Kitap 10
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ASINIUS POLLIO, in a letter which he addressed to Plancus, and certain others who were unfriendly to Gaius Sallustius, thought that Sallust deserved censure because in the first book of his Histories he called the crossing of the sea and a passage made in ships transgresses, using transgressi of those who had crossed the sea, for which the usual term is transfretare. I give Sallust's own words: Hist. i. 104, Maur. Accordingly Sertorius, having left a small garrison in Mauretania and taking advantage of a dark night and a favourable tide, tried either by secrecy or speed to avoid a battle while crossing (in transgressu). Then later he wrote: ib. i. 105. When they had crossed (transgressos), a mountain which had been seized in advance by the Lusitanians gave them all shelter.
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This, they say, is an improper and careless usage, supported by no adequate authority. For transgressus, says Pollio, comes from transgredi, 'to step across,' and this word itself refers to walking and stepping with the feet. Therefore Pollio thought that the verb transgredi did not apply to those who fly or creep or sail, but only to those who walk and measure the way with their feet. Hence they say that in no good writer can transgressus be found applied to ships, or as the equivalent of transfretatio.
