CAESAR DE BELLO GALLICO II
Edited with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary by
E.C. Kennedy
Bristol Classical Press
This impression 2003 This edition published in 1983 by Bristol Classical Press an imprint of Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 90-93 Cowcross Street, London ECIM 6BF Tel: 020 7490 7300 Fax: 020 7490 0080
[email protected] www.ducknet.co.uk First published in 1967 by University Tutorial Press Ltd © 1967 by E.C. Kennedy
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 86292 101 5 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastboume
Cover illustration: Silver denarius of Caesar styled as general (IMPerator) wearing a laurel wreath, struck in 44 Be; British Museum, London. [Drawing by Jean Bees]
PREFACE Every twenty or thirty years a new set of school textbooks for" 0" and " A" Level Latin pupils seems required, to suit the changing needs and abilities of succeeding generations of boys and girls. This is more than ever necessary to-day, when changes in the teaching of Latin are in the air. Whatever happens to formal grammar and composition, it seems certain that the classical authors will continue to be read, though no doubt more rapidly and with less attention to detail, and. of the prose writers the most suitable for beginners is undoubtedly Caesar. Rice Holmes, the great English authority on Caesar's Gallic War, whose work, though now over fifty years old, has not yet been superseded, said, "There is no more interesting book for boys than Caesar's account of the Gallic War", adding, "providing that they will give their minds to it and have the help of a good teacher". Not all pupils perhaps would agree with this statement, but they might do so if they could read the books quickly enough and knew just what was happening. To quote Rice Holmes again, "Even Macaulay's Essays might be dull if they were read by a foreigner with a dictionary at the rate of a single paragraph a day". For Macaulay's Essays anyone who reads these words should substirute his own favourite author. So this edition is intended to help boys and girls to read one of the most interesting of the books on the Gallic War at a fair pace, with an analysis of each chapter at the beginning of it so that readers should be able to realise exactly what is going on. Pupils of to-day need more help with syntax and transla.tion than was given even twenty years ago, to say nothing of that in books written over sixty years ago and still in use. I have given what I hope may be considered a satisfactory amount of help by means of iii
Preface explanations and translations; but something must be left for the pupil to get his teeth into, for an entirely predigested diet would be as bad as the raw meat of a "plain text" with no assistance whatever. I have also provided definitions, with some explanation when reqnired of the various uses of cases, tenses, and moods. These may one day be no longer considered necessary in onr classrooms, but those who want to understand the Latin will find the answers here, either for an examination or because they are of an enquiring turn of mind. The text is the Oxford Classical Text of R. L. du Pontet, by kind permission of The Clarendon Press, Oxford. This has been reproduced in its entirety except that I have changed the -is ending of the accusative plural of third declension nouns and adjectives into the more familiar -es, and I have made the following changes where the O.C.T. has "obelisked" words: 19, I, quod ad hostesfor tquod hostisf. 19, 5, porrecta loca aperta for fporrecta ac loca apertaf. 30, 4, muro se posse for fmuro essef. 35,4, dierum for tdiest·
I have consulted the usual authorities and editions, including the excellent translation of H. J. Edwards in the Loeb Library, Olwen Brogan's Roman Gaul (Bell, out of print), and in particular Caesar's Conquest of Gaul by T. Rice Holmes (Oxford, 2nd edition, 19II), a book that is absolutely indispensable to all students of Caesar's Gallic campaigns. My former colleague, Mr John Hart, has very kindly read and criticised the Introduction, and Dr Bertha Tilly, the General Editor of the Palatine Classics, has made some valuable suggestions. Malvern.
E. C. iv
KENNEDY.
BOOK LIST Besides the three books mentioned in the last paragraph of the Preface, I recommend for general reading Caesar's Invasions of Britain, by T. Rice Holmes (Oxford), which, like its companion volume on Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, contains a straightforward account of the events described by Caesar, reinforced by copious explanations of doubtful points in the second part of each book. These are perhaps teachers' rather than pupils' books, but the narrative can be appreciated by readers of all ages. Younger students will particularly enjoy The Conquered, by Naomi Mitchison (Cape, reprinted 1966), which describes the adventures of a young prince of the Veneti who was enslaved after the rising of his tribe in 56 B.C. and sent first to Rome and then back to Gaul with his owner, where he took part in many of the events described by Caesar in the war. A book of short stories by the same author on similar subjects, called When the Bough Breaks, is out of print but may be found in libraries. Julius Caesar by John Buchan (Peter Davies), a good and readable "biography, also out of print, can be obtained from most libraries.
Contents
Contents Chapter 1: The Gauls
I
I: II: Ill: IV: V: VI:
Origins and Migrations The Gauls south of the Alps "The Province" Gallia Camata Gallic Politics and Religion The Druids and Religion VII: Characteristics of the Gauls VIII: The last years before Caesar's arrival in Gaul
Part II: The Defeat of the Nervii
45 45 55
Part III:
65
GALLIC WAR, BOOK II Part 1: The Abortive Rising of the Belgae
I
2
3 4 7 8
The Punishment of the Aduatuci
69
Notes Vocabulary
114
The Plates are bound as a section between the iilll'oductory matter and the text.
MAPS AND PLANS
10
PAGE
II
6
TRANSALPINE GAUL
Chapter 2: Julius Caesar I: Early life, 100·64 B.C. II: Rise to power, 63·61 B.C. III: The Triumvirate, 60 B.C.
IV: Caelar's" Gallic War" V: The Approach of Civil War, 54·50 B.C. VI: The Ciflil War, 49·45 B.C. VII: Caesar as sale ruler, 45·44 B.C. VIII: The Murder of Caesar, 44 B.C. IX: Caesar's character and appearance
Chapter 3: The Roman Army I: The old Republican Army II.'
The Organisation
0/ Caesar's Legions
III: Order of Battle aud the march IV: Equipment and arms
V: VI: VII: V III:
Other troops, and the baggage The Camp Sieges The Army IInder the Empire
Chapter 4: Pronunciation and Translation I: Syllable Division II: Ill:
Stress Accent DOl; English" or "Gobbledegook"
H
vi
I2
BELGIC GAUL
,8 ArsNB
I2
CAESAR'S CAMP ON THE
13
OPERATIONS ON THE AISNB
14
THE BATTLE OF THE SAMBRB
37 50 58
15 21
22
23 23 25
27 27 27 31
32 34 35 38
40 42 42 42 43
vii
Chapter I.
1:
The Gauls
ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS The Celtic Gauls were a branch of the Indo-European race which lived in pre-historic times in the basin of the Upper Danube in central Europe. They began their ntigrations westward across the Rhine in about 800 B.C., during the first Iron Age, called Iron Age "A" or the "Hallstatt Culture" (from the. large setdement whose remains were discovered at Hallstatt, near Salzburg in Austria), which lasted in Europe from about 1000 to 500 B.C. But the second Iron Age, called Iron Age "B" or.~' La Tene Culture" (from the village on Lake NeucMtel in Switzerland where many specimens of Celtic art were fuund), which lasted fur another 500 years, is specially connected with the Celts of Gaul. These later immigrations began in about 450 B.C., and the invaders found in Gaul, besides their Hallstatt predecessors, Iberians and an ancient race called Ligurians living in the south-east (Liguria in north-west Italy still bears their name), and also the Greeks who settled at Massilia (Marseilles) in about 600 B.C. and brought Greek trade and culture to their new country. Both the Hallstatt and La Tene Celts crossed to Britain a century or so after each entered Gaul, and the latter built there the typical Iron Age hill-forts protected by earth or stone ramparts, of which Maiden Castle in Dorset is the best example; in the third century B.C. they brought with them a highly developed form of Celtic art. Another branch of the Celtic Gauls also began to move southeastwards from their original settlement, down the Danube to Greece and Asia Minor. They attacked the famous
Chapter
Greek religious centre of Delphi in 280 B.C. and settled in Asia Minor a generation or so later in the country called Galatia after them; St Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatians to the descendants of these Gauls.
II.
THE GAULS SOUTH OF THE ALPS In the early sixth century a tribe of Gau1s called Insubrians crossed the Alps, defeated the Etruscans on the River PQ, and founded Mediolanum (Milan), to be followed by other Gallic tribes which eventually possessed the whole of the Po valley. The last comers, the Senones, made an expedition much funher south, defeated the Romans on the River Allia in 390 B.C. and actually captured and burnt Rome itself, but their leader, Brennus, allowed himself to be bought off, and the marauders withdrew, never to come so far south again. Roman tradition related that Titus Manlius was roused by the cackling of geese which heard the footsteps of the enemy climbing up the steep rock of the Capitol and saved the citadel from the invaders. It was also said that when the ransom of gold to buy off the Gauls was being weighed out a Roman complained that the scales were unfairly weighted, whereupon Brennus increased the amount by throwing his sword into the balance, with the words, Vae victis, "Woe to the conquered!" . Fighting went on at intervals for many years between the Romans aJ;Id these "Cisalpine" Gauls (the name means "on this side of the Alps", i.e. on the Roman side) until eventually, after suffering several defeats and after joining Hannibal in the Second Punic War (218-202), they gave up the struggle in 191 B.C. The Insubres and Cenomani were allowed to keep theh territories on condition of helping to guard the northern frontier of Italy, but the Boii lost half their country, in which several Roman colonies were established. Cisalpine 2
Chapter
1
1
Gaul was made into a regular province by Sulla in 91 B.C., but it was regarded as being almost pan of Italy and indeed was often called [talia, even by its governor Caesar, though like all provincial governors he was not permitted to leave his province and enter Italy proper with an army during his period of office. When he finally crossed the Rubicon, the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gau1, in 49 B.C. with an armed force he was committing an act of war against Rome. During Caesar's lifetime Cisalpine Gaul, now completely Romanised, produced two famous poets, Catullus of Verona and Virgil of Mantua, who were both probably of at least partly Gallic origin; Catullus had met Caesar and addressed an unflattering two-line epigram to him, and Virgil as a schoolboy of twelve, may have seen him raising troops in Cremona for his first campaign in Gau1. Four of Caesar's ten legions, the IIth, 12th, 13th, 14th, were raised in Cisalpine Gaul from Roman settlers and native Celts, and did excellent service for him in the Gallic and Civil wars. III.
"THE PROVINCE"
Halfway through the second century B.C. the people of Massilia appealed for help against the Ligurian invaders, whom the Romans drove off, and a similar appeal twentyfive years later brought the Romans across the Alps once more, when after dealing with the Ligurians they were opposed by the Gallic tribe of the Allobroges, who lived between the Isere and the Rhone. The Aedui, a Gallic tribe living in Burgundy, had recently become "Friends and Allies" ofthe Romans, and the Arverni, a powerful people from which Auvergne gets its name, noW came to help the Allobroges. The Romans utterly defeated both tribes, victories which led to their forming the new province of Transalpine or Narbonese Gaul (121 B.C.), which extended 3
Chapter 1 from the Alps to the Pyrenees and inland to Geneva and Tolosa (Toulouse). It was known as Gallia Braccata, because its inhabitants wore the native dress, trousers, but the Romans called it simply PrO'Vincia Nostra or PrO'Vincia alone, "the Province", a name which survives to-day in Provence. The rest of Gaul north of the Province was called Gallia Comata, "Long-haired Gaul". The new province soon became civilised and prosperous, but it suffered from the usual rapacity of governors and their staff and publicani, tax collectors, which caused several risings; but the process of Romanisation went steadily on, and the Gauls provided large numbers of auxiliaries, mostly cavalry, for the Roman army. Within a few years the Province, and indeed Italy itself, was threatened with invasions by the migrating German tribes of Cimbri and Teutoni, who wandered for several years through central Europe and Gallia Comata and defeated Roman armies more than once, the last time being at Arausio in the Province (105 B.C.). But they hesitated to take the way to Italy that lay open to them until 102 B.C., when Marius defeated the Teutoni at Aquae Sextiae (Aix) and the Cimbri near Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul in 101 B.C. This was the end of the German danger south of the Alps. IV.
GALLIA COMATA, NORTH OF THE PROVINCE
We now return to Transalpine Gaul before the encroachments of the Romans in the first century B.C. Geographically, as we are told by Caesar, it was divided into three distinct parts, Celtic Gaul, Belgic Gaul, and Aquitania, each of which differed from !he others in language, customs, and laws, though it is likely that the language of the Celtic and Belgic Gauls was basically the same. Aquitania, whose people were probablY non-Celtic speaking Iberians, 4
Chapter
1
lay in the extreme south-west, between the Garonne (Garumna) and the Pyrenees, and being nearest to the Province it quickly submitted to Caesar in 56 B.C. In the north-east was Belgic Gaul, from the Seine (Sequana) to the Rhine, comprising all that part of modern France and Belgium and much of Holland. The Belgic tribes were of mixed Celtic and Germanic origin, and only the Remi submitted to Caesar at once and remained loyal to the end. The Nervii were the bravest of all the Gauls, and being the farthest away from Roman influence were the most bitterly opposed to Roman aggression and almost ended Caesar's military career and his life too in.a desperate battle on the Sambre. The rest of the country was called Celtic Gaul, or simply Gaul, and consisted of the whole of modern France except the south-west and north-east. There were fifty or sixty different communities in the various parts of the country north of the Alps. Gaul was a country of dense forests and wide pasturelands, fortunate in having so many navigable rivers that made intercourse and trade among the different tribes easy at a time before the Romans introduced the science of road-engineering, though the important towns were linked by fairly good roads (at least in summer) carrying wheeled traffic. The broad plains of the north and west were suitable for tillage, and several improvements in agriculture came to Italy from Gaul. The people had reached a comparatively high degree of civilisation and were certainly not "barbarians", a word which to Caesar meant simply "non-Roman", just as the Romans themselves had been barbarians to the Greeks because they did not speak Grepk when Greece represented the high-water-mark of Mediterranean civilisation. The Gauls lived in strong-walled towns placed on hill-tops, sometimes in stone houses built partly undergound, or in fortified towns on the plains, and in the countryside there were villages built round large 5
Chapter
Chapter
1
I
farmhouses made of timber and wattles, with good thatched roofs. The Gauls of Brittany were skilful sailors and traded with Britain in ships larger than those used in the Mediterranean, and elsewhere trading barges moved up and down the rivers, which were crossed by many bridges, and paid toll to the chieftains through whose lands they passed. There were skilled copper-miners in Aquitania and elsewhere, and the metal-work of Gaul, both for ornament and use, especially for swords, was famous, and decorative art had flourished for several centuries, in enamel as well as metal, and later in sculpture. From the third century B.C. there had been a currency in gold and silver, first in Greek coins from Massilia and Greece and debased Gallic imitations, and then in Roman denarii from the Province and Italy and local copies. V.
~
...
•~
•~
u •
0
~
~
~
6
.t::
",. ~ Q
~
~
•
~
~
GALLIC POLITICS AND RELIGION
Each of the fifty or sixty tribes of Gallia Comata had its own council of elders that Caesar calls a Senate. The . kingship had recently been abolished in most communities and the place of the king taken by an annually elected magistrate called a vergobretus, but the Belgic and Aquitanian tribes were still ruled by kings. Each of the wealthy nobles had a more or less powerful following of loyal clients and enslaved debtors, and there was constant rivalry and jealousy among the aristocrats within the tribe, as well as between tribe and tribe, which led to a fatal disunity in war. The nobility was divided into Druids and "knights", whose position was equivalent to that of the feudal baronage of the Middle Ages, not of the rich middleclass equites of Rome. These two classes enjoyed all the power and wealth in their states, and the knights provided the cavalry in war, which formed the flower of the Gallic armies (except among the Nervii and the Helvetii), and 7
Chapter
1
the magistrates and council. The poorer classes had no independence and were little better than serfs; they provided the hordes of what was later called "cannon fodder" in battle, dangerous from mere weight of numbers in attack and while they were on the winning side, but too often ready to lIee at a reverse, being untrained, inadequately armed and fed, and eager to return home after a few days' campaigning. But when well led, these tribal levies fought gallantly and inflicted several defeats on the seasoned Roman legions. VI.
