Source: I took Latin for 8 years; had to read-and-translate live for three years from Virgil every other week at 8am in front of the class. Latin is usually more concise than English, except when it's medieval or kitchen Latin.
There are only two verbs in this sentence that I can see: "appetat" which means "he/she/it attacks/grasps/strives for/approaches, and "perstringat" which is a subjunctive and means "he/she/it may graze/seize/reprove". I think perstringat refers to sciendum, but I am not what appetat refers to.
There is no verb that implies a plural third person, nor is there a word for "gate" here.
What I'm having trouble with is the second part. So the first part is something like, "in the beginning, the knowing may draw together what is the roman authority of the barking around, wherein the nation..." But still I'm not sure. Then in the second part we have what could be multiple nominatives and only one verb.
First it must be known that the empire is surrounded etc. etc. and each edge (of the empire) covered with natural features appeals to cunning barbarism.
Source: I took Latin for 8 years; had to read-and-translate live for three years from Virgil every other week at 8am in front of the class. Latin is usually more concise than English, except when it's medieval or kitchen Latin.