1
classepaucisdiebuserantdecreturi.
1
Grammarpaucis diebus ablative of time within which.
1–2
superabaturnaviummultitudine:doloeratpugnandum,cumparnonessetarmis.
2
Grammarmultitudine and armis are both ablatives of respect outnumbered 'with respect to' ships, unequal 'with respect to' weapons.
Chiasmussuperabatur navium multitudine ... dolo erat pugnandum ... par non esset armis — verb, noun-in-ablative ... noun-in-ablative, verb: the sentence structure loops back on itself (a-b-b-a), with dolo ('by trickery') sitting right in the middle as the pivot on which Hannibal's whole plan turns.
2–3
imperavitquamplurimasvenenatasserpentesvivascolligieasqueinvasafictiliaconici.
1
Stylequam plurimas 'as many as possible': this superlative-style phrase gives a first hint of just how extreme and inventive Hannibal's plan is about to get.
4–5
harumcumeffecissetmagnammultitudinem,dieipso,quofacturuseratnavaleproelium,classiariosconvocathisquepraecepit,
3
Vocabularyclassiarios (milites) literally 'soldiers of the fleet', i.e. marines.
Grammarconvocat historic present, again used to bring the moment to life.
Pleonasmmagnam multitudinem 'a great crowd': multitudo already means a large number on its own, so adding magnam ('great') is technically unnecessary — this piling-on of words is called pleonasm, and here it stresses just how many snakes there really were.
6
omnesutinunamEumenisregisconcurrantnavem;aceteristantumsatishabeantsedefendere.
1
Styleomnes is placed right at the front of the clause, ahead of where it 'belongs' grammatically (after ut) — shoving it forward like this puts extra weight on the fact that every single man is being ordered to focus on one target.
6–7
idillosfacileserpentiummultitudineconsecuturos.
1
Grammarconsecuturos again we need to supply esse; this is a future infinitive after praecepit.
8
rexauteminquanaveveheretur,utscirent,sefacturum.
1
Grammarse facturum indirect statement: 'he (Hannibal) said that he would...'.
8–9
quemsiautcepissentautinterfecissent,magnoiispolliceturpraemiofore.
2
Grammarmagno ... praemio predicative dative; praemio can also mean 'advantage', so either way Hannibal is promising this will be worth their while.
Stylemagno ... praemio is split apart again, just as magno se fore periculo was back in Chapter 9 — Nepos likes using this word order to draw the eye to magno ('great', 'generous') whenever a big quantity matters to the story.
1
Within a few days they were about to decide matters with a naval battle.
1–2
He was outnumbered in ships; it was necessary to fight by trickery, since he was not equal to them in weapons.
2–3
He gave orders that as many live venomous snakes as possible be collected, and that they be thrown into earthenware pots.
4–5
When he had got together a great number of these, on the very day when he was going to fight the naval battle, he called his marines together and ordered them,
6
that all of them should charge onto the one ship of King Eumenes; and that against the rest, they should be satisfied with simply defending themselves.
6–7
(He said) that they would easily achieve this thanks to the great number of snakes.
8
But he said that he himself would see to it that they knew which ship the king was travelling in.
8–9
and he promised them that there would be a generous reward for them if they either captured or killed him.