_Nostram ripam_. The Gallic bank of the Rhine, which was the border of the Roman Empire, cf. G. passim.
_Quos--indicium--illustravit_. Whom the account of so wonderful an adventure rendered illustrious. The rule would require the subj. H. 501, I. 2; Z. 561.
XXIX. _Initio aestatis_, i.e. in the beginning of the _next_ summer (the 7th campaign, cf. 25: _aestate, qua sextum_, etc.), as the whole history shows. See especially _proximo anno_, 34. Hence the propriety of commencing a new section here. The common editions begin it below: _Igitur_, etc.
_Plerique_. Cf. note on it, 1.--_Fortium virorum_. _Military men_.
_Ambitiose, with affected fortitude, stoically_.--_Rursus_==contra, _on the contrary_, showing the antith. between _ambitiose_ and _per lamenta_. --_Per lamenta_, cf. 6: per caritatem.--_Igitur_, cf. 13, note.
_Quae--faceret_==ut ea faceret. H. 500; Z. 567. _Incertum_ is explained by _pluribus locis_. Render: _general alarm_.--_Expedito_==sine impedimentis, armis solis instructo. Fac. and For.--_Montem Grampium_. Now _Grampian hills_.
_Cruda--senectus_. Cf. Virg. Aen. 6, 304: sed cruda deo viridisque senectus. _Crudus_ is rarely found in this sense except in the poets. _Crudus_ properly==bloody (_cruor, cruidus_); hence the successive significations, raw, unripe, fresh, vigorous.--_Sua decora_==praemia ob virtutem bellicam accepta. E. Any and all _badges of distinction_, especially in _arms_. Wr., Or. and Dõd.
XXX. _Causas belli_. Explained by _universi servitutis expertes_ below, to be the defence of their liberties. In like manner, _nostram necessitatem_ is explained by _nullae ultra terrae_: there is no retreat for us, etc.--_Animus, Confidence_.
_Proelium--arma_. T. has a passion for _pairs_ of words, especially nouns, of _kindred signification_. See examples in Index to Histories; and in this chapter, _spem ac subsidium_; _recessus ac sinus_; _obsequiam ac modestiam_.
_Priores pugnae_, sc. in which the Caledonians took no part.--_Pugnae_ is here, by a figure put for the _combatants_ themselves, who are represented as looking to the Caledonians, as a kind of corps de reserve, or last resource.
_Eo. For that reason_. The best things are always kept guarded and concealed in the _penetralia_. There may also be a reference to a _fact_ stated by Caesar (B.G. 5, 12), that the inhabitants of the interior were aborigines, while those on the coast were immigrants.