THE DRUIDS AND RELIGION
Nearly everything that we know about the Druids comes in Book VI of Caesar's "Gallic War", from information no doubt supplied by his friend the Aeduan Diviciacus, who was himself a Druid and had visited Rome in 61 B.C., where he stayed at the house of Cicero and first made the acquaintance of Caesar. The Druids were a national priesthood concerned with divine worship, sacrifices, the interpretation of ritual problems, and judicial cases, especially murder. There was a Chief Druid, appointed for life, generally by vote by the other Druids, who assembled once a year in the very centre of Gaul to confer and hear disputes from all communities. Caesar was told that the Druidk discipline originated in Britain and spread from there to Gaul, which may be true, in spite of the known course of Gallic migrations; possibly a purer form of the religion survived, if it did not actually originate, in the western districts of Britain, which was therefore regarded as the source of the cult; at any rate, students of Druidism crossed over from Gaul to Britain to learn more about it. Druids enjoyed special privileges, including freedom from taxes and military service, and many young men 8
Chapter
1
aspired to learn the craft, no part of which was ever committed to writing, though the Druids could write in Greek characters, apparently using the Celtic language, and some of them could also read Latin. They learned by heart an enormous number of verses concerning their religion, and taught in particular the doctrine of the transmigration of souls and the importance of astronomy. They had the right to excommunicate wrong-doers, and presided, we are told, over the human sacrifices of criminals and prisoners of war which was such a sinister part of Druidism. The cult was apparently soon stamped out by the Romans in Gaul but existed in the west of Britain for at least another century. It should be remembered that no written records of Druidism were ever kept, so that attempts to trace its later history, if it had one, must be imaginary. Fundamentally, according to Caesar, the Gallic religion was similar to the religions of Greece and Rome. Caesar does not give the names of any Gallic deities, but says that the god whom the Gauls worshipped above all others was the equivalent of Mercury, followed in importance by Apollo, . Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, and that the people claimed descent from a common father whom he called Dis Pater; but this information does not help much, and we know nothing more about these gods. The worship of animals and trees also seems to have been at one time part of the Celtic religion. Inscriptions on altars, statues, and temples all belong to the Roman period in Gaul, and consist almost entirely of names alone; hardly any other traces of the Celtic language remain, for no written records have survived, if in fact there ever were any.
9
VII.
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GAULS
been successful, internal dissension would sooner or later have nullified his victory.
In appearance the Gauls are said to have been tall, fairhaired, and blue-eyed (unlike our modern idea of the small, dark "Iberian" Celts), and they attained a fairly high level of comfort or even luxury, at least in districts not too far removed from Roman influences. They wore trousers, and the leaders had brightly coloured shirts and cloaks, and gold rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Their hair was long, and in battle they presented a fearsome appearance with helmets shaped like the heads of wild beasts topped with horse-hair crests of various colours, and long swords and shields. The use of war-chariots had gone out in Gaul but still survived in Britain. The main weaknesses in the Gallic character were a lack of political foresight which prevented them from combining their forces in war to oppose an invader, and their impulsive and mercurial temperament that caused them to alternate between great gallantry and deep despair. Always quarrelsome and jealous of each other, the chieftains not only failed to present a united front in their inter-tribal wars, but even invited the help of foreigners such as the Germans and Romans to overcome a neighbour, only to find that their guests became their masters. Only Vercingetorix the Arvernian, an inspired and inspiring leader, was able to raise a really formidable national army in 52 B.C. byexercising the strictest dicipline, and very nearly defeated Caesar. Many of the Gauls, both noblemen and commoners, often showed the most fantastic bravery in battle, and if they had combined their great talents from the beginning, instead of waiting to be attacked piecemeal by Caesar, their enormously superior numbers would surely have been more than a match even for the trained and disciplined Romans. But lack of self-control, both on and especially off the field of battle, proved their ruin, and even if Vercingetorix had 10
VIII.
THE LAST YEARS BEFORE CAESAR'S ARRIVAL IN GAUL
The invading Cimbri and Teutoni from Germany had been annihilated by Marius at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae in 102 and 101 B.C., but more Germans were pressing across the Rhine to settle in the fertile fields of Gaul. In 71 B.C. the Arverni and Sequani foolishly invited the Suebian leader Ariovistus to bring a German army to help them against their fellow-Gauls the Aedui, who were defeated; ten years later the Aedui sent Diviciacus the Druid on an unsuccessful embassy to get help from Rome, with whom they had been allied for sixty years. Then the Sequani found the Germans exercising dominion over them, and tried to expel them, but without success. At the same time the Gallic tribe of the Helvetii, living between the Alps and Jura, were preparing to migrate before the pressure of the invading Suebi, hoping to pass through the Province and find a new home in western Gaul; they began to move in the spring of 58 B.C. Julius Caesar had just been appointed proconsul, or governor, of Illyricum (on the northern shores of the Adriatic), Cisalpine Gaul, and the Province of Transalpine Gaul, and he determined to prevent the Helvetii from travelling through one of his provinces and then to drive Ariovistus back across the Rhine. Such were the causes that led to Caesar's invasion and eventual conquest of Gaul.
Chapter 2
Chapter 1.
2:
found his late captors still celebrating their good luck. He captured them in turn, recovered his money, and kept his word by crucifying all the pirates, though he was kind enough to have them killed first. Mter more military service in Asia Minor he became one of the younger leaders of the Democratic party at Rome, showing himself an able demagogue in opposition to the Senate. In 68 B.C. he served as quaestor (financial secretary to the governor) in Spain, a post that gave him a seat in the Senate, and in 65 B.C. by lavish expenditure on gladiatorial shows to win the favour of the mob became aedile, an official in charge of public buildings and entertainments; to pay for his candidature he had to borrow huge sums of money from the rich financier Crassus, for he was recklessly extravagant in his personal expenditure and had already squandered his private fortune.
Julius Caesar
EARLY LIFE, 100-64
B.C.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born on 12 July, 100 B.C., a member of one of the most ancient Roman families which traced its descent back to the legendary Trojan Aeneas through his son Ascanius or Iulus, and hence to the goddess Venus herself. The family was not famous in history and had generally supported the Senatorial party in the civil strife of the second century B.C., but Julius' aunt had married Marius, the plebeian leader of the Democratic, or popular, party, and Julius himself married Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, the successor of Marius. When Sulla led the Senatorial party back into power, Julius refused to divorce his wife to please the Dictator, and was lucky not to lose his life for his boldness. To keep out of the way, he went abroad and served as a soldier in 80 B.C. at the siege of Mytilene in Lesbos, where he won a "civic crown" for valour in saving a comrade's life in action. He then returned to Rome and unsuccessfully prosecuted two Senatorial ex-governors for maladministration of their provinces. Though he had won a high reputation for oratory Caesar went to Rhodes to study rhetoric and on the way was captured and held to ransom by some Cilician pirates on an island off the coast of Asia Minor. Professing disgust at being valued at only twenty talents (about £5,000 in gold but worth far more in those days), he insisted on paying fifty talents and lived for thirty-eight days on good terms with the pirates until the money arrived-but he promised to come back and crucify them all. On being released he hired some ships and returned to the island, where he 12
II.
RISE TO POWER, 63-61
B.C.
In 63 B.C., through bribery and the manoeuvres of a tribune called Labienus who was later to be his most trusted ·iegatlls in Gaul and then one of his bitterest enemies in the Civil War, Caesar was elected Ponti/ex Maximus, Chief Priest and the official head of the state religion, an office usually reserved for elder statesmen. Like most educated Romans, he had no real belief in the official deities but he was willing to preside over the formalities of religion and performed his duties efficiently in return for the prestige that the position gave him. In the same year Catiline's conspiracy to overthrow the state was thwarted by the consul and orator Cicero, and Caesar spoke against the proposal that the conspirators should be executed. In 62 B.C. Caesar was one of the eight praetors, high officials second only to the two consuls in rank, and divorced hi, wife Pompeia (Cornelia had died in 69 B.C.) because she had 13
Chapter
Chapter
2
been involved in a scandal and, as he said, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion", though his own morals were notoriously lax. He became propraetor, i.e. governor, of Further Spain in 61 B.C., when he discovered at the age of thirty-nine that he had a genius for commanding troops in the field. He defeated the Lusitani, governed his province well, and made enough money, mainly by the sale of prisoners of war as slaves, to payoff most of his enormous debts. III.
THE TRIUMVIRATE, 60
B.C.
Caesar returned to Rome to stand for the consulship of 59 B.C. and the Senate deliberately offended him by withholding a triumph for his Spanish victories and assigning to him a minor post to hold after the consulship which he seemed certain to obtain. He now made an alliance with Pompey and Crassus that is called the First Triumvirate. Pompey (106-48 B.C.) had won great victories in the near east and on returning to Rome in 62 B.C. had disbanded his armies before obtaining grants of land for his veterans and before getting the ratification of the Senate for his settlement of Syria, but the Senate foolishly refused to allow him these reasonable requests. The wealthy Crassus had been an opponent of Pompey in the past, but now he also was offended by the Senate, which refused his request for some concessions in tax-contracts in which he was interested. The combination of Pompey's great reputation, backed by the potential aid of his 40,000 veterans, with Crassus' great wealth and Caesar's ambition and brains, was irresistible; at the same time Caesar's beloved daughter Julia married Pompey, which made an additional bond of union between her husband and father. Pompey and Crassus obtained the concessions that they demanded from the Senate, and Caesar was elected to the 14
2
consulship for 59 B.C., though with a stubborn member of the Senatorial party, Bibulus, as his colleague; he persistently ignored the protests of Bibulus and carried through all the legislation agreed upon by the Triumvirate, so that wits called that year "the consulship of Julius and Caesar", not of Caesar and Bibulus. After his consulship Caesar was to be proconsul (governor) of Illyricum (on the northern shores of the Adriatic) and Cisalpine Gaul, to which was added Transalpine or Narbonese Gaul (the Province), which unexpectedly fell vacant, all three for the unprecedented period of five years. The Triumvirate was renewed in 56 B.C. at a conference held at Luca in Cisalpine Gaul, where it was agreed that Caesar should hold his governorship for another five years (probably with an overlap which would make it end on 13 November, 50 B.C.), that Pompey and Crassus should be consuls for 55 B.C., and that Pompey should then be governor of Spain for five years, with permission to stay in Rome and rule his province through legali, and Crassus governor of Syria for five years. IV.
CAESAR'S" GALLIC WAR"
Caesar wrote an account of his Gallic wars in seven books, which he called Commenlarii, "Note Books", though they are far more than that. It is thought that he collected his own notes made at the time, the despatches he sent to the Senate, and the reports of his officers on each campaign, and expanded them in the winter of 52 B.C. into their present form. They are therefore a Conunander-in-Chief's own account of his campaigns, written in clear, vigorous and straightforward language, and one of the best models of Latin prose that we have. "The Gallic War" was partly no doubt intended to justify the campaigns that he undertook without the specific sanction of the Senate, and also
15
Chapter 2
to be an 1l11exaggerated record of exploits that were bound to enhance his reputation in the eyes of his contemporaries at a critical moment in his career. He makes the best of his few failures, such as the short-lived result of his invasions of Britain, but the work is on the whole historically accurate, and it was a remarkable achievement for one of the greatest military commanders of any age to have written such a literary account of his own campaigns. His "Civil War" in three books, as far as the beginning of the Alexandrine War in 48 B.C., shows all the graphic vigour of the "Gallic War" and almost all its historical accuracy. Although no examples of his speeches survive, Caesar was also regarded as one of the best orators of his time. In 61 B.C. the Senate had recommended that the governor of the Province and his successors should protect the interests of the Aedui and other friends of Rome as far as was compatible with his duty to the province; this was Caesar's formal justification for making war on the Helvetii and on Ariovistus in 58 B.C., and in any case, it was his duty to defend the Province and the neighbouring allies from invasion. His army consisted at first of four legions, which were eventually increased to ten by the end of the campaigns. Most of the troops were north Italians living in Cisalpine Gaul, not yet all Roman citizens, and there were also native auxiliary soldiers serving in his anny. Here is a summary of The Gallic War: Book I (58 B.C.). Caesar refused to allow the migrating Helvetii to pass through the Province on their way to settle in western Gaul, whereupon they moved through the land ofthe Sequani and reached the Aedui, who appealed to him for help. He attacked the last quarter of the Helvetii while it was crossing the Saone (Arar), and after defeating the main body in a hard-fought battle near Bibracte compelled the survivors to return home. Diviciacus the 16
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Aeduan on behalf of all Gaul begged Caesar for help against Ariovistus the German, whom the Sequani had invited in and now could not expel. Caesar tried to negotiate with Ariovistus, but in vain, and after another desperate battle near Ostheim in the Vosges he drove the Germans back across the Rhine. The legions spent the winter at Vesontio (Besan90n) in the land of the Sequani, an indication of Caesar's intention to conquer eventually the whole of Transalpine Gaul. Book II (57 B.C.). The Belgae conspired against Caesar and raised a huge army to oppose him on the Aisne (Axona) near Berry-au-Bac. He relieved the siege of Bibrax, a town of the Remi who alone of the Belgae submitted to him at once and remained loyal to the end, and checked an attempt by the Belgae to cross the Aisne, after which the whole Belgic army ·melted away owing to lack of supplies. The Bellovaci submitted, but the Nervii, the bravest of all the Gauls, attacked the legions while they were entrenching a camp in difficult country and fought a battle which was won by the Romans only when Caesar himself went into .the line to rally his men. The Aduatuci surrendered their town but made a treacherous night-attack and after being defeated were sold into slavery. All the maritime tribes of north-west Gaul submitted to P. Crassus, son of the Triumvir, and the Senate ordered a fifteen days' thanksgiving at Rome for Caesar's achievements. Book III (winter of 57 B.C.). Galba repulsed an attack of the Seduni and Veragri on his winter camp at Octodurus in the RhOne valley. (56 B.C.) (In April the Triumvirate was renewed at Luca.) The Veneti in Brittany, who had submitted in 57 B.C., now led a rising of all the local tribes, which their coastal towns and specially built ships made it hard for the Romans to suppress, until the galleys of D. Brutus immobilised the Gallic fleet by cutting their rigging and a sudden calm allowed him to defeat them in 17
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Quiberon Bay. Sabinus overcame the Venelli and Crassus Aquitauia, and Caesar drove the Morini and Menapii of north-west Gaul into their woods and marshes. Book IV (55 n.c.). Caesar describes some of the German tribes, of whom the Usipetes and Tencteri crossed the Rhine in order to settle in Gaul. During a truce the German cavalry attacked the Gallic cavalry serving in the Roman army, which Caesar made the pretext for arresting the German leaders at a parley and massacring the whole host, 430,000 men, women and children. He then built a bridge over the Rhine, attacked the Sugambri and spent eighteen days in Germany; In August he landed at Deal and made a reconnaissance-invasion of south-east Britain, defeated the Britons twice, and returned to Gau1 after staying less than a month in Britain. Labienus overcame the Moriui, and the Menapii withdrew once more into their forests. A thanksgiving of twenty days was voted by the Senate for Caesar's invasion of Britain. Book V (54 n.c.). Caesar settled a dispute between two leaders of the Treveri, Indutiomarus and Cingetorix, and Dumnorix the Aeduan stirred up trouble and was killed. Caesar invaded Britain in July, advanced inland after his ships were wrecked in a storm-here follows a description of the island and its inhabitants-defeated Cassivellaunus, and then crossed the Thames and drove him out of his fortress near St Albans. Four Kentish kings were repu1sed in an attack on the naval camp (near Sandwich) and Cassivellaunus submitted. In September Caesar returned to Gaul after accomplishing very little in Britain. Ambiorix of the Eburones induced Sabinus and Cotta with fifteen cohorts to leave their winter camp at Aduatuca (perhaps Tongres) and killed them all in an ambush. The Nervii attacked Q. Cicero's camp, but he resisted with great gallantry until relieved by Caesar, who defeated the 19
Chapter 2 blockading army of the Nervii. Labienus drove off the Treveri and killed Indutiomarus. Book VI (53 B.C.). Caesar subdued another rising in no~ern Ga';1l and at last crushed the Menapii, while Lablenus agam defeated the Treveri. Caesar crossed the Rhine once more and drove back the Suebi-here follows a description of Gallic politics and religion, including the Druids, and of the Germans and their country. Caesar returned to Gaul, ravaged the country of the Eburones and tried in vain to hunt down Ambiorix. The Sugambri crossed the Rhine and made a dangerous attack on Cicero's camp at Aduatuca. Book VII (52 B.C.). Vercingetorix the Arvernian headed a general rising of all Gaul. Returning from Cisalpine Gaul Caesar attacked the Arverni and captured several towns, including Avaricum (Bourges), but he was driven off from Gergovia with serious losses. The news of this repulse at last induced the Aedui to join the rest of the Gauls in rebellion. Labienus defeated the Parisii and combined forces with Caesar, who repelled an attack of Vercingetorix on the march and blockaded him in Alesia, round which he built a double line of elaborate fortifications, the outer one to keep off a large relieving force of Gauls summoned by Vercingetorix. Caesar won the last desperate battle and received the surrender of Vercingetorix. Caesar's own account ends here, but the events of 51 and 50 B.C. are recorded in Book VIII by his friend Aulus Hirtius (consul in 43 B.C.). It describes the last year of fighting, when all resistance came to an end after the siege and capture of Uxellodunum, and the final year (50 B.C.) of Caesar's proconsulship, spent in reconciling the Gauls to being governed by Rome.
