XVIII. _Agentem_, sc. excubias or stationem==stationed in, cf. His. 1, 47: copias, quae Lugduni agebant. _Ala_. Cf. note, H. 1, 54. _Ordovicum civitas_. Situated over against the Island Mona, north of the Silures, i.e. in the northern part of what is now Wales. _Ad--verterentur_. _Were turning themselves_ (middle sense) _towards_, i.e. _looking to or for. Occasionem. An opportunity_, sc. to attack the Romans in their security. Al. _uterentur_. _Quibus--erat. They who wished for war_. Greek idiom for qui bellum volebant. See Kühner's Greek Gram. 284, 10, c., cf. His. 3, 43: volentibus fuit, etc., and note, ibid. In Latin, the idiom occurs chiefly in Sallust and T. See Z. 420, and H. 387, 3. _Ac--opperiri_. Al. _aut_ by conjecture. But _ac==ac tamen, and yet_. Cf. Ann. 1, 36: _exauctorari--ac retineri sub vexillo_. _Transvecta_. Al. transacta. Cf. His. 2, 76: abiit et _transvectum est tempus_. Only T. uses the word in reference to time. _Numeri_==cohortes or manipuli, cf. His. 1, 6: multi numeri. This use of the word is post-Augustan. Cf. note, His. 1, 6. _Tarda et contraria_. In appos. with the foregoing clauses== _circumstances calculated to retard and oppose him in commencing war_. _Plerisque_, sc. of the inferior officers. They thought it best that those parts of the country, whose fidelity was questionable (_suspecta_) should be secured by garrisons (_custodiri_). _Potius_ is an adj. and goes with _videbatur_==_it seemed preferable_. _Legionum vexillis_. Some understand this of veteran soldiers who had served out their time (twenty years), but were still _sub vexillis_ (not dismissed). So R. and W. Others of parts of the legions detached for a season sub vexillis (under separate standards). So Gronovius. The word seems to be used in both senses. See note, H. 1, 31. _In aequum_. Into the plain. Aequus, prim. level, hence aequor, sea. _Erexit aciem. Led his troops up the steep_. So His. 3, 71: erigunt aciem per adversum collem. _Ac--ceteris. And that according as the first_ enterprises _went_ (cf. note, 5: _cessit_), would be the terror in the rest_ of his engagements. Cf. H. 2, 20: _gnarus, ut initia belli provenissent, famam in cetera fore_. Al. _fore universa_. _Possessione. Taking_ possession, cf. 14. A _possidere_, i.e. occupare, non a _possidere_, quod est occupatum tenere. Rit. For the abl. without _a_, cf. H. 2, 79: _Syria remeans_. _Ut in dubiis consiliis_, sc. fieri solet. Generals are not apt to be prepared beforehand for enterprises, not contemplated at all in their original plans.