_Qui--expectabant. Who were looking out for (ex_ and _specto) a fleet, for ships_, in a word _for the sea_, i.e. naval preparations in general, instead of an attack by land. The language is highly rhetorical.-- _Crediderint_. Livy, Nepos and Tacitus use the _perf_. subj. after _ut_, denoting a consequence, when a single, specific past act is expressed; when a repeated or continued action, the _imp_. subj. Most writers use the imp. in both cases. See H. 482, 2, and 480; Z. 516; also Z. 504, Note, and note H. 1, 24: _dederit_. _Officiorum ambitum. "Compliments of office."_ Ky. _Placuisset_. Subj. cf. note, 11: _ut quos_. _Expeditionem--continuisse. He did not call it a campaign or a victory to have kept the conquered in subjection_. _Laureatis_ sc. litteris. It was customary to communicate the news of victory to the Emperor and Senate, by letters bound with bay leaves, cf. Liv. 5, 28: _litterae_ a Postumio _laureatae_ sequuntur. Without _litterae_, it occurs only here. Or. So in H. 3, 77. T. avoids the technical expression and employs the word _laurea_, seldom used in this sense. _Dissimulatione_. Cf. note, 6.--_Aestimantibus_, cf. aestimanti, 11. The aspiring, and especially the vain, may learn from this passage a lesson of great practical value. Compare also § 8, at the close. XIX. _Aliena experimenta. The experience of others_. _Nihil_. Ellipsis of _agere_ (which is inserted without MS. authority in the common editions). So Cic. Phil. 1, 2: Nihil per senatum, etc. Cf. G. 19: _adhuc_, note. _Ascire_, al. accire. _To receive into regular service_. The reference is to the transfer of soldiers from the raw recruits to the legions. So W. followed by Dr. R. and W. The next clause implies, that he took care to receive into the service none but the best men (_optimum quemque_), whom he deemed _trustworthy_ (_fidissimum_) just in _proportion_ as they were _good_. This use of two superlatives mutually related to each other, the former with _quisque_, is frequent in Latin and resembles the English use of two comparatives: the better, the more trustworthy. Cf. Z. 710, b.; also note, 3: _promptissmus quisque_. _Exsequi_==punire. A sense peculiar to the later Latin. Cic. and Caes. use _persequi_. For a similar use of the word in the expression of a similar sentiment, see Suet. Jul. 67: Delicta neque observabat omnia neque pro modo exsequebatur. Compare our word _execute_. And mark the sentiment, as a maxim in the science of government. _Severitatem commodare_. W. with Dr. and R. make this an example of zeugma. And in its ordinary acceptation (i.e. in the sense _to give_) the word _commodare_ certainly applies only to _veniam_, and not to _severitatem_. But _commodare_ in its primary signification means to _adapt_; and in this sense, it suits both of its adjuncts: _He adapted_ (awarded) _pardon to small offences, severe punishment to great ones_. So Wr. For the series of infinitives, cf. notes, 5: _nosci_, etc.; G. 30: _praeponere_, etc.