01-10-2021, 03:50 PM
Nathan, on first reading Mommsen's text I also thought he supported the 'cavalry dash', but he isn't. Read the preceding sentence before, "If he really went thither,... " , and the true meaning of this 19th century English translation of the original German should become clearer. It is tricky though.
Plus, Prof. Overbeck in his paper writes of Mommsen's text, " Well then, should we suppose that Tacitus made up the entire passage out of whole cloth, as we must if Suetonius did not go to Londinium? In fact Tacitus does give us a reason for Suetonius' march: it was to apprise himself of the situation in this center of communications, military stores, and population (a center the importance of which Tacitus carefully impresses on us at this very point) and to consider whether it could serve as a base for operations. His conclusion was that it could not, and so he abandoned it. Doubtless this was a painful decision to make, but Tacitus seems to have agreed it was necessary. Mommsen's criticism fails to take full account of Tacitus' narrative."
Regards, Steve Kaye
Plus, Prof. Overbeck in his paper writes of Mommsen's text, " Well then, should we suppose that Tacitus made up the entire passage out of whole cloth, as we must if Suetonius did not go to Londinium? In fact Tacitus does give us a reason for Suetonius' march: it was to apprise himself of the situation in this center of communications, military stores, and population (a center the importance of which Tacitus carefully impresses on us at this very point) and to consider whether it could serve as a base for operations. His conclusion was that it could not, and so he abandoned it. Doubtless this was a painful decision to make, but Tacitus seems to have agreed it was necessary. Mommsen's criticism fails to take full account of Tacitus' narrative."
Regards, Steve Kaye
