; digital text from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA. Word analysis: drafted by our own tagger (trained on the hand-checked texts on this site), with every doubtful word checked by hand. English translation and section titles: written for this app, each checked against the Latin by a second reader.