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31. The Beginning of the French and Indian War ![]() |
Paulō post ad flūmen magnum perventum est; quod cum rate[1] trānsīrent, Vasingtō forte in aquam frīgidam cecīdit, ūnāque cum comite in īnsulā parvā morārī coāctus est, dōnec diēs postera illūxit: tum dēmum per glaciem, quae in[2] flūmine natābat, summō cum perīculō ad rīpam alteram ambō vēnērunt. Deinde, equō ab[3] Indīs emptō, facilius[4] fēcērunt iter, et postrēmō incolumēs domum pervēnērunt. Ubi[5] lēgātus, cum dē pertināciā Gallōrum certior factus esset, molestē ferēns illōs tam audācter respondisse[6], Vasingtōnem iussit mīlitēs trāns montēs dūcere ad castella eīsdem in locīs pōnenda[7], ē quī[8] ipse modo redierat.
Interim colōnī aliī, ē prōvinciā clam per montēs profectī, in illīs regiōnibus longinquīs locum quendam, castrīs maximē idōneum, audācter occupāvērunt. Quī vērō brevī ā Gallīs sē dēdere coāctī sunt; nam Vasingtō, quamquam iam cōgēbat cōpiās atque intellegēbat omnia sibi[9] esse facienda ut hīc locus dēfenderētur, cīvibus tamen suīs[10] satis mātūrē auxilium ferre nōn potuit.
- ↑ rate: ratis, -is, f., raft; for syntax, cf. navibus, p. 6, l. 10.
- ↑ in: upon the surface of. ——
natābat: cf. natantēs, p. 3, l. 15. - ↑ ab: from.
- ↑ facile: i.e. more comfortably.
- ↑ ubi: cf. ubi, p. 4, l. 14.
- ↑ illōs … respondisse: that they had replied.
- ↑ ad castella … pōnenda: to establish forts.
- ↑ quibus: the antecedent is locīs.
- ↑ sibi: dat. case, this being the regular agency construction with the gerundive. The whole phrase may be rendered freely that he must exert himself to the utmost for the defense, etc.
- ↑ suīs: modifier of civibus