Adapted from Tacitus Dē vitā Gnaeī Iūliī Agricolae

Hunc Britanniae statum, hās bellōrum vicēs mediā iam aestāte transgressus Agricola invēnit. militēs putābant mīlitiam confectam esse et hostēs exspectābant occaāsiōnem bellī. Ordovicum cīvitās haud multō ante adventum eius ālam in fīnibus suīs agentem prope ūniversam occīderant, eōque initiō prōvincia incipiēbat surgere. et illī quī bellum volēbant exemplum alae occīsae prōbābant ac recentis lēgātī animum spectābant. sed Agricola, quamquam aestās confecta est, ac mīlitēs per provinciam sparsī sunt, quamquam mīlitēs putābant quiētem illō annī futūram esse, et omnia haec contrāria sunt, quamquam plūrimī ducēs Romanī dicēbant melius manēre vigilantēs, statuit tamen bellum gerere.congregāvit mīlitēs cum modicā auxiliōrum manū. deinde, quod Ordovices nōn audēbant dēscendere in aequum, ipse ante agmen, dēsīderāns sē ostendere volentem in periculō cum mīlitibus esse, dūxit cōpiās ad collem summum.

Introduction to the Subjunctive

Listen carefully, Operatives! Soon you will start to see new and strangely spelled forms of verbs, like exspectārent for exspectābant and ēvānuisset for ēvānuerat. Don't panic - the differences are mostly contextual (i.e. in what environment the verb appears). It's a little like wearing the right clothes for the occasion - if you're going to the Senate you'll want to wear a toga instead of that favorite tunic with the wine stain on the hem. Sometimes Latin prefers exspectārent, sometimes exspectābant. It still means "they were waiting for!"

If you are panicing (likely because you haven't brought your towel with you), feel free to alleviate those fears by watching this brief overview of the subjunctive courtesy of latintutorial.com.

Operative, we're suggesting that you go back over some of that pre-historic Britain material you took a look back to Mission 15, specifically with an eye to what we know about the different tribes of Britain at the time of the Roman occupation, particularly the Regnenses and the Brigantes. That intel, especially on the Brigantes, should be exceedingly useful in both parts of this episode.

Directions: Refer back to the key-text in 17.3 to complete the following:

Find and collect:

a. 1 perfect passive participle

b. 3 present participles

c. 1 perfect active participle

d. 8 infinitives. Are they all the same tense? What tenses are they?

e. 6 perfect tense verbs

f. 4 nouns in the genitive case. How many of them are plural?

Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences based on the immersion for 17.3.

1. What does Salvia tell the Recentiī to do?

2. Does the situation in the king's hall seem any better?

3. Describe Tiberius' appearance.

4. What happens as the Recentiī rejoin the king?

5. Where is the Signifer? Why was it taken there?

6. What are the Recentiī supposed to tell the Brigantes?

7. What is Septimus doing when he disappears?

8. What does Sinistrus send the Recentiī?

Directions: Answer the following questions based on the Culturalia links for 17.3.

1. What title was Cogidubnus given?

2. What was the capital of the Regnenses kingdom and what is the modern day name?

3. What is the translation of Regnenses?

4. Based on a a 1st century inscription found in Chichester, who gave Cogidubnus his citizenship?

5. How many tribes bordered the territories of the Brigantes and what race were they?

6. Why was Ventius able to overpower the Romans in 69 CE?

7. Who was the governor of Britain after the accession of Vespasian?

8. After what event were the first written records of the Brigantes created?