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Chapter 2 V.
THE APPROACH OF CIVIL WAR, 54-50 B.C. The Triumvirate, which had been renewed in 56 B.C., was weakened by the death of Julia (Caesar's daughter, married to Pompey) in 54 B.C., and was destroyed by the death of Crassus at the battle of Carrhae in Parthia in 53 B.C. Rome was in disorder owing to the street-fighting between Caesar's supporter Clodius and Pompey's supporter Milo, who killed Clodius in 52 B.C. Pompey was appointed sole consul in that year to restore order, and was now moving nearer to the Senatorial party, whose military leader he eventually became. The Senate· was determined to ruin Caesar when his governorship came to an end in 50 B.C. He had been excused by a special law from standing for the consulship of 48 B.C. in person, but unless his proconsulship was again prolonged, the gap between the end of the governorship and the beginning of his second consulship would leave him a private citizen open to prosecution by his enemies. The "Tribunes of the People" had the right to veto any proceedings in the Senate, and two of ·them, Curio and Mark Antony, in tum prevented Caesar's opponents from getting him recalled. His request for an extension of his command until the end of 49 B.C. was refused, and after making several proposals for a compromise Caesar saw that the Senate was determined to make no concessions and to force him to go to war, so in January of 49 B.C. he crossed the Rubicon, the boundary of Cisalpine Gaul, and thus started the Civil War. It is said, but not by Caesar himself, that he hesitated long before taking this decisive step, and that he finally declared "The die is cast" before crossing the river into Italy.
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VI.
THE CIVIL WAR, 49-45
Chapter B.C.
The Senate was unprepared for a campaign in Italy, and Pompey left Rome for Greece, where he mobilised his forces, both those that lie had brought with him and those which he withdrew from the Near East or raised in Greece. Caesar swept through Italy almost unopposed, then defeated the Senatorial generals Afranius and Petreius in a brief but brilliant campaign in Spain, and returned to Rome as Dictator, to he elected consul for 48 B.C. Early in 48 B.C. he came to Greece and tried to blockade Pompey in Dyrrachium with a much smaller army, seven legions against eleven. Pompey broke out, and Caesar had to withdraw to Thessaly, where the two armies met in the summer at Pharsalus. Caesar decisively defeated the superior numbers of Pompey, who fled to Egypt, where he was murdered as he stepped ashore by an Egyptian general and one of his own veterans. Caesar unwisely stayed in Alexandria with a small force to settle a quarrel between the young King Ptolemy and his sister and co-ruler Cleopatra (a family of pure Macedonian descent, not Egyptian at all except by nearly three centuries' residence); she was now about twenty-two, and both clever and charming. He remained there for nine months, at first blockaded in the palace and later reluctant to leave Cleopatra, whose lover he had become, although more than thirty years older. In the summer of 47 B.C. he marched against Phamaces, King of Pontus in Asia Minor, and defeated him in a stubborn battle at Zela, which he celebrated, somewhat unjustly, in his triumphal procession at Rome with the words veni, vidi, vici. (These words are often wrongly thought to refer to Caesar's account of his invasions of Britain, probably because the authors of the brilliantly witty 1066 and All That tell us that Caesar reported the Britons to be "weeny, weedy, and 22
2
weaky".) After returning to Rome, where he was appointed Dictator again, he crossed to north Africa and defeated the Senatorial armies and King Juba at Thapsus in April, 46 B.C. He finally put an end to all armed opposition by overcoming Pompey's sons and his own former chief of staff, Labienus, at Munda in Spain (45 B.C.) in one of the most hard-fought battles of his career. VII.
CAESAR AS SOLE RULER, 45-44 B.C. Caesar was now undisputed ruler of the Roman world, Dictator for ten years, an office which was made perpetual shortly before his death, and appointer to all the magistracies; in fact king in all but name, for he refused to take that title which was always so hated in Rome. In his last year of life he carried out many excellent reforms in Rome, Italy, and the provinces, including the appointment of new members to the Senate, the allotment of land to veteran soldiers, the grant of the citizenship to troops raised in the provinces (e.g. the "Larks", a legion of Transalpine Gauls) and to the whole of Cisalpine Gaul, the foundation of overseas colonies, reduction of the numbers of unemployed who received free corn at Rome, and the start of many public works in Italy. One important reform that has lasted almost unchanged until to-day was his introduction of the J u1ian Calendar, based on the calculations of an Alexandrian mathematician called S osigenes; this was correct to within eleven minutes a year, an error that was put right in the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 by the dropping of three Leap Year days in every four centuries.
VIII. THE MURDER OF CAESAR, 15 MARCH, 44 B.C. Caesar's work was only just begun and his plans for the future remain unknown. Although he was obviously an
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enlightened and beneficent ruler and had shown remarkable clemency to his former opponents, he allowed the Senate hardly even the appearance of authority. There was therefore much hidden opposition, consisting of over sixty republicans led by the proud and disgruntled Cassius, who had changed sides after Pharsalus and had joined Caesar, and the idealistic Marcus Brutus, who owed much to Caesar but had been persuaded to regard him as a tyrant. Some of his most highly-trusted officers in the wars were horrified by his neglect of constitutional government, and many former followers of Pompey still hated and feared the man who had spared their lives. A year earlier Caesar had said, "I have lived long enough either for nature or for glory", and he dismissed the bodyguard that might have saved him from assassination. The conspirators determined to strike before he set out for Parthia on another campaign. On the evening before the Ides of March talk after dinner turned on the best form of death, and Caesar said that he would prefer a sudden one. Next morning, refusing to credit the rumours and warnings that had begun to spread and an ill-omened dream that his wife Calpurnia had just had, he went to a meeting of the Senate held in a building that was part of the Theatre of Pompey in the Campus Martius. The conspirators crowded round him, men who had been his friends and had been promoted or spared by him, and "envious Casca" struck the first blow. Caesar at first defended himself with his iron stilus (pen for writing on wax tablets) but was stabbed by twentythree dagger-blows, of which only one would have been immediately fatal. It is said that when he saw Brutus among the assailants he exclaimed in Greek, "You, too, my son?" and made no further resistance.
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IX.
CAESAR'S CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE
Historians have expressed many different views of Caesar's character, but none has ever questioned his great ability and achievements. In his younger years he was wild and dissolute, and his own morals were never "above suspicion", as he declared his wife Pompeia's must be when he divorced her. He was unscrupulous in the methods • which he used to attain power as a democrat, and as a commander in Gaul he was often merciful but sometimes utterly ruthless, e.g. in butchering 430,000 Germans during a truce, in selling whole communities into slavery to intimidate the other tribes and to increase his own wealth, and in cutting off the hands of the survivors of the siege of Uxellodunum. But he was always anxious to save bloodshed among his own men and among Roman citizens in the opposing army in the Civil War, when he set free as many as possible or allowed them to join his army. As a soldier his chief characteristics were great caution in . preparing for battle, followed by lightning speed in striking the decisive blow. As Commander-in-Chief he did not himself often come to close quarters with the enemy, but he records one instance, in the battle with the Nervii in this book, when he saved the situation by his own arrival in the front line, and later historians mention his courage in battle and endurance on the march. He won the affection and loyalty of his men by these qualities and by allowing them a judicious freedom off duty combined with the strictest discipline on the field. Caesar used the great power that he finally obtained almost entirely for the benefit of the state, though it was a power that could never be reconciled with the republican form of government, and he restored order and laid the foundations for peace and prosperity that only his murder
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prevented from being realised in his own lifetime. One quality that he lacked was the genius for compromise and for advancing slowly that his heir and great-nephew Octavian, afterwards the Emperor Augustus, possessed in so marked a degree. As a general Caesar was unrivalled, and as an administrator and in his later years a constructive politician he was equal to the best of the emperors. Such versatility in so many fields, war, politics, administration, literature, history, and oratory makes him unique in history; he did indeed "bestride this narrow world like a Colossus". Suetonius tells us that Julius Caesar was tall, with a fair complexion, well proportioned limbs, a somewhat full mouth, and keen black eyes. He was careful about his personal appearance and dandified in dress. To hide his premature baldness he used to comb his scanty hair forwards and gladly accepted the privilege conferred on him by the Senate of wearing a laurel wreath at all times. There are many likenesses of Caesar on coins struck both in his lifetime and afterwards, and there are several busts; a photograph of one appears as plate I with reproductions of coins; the well-known head in the British Museum has now been declared an eighteenth century forgery. The bust shown in this book was found at Tusculum and is now in the Castello di Aglie at Turin; it may have been made during his life, because the scanty hair, the bump at the back of the head, the long, thin, wrinkled neck, and the perhaps cynical half-smile, characteristics all found on coins struck before his death, make it likely to be a genuine portrait and a true likeness.
Chapter 3: The Roman Arn9' I.
THE OLD REPUBLICAN ARMY Down to about 100 B.C. the Roman army consisted . entirely of citizen soldiers who were enrolled for a particular campaigu without any formal training and who returned to civilian life when no longer required. The legion was drawn up for battle in three lines, each line being divided into ten "maniples" of two centuries each. The front line consisted of the younger men who were called hastati, the second of men in the prime of life, called principes, and the third of veterans, called triarii. The maniples in the second and third lines covered the blank spaces left by the maniples in front of them, in chequer formation. Those of hastati and principes contained 120 men each (the centuries therefore 60), and those of triar;; 60 men each (the centuries only 30), making a total of 3,000 men in the legion; with the addition of a section of 20 light-armed men called velites to each century, a total of 1,200 velites, so that the full strength of the legion was 4,200 men. 300 cavalry in 10 troops (turmae) of 30 each were attached to the legion, and the Italian allies had to supply the same number of infantry and three times as many cavalry. A centurion commanded each century and the senior of the two centurions (centuria prior as opposed to centuria posterior) commanded the maniple. There were six military tribunes who commanded the legion in turn under the direction of the consul, who as Commander-inChief was in charge of two legions and the allies.
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THE ORGANISATION OF CAESAR'S LEGIONS About 100 B.C. Marius introduced a professional army which owed allegiance to its commander, not directly to 27
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the state, and the end of the Social War, ten years later, sawall Italians receive full Roman citizenship and able to take an equal place in the legions with Romans. The legion now consisted of ten cohorts, each divided into six centuries or three maniples, but the maniple was now only an administrative unit and the cohort took its place as the tactical unit. The nominal strength of the legion was 6,000, of the cohort 600, and of the century 100, but the legion in the field was often down to 3,500-4,000 men, and the century down to 60-70. The old division into hastati, principes, and triarii disappeared except in the names of the centuries, the velites were abolished, and the cavalry, now entirely foreigners, were separated from the legions. The Commander-in-Chief, dux, was appointed by the Senate and was technically not imperator until so addressed by his troops after a major victory. He wore a cloak of scarlet wool, embroidered with gold, called a paludametltum, to which Shakespeare makes Antony refer in his funeral speech in Julius Caesar III, ii, 175:
changed sides at the end of the Gallic wars, perhaps through jealousy or some real or fancied slight, and was killed in 45 B.C. at Munda fighting against his old commander. The other legati became competent generals and were put in command of legions when necessary and of winter camps; the only real failure was Titurius Sabinus, whose folly and lack of courage caused the loss of fifteen cohorts and his own life in 54 B.C. Next in rank as "commissioned officers" were the military tribunes, six to a legion, members of the middle class Equestrian Order, probably appointed by Caesar himself. They were often young men at the start of a political career, not experienced in war but sometimes put in command of a cohort or a warship under the direction of a legatus. Volusenus is the only, tribune who is several times mentioned with approval by 'Caesar. These officers attended councils of war together with the senior centurions. The backbone of the Roman army was the centurions, each in command of a century, six to a cohort and sixty to a legion. They were professional soldiers, generally , experienced in war, like our warrant and non-commissioned officers, and they both led the troops courageously in battle and administered stern discipline off the field with the aid of a vine staff (vitis) which they carried as a sign of rank and for use on an "idle" soldier; during the early Empire we read in Tacitus of one whose nickname was cedo alleram, "Give me another", because he used to break so many sticks on the shoulders of his men. Centurions wore a special badge on their helmets and swords on the left side because they did not generally carry a shield. There was regular system of promotion by seniority and merit from the junior centurion of the tenth cohort to the first cohort, but a man could jump several steps in the ladder of promotion by exceptional services. The old names hastati, principes, triarii were kept for this alone, 29
You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii.
The battle with the Nervii is described in this book. But in 44 B.C. the cloak was thirteen years old, and Caesar, was unlikely to wear military uniform at a meeting of the Senate when the toga was the official dress. The general's deputies were legati (not to be confused with ambassadors, another meaning of the same word), members of the Senatorial Order appointed by the Senate on the recommendation of the commander; Caesar had four at first and eventually ten, the same number as his legions, which also rose from four to ten. His Chief of Staff, Labienus, was legatus pro praetore, legate with the rank of praetor, and was a first class general, greatly trusted by Caesar, but he 28
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except that for trianus the new name of pi/ani was substituted. In every cohort the centurions were rated for seniority according to the position taken up by their centuries in the battle-line, where they were drawn up in four ranks of up to twenty men each; the cohort had three centuries posted in front and three in rear, making a line eight deep with up to sixty men in each rank.
of each cohort probably commanded that cohort as well as his own century, and the first cohort contained the six senior centurions, who were called primi ordines; the word ordo was often used instead of centuria. There was no permanent commander of a legion at this time, but a legatus was often put in command or the military tribunes acted under the orders of a legatus or of the imperator. Junior non-commissioned officers were aquiliferi and signiferi, whose duty it was to carry and guard the standards (aquilae and signa). The signa were of great importance to the morale of a legion and were a rallying-point in a crisis; hence signa inferre, "to advance", signa canferre, "to close on the centre", and similar phrases. The legionary standard was a silver eagle perched on a pole and was attached to the first century of the first cohort, so that it always led the way into battle or on the march; it was kept in camp in a chapel near the general's headquarters. The manipular standards, three to a cohort, were poles adorned with various metal badges, such as the images of birds or beasts, crescent moons, and decorated discs. Standard-bearers wore the skin of a wolf over their helmets. The highest award for bravery was the corona civica, a wreath of oak leaves, and there were various badges (phalerae) and necklets (torques) given for distinguished service.
hastati 5
principes 3
6
4
pHani I
priores
2
posteriores
The three centuries posted in front were called priores, those in the rear posteriores, and the right-hand maniple (two centuries) was called pilani, the centre maniple principes, and the left-hand maniple hastali. Thus in every cohort the order of seniority of centurions was: I,pilus prior; 2,pilus posterior; 3,princeps prior; 4,princeps posterior; 5, hastatus prior; 6, hastatus posterior. The centurions took their titles from their centuries according to this list, except that the centurion of the pilani was called pilus. The second centurion in the first cohort was called pilus posterior primus, and so on down to the most junior centurion in the tenth cohort, number sixty in the legion, who was called hastatus posterior decimus. We read of a centurion in the Civil War (B.C. III, 53) who was promoted for his bravety ab octavis ordinibus ad primipilum, "from the centurions of the eighth cohort to Senior Centurion". The Senior Centurion of the first cohort of the legion was called primus pilus (without prior), or primi pili centurio, or primipilus, and was a very important person, like our Regimental Sergeant-Major. The senior centurion
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III.
