Thus Tacitus' first figure may be a slight
underestimate and his second figure correct.
underestimate and his second figure correct.
Tacitus
Appius Claudius and L.
Opimius, of whom Plutarch
says that in suppressing C. Gracchus he used his consular
authority like that of a dictator.
[297] At Brixellum.
[298] About seven miles below Cremona. The Medicean MS. has
Adua, but as the mouth of the Adua is seven miles west of
Cremona and Bedriacum twenty-two miles east of Cremona, the
figures given do not suit. For Tacitus says that they marched
first four miles and then sixteen. Mr. Henderson proposes to
solve the difficulty by reading _quartum decimum_ for
_quartum_ in chap. 39. But his reasons are purely _a priori_.
If the confluence was that of the _Arda_ with the Po, Tacitus'
_quartum_ is still unsatisfactory, but the distances given in
Plutarch's Life of Otho would suit the facts. He makes the
first march a little over six miles. From the camp then
pitched to the mouth of the Arda would be by road about
sixteen miles.
Thus Tacitus' first figure may be a slight
underestimate and his second figure correct. The second day's
march, according to Plutarch, was rather more than twelve
miles, so we may suppose that the armies met about four miles
short of the confluence, which was the Othonians' objective.
This suits Paulinus' suggestion a few lines lower that the
Vitellians need only march four miles to catch them in
marching column. The whole question is fully discussed by Mr.
Henderson (op. cit. ) and by Mr. E. G. Hardy in the _Journal of
Philology_, vol. xxxi, no. 61.
[299] See 34 and 35.
[300] Via Postumia.
[301] The word here used, _cuneus_ (a wedge), should mean
strictly a V-shaped formation, which the troops also called
'pig's-head'. But it is also used more generally of any
attacking column advancing to pierce the enemy's line, or
indeed of any body of men in close order.
says that in suppressing C. Gracchus he used his consular
authority like that of a dictator.
[297] At Brixellum.
[298] About seven miles below Cremona. The Medicean MS. has
Adua, but as the mouth of the Adua is seven miles west of
Cremona and Bedriacum twenty-two miles east of Cremona, the
figures given do not suit. For Tacitus says that they marched
first four miles and then sixteen. Mr. Henderson proposes to
solve the difficulty by reading _quartum decimum_ for
_quartum_ in chap. 39. But his reasons are purely _a priori_.
If the confluence was that of the _Arda_ with the Po, Tacitus'
_quartum_ is still unsatisfactory, but the distances given in
Plutarch's Life of Otho would suit the facts. He makes the
first march a little over six miles. From the camp then
pitched to the mouth of the Arda would be by road about
sixteen miles.
Thus Tacitus' first figure may be a slight
underestimate and his second figure correct. The second day's
march, according to Plutarch, was rather more than twelve
miles, so we may suppose that the armies met about four miles
short of the confluence, which was the Othonians' objective.
This suits Paulinus' suggestion a few lines lower that the
Vitellians need only march four miles to catch them in
marching column. The whole question is fully discussed by Mr.
Henderson (op. cit. ) and by Mr. E. G. Hardy in the _Journal of
Philology_, vol. xxxi, no. 61.
[299] See 34 and 35.
[300] Via Postumia.
[301] The word here used, _cuneus_ (a wedge), should mean
strictly a V-shaped formation, which the troops also called
'pig's-head'. But it is also used more generally of any
attacking column advancing to pierce the enemy's line, or
indeed of any body of men in close order.
