XXIII. _Obtirendis. Securing possession of.--Pateretur_, sc. terminum inveniri.--_In ipsa Brit_. In the very _nature_ or structure of the island, as described in the sequel. See Or. in loc.
_Clota et Bodotria_. Frith of Clyde and Frith of Forth.
_Revectae_, i.e. the natural current being driven back by the tide from the sea on either side. _Angusto--spatio_. It is now cut across by a ship canal.
_Propior sinus_==peninsula on the south side of the Friths, cf, note on sinus G. 1, and 29. Sinus refers particularly to the _curved border_ on _this side_ the aestuaries. This border (wherever the friths were so narrow as to require it), as well as the narrow isthmus, was occupied and secured (_tenebatur_) by garrisons.
XXIV. _Nave prima_. The first Roman ship that ever visited those shores. So Br., Dr., etc. _The foremost ship_, sc., A. himself, followed by others in a line. So Ritter. Wr., and some others understand it of a voyage from _Rome_, where they suppose him to have passed the winter, and whence he crossed over to Britain by the _earliest_ vessel in the spring. W. and R. make _prima_ equivalent to an adv. and render: crossing over _for the first time_ by ship. Or. also makes _prima==tum primum_.
_Copiis_. Here troops with their equipments==_forces_, cf. 8: majoribus copiis.--_Medio sita_ lying between, not midway between. E.--_In spem-- formidinem_. More with the hope of invading Ireland, than through fear of invasion by the Irish.--_Valentissimam partem_, viz. Gaul, Spain and Britain.
_Miscuerit_. The subj. here denotes the aim or purpose of the projector: it would have done so _in his view_.
_Invicem_==an adj. _mutual.--Nostri maris_. The Mediterranean.
_Differunt: in melius_. The authorities differ greatly as to the reading, the pointing and the interpretation of this passage. Some copies omit _in_. Others insert _nec_ before it. Some place the pause before _in melius_, others after. Some read _differt_, others _differunt. Nec in melius_ would perhaps give the better sense. But the reading is purely conjectural. I have given that, which, on the whole, seems to rest on the best authority, and to make the best sense. The sense is: _the soil, climate, &c., do not differ much from those of Britain. But that the harbors and entrances to the country are better_ (lit. _differ for the better, differre in melius), is ascertained through the medium of the merchants, who resort thither for trade_ (for Ireland had not yet, like Britain, been explored by a Roman _army_). So Wr. and Död. On _in melius_, see note H. 1, 18. Or. and Rit. make the comparison thus: the harbors and entrances are better known, than the soil, climate, &c. The common interpretation is: the harbors, &c., of Ireland are better known, than those of Britain. But neither of these interpretations accounts for the position of _melius_; and the last is in itself utterly incredible.