ORDER OF BATTLE AND THE MARCH
The normal fighting array was in three lines (t,.iplex acies), in which the men were drawn up eight deep in cohorts arranged as indicated on the following page. The numbers refer to cohorts and the dashes are centuries. The space between the lines was about a cohort's frontage, but the cohorts in line were probably quite close to one another. When the army attacked the front line advanced
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4
7
10
2
3 6
I
5
9
8
within javelin range (up to forty yards), threw their javelins, and charged with the sword; the second and third lines came into action or relieved the front line as required. Other formations were a single, double, or quadruple line, a wedge (cuneus), and, to repel an attack from several directions, an orbis, which was a solid or hollow square rounded at the angles, many ranks deep. On the march the four cohorts of the front line fonned the first column, the next three the second column, and the last three brought up the rear (novissimum agmen). To go into action, the cohorts extended to right and left of the road and were at once in triple line of battle. The baggage (impedimenta) of each legion usually followed the legion, with cavalry and light troops on the flanks, but in hostile country the baggage was all placed in the middle of the column or towards the rear, carrying also the packs ofthe men, who now marched in light order (expediti), ready for action; or an agmen quadratum might be formed, a square with troops in front, rear, and at the sides, and with the baggage in the middle. IV.
EQUIPMENT AND ARMS
Legionaries were usually (but not always) Roman citizens who enlisted for twenty years' service and up to the end of the Gallic wars were paid 120 denarii a year. A denarius
32
was a silver coin a little smaller than a shilling but with a very much higher purchasing power; a day labourer in Italy received about twice the soldier's pay, but the troops had excellent chances of plunder during a successful campaign and their pay was raised to 225 denarii in about 50 B.C. Their staple food was wheat, which they ground to make bread or porridge in the portable hand mills that each man carried in his pack. They also carried in their packs the wheat ration for three or four days, or more, as circumstances required, out of the monthly allowance of a bushel each. They did not like meat, but would eat it when wheat was not. available, and their drink was a sour wine called posca. The uniform of a legionary was a long belted tunic reaching nearly to the knees like a kilt, a short cloak (sagum), brown for soldiers, white for officers, and heavy hob-nailed sandals (caligae). His defensive armour was a leather jerkin strengthened with strips of metal (lorica); an iron helmet (galea) with a detachable plume of feathers, which was carried on the march slung over the right . shoulder and put on just before battle; a shield (scutum), about four feet high and two and a half feet broad and curved cylindrically to protect the body, made of wood and hide, rimmed and bossed with iron and protected from warping and rusting by a detachable leather cover; and sometimes greaves (ocreae) of leather or metal. His weapons were a two-edged sword (gladius), used for stabbing rather than slashing, about two feet long, worn on the right side so that the shidd should not prevent it from being drawn easily (officers and centurions who did not normally carry a shield wore the sword on the left side); and two pila, javelins more than six feet long with wooden shafts and long heads of soft iron which bent when they struck an enemy's shield SO that he could not pull them out and throw them back and was hampered in his movements. 33
V.
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Soldiers on the march in full kit were called impediti and carried a total weight of about sixty-five pounds, which is much the same as was carried by an infantryman in the First World War of 1914-18, and the same as the weight of plate armour worn by a knight in the fourteenth century (as is shown by weighing suits of armour in museums). Besides his armour and weapons, a Roman soldier carried a pack (sarcina) containing rations for several days, a hand-mill to grind the wheat, cooking utensils, a flask to hold wine or water, a blanket, and a change of clothes, and an axe, saw, basket, mallet, spade (all for the entrenchment and defences of the camp); the pack was slung on a pole or over two stakes (valli) used every day for the rampart of the camp and on the march resting on the left shoulder, while he carried his two pila, with his helmet slung over them, on his right shoulder. The spade was used more than the sword, for the Roman soldiers did an enormous amount of digging, not only entrenching the camp every night when on the march but also shovelling tons of earth in the course of sieges and defensive operations. They marched the length and breadth of Gaul several times during the eight Gallic campaigns, covering fifteen to eighteen miles a day on an ordinary day's march (iustum iter) and up to twenty-five or whatever was required on a forced march (magnum iter). When about to go into action they left their packs and stakes with the impedimenta, put on their helmets, stripped off their shield coverings, and were expediti, ready for action in light marching order.
served with the legions and were summoned when required for special tasks like building bridges or working the siegetrain, under the direction of an engineer officer called praefectus fabrum. Scouts sent out singly were speculatores, and when in reconnaissance parties exploratores. There was now no Roman or Italian cavalry, but horsemen were recruited from Spain and Transalpine Gaul and later in the Gallic War from Germany. They were divided into squadrons (alae) of 300-400 men, subdivided into ten troops (turmae), and were commanded by Roman officers of the Equestrian Order called praefeeti equitum or by their own officers; they were used mainly to skirmish and scout and to pursue a fleeing enemy, being hardly able to face resolute infantry. Other auxiliary troops were slingers (funditores) from the Balearic Islands and archers (sagil/arii) from Crete and Numidia, and some light-armed infantry; all auxiliary troops were foreigners enrolled in the Roman army. The baggage of an army (impedimenta) consisted of the siege-train, tents, spare equipment and weapons, officers' kit, and the commissariat, and was carried by ,horses or mules driven by calones, a term that also included officers' servants and other camp-followers. Slave dealers (mangones) accompanied a campaign to buy the plunder and slaves, under the direction of the quaestor, to be marched to Italy and sold at a profit in the slave-markets there.
OTHER TROOPS, AND THE BAGGAGE Discharged veterans, called evocati, could rejoin the army at the invitation of the general, with higher pay and exemption from certain fatigne-duties. Engineers (fabri) 34
VI.
THE CAMP
On the march troops always encamped for the night in a specially fortified camp (castra), which long practice enabled them to prepare in a very short time. Officers went ahead to choose a suitable site, and first marked out the general's headquarters (praetorium) and the corners of the camp with coloured flags. The shape was generally square, with rounded corners and sides about 2,000-2,500 35
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
feet long for Caesar's army of eight legions (in 57 B.C.), about 30,000 men with auxiliaries, perhaps 40,000 in all. The camp was surrounded by a ditch (fossa) twelve feet broad and nine feet deep, from which the earth was thrown up to make a rampart (agger) four feet high, crowned with a palisade (valium) made from the stakes (valli) carried by the men, interlaced with branches to make an almost impenetrable barrier. The men's tents were always placed in the same position and order, so that each man knew exactly where to go and what to do. The camp was divided laterally into two unequal sections by a road a hundred foot wide called via principalis; the front section of the camp (one-third of the whole) contained tents for two legions and auxiliaries and officers' quarters, and the rear section (two-thirds) contained the praetorium and tents for six legions, special troops like the evocati (veterans who rejoined for further service), and the rest of the auxiliaries. The rear section was divided laterally by a road fifty feet wide called via quintana, and from the praetorium ran a broad road, via praetoria, to the front gate (nearest the enemy), the porta praetoria. In the rear was the porta decumana, and the via principalis ran to two side gates called porta principalis dextra (on the right) and sinistra (on the left). The soldiers' tents were made of hides and held ten men each in a space ten feet square. A space 200 feet wide was left inside the rampart, and auxiliaries were quartered nearer the rampart to bear the brunt of an attack. Cavalry outposts (stationes) were on duty outside the camp, with guards (custodes) at the gates and sentries (excubitores by day, vigiles by night) on the ramparts and at headquarters. When camp was to be moved, the first of three trumpet calls was the signal to take down the tents and pack the baggage, the second to load the baggage on the pack-animals, and the third for the troops to march off. There was a written watchword (tessera), different for
each night, that was passed round the guards and sentries. In winter the campaigning season carne to an end and the troops went into winter-quarters (hibema) until the spring. These were more strongly fortified permanent camps (castra stativa), in which the men lived in wooden huts thatched with straw.
36
CAESAR'S CAMP
ON THE
AISNE
porta~rp~r~a~.~to~r~t~a____________~
v.lIll m
r----------~/:-n-:t-e-r-----
I
r---~~I70""-,
~---------------P=-or-t~a~~d-e~cu~m~a~n~a~--------~'
37
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The storming of a fortified town (oppugnatio) was an assault on the walls either without previous investment (ex itinere) or after a siege (obsidio). If a town was not strongly defended the commander chose what seemed to be a weak spot in the walls, cleared away defenders by means of archers, slingers, and light artillery, and sent the troops in to assault under cover of a testudo, a sloping roof of shields locked tightly together over the heads of the attackers, with more shields to protect the front and sides. Under cover of this the men advanced to the walls, filled in the ditch with loose earth (another meaning of agger), and climbed the wall by scaling ladders (scalae) or burst open the gate with a battering ram (aries). A formal siege took much longer. It would begin with a line of earthworks thrown up all round the town and strengthened by towers or redoubts, to prevent the defenders from making a sally or escaping. The garrison was then either starved into surrender or the town was taken by assault from a siege-mound (the third meaning of agger) after preparatory work by the siege train. An agger in this sense was an elaborately constructed siege-mound made of logs set in layers, each at right angles to the stage below and filled up with earth or rubble. It was begun out of range of missiles from the wall and was gradually built up on an inclined plane continually drawing nearer to the top of the wall so that eventually the attackers could throw bridges of hurdles or ladders across the intervening space and so enter the town. Engineers working on the agger were protected by various mobile defence works, such as mantlets (vineae), which were light huts with timber tops and wicker sides, each about sisteen feet long, eight feet high, and seven feet wide; the front and back were open so that several vineae could be placed in a line to make a
continuous covered way up to the town. A longer but narrower and lower form of mantlet was a musculus, and there was also a tesiudo, quite different from the" tortoise" of shields used to defend a party of soldiers. The second type of testudo was a shed about twenty-five feet square, mounted on wheels and having a sloping timber roof and sides under cover of which the men could fill in the ditch or undermine the wall. A pluteus was a convex wicker shield on three wheels or rollers, behind which two or three men could advance to work on the agger. All these siegeengines were covered with hides soaked in water to make them fire proof. Light wooden towers (turres) of several stages, up to fifty feet high, could be pushed forward on wheels or rollers so that the men on the upper stages were level with the top of the wall, or they might be pushed up the ramp of the agger and hurl missiles from above. Hooks on long poles were used to pull down the battlements, and mines (cuniculi) were driven under the defences. Heavy batterings rams, consisting of a large beam with a huge metal head which was slung inside a framework of timber, were rocked backwards and forwards against gate or wall. The defenders would retaliate by digging counter-mines under the agger and drawing away the earth or setting the timbers on fire, or by catching and drawing up the heads of the rams, or by dropping boiling pitch on the attackers. Arti11ery (tarmenta) generally depended on the principle of torsion, the force produced when tightly twisted ropes of horse-hair, gut, or cord are allowed to unwind suddenly. We do not know the difference between a ballista and a catapulta, but both worked in much the same way. Each was like a very big cross-bow mounted on a tripod, with a groove running along the top of the wooden stock. In front at right angles to the stock was a timber framework at each end of which was a vertical skein of
38
39
VII.
SIEGES
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
ropes of horse-hair, tightly twisted by a windlass before the engine was fired. Two wooden arms passed through these skeins and took the place of the arms of a cross-bow. A rope was attached to the ends of the arms and served as the bow-string, being fastened to a projector-block that ran freely in the stock. To load the catapult the projectorblock and attached rope were forced back by a windlass against the pull of the twisted skeins of horse-hair and made fast by a trigger catch. A long javelin was placed in the groove in front of the projector-block, and when the trigger was released the unwinding of the skeins caused the arms to fiy forward, taking the block and rope with them and thus discharging the javelin. The engine could be raised or lowered or moved sideways to get the required range and aim and could fire up to 500 yards with some accuracy. Another but less accurate engine called an onager could hurl large stones from a sling or spoon which was forced backwards and downwards against the torsion of horsehair ropes and was discharged by the unwinding of the ropes.
into six centuries. Regular cavalry was attached to each legion. The legions permanently quartered in Britain after the conquest, which started in A.D. 43, were the Second" Augusta" at Caerleon, the Sixth "Victrix Pia Fidelis" at York (taking the place of the Ninth" Hispan. "), and the Twentieth "Valeria Victrix" at Chester.
VIII. THE ARMY UNDER THE EMPIRE Although this is outside the scope of this book, a few words about the later Roman army may be of interest. The army was now more of a career than ever before, and a man would spend his twenty years in a legion and then retire to live with his family near its barracks, for the twenty-five to thirty legions were usually permanently stationed on or near the frontiers of the Empire, never in Italy or Rome. A legatus was the permanent commander of a legion, which numbered about 5,600 men, still in ten cohorts, but the first cohort now contained 1,000 men in centuries varying from 500 in the first to 100 in the fifth, while the other uine cohorts had about 500 men divided
40
41
Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Pronunciation and Translation I.
SYLLABLE DIVISION All Latin was intended to be read aloud. Yon have already been taught how to pronounce the vowel sounds in Latin, and the vocabulary of this book will tell you the "quantity", i.e. the length, of all the vowels contained in it. But it is also important to know how the Romans divided the syllables in their words, for each one should be pronounced clearly and distinctly, not slurred as some of our English syllables are. Here are two simple rules. (i) When a vowel or diphthong (a diphthong consists of two vowels pronounced together, like the ae in mensae) is followed by another vowel or diphthong or by a single consonant, the syllable division comes after the first vowel or diphthong, e.g. de-i, e-ram, prae-mi-a. (ii) When there are two or more consonants between two vowels or diphthongs, the syllable division usually comes after the first consonant, e.g. dig-nus, bel-lum, con-sti-tu-it. An exception to this rule is that when the two consonants can begin a Latin word the syllable division comes before these consonants, e.g. pa-trem, a-grum (though the poets sometimes divide such words after the first consonant, to suit the metre, e.g. pat-rem, ag-rum). A word with a preposition prefix is divided after the prefix, e.g. ab-rum-po, except when there is only one consonant, e.g. a-be-o.
II.
the stress accent are simple. (i) In words of two syllables the accent always falls on the first syllable, e.g. virum, 6mnes, even though that syllable may be short. (ii) In words of more than two syllables the accent falls on the last syllable but one if that syllable is long, e.g. mon~re, tremintem; and on the last syllable but two if the last but one is short, e.g. capere, interea, ctirporum. Very long words have a secondary accent, which is found by working backwards from the main accent and applying the same rule, e.g. c6nstituirunt. You must be careful not to accent the words on the wrong syllable when reading aloud, as in the old song "Am6, amas, I 16ve a lass", which gets the stress of both words and the quantity of the second wrong; they should be pronounced amo, amas. III.
"DOG ENGLISH" OR "GOBBLEDEGOOK"
In all languages, including of course English, one syllable in every word is usually stressed or accented more than the other syllables, and foreigners have difficulty in pronouncing some words correctly. In Latin the rules for
"Dog Latin" is the name given to the barbarous form of Latin that was once used by semi-educated people in Western Europe, like "pidgin English" in the east. I call "dog English" the strange jargon that has bedevilled our Latin classrooms and examinations for over a century, where pupils translate Latin into a kind of English that is now almost meaningless, using certain stock words and phrases that are quite out of date. Americans call all kinds of jargon by the expressive name of" gobbledegook", and the Civil Service is addicted to a specially contorted gobbledegook of its own; Sir Ernest Gowers, in his Plain Words, cites some fine specimens. Here are some examples of classroom "Dog English". To us nowadays a dart is used in a game played in pubs and clubs, or in an airgun, or in a South American blowpipe, or is a paper missile that floats about classrooms; it is certainly not applicable to a six-foot long heavy Roman
42
43
STRESS ACCENT
Chapter 4 pilum, which should be called a javelin. We seldom, if ever use the words "seek" and "lest" in ordinary speech, but unfortunately these are still stock translations of petere and ne; petere is translated in e.g. silvas or hastes petierunt to mean "they sought the woods" or "the enemy" instead of "they made for" or "attacked"; and ne in an indirect command becomes "he advised me lest I might do it". Again we hard~y ever say" these things having been done", or use a relattve pronoun to start a sentence, but in an examination I have often seen quibus rebus gestis translated into "which affairs having been carried on", or even "waged ". Such words and phrases are the relics of Victorian classrooms and ought to have been swept away years ago with other Victorian rubbish. Latin would become a language full of life again if you discarded these deadening and nowadays almost nonsensical words and tried to translate what Caesar wrote into living English.
