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Lesson 37. The Retreat from Trenton


1912
 6. The Battles of Long Island and Trenton 38. Burgoyne’s Campaign 
LESSON 37
The Retreat from Trenton

Paulō post Vasingtō, cum ausus esset iterum prōgredi ad eundem locum ubi Germānōs illōs[1] cēperat, perīculum adiit maximum. Nam subitō aderant Britannī plūrimī, nec propter natantem glaciem flūmen trānsīre Americānī poterant. Tum imperātor Britannicus, quī Cornivallis appellābātur, cum Vasingtōnem crēderet[2] iam dēmum circumventum esse, glōriāns, “Cras[3],” inquit, “ā mē iste vulpēs[4] capiētur.”

At Vasingtō suōs iussit sub vesperum in castrīs ignīs facere, ut[5] cotīdiē solēbant[6], cum interim paucī[7] maximō cum strepitū circum vāllum[8] opus fēstīnārent[9]; quod[10] eō cōnsiliō[11] iussit, ut Britannī arbitrārentur ibi impetum hostium excipere Americānōs parāre. Nocte tamen intempestā colōnī, sine strepitū ūllō ex castrīs ēgressī, viīs dēviīs iter fēcērunt circum exercitum Britannicum, atque in agrōs apertōs incolumēs pervēnērunt. Itaque māne imperātor Britannōrum “vulpem istum” invenīre nōn potuit; Vasingtō enim etiam tum oppidum oppugnābat[12] alterum, ubi quidam Britannī aliī castra posuerant. Quārē Cornivallis, cum sentīret sē ēlūsum esse, celeriter sē recēpit, ut impedīmenta cōnservāret sua, quae ad pugnam[13] profectus post tergum longē relīquerat.

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  1. illōs: i.e. those mentioned in Lesson 36.
  2. cum … crēderet: translate by a participial phrase; so also on the next page, l. 11. In Latin the pres. part. is used much less freely than in English.
  3. crās: adv. to-morrow.
  4. vulpēs (-is, c.): fox.
  5. ut: as.
  6. solebant : sc. facere.
  7. paucī: here used as a (masc. pl.) noun.
  8. vāllum: of course, of their own camp.
  9. fēstīnārent: fēstīnō, i, hurry along.
  10. quod: i.e. id quod, a thing which.
  11. cōnsiliō: design.
  12. oppugnābat: note the tense.
  13. ad pugnam: for a battle (merely), i.e. not for a campaign.