I’ve had some trouble with two sentences in Roma Aeterna where vim is used. I think I understand them now, but it would be great if someone could confirm it.
Ch. XXXVII (p. 34):
Ecce virgo Cassandra crinibus passis a templo Minervae (ubi Aiax, Oilei filius, ei vim attulerat) trahebatur…
Would a correct translation of the parenthesis be “where Ajax, son of Oileus, had brought force upon her”?
Ch. XLI (p. 85):
Ibi egressi Troiani, quibus ab immenso prope errore nihil praeter arma et naves supererat, cum praedam ex agris agerent, Latinus res Aboriginesque, qui tum ea tenebant loca, ad arcendam vim advenarum armati ex urbe atque agris concurrunt.
Can ad arcendam vim advenarum be translated as “to fend off the force of the foreigners”?
It means he raped her. Or more euphemistically “visited violence on her” or some such phrase.
“to fend off the force of the foreigners”? seems ok but again Vim is more like violence than force.
Ah, I thought it simply meant that Ajax had picked her up and carried her away in a violent way. Raping her is quite different, to say the least.
Violence rather than force, got it.
Thanks again Seneca, your help is invaluable.
Thanks. 
It helps to know a little Vergil.
…Pallasne exurere classem
Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto
unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?
39-41
Had Pallas power to burn up the Argive fleet and sink the sailors in the deep, because of one single man’s guilt, and the frenzy of Ajax, son of Oileus? (Loeb)
I think the real offence was raping her in the temple where she had sought sanctuary.
Now that I think of it Ajax’s crime was actually referenced in a later chapter:
Vix e conspectu Siciliae in altum vela dabant laeti, cum Iuno, aeturnum vulnus sub pectore servans, haec secum: "Mene regem Teucrorum ab Italia avertere non posse? Nonne Minerva classem Graecorum ventis disicere atque submergere potuit ob unius Aiacis scelus?
(XXXIX, pages 55-56)
The punishment makes a lot more sense now.