C. IVLI CAESARIS COMMENTARIORVM
DE BELLO GALLICO LlBER SECVNDVS
Part I. I
l' the
Belsae
Winter, 58-57 B.C. News reaches Caesar in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) that the Belgae are conspiring together to oppose the Romans. '" (
CUM esset Caesar in citeriore GaIlia, ita ~ti supra demonstravinrus, crebri ad erim,~ adferebantur litterisque item Lahleru certior'fi&;~T.nes Bclgas, quam ( tertiam ~ GaIliae partem dixeramuCf contra populum "2 Romanum",coniurar7Iobsidesguynte~ se g~ret IConiurandi~ " has esse' causas: pnmum qUOd ~er~rentilr ne, ,::Frriru pacata 3 Galli~ ad eo~ exercitus noster adduceretur; ~ind~ qUQd I ab\!lOn n~ Gallis soIlicitarentur, par1ft' qui,.Jit Gerlnanos diutius in Gallia f~rsa"'rrnoluerant, populi Romani elf~r-(" " ~..i~ hie e a~,!uelnvet<;!:~sc~~ ~~a!m?les~~~ant,\\ " partlm q mob1litate~tlev1t~~~1",oV1S unperu§ stude.) . ant; ",b n n nuIlis etiam ~\l:o(! in Gallia a potentioribus atque\,s qui (ad conducendos homine~facultates habebant vulgo regna occu).'abantur, qui minus facile eam rem inrperio nostro con~qurpoterant. , I
t
2
44
The Abortive Risins
ii
\" '" 1["" Early summer, 57 B.C. Caesar sends two newly-enrolled legions into Transalpine Gaul (France). After hearing from their Gallic neighbours about the activities of the Be/gae he marches into their country. 45
,fe.
IVLI CAE,SARIS
lHis nuntiis litterisqu!;j commoms Caesar duas legiones in citeriore Gallia l!QY.as conscripsit, et ~aestate in in~e?orem Galliam ~ui deduceret 'Q. Pedium I!=~mm 2 mlslt. Ipse, cum §~llIl!U?a opla esse inciJjeret, a;{l, 3 exerc~rum ~e% 1 at nego,pum Senonibus reliquisq;re~ Galli~qui fiiii'timf Be g~s ~)uti(C*ua~ud ~~erantul:l , 4 cognoscant s.:\!ue Ae }tlS rebus certiorem faciant.) Hi con, stanter omnes nunti£verunt manus cogi, exercirum in unum locum conduci. Ttlin-v~ro dubitand~ nRn existim\lVit ,quin ad eos p~oficisceYe'~;:. ~e f~~e~tari~ compl;r~fu' \castra movet> diebusque(ClrClter qumdecim)ad »nes Belgarum pervenit.
DE BELLO GALLI CO II
I
3 On Caesar's unexpected arrival the Belgic tribe of the Remi send ambassadors to place themselves entirely in his power. They say that the Germans in Gaul and even their own kinsfolk, the Suessiones, are joining in the rising.
Eo cum de improviso celeriusque omni opinione venisset, Remi, qui proximi Galliae ex Belgis sunt, ad eum legatos 2 I~cium et Andecomborium, primos civitatis, miserunt; qru dlcerent se suaque omnia in fidem atque in potestatem populi Romani permittere, neque se cum Belgis reliquis consensisse, neque contra populum Romanum coniurasse; 3 paratosque esse et obsides dare et imperata facere et 4 oppidis recipere et frumento ceterisque rebus iuvare; reliquos omnes Belgas in armis esse, Germanosque qui cis 5 Rhenum incolant sese cum his coniunxisse; tanrumque esse eorum omnium furorem ut ne Suessiones quidem, fratres consanguineosque suos, qui eodem iure et isdem legibus utantur, unum imperium unumque magistrarum cum ipsis habeant, deterrere pomerint quin cum his consentirent. I
4 The Remi say that the Belgae entered Gaul from Germany long ago and are a very warlike people. The Bellovaci are 46
the chief tribe, and the combined force sent by all tribes amounts to 296,000 men.
Cum ab his quaereret quae civitates quantaeque in armis essent et quid in bello possent, sic reperiebat: plerosque Belgas esse ortos ab Germanis Rhenumque antiquitus 2 traductos propter loci fertilitatem ibi consedisse; Gallosque qui ea loca incolerent expulisse; solosque esse qui, patrum nostrorum memoria omni Gallia vexata, Teutonos Cimbros3 que intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerint: qua ex re fieri uti earum rerum memoria magnam sibi auctoritatem mag4 nosque spirims in re militari sumerent. De numero eorum omnia se habere explorata Remidicebant, propterea quod, propinquitatibus adfinitatibusque coniuncti, quantam quisque multimdinem in communi Belgarum concilio ad 'id )"bellum pollicims sit cognoverint. Plurimum inter eos Bellovacos et virtute et auctoritate et hominum numero valere: hos posse conficere armata milia cenrum, pollicitos ex eo numero electa sexaginta, totiusque belli imperium sibi 6 postulare. Suessiones suos esse finitimos; latissimos fera, 7 cissimosque agros possidere. Apud eos fuisse regem nostra , etiam memoria Diviciacum, totius Galliae potentissimum, qui cum magnae partis harum regionum tum etiam Britanniae imperium obtinuerit: nunc esse regem Galbam: ad hunc, propter iustitiam prudentiamque suam, totius belli 8 summam omnium voluntate deferri; oppida habere numero XII, polliceri milia armata quinquaginta. Totidem Nervios, qui maxime feri inter ipsos habeanmr longissimeque absint; 9 quindecim milia Atrebates, Ambianos decem milia, Morinos xxv milia, Menapios VII milia, Caletos X milia, Veliocasses et Viromanduos totidem, Aduamcos decem et novem milia; 10 Condrusos, Eburones, Caeroesos, Paemanos, qui uno nomine Germani appellanmr, arbitrari ad XL milia. I
5 Caesar re-assures the Remi and urges Diviciacus the Aeduan to ravage the land of the Bellovaci. He encamps just north 47
C. IVLI CAESARIS of the River Axona (Aime) tofaee the full force of the Belgae, leaves a garrison for the bridge (at Berry-au-Bae), and sends Sabinus to make a fort south of (he river. ' '
Caesar Remos- c
6 The Belgae assault Bibrax (probably Vieux-Laon), a town of the Remi eight miles away. Its commander sends word to Caesar that he must surrender next day unless help arrives. I
2
Ab his castris oppidum Remorum, nomine Bibrax, aberat milia passuum octo. Id ex itinere magno impetu Be1gae oppugnare coeperunt. Aegre eo die sustentatum est. GaIlorum eadem atque Belgarum oppugnatio est haec. Ubi circumiecta multitudine hominum totis moenibus undique 48
DE BELLO GALLICO II in murum lapides iaci coepti sunt murusque defensoribus nudatus est, testudine facta, portas succendunt murumque 3 subruunt. Quod tum facile fiebat. Nam cum tanta multitudo lapides ac tela coicerent, in muro consistendi 4 potestas erat nulli. Cum finem oppugnandi nox fecisset, Icclus R,emus, summa nobilitate et gratia inter suos, qui tum oppido praefuerat, unus ex eis qui legati de pace ad Caesarem venerant, nuntium ad eum mittit: nisi subsidium sibi submittatur, sese diutius sustinere non posse. 7 The arrival of archers and slingers sent by Caesar relieves the siege of Bibrax, and the Belgae approach the Romans and encamp two miles away from them to the north-west.
Eo de media nocte Caesar, isdem ducibus usus qui nuntii ab Iccio venerant, N umidas et Cretas sagittarios et 2 funditores Baleares subsidio oppidanis mittit: quorum adventu et Remis cum spe defensionis studium propugnandi accessit et hostibus eadem de causa spes potiendi oppidi 3 discessit. Itaque paulisper apud oppidum morati agrosque Remorum depopulati, omnibus vids aedificiisque quos adire potuerant incensis, ad castra Caesaris omnibus copiis contenderunt, et ab milibus passuum minus duobus castra posuerunt; quae castra, ut fumo atque ignibus significabatur, amplius milibus passuum octo in latitudinem patebant. I
8 Caesar wishes to avoid a pitched battle with the superior numbers of the Belgae, but learns from cavalry skirmishes that his men are a match for them. He protects his flanks with trenches on each side of the camp, one running forward, the other to the rear, with a fort at the end of each, and draws up a line of six legions in front of the camp. The Belgae also draw up their line. I
Caesar primo et propter multitudinem hostium et propter eximiam opinionem virtutis proelio supersedere statuit;
49
DE BELLO GALLICO II cotidie tamen equestribus proeliis quid hostis virtute posse! et quid nostri auderent periclitabatur. Ubi nostros non esse inferiores intellexit, loco pro castris ad aciem instruendam natura opportuno atque idoneo, quod is collis ubi castra posita erant paululum ex planitie editus tantum adversus in latitudinem patebat quantum loci acies instructa occupare poterat, atque ex utraque parte lateris deiectus habebat et in 3 frontem leuiter fastigatus paularim ad planitiem redibat, ab utroque latere eius collis transversam fossam obduxit circiter 4 passuum quadringentorum, et ad extremas fossas castella constituit ibique tormenta collocavit ne, cum aciem instruxisset, hostes, quod tantum multitudine poterant, ab lateribus 5 pugnantes suos circumvenire possent. Hoc facto, duabus legionibus quas proxime conscripserat in castris relictis ut, si quo opus esset, subsidio duci possent, reliquas sex legiones pro castris in acie constituit. Hostes item suas copias ex castris eductas instruxerant.
2
9 Neither side is willing to cross the marsh that lies between the
two armies, and after being worsted in a cavalry engagement the Belgae begin to ford the river on their right to storm the fort at the bridge commanded by Sabinus or else to cut the Roman supply line. Palus erat non magna inter nostrum atque hostium exercitum. Hanc si nostri transirent hostes exspectabant; nostri autem, si ab illis initium transeundi lieret, ut im2 peditos aggrederentur parati in armis erant. Interim proelio equestri inter duas acies contendebatur. Ubi neutri transeundi initium faciunt, secundiore equitum proelio nos3 tris, Caesar suos in castra reduxit. Hostes protinus ex eo loco ad flumen Axonam contenderunt, quod esse post nostra 4 castra demonstratum est. Ibi vadis repertis, partem suarum copiarum traducere conati sunt, eo consilio ut, si possent, castellum, cui praeerat Q. Titurius legatus, expugnarent I
51
C. IVLI CAESARIS 5 pontemque interscinderent; si minus p~,:;ent, agros Remorum popularentur, qui magno nobis~ad bellum gerendum erant, commeatuque nostros probiberent. 10 Caesar
sends his cavalry and auxiliaries back across the bridge to attack the enemy while fording the river, and they kill a large number of them. Despairing of success here and because food is running short, the Belgae decide that the tribes should return home and resist the Romans in their own country.
Caesar certior factus ab Titurio omnem equitaturn et levis armaturae Numidas, funditores sagittariosque pontem tra2 ducit atque ad eos contendit. Acriter in eo loco pugnaturn est. Hostis impeditos nostri in flumine aggressi magnum 3 eorum numerum occiderunt; per eorum corpora reliquos audacissime transire conantes multitudine telorum reppulerunt; primos qui transierant equitatu circumventos inter4 fecerunt. Hostes, ubi et de expugnando oppido et de flumine transeundo spem se fefellisse intellexerunt neque nostros in locum iniquiorem progredi pugnand:i causa viderunt atque ipsos res frumentaria deficere coepit, concilio convocato, constituerunt optimum esse domum suam quemque reverti et quorum in fines primum Romani exerciturn introduxissent ad eos defendendos undique convenire; ut potius in suis quam in alienis finibus decertarent 5 et domesticis copiis rei frumentariae uterentur. Ad earn sententiam cum reliquis causis haec quoque ratio eos deduxit, quod Diviciacum atque Aeduos finibus Bellovacorum appropinquare cognoverant. His persuaderi ut diutius morarentur neque suis auxilium ferrent non poterat. I
II
The Belgae set out in the night with great uproar.. Caesar first fears an ambush but at dawn sends the cavalry and three legions to pursue the rear, which suffers heavy losses all day while the rest of the memy make good their flight. 52
DE BELLO GALLICO II Ea re constituta, secunda vigilia magno cum strepitu ac turnultu castris egressi, nullo certo ordine neque imperio, cum sibi quisque primum itineris locum peteret et domum pervenire properaret, fecerunt ut consimilis fugae profectio 2 videretur. Hac re statim Caesar per speculatores cognita insidias veritus, quod qua de causa discederent nondum per3 spexerat, exercitum equitaturnque castris continuit. Prima luce, confirmata re ab exploratoribus, omnem equitatum qui novissimum agmen moraretur praemisit. His Q. Pedium et L. Aurunculeium Cottam legatos praefecit; T. Labienum 4 legaturn cum legionibus tribus subsequi iussit. Hi novissimos adorti et multa milia passuum prosecuti magnam multitudinem eOrum fugientium conciderunt, cum ab extremo agmine, ad quos ventum erat, consisterent, fortiterque im5 peturn nostrorum militum sustinerent, priores, quod abesse a periculo viderentur neque ulla necessitate neque imperio continerentur, exaudito clamore, perturbatis ordinibus, 6 omnes in fuga sibi praesidium ponerent. Ita sine ullo periculo· tantam eorum multitudineI!!. nostri interfecerunt quantum fl.lit diei spatium~b occasuOAque solis destiterunt seque in castra, ut erat imperatum, receperunt. I
12
Next day Caesar prepares to assault NO'lliodunum of the Suessiones (Pommiers), but it is too well fortified to be taken by a sudden attack. The Suessiones return home from their flight and on seeing the Roman siege-works in action surrender the town on the following day.
Postridie eius diei Caesar, prius quam se hostes ex terrore ac fuga reciperent, in fines Suessionum, qui proximi Remis erant, exerciturn duxit et magno itinere confecto ad 2 oppidum Noviodunum contendit. Id ex itinere oppugnare conatus, quod vacuum ab defensoribus esse audiebat, propter latitudinem fossae murique altitudinem, paucis defendenti3 bus, expugnare non potuit. Castris munitis, vineas agere I
53
C. IVLI CAESARIS
DE BELLO GALLI CO II
quaeque ad oppugnandum usui erant comparare coepit. 4 Interim omnis ex-fuga Suessionum multitudo in oppidum 5 proxima nocte convenit. Celeriter vineis ad oppidum actis, aggere iacto turribusque constitutis, magnitudine operum, quae neque viderant ante Galli neque audierant, et celeritate Romanorum permoti legatos ad Caesarem de deditione mittunt et petentibus Remis ut conservarentur impetrant.
3 intulisse. Qui eius consili principes fuissent, quod intcllegerent quantam calamitatem civitati intulissent, in Britan4 niam profugisse. Petere non solum Bellovacos sed etiam pro his Aeduos ut sua clementia ac mansuetudine in eos 5 utatur. Quod si fecerit, Aeduorum auctoritatem apud omnes Belgas amplificaturum, quorum auxiliis atque opibus si qua bella inciderint sustentare consuerint.
13 Caesar accepts the submission of the Suessiones and approaches Brantuspantium of the Bel/ovaci ( ?Breteuil), from which the old men, women, and childrell come out to ask for peace.
IS Caesar takes six hundred Bel/ovacian hostages and spares their state out of respect for Diviciacus. The Ambiani also submit at once, but the warlike Nervii refuse to send legates or accept terms from the Romans.
Caesar, obsidibus acceptis primis civitatis atque ipsius Galbae regis duobus filiis armisque omnibus ex oppido traditis, in deditionem Suessiones accepit exercitumque in 2 Bellovacos ducit. Qui cum se suaque omnia in oppidum Bratuspantium contulissent atque ab eo oppido Caesar cum cxercitu circitcr milia passuum quinque abesset, omnes maiores natu ex oppido egressi manus ad Caesarem tenderc et voce significare coeperunt sese in eius fidem ac potestatem venire neque contra populum Romanum armis contendere_ 3 Item, cum ad oppidum accessisset castraque ibi poneret, pueri mulieresque ex muro passis manibus suo more pacem ab Romanis petierunt.
I
14 Diviciacus the Aeduan intercedes for the Bel/ovaci, who he says have been incited by their leaders, now seeking refuge in Britain, to revolt against the Aedui, although they have been their constant protectors, and to make war on the Romans. I
2
Pro his Diviciacus (nam post discessum Belgarum, dimissis Aeduorum copiis, ad eum reverterat) facit verba: Bellovacos omni tempore in fide atque amicitia civitatis Aeduae ~e: impulsos ab suis principibus, qui dicerent Aeduos a Caesare in servitutem redactos omnes indignitates contumeliasque perferre, et ab Aeduis defecisse et populo Romano bellum 54
Caesar, honoris Diviciaci atque Aeduorum causa sese eos in fidem recepturum et conservaturum dixit: quod erat civitas magna inter Belgas auctoritate atque hominum mul2 titudine praestabat, sescentos obsides poposcit. His traditis omnibusque armis ex oppido collatis, ab eo loco in fines Ambianorum pervenit, qui se suaque omnia sine mora dedi3 derunt. Eorum fines Nervii attingebant: quorum de natura 4 moribusque Caesar cum quaereret, sic reperiebat: nullum aditum esse ad eos mercatoribus; nihil pati vini reliquarumque rerum ad luxuriam pertinentium inferri, quod eis rebus relanguescere animos eorum et remitti virtutem existima5 rent: esse homines feros magnaeque virtutis; increpitare atque incusare reliquos Belgas, qui se populo Romano dedidissent patriamque virtutem proiecissent; confirmare sese neque legatos missuros neque ullam condicionem pacis accepturos. I
Part ll. 16 Summer, 57 B.C.
The Dtjeat
if the
Nervii
Three days later Caesar learns that the Nervii and their allies are waiting for him on the south side 55
C. IVLI CAESARIS of the river Sabis (Sambre), that the Aduatuci are expected to join them, and that all non-combatants have been sent to a place of safety in the marshes.
Cum per eorum fines triduum iter fecisset, inveniebat ex captivis Sabim flumen ab castris suis non amplius milia pas2 suum x abesse: trans id flumen omnes Nervios consedisse adventumque ibi Romanorum exspectare una cum Atrebatis et Viromanduis, finitimis suis (nam his utrisque persuaserant 3 uti eandem belli fortunam experirentur); exspectari etiam ab 4 his Aduatucorum copias atque esse in itioere: mulieres quique per aetatem ad pugnam inutiles viderentur in eum locum coiecisse quo propter paludes exercitui aditus non esset. I
[7 Some of the Belgae 7vho have surrendered leave Caesar on the march and advise the Nervii' to attack the first legion to mahe camp while it is still separated from the other legions by its long baggage-train. The thick hedges that defend the Nervian territory will hamper the Romans' march.
His rebus cognitis, exploratores centurionesque praemittit qui locum idoneum castris deligant. Cum ex dediticiis Belgis reliquisque Gallis complures Caesarem secuti una iter facerent, quidam ex his, ut postea ex captivis cognitum est, eorum dierum consuetudine itineris nostri exercitus perspecta, nocte ad Nervios pervenerunt atque eis demonstrarunt inter singulas legiones impedimentorum magnum numerum intercedere neque esse quicquam negoti, cum prima legio in castra venisset reliquaeque legiones magnum 3 spatium abessent, hanc sub sarcinis adoriri: qua pulsa impedimentisque direptis, futurum ut reliquae contra consistere 4 non auderent. Adiuvabat etiam eorum consilium qui rem deferebant quod Nervii antiquitus, cum equitatu nihil possent (neque eDim ad hoc tempus ei rei student sed quicquid possunt pedestribus valent copiis), quo facilius finitimorum 56 I
2
DE BELLO GALLlCO II equitatum, si praedandi causa ad eos venissent, impedirent, teneris arboribus incisis atque inflexis crebrisque in latitudinem ramis enatis et rubis sentibusque interiectis, effecerant ut instar muri hae saepes munimenta eis praeberent, quo non 5 modo non intrari sed ne perspici quidem posset. His rebus cum iter agrninis nostri impediretur, non omitrendum consilium Nervii existimaverunt. 18 The site of the Roman camp is on a hill sloping down to the Sabis, with a reverse slope on the other side of the river, where the enemy are hiding in the woods that cover the upper part of the hill.
Loci natura erat haec, quem locum nostri castris delegerant. Collis ab summo aequaliter declivis ad flumen 2 Sabim, quod supra nominavimus, vergebat. Ab eo flumine pari acclivitate collis nascebatur, adversus huic et contrarius, passus circiter ducentos infimus apertus, ab superiore parte 3 silvestris, ut non facile introrsus perspici posset. Intra eas silvas hostes in occulto sese continebant; in aperto loco secundum flumen paucae stationes equitum videbantul'. Fluminis erat altitudo pedum circiter trium. I
19 Caesar is now admncing in a different formation, with his six veteran legions ready for battle, followed by the baggage guarded by the two new legions. The Roman auxiliaries engage the Nervian cavalry on the other side of the river, and the six legions begin to fortify the camp. When the baggagetrain appears, the enemy dash out of the wood, rout the Roman cavalry, cross the river, and attack the men who are at work on the camp. I
2
Caesar,equitatu praemisso, subsequebaturomnibus copiis: sed ratio ordoque agminis aliter se habebat ac Belgae ad Nervios detulerant. Nam quod ad hostes appropinquabat, consuetudine sua Caesar sex legiones expeditas ducebat; 57
C. IVLI CAESARIS
DE BELLO GALLICO II 3 post eas totius exercitus impedimenta collocarat; inde duae legiones quae proxime conscriptae erant totum agmen c1au4 debant praesidioque impedimentis erant. Equites nostri cum funditoribus sagittariisque flumen transgressi cum hos5 tium equitatu proelium commiserunt. Cum se illi identidem in silvas ad suos reciperent, ac rursus ex silva in nostros impetum facerent, neque nostri longius quam quem ad finem porrecta loca aperta pertinebant, cedentes insequi auderent, interim legiones sex quae primae venerant, opere 6 dimenso, castra muuire coeperunt. Ubi prima impedimenta nostri exercitus ab eis qui in silvis abditi latebant visa sunt, quod tempus inter eos committendi proeli convenerat, ut intra silvas aciem ordinesque constituerant atque ipsi sese confirmaverant, subito omnibus copus provolaverunt impetumque in nostros equites fecerunt. 7 His facile pulsis ac proturbatis, incredibili celeritate ad flumen decucurrerunt, ut paene uno tempore et ad silvas et in flumine et iam in manibus nostris hostes viderentur. 8 Eadem autem celeritate adverso colle ad nostra castra atque eos qui in opere occupati erant contenderunt. 20
Caesar has many things to do simultaneously in this crisis, but the experience of the soldiers and the officers in command of the legions saves the situation.
Caesari omuia uno tempore erant agenda: vexillum proponendum, quod erat insigne cum ad arma concurri oporteret; signum tuba dandum; ab opere revocandi milites; qui paulo longius aggeris petendi causa processerant arcessendi; acies instruenda; milites cohortandi; signum 2 dandum. Quarum rerum magnam partem temporis brevitas 3 et successus hostium impediebat. His difficultatibus duae res crant subsidio, scientia atque usus militum, quod superioribus proellis exercitati quid fieri oporteret non minus commode ipsi sibi praescribere quam ab allis doceri poterant, et 59 I
C. IVLI CAESARIS quod ab opere singulisque legionibus singulos legatos Caesar 4 discedere nisi munitis castris vetuerat. Hi propter propinquitatem et celeritatem hostium nihil iam Caesaris imperium exspectabant, sed per se quae videbantur administrabant. 21
Caesar makes a bl'ief speech of encouragemenl 10 the Tenth Legion (011 Ihe left) ami semis them against the enemy. On the other flank the troops are already fighting, although not quite ready for actioll, and the mm coming from working on the camp rally round the first standards that they come upon.
Caesar, necessariis rebus imperatis, ad cohortandos milites quam in partem fors obtulit decucurrit et ad legionem deci2 mam devenit. Milites non longiore oratione cohortatus quam uti suae pristinae virtutis memoriam retinerent neu perturbarentur animo hostiumque impetum fortiter sustine3 rent, quod non longius hostes aberant quam quo telum 4 adigi posset, proeli committendi siguum dedit. Atque in alteram partem item cohortandi causa profectus pugnantibus 5 occurrit. Temporis tanta fuit exiguitas hostiumque tam paratus ad dimicandum animus ut non modo ad insignia accommodanda sed etiam ad galeas induendas scutisque 6 tegimenta detrahenda tempus defuerit. Quam quisque ab opere in partem casu devenit quaeque prima signa conspexit, ad haec constitit, ne in quaerendis suis pugnandi tempus dimitteret.
DE BELLO GALLICO II
2
subsidia collocari neque quid in quaque parte opus esset provideri neque ab uno omnia imperia administrari poterant, Itaque in tanta rerum iniquitate fortunae quoque eventus varii sequebantur.
23 The Ninth and Tenth Legions on the left drive the Atrebates across the river and up the slope, while the Eleventh and Eighth in the centre also advance to the river in pursuit of the Virimandui, but the Twelflh ami Seventh on the right al'e now isolated ami exposed to a heavy attack by the Nervii.
I
22
The legions are drawn up as circumstances allow, separated, ami fighting the enemy in different parts of the field, ami the thick hedges in front make it difjicult to see what orders should be given, so that the situation is greatly confused.
I
Instructo exercitu magis ut loci natura deiectusque collis et necessitas temporis quam ut rei militaris ratio atque ordo postuiabat, cum diversis legionibus aliae alia in parte hostibus resisterent saepibusque densissimis, ut ante demonstravimus, interiectis prospectus impediretur, neque certa 60
Legionis nonae et decimae milites, ut in sinistra parte ade constiterant, pilis emissis, cursu ac lassitudine exanimatos vulneribusque confectos Atrebates (nam his ea pars obvenerat) celeriter ex loco superiore in fiumen compulerunt, et transire conantes insecuti gladiis maguam partern eorum 2 impeditam interfecerunt, Ipsi transire fiumen non dubitaverunt et in locum iniquum progressi rursus resistentes 3 hostes redintegrato proelio in fugam coiecerunt. Item alia in parte diversae duae legiones, undecima et octava, profligatis Viromanduis quibuscum erant congressi, ex loco 4 superiore in ipsis fiuminis ripis proeliabantur. At totis fere a fronte et ab sinistra parte nudatis castris, cum in dextro cornu legio duodecima et non magno ab ea intervallo septima constitisset, omnes Nervii confertissimo agrnine, duce Boduognato, qui summam imperi tenebat, ad eum locum 5 contenderunt; quorum pars aperto latere legiones circumvenire, pars summum castrorum locum petere coepit, I
24 The au:xiliaries retreating to the camp meet the enemy again ami flee, and the non-combatants who have gone out to get plunder also take to flight. The drivers of the approaching baggage-train are panic-stricken, ami the cavalry of the Treveri in Caesar's army hasten home and report that the Romans have been defeated, 61
DE BELLO GALLI CO II
C. IVLI CAESARIS Eodem tempore equites nostri levisque armaturae pedites qui cum eis una fuerant, quos primo hostium impetu pulsos dixeram, cum se in castra reciperent, adversis hostibus oc2 currebant ac rursus aliam in partem fugam petebant; et calones, qui ab decumana porta ac summo iugo collis nostros victores flumen transisse conspexerant, praedandi causa egressi, cum respexissent et hostes in nostris castris 3 versari vidissent, praecipites fugae sese mandabant. Simul eorum qui cum impedimentis veniebant clamor fremitusque oriebatur, aliique aliam in partem perterriti ferebantur. 4 Quibus omnibus rebus permoti equites Treveri, quorum inter Gallos virtutis opinio est singularis, qui auxili causa ab civitate ad Caesarem missi venerant, cum multitudine hostium castra compleri nostra, legiones premi et paene circumventas teneri, calones, equites, funditores, Numidas, diversos dissipatosque in omnes partes fugere vidissent, deS speratis nostris rebus domum contenderunt; Romanos pulsos superatosque, castris impedimentisque eorum hostes potitos civitati renuntiaverunt. I
zs On
I
the right flank Caesar finds the Twelfth Legion in a critical position, with many centurions killed or wounded. He himself goes forward into the front /ine to encourage his men, who extend their ranks with renewed spirit and check the enemy attack. Caesar ab decimae legionis cohortatione ad dextrum cornu profectus, ubi suos urgeri signisque in unum locum collatis duodecimae legionis confertos milites sibi ipsos ad pugnam esse impedimenta vidit, quartae cohortis omnibus centurionibus occisis signiferoque interfecto, signo amisso, reliquarum cohortium omnibus fere centurionibus aut vulneratis aut occisis, in his primipilo P. Sextio Baculo, fottissimo viro, multis gravibusque vulneribus confecto, ut iam se sustinere non posset, reliquos esse tardiores, et non nullos ab novissimis deserto proelio excedere ac tela vitare, hostes
62
neque a fronte ex inferiore loco subeuntes intermittere et ab utroque latere ins tare, et rem esse in angusto vidit, neque 2 ullum esse subsidium quod summitti posset, scuto ab novissimis uni militi detracto, quod ipse eo sine scuto venerat, in primam aciem processit centurionibusque nominatim appellatis, reliquos cohortatus milites, signa inferre et manipulos 3 laxare iussit, quo facilius gladiis uti possent. Cuius adventu spe inlata militibus ac redintegrato animo, cum pro se quisque in conspectu imperatoris etiam in extremis suis rebus operam navare cuperet, paulum hostium impetus tardatus est. z6 Caesar orders the Seventh Legion, which is also hard pressed,
to close up on the Twelfth and the rear lines of each to turn and face the enemy in their rear. The baggage-guard now arrives, and Labienus sends the Tenth Legion at full speed to the rescue from the captured enemy camp.
Caesar cum septimam legionem, quae iuxta constiterat, item urgeri ab hoste vidisset, tribunos militum monuit ut paulatim sese legiones coniungerent et conversa signa in . 2 hostes inferrent. Quo facto cum alius alii subsidium ferret neque timerent ne aversi ab hoste circumvenirentur, au3 dacius resistere ac fortius pugnare coeperunt. Interim milites legionum duarum quae in novissimo agmine praesidio impedimentis fuerant, proelio nuntiato, cursu incitato 4 in summo colle ab hostibus conspiciebantur; et T. Labienus, castris hostium potitus et ex loco superiore quae res in nostris castris gererentur conspicatus, decimam legionem 5 subsidio nostris misit. Qui cum ex equitum et calonum fuga quo in loco res esset quantoque in periculo et castra et legiones et imperator versaretur cognovissent, nihil ad celeritatem sibi reliqui fecerunt. I
27 The arrival of the Tenth Legion changes the whole course of the battle. Even the wounded legionaries renew the struggle,
63
C. IVLI CAESARIS
DE BELLO GALLICO II
the non-combatants fight ulJarmed, and the cavalry atone for their flight by showing great courage. The Nervii hold out to the death with remarkable valour.
Horum adventu tanta rerum commutatio est facta ut nostri, etiam qui vulneribus confecti procubuissent, scutis innixi proelium redintegrarent; tum calones, perterritos hostes conspicati, etiam inermes armatis occurrerunt; 1 equites vero, ut turpitudinem fugae virtute delerent, omnibus in locis pugnant quo se legionariis militibus praeferrent. 3 At hostes, etiam in extrema spe salutis, tantam virtutem praestiterunt ut, cum primi eorum cecidissent, proximi iacentibus insisterent atque ex eorum corporibus pugnarent; 4 his deiectis et coacervatis cadaveribus, qui superessent, ut ex tumulo, tela in nostros coicerent et pila intercepta 5 remitterent; ut non nequiquam tantae virtutis homines iudicari deberet ansos esse transire latissimum flumen, ascendere altissimas ripas, subire iniquissimum locum; quae facilia ex diflicillimis animi magnitudo redegerat.
uti iussit et finitimis imperavit ut ab iniuria et maleficio se suosque prohiberent.
I
28 The old men of the Nervii surrender themselves and their families to Caesar from their place of refuge and say that only 500 fighting men remain out of 60,000. Caesar shows mercy to the survivors.
Hoc proelio facto et prope ad internecionem gente ac nomine Nerviorum redacto, maiores natu, quos una cum pueris mulieribusque in aestuaria ac paludes collectos dixeramus, hac pugna nuntiata, cum victoribus nihil impeditum, victis nihil tutum arbitrarentur, omnium qui supererant 2 consensu legatos ad Caesarem miserunt seque ei dediderunt, et in commemoranda civitatis calamitate ex sescentis ad tres senatores, ex hominum milibus LX vix ad quingentos, 3 qui arma ferre possent, sese redactos esse dixerunt. Quos Caesar, ut in miseros ac supplices usus misericordia videretur, diligentissime conservavit suisque finibus atque oppidis 64 I
Part Ill. The Punishment
cif the
Aduatuci
29 Summer, 57 B.C. On hearing of Ihe defeat of the Nervii, Ihe Adualuci lake refuge in a slrongly fortified position (probably Monl Falhize on the Meuse). They are descended from the Cimbri and Teuloni who were lefl here to guard the property which could not be taken with Ihem on Ihe invasion of Gaul and Italy (fifty years before).
Aduatuci, de quibus supra scripsimus, cum omnibus copiis auxilio Nerviis venirent, hac pugna nuntiata ex itinere 2 domum reverterunt; cunctis oppidis castellisque desertis, sua omnia in unum oppidum egregie natura munitum con3 tulerunt. Quod cum ex omnibus in circuitu partibus altissimas rupes despectusque haberet, una ex parte leniter acclivis aditus in latitudinem non amplius ducentorum pedum relinquebatur; quem locum duplici altissimo muro munierant, tum magni ponderis saxa et praeacutas trabes in 4 muro colloFabant. Ipsi erant ex Cimbris Teutonisque prognati qui, cum iter in provinciam nostram atque Italiam facerent, eis impedimentis quae 'ecum agere ac portare non poterant citra flumen Rhenum depositi~custodiam ex suis ac praesidium\ sex milia hominum una" reliquerunt. 5 Hi post eorum obitum multos annos a finitimis exagitati, cum alias bellum inferrent alias inlatum defenderent, COnsensu eorum omnium pace facta, hunc sibi domicilio locum delegerunt. I
30 The Romans blockade the town with a rampart and forts and begin 10 move forward siege-engines and build a lower. The 65
C. IVLI CAESARIS
DE BELLO GALLICO II
Aduatuci ridicule the smallness of the Romans compared with the size of the tower.
Ae primo adventu exerdtus nostri erebras ex oppido excursiones fadebant, parvulisque proellis cum nostris 2 contendebant; postea vallo pedum in drcuitu quindecim milium erebrisque eastellis drcummuniti oppido sese conti3 nebant. Ubi vincis actis, aggere exstructo, turrim procul constitui viderunt, primum irridere ex muro atque increpitare vodbus quod tanta machinatio ab tanto spatio instrueretur: 4 quibusnam manibus aut quibus viribus praesertim homines tantulae staturae (nam pleriliiique hominibus Gallis prae magnitudine corporum suorum brevitas nostra contemptui . est) tanti oneris turrim in muro se posse collocare con-~ fiderent?
neighbours not to harm them. The Aduatuci throw a great number of weapons down into the town ditch, but still keep back a third of their arms. They then open the gates.
I
31 Seeing the tower moving forward the Aduatuci are terrified and offer to submit to Caesar, but beg him to allow them to keep their weapons as a defence against their enemies. I Ubi vero moveri et appropinquare moenibus viderunt, nova atque inusitata spede commoti legatos ad Caesarem 2 de pace miserunt, qui ad hunc modum locuti: non existimare Romanos sine ope divina bellum gerere, qui tantae altitudinis machinationes tanta celeritate promovere possent: dixenJnt. 3 se suaque omnia eorum potestati permittere c-n" . Unum petere ac depreeari: si forte pro sua c1emenua ac mansuetudine, quam ipsi ab allis audirent, statuisse~dua4 tucos conservandos, ne se armis despoliaret. Sibi omnes fere finitimos esse inimicos ac suae virtuti invidere; 5 a quibus se defendere traditis armis non possent. Sibi ~ praestare, si in eum casum dcducerentur, quamvis fortunam a populo Romano pati quam ab eis per crudarum interfid
esse"
inter quos dominari consuessent.
32 Caesar agrees to accept an immediate surrender, but the townsfolk must hand over their arms and he will order their 66
Ad haec Caesar respondit: se magis consuetudine sua quam merito eorum dvitatem conservaturum, si prius quam murum aries attigisset se dedidissent; sed deditionis nuIlam 2 esse condidonem nisi armis traditis. Se id quod in Nerviis fedsset facturum finitimisque imperaturum ne quam dedi3 ticiis populi Romani iniuriam inferrent. Re nuntiata ad 4 suos, quae imperarentur facere dixerunt. Armorum magna multitudine de mu~ i~sam quae erat ante oppidum muti-,~ a~~m iacta, sic ut prope umrn acervi armorum adae&uarent, es. tamen clrclter parte tertIa, i ~t postea persp.!cmm est,)ce1anl atque in oppido retenta, portis patefactis eo die pace sunt usi. . I
33 Caesar withdraws his men, but during the night the Aduatuci collect arms and make a sally. The Romans kill 4,000 of them, enter the town next day unopposed, and sell into slavery all the inhabitants to the number of 53,000.
Sub vesperum Caesar portas c1audi rnilitesque ex oppido noctu oppidani ab militibus iniuriam exire iussit, ne 2 acdperent. Illi ante inito, ut intellectum est, consilio, (quod deditione facta nostros praesidia deducturos aut denique indiligentius servaturos crediderant) partirn cum eis quae retinuerant et celaverant arrnis, partirn scutis ex cortlce factis aut viminibus intextis, quae subito, ut temporis exiguitas postulabat, pellibus induxerant, tertia vigilia, qua minime arduus ad nostras munitiones ascensus videbatur, omnibus copiis repentin~ ex oppido eruptionem fecerunt. 3 Celeriter, ut ante Caesar imperarat, ignibus significatione 4 facta, ex proxirnis castellis eo concursum est; pugnatumque ab hostibus ita acriter est tit a viris fortibus in extrema spe salutis iniquo loco contra eos qui ex vallo turribusque tela I
qUiiih
67
C. IVLI CAESARIS
iacerent pugnari d~it, cum in una virtute omnis spes 5 salutis consisteret. Occisis ad hominum milibus quattuor, 6 reliqui in oppidum reiecti sunt. Postridie eius diei refractis portis, cum iam defenderet nemo, atque intromissis mi\itibus nostris, sectionem eius oppidi universam Caesar vendidit. 7 Ab eis qui emerant capitum numerus ad eum relatus est milium quinquaginta trium.
34 Crassus reports the submission of the maritime states of northwest Gaul. I
Eodem tempore a P. Crasso, quem cum legione una miserat ad Venetos, Venellos, Osismos, Curiosolitas, Esubios, Aulercos, Redones, quae sunt maritimae civitates Oceanumque attingunt, certior factus est omnes eas civitates in deditionem potestatemque populi Romani esse redactas.
35 Peace throughout Gaul follows these successes, and the h"ibes across the Rhine offer to send hostages. Caesar sets out for Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, leaving the legions in winterquarters, and is given a fifteen days' thanksgiving at Rome. His rebus gestis, omni Gallia pacata, tanta huius belli ad barbaros opinio perlata est, uti ab eis nationibus quae trans Rhenum incolerent mitterentur legati ad Caesarem, qui se 2 obsides daturas, imperata facturas pollicerentUI. Quas legationes Caesar, quod in Italiam Illyricumque properabat, 3 inita proxima aestate ad se reverti iussit. Ipse in Carnutes, Andes, Turones, quaeque civitates propinquae eis locis erant ubi bellum gesserat legionibus in hibernacula deductis, in 4 Italiam profectus est. Ob easque res ex litteris Caesaris dierum quindecim supplicatio decreta est, quod ante id tempus accidit nulli. I
68
NOTES References to other books of the .. Gallic War" are in roman numerals, to chapters and sections of this and other books in arabic nwnerals, and to sections in the same chapter in arabic numerals preceded by §. I
citeriore Gallia: Cisalpine Gaul, or Nearer Gaul (i.e. nearer to Rome), was northern Italy from the Alps 35 far south as the River Rubicon (now Pisatello), just north of Ariminum (Rimini). Caesar was governor of three provinces, Cisalpine Gaul, Narhonese' (or Transalpine) Gaul (south-western France, still called Provence), and Illyricum on the northern shores of the Adriatic. He usually spent the summer campaigning in Transalpine Gaul and the winter holding assizes and conducting the affairs of his two peaceful provinces. ita uti (= ut): .. as", lit. Hin such a way as". supra, "previously", i.e. in the last words of the previous book (I, 54, 3). Caesar as author uses the editorial n we" (sometimes the first person singular, as in 24, I), but as general he always uses the third person singular when writing about himself. ad/erebantur and fiebat imply repeated action, "were being brought". Labienus was Caesar's most trusted officer in the Gallic wars and had now been left in command of the troops in winter-quarters in the land of the Sequani (west of the Jura). After the Gallic wars he turned against his old commander and was killed fighting against him at Munda in Spain in 4S B.C. quam ••. dixeramus: "who we have (lit. 'had') said form a third part ... ", the pluperfect also appears in 24, I. quam refers to omnes Be/gas and should normally be quos, but it is "attracted" into the number and gender of partem, the complement of esse. The reference is to I, I, 1-6, where Caesar tells us that the Belgae lived in the area bounded by the Marne and the Seine, the lower Rhine, and the north-east coast of Gaul. To say that a free and indepertdent people like the Belgae "were conspiring against the Roman people" when they were merely preparing to defend themselves against aggression is a strange use of words. inter Se dare is "were exchanging". 2. coniurandi .•. causas: II these were the reasons for their conspiring". This is indirect statement still depending on I.
69
NOTES
NOTES
tertior Jiebat in the previous sentence. The dependent verbs vererentur and sollicitarentur are in the subjunctive in oratio ob/iqua (reported speech) because they are part of what Labienus told Caesar; but the verbs that follow are in the indicative because Caesar is now giving his own account of the reasons for the restlessness of the Gauls-or perhaps he simply made a slip and the verbs would nonnally all be in the subjunetive. omni pacata Gallia: "when (or 'if') all Gaul was pacified", i.e. subdued; the ablative absolute refers to the future because the conquest was not yet completed. The historian Tacitus, referring to the Roman conquest of Britain a century later, makes a bitter remark about his own people, ubi solitudinem jaciunt, pacem appellant, U when they have made a desert they call it peace", in a speech supposed to have been made by the British leader (Agricola, 30). Ga/lia here means U Celtic Gaul", the central portion of the country excluding the Belgae and Aquitania in the south~east (I, I, I and 7). We should expect to find ad se rather than ad eos (" against them "), referring to the Belgae, who are the subject of vererentur. 3. DOD nullis: often written as one word, nonnullis. This is divided into tWo classes, partim (eis) qui •. OJ partim (eis) qui . .. J lit. "by some Gauls, partly (those) who ... , partly (those) who ...", i.e. U by certain Gauls, some of whom .. others ...n. ut ••• ita: "just as they had not wanted the Germans .. 0' so were now annoyed (lit. c were bearing it heavily') that the army . . . ". The Germans had crossed the Rhine and sertled in eastern Gaul about fourteen years before this time, until they were defeated by Caesar Bnd driven back into their own country in 58 B.C. (I, 3 I-54). mobilitate ••• animi: owing to the fickleness and unsteadiness of their character"; Caesar more than once refers to these weaknesses in the Gallic nature. novis imperiis means II a change of rule", which they wanted even if the change was for the worse. The Aedui and the Sequani are the tribes referred to here. 4- ab non Dullis: the verb is sollicitabantur, understood from sollicitaTentuT in § 3; "the Belgae were also being stirred up by certain (other) people, because ... " a potentioribu5 Rtque eis qui: "by the more powerful chieftains and by those who . , ."; the two classes mentioned here would often consist of the same people. ad conducendos • _ • facultates: "means for hiring men", i.e. to serve as mercenary soldiers. vulgo regna occupabantur: "royal power was generally seized"; Tegna is plural because this process occured in several states. eam rem: that object", i.e. royal power. nostro imperio is "under our (i.e.
Roman) rule", ablative of attendant circumstances, or ablative of time when; "during our rule u.
Duntiis: Umessages", not messengers, which would require a preposition. commotus is U influenced" or U prompted"; Caesar would not be "disturbed" at this news because he had probably already decided on the conquest of the Belgae. The "two new legions" raised from Italians living in Cisalpine Gaul were the 13thand 14th. His troops in Transalpine Gaul consisted offour veteran legions (the 7th, 8th, 9th, and loth), two new legions (the 1 nh and 12th), which he raised in Cisalpine Gaul at the beginning of his first campaign in 58 B.C. (I, 10, 3), and now these two just mentioned, making a total of about 30,000 men, together with Gallic auxiliaries, both infantry and cavalry, raised in the Province, making up another 10,000 men. inita aestate: U at the beginning of the summer", lit. "summer having been begun" (from ineo). The campaigning season began in early summer after the troops had spent the winter in permanent winter-quarters. interiorem Galliam is here used for the more common ulteriorem Galliam, "Further (i.e. Transalpine) Gaul", and must be taken with the qui-clause, which is a relative clause of purpose, "to lead them into . . ."; or it may mean U into the interior (part of) Gaul", i.e. northern Gaul. Q. Pedium was the son of Caesar's sister Julia; he was named as one of his heirs and was elected consul for the second time in 43 B.C, with Octavian (Augustus), but died in the same year. A legatus was an officer of high rank in the army who often took command of a legion; Caesar had eight legati at this time (the context will usually distinguish between a general and an ambassador; the English "legate" can be used for either). 2. cum • • • inciperet: "when first there began to be plenty ... ". Caesar seldom gives an exact date or even a month. The time must have been early June, and the fodder was needed for the pack animals that carried the baggage of the army Bnd for the cavalry horses. ad exercitum: in the land of the Sequani (see the note on Labienus in I, I). 3. dat negotium ••. uti (= ut) ... cognoscant: "he assigned' to the . . . the task of finding out . . .". dare negotium is almost equivalent to imperare. Notice the "historic present" tense of dar, which is frequently used by all Latin writers to make the narrative more vivid; it should be translated by a past tense, and
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oj
U
U
2 I.
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can be followed either by primary or historic tenses of the subjunctive, or even by both in the same sentence. ea quae • • • gerantur: "what was happening", lit. "those things which", a relative clause (not an indirect question), whose verb is subjunctive because it is a clause .depending on an indirect command (oratio cbliqua). se refers to Caesar; "and to inform him .•. ". 4. manus cogi: "that bands of men were being collected". conduci is "was being assembled". s. dubitandum (esse) ..• profisceretur: "he thought that he should not hesitate to set out against [hem",; non dubito quin normally means" I do doubt that ... " and non dubito with the infinitive is "I do not hesitate to ... ", hut here the first construction is used with the meaning of the second. U He did not think that he should ... " is the same as "he thought that he should not". diebus quindecim: a'Jlative of time within which.. Caesar probably joined his army at Vesontio (Besam;on) and marched by easy stages along the eastern bank of the Matrona (Marne) to the land of the Remi (Reims), who we read in the next chapter were U the people of Gaul nearest to the Belgae u.
3. paratos esse: supply 5e again as the subject. The first et that follows means U both", and the object of recipere and iuvare is tum, i.e. Caesarem, understood. oppidis is local ablative, "in their towns", .and jrwnento ceterisque rebus is ablative of means, "with corn ... ". 4. cis Rhenum: i.e. on the Gallic side, which was nearer to Rome. The mood and tense of qui incolant has been explained in the note on § 2; tr." ~o lived". Caesar had defeated and driven back across the ~..\ the Germans under Ariovistus in the previous year (I, 31-54}, but some of the Germans who had previously settled in Gaul continued to live there. sese cum his coniumdsse: we say "had joined them", but coniungere is transitive and requires a reflexive object when used intransitively. 5. eorum omnium: "of them all", i.e. of the Belgae and the Germans. Suessiones is the object of deterrere pocuerint, of which U the Belgae" understood is the subject, and ne . . . quidem is "not even"; "so great that they had not been able to prevent even the Suessiones ... from combining with them (the Belgae and Germans)". SUDS refers to the Remi, as also does ipsis, though secum might have been used instead of cum his. et must be supplied between utantur and unum, to connect the two qui-dauses. The imperfect SUbjunctive consentirent is strange when the other verbs depending on qui dicerenl are all primary (present or perfect) subjunctive. iure ••• legibus: ius was the constitution, or principles of justice, and leges the actual laws. imperium means "government" and magistratum "magistracy".
3 eo: anadverbj "there", lit. "thither", i.e. adfines Belgarum. eeleriu! omni opinione is U earlier than anyone expected ", lit. H than all expectation", ablative of comparison, used after a comparative adverb only in such phrases as this. For this restricted meaning of Gallia as Central Gaul, see the note on Gallia in I, 2. legatos: "as envoys". primos means U leading men". 2. qui dicerent: a purpose clause i "they were to say that ... IJ, lit. U who should say". From here to the end of the chapter relates what they said, so that the main verbs are in the infinitive and all dependent verbs in the subjunctive, of which the last, consentirent, is in historic sequence, like miserunt qui dicerent, but the others are in primary sequence, present or pedect, for the sake of vividness. se susque omnia: these words are the object of permittere, with another se understood as the subject because se appearing twice would be awkward (so also in 3 I, 2); U they entrusted themselves . . . to the protection (lit. 'faith ') and . . .... The Remi were the first Gallic people outside the Province, with the exception of the Aedui (who became allies of Rome in about 121 B.C.) to join Caesar of their own free will and the only one to serve him loyally all through the war. coniul'Qsse = coniuravisse. I.
72
4 quid ••• pOlsent: U how powerful they were", lit. U to what extent (adverbial accusative) they were able", indirect question, like quae . .. essent. sic reperiebst: "he discovered the following facts", lit. "thus". The imperfect suggests repeated enquiries. We should probably insert "Caesar" as the subject, since Rem" is the subject of the preceding verbs. From here to sumerent is what he discovered and is all in indirect statement. plerosql.1c Belgas: we say "most of the Belgae". esse ortos (from orior) ab GernJanis means "were of German origin", lit. "had arisen from . . . ". The Belgae were in fact probably of Celtic, not German, origin, and had moved westwards from the upper valley of the Danube, first into Germany and then across the Rhine into Gaul. RhenunJ is governed by the tra- in the passive verb traductos; .. being taken I.
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across (or C having· crossed') the Rhine". ibi, "there'" i.e. in their present position in Gaul. z. ezpulisse: the subject is eos, i.e. the Belgae, with Gallos as the object. locus is neuter in the plural; ea loca means "those districts" or U that region". solosque ••• prohibuerint: II and they (eos understood) were the only people who, when the whole of Gaul was attacked in the time (lit. •within the memory ') of our fathers, prevented the . . . from entering . . .". Caesar elsewhere uses noster in the sense of II Roman" even when report· ing the words of a Gaul, but nostrorum here, and nostra in § 7, refers to the Gauls as well as to the Romans. "The whole of Gaul" refers especially to the two Roman provinces of Transalpine (Narbonese) Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul, now north Italy, which the German tribes of the Teuroni and Cimbri invaded during the closing years of the second century B.C.; they were defeated by Marius at Aquae Sextiae (Aix) in the Proviace in 102 B.C. and at Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul in 101 B.C.; see 29, 4·5. jngr~dj is prolative infinite after prohibuerint. 3. qua ex re fieri uti ••• sumerent: "as a result of this (lit. • from which fact') it came about that they (the Germans) assumed (lit. (took for themselves '), because of their remembrance of those events, .•. great arrogance in warfare". 4. omnia , •• ezplorata, "that they had all the facts . . . fully discovered"; ~xplorata habere is a little stronger than exploraviss~, IC had discovered". propinquitatibu8 conluncti: "being united (to them) by ties of blood and marriage". quantam ••• cognoverint: "they had discovered how large a body of men each (chieftain) had promised for that war in ... ". S. From here to the end of the chapter is all in oratio obliqua depending on Remi dicebant, so that main verbs are in the infinitive and dependent verbs in the SUbjunctive, all in the vivid primary sequence instead of the normal historic sequence after dieebant in § 4. plurimum ••• vatere: "were the most powerful amongst them tJ; plurimum is adverbial accusative, like quid in quid possent (§ I). tn'rtute is ablative of cause; H both because of their valour and .•. ". has ••• centum: "these could muster (or "provide") a hundred thousand armed men"; armata milia eentum = centum milia armatorum (virorum); so also eleeta sexaginta = sexaginta (milia) electorum (virorum). For pollicitos we should say co and had promised n. These numbers were probably greatly exaggerated by the Remi. 6. suos: this refers to the Remi, the subject of dieebant in § 4;
"the Remi said that the Suessiones were their neighbours". The subject of possidere is eos understood, i.e. the Suessiones. 7. nostra edam memoria: we should say II even within living memory"; for the phrase and for this use of nostra, see the note on patrum nostrorum memon'a in § 2. This Diviciacus must not be confused with the Aedu3ft'leader of the same name who appears in the next chapter of/this book and was a loyal supporter of Caesar; nothing more is known about the Diviciacus mentioned here. totius Galliae potentissimum is "the most powerful (ruler) in the whole of ... ". cum ••• tum: U not only ... but also". imperium obtinuerit does not mean II had obtained" but I I had held power over a large part of . . .". This is the first mention of Britain by a Roman writer. Iron Age Celtic invaders came to Britain from Gaul in about 700 B.C. and ag,ain in about 350 B.C. and were followed in about 75 B.C. by the Germano-Celtic tribe of the Belgae, who made a settlement in -Kent and .overran most . of south-east Britain, as mentioned by Caesar in V,_ 12, 2. Nothing is known about the rule of Diviciacus in Britain, but it is possible that when he made himself master of much of Belgic Gaul (harum regionum) some of the Belgic settlers in Britain, who were at war with one another' (e.g. the Catuvellauni or the Trinobantes), appealed to him for help against their enemies and acknowledged his supremacy, though he may not have himself even visited this island. Gatba: his two sons were taken as hostages by Caesar in 13, 10 A Roman of the same name was one of Caesar's generals in III, 1·6, whose great·grandson, also Galba, was emperor for a few months in A.D. 69. suam is here used where eius would strictly be correct; suus generally refers to the property of the subject of a sentence. summam ... de/em here means U the chief command ... was being conferred on him", not on the Bellovaci. 8. The subject of habere and pollieeri is eos understood, i.e., the Suessiones. numero is ablative of respect, U twelve in number", but we should say simply II be possessed twelve towns", and armsta = armatorum tlirorum, as in § 5. Nervios: the subject of polliceri, understood; "the Nervii were promising the same number"; the same verb must be understood with all the names in § 9. qui ••• habeantur: "who were considered the most warlike among the Belgae themselves"; maxime Jeri is used as the superlative. The Nervii "were the furthest away" from the Remi because they were the most northerly of the Belgae, except for the Morini and Menapii, and so had perhaps been the least exposed to the relaxing influence of Roman civilisation.
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NOTES ,. decem et nevem: an unusual alternative to undeviginti or novendecim.
10. Condrulos • • • milia: this sentence in full would be Remi dicebant 5e arbitrari Condrusos • . . ad XL milia virorum polliceri, "the Remi said that they thought that the Condrusi. . . were promising up to (ad) fony thousand men n. qui .•. appellantur is "who are called generally (lit. 'by one name') Germans n; the truth perhaps is that these four Celtic tribes were the latest immigrants into Gaul from the German side of the Rhine; see the note on plerosque Belgas in § I. The numbers given by the Remi in this chapter amount to 296,000 men, which, like the 60,000 out of 100,000 of the Bellovaci in § 5, are surely greatly exaggerated. Caesar's eight legions, with auxiliaries and cavalry, would not amount to more than 40,000 men. Notice that appellantur is indicative because it is a note made for the reader by Caesar, not part of what the Remi said, which would be qui appellarcl~tur, as being a relative clause in indirect statement.
NOTES nostra, fJestro, sua, is used). ne conftigendum sit: supply sibij "that he should not have to fight a battle". 3. id fieri posse: this depends on docet in § 4; "that could be done", i.e. the enemy forces could be kept apart. The perfect subjunctives introduxerint and coe-perint represent in oratio obliqua (in primary sequence after the historic present docet) the
future perfect indicatives of direct speech, when Caesar said
si introduxeritis, lit. "if you shall have led", i.e. "if you lead".
5 IlberaUter oratione prolecutus: "having addressed them courteously", lit. U having honoured them courteously in a speech". The senatum was the U tribal assembly" of local chieftains, and obsides means U as hostages", for the good behaviour of their fathers. quae omnia: the very conunon "connecting relative", in which qui at the beginning of a new sentence is translated by the same case of hie, haec, hoe, or is, ea, id; "all these orders were carried out punctually to the day", or .. by the appointed day". 2. Diviciacum Aeduum: the Aedui were a powerful tribe living in central Gaul between the Arar and the Liger who had made an alliance with Rome in 121 B.C. and remained 10¥fll to Caesar until 52 B.C., when they joined the great rebellion of all the Gauls under Vercingetorix. Diviciacus was a Druid and one of the most influential leaders of the Aedui; he had visited Rome on an embassy in 61 B.C. and had stayed at the house of the orator Cicero, and did good service to Caesar in the Gallic campaign of 58 B.C. (Book I). quanto opere: equivalent to quantum, just as magno opere or magnopere is the adverb of magnus; "he told him how important it was to the (Roman) state and the common safety (of the Romans and the Aedui) that the forces (manus) of the enemy should be kept apart". The impersonal verb imerest is followed by the genitive (except with personal pronouns, when the ablative of the possessive adjectives, mea, tua,
his mandatis: "after giving these orders", which the Aedui carried out in 10, 5, when they advanced on the land of the Bellovaci. 4- coactas ad se venire: U had Bssembled ... Bnd were coming against him". 'Didit is n realised" rather than actually U saw". neque ___ cognovit: here, as often, neque means et . .. non; uand learnt from the scouts ... that they were not far away (from him)". quos miserat must of course be taken after exploratoribus, and we should perhaps say U the" instead of IC those" scouts. traducere: this governs both flumen Axonam and exercitum; "to take his army across the river ... ". in extremis finibus means IC in the most distant part of the borders of the Remi ", i.e. in the north, which was furthest away from the point where Caesar entered the country. For the gender of quod, which could be qui, see the note onflumen Sabim, quod . .. in 18, 1. ibi: Caesar almost certainly crossed the Aisne at the modern Berry-au-Bac and pitched camp near Mauchamp, about a mile and a half away, on the northern (right) bank of the river; see the plan, and the note on 8, 2-3. s- quae res: "this manoeuvre". et ... et is "both ... and". The
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the advice of his colleague Auruncu1eius Cotta (mentioned in 11,3), and was attacked while on the march; Sabinus lost his head in the crisis, went to parley unarmed with the enemy, and was killed with nearly all his force of fifteen cohorts, including Cotta, who fought bravely (V, 26-37). The six cohorts that he had here would amount to about 2,200 men. ~astra: this refers to Caesar's main camp on the nonh side of the Aisne, not to Sabinus' fort, which is caned a castel/um in 9, 4; .. he ordered (the soldiers) to fortify the camp with a rampart twelve feet high (lit. • of twelve feet into height', which included a palisade of stakes) and a ditch eighteen feet wide"; in latitudinem must be understood with the second pedum, both of which, with the numerals, Brc genitives of description or quality; for the U chiasmus" in the order of words see the note on 12, 2. This camp was made exceptionally strong because of the large numbers of the enemy; the usual dimensions of the ditch were twelve feet broad and nine feet deep, with sloping sides, the earth of which was used to build up the rampart td'a height of about four feet, which with the palisade made the defences nine feet high.
ubi-clauses, two ablatives absolute, and two main verbs; it may be necessary to break it up into two short sentences in English. iact coepd sunt: when the following infinitive is passive, coepi is also made passive. defensoribus is ablative of separation; "was stripped of defenders". testudine facta: U having formed a 'tortoise' ", which was a roof of overlapping shields locked together over the heads of a party of advancing soldiers, like the shell of a tortoise, with more shields protecting them in front and at the sides. The Roman method of assaulting a fortified town, with an agger (siege-mound), mantlets, bauering~rams, and catapult, took a longer time but was much more scientific and efficacious; see 12, S. 3. quod ••• fiebat: "this was easily being done on the present occasion", though in fact the Belgae did not succeed in burning down the gates or breaching the wall before nightfall. coicerent is plural because multitudo is a collective noun; the singular is generally used. consistendi... Dulli: U no one was able to stand fast . . .", lit. "the possibility of standing fast was to no one"; nemini, the dative of nemo, could he used instead of the adjective nulli, which is placed last in the sentence for emphasis. 4. Remus: "one of the Remi u. summa •.• gratia, ablative of quality or description, with which vir is generally used in a phrase of this kind; "(a man) of the highest rank and influence". For the pluperfect praefuerat we should say" who was at that time in command of . . . ". Jegati de pace: "as envoys to discuss peace", in 3, I. nisi ••• non posse: this is in oratio obliqua, giving the message of Iccius taken by the nuntius; "unless help was sent to him, he could not hold out ... ". submlttatur represents the future simple of Iecius' own words (the future perfect would be more common in a future conditional).
6 Bibru:: probably Vieux-Laon, about seven English miles north~west of Berry-au-Bac. The Roman passus was a double pace of nearly five feet, so that a Roman mile was about 140 yards shorter than an English mile. milia passuum octo is accusative of extent of space. ex itinere: "straight from the march", without making the usual preparations for an assault, but merely magno imperu, I t with great violence". The position of aegre is emphatic and can be reproduced in English: U with difficulty was the defence maintained n, impersonal passive, lit. n it was held out". eum diem, the accusative of extent of time, could be used instead of the ablative of point of time. z. Gallorum ••• est haec: "the method of assault of the Gauls (which is) the same as (that) .of the Beigae, is as follows". arque -often follows idem to mean "the same as It; the relative pronoun can also be used. Notice that the Belgae are here distinguished from the other in\tabitants of Gaul, though they are often included in the general name of Gauls. tods moenibus: dative, indirect object of circumiecta, though the verb is here passive; "after a large number ... has been placed round the whole of the fortifications". moenia are the defences generally, mUTUS the wall that crowned them. This sentence contains two I.
78
7 eo: an adverb, "to that. place", i.e. to Bihrax:. de media nocte means "at about midnight", and isdem •.. venerant is "using the same men as guides who had come as messengers ...H. Cretas: Greek accusative plural. Cretan archers and Balearic slingers were famous. subsidio is dative of purpose; "to help (lit. 'as a help to ') the townsfolk u. Bihrax was impregnable on the south and may not have been invested by the Belgae on that side, so that the light-armed relieving troops might have entered the town there to drive off the assault on the other side; or if they did not actually enter the town, their presence on the outside, I.
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small though their numbers were compared with the Belgic hordes, may have been enough to dishearten the attackers with the threat of Caesar's approach. Auxiliary troops in the Roman army wefe always native levies, Spanish, Gallic, or German cavalry, Balearic or Numidian stingers, and Cretan archers; there was no Roman cavalry. 2. quorum adventu: ablative of time or cause; II on their arrival". et Remis ••• accessit: "both a desire to make a sally was inspired in (lit. 'was added to') the Remi, together with the hope of (continuing the) defence", hostlbus ••• discesslt: "for the same reason the hope of capturing the town departed from the enemy". hostibus is dative of disadvantage, often used with a verb of departing or taking away, like militi in 25, 2. For the ablative of separation, used with a thing, not a person, see 21, 5, scut;s tegimenta detrudenda. The deponent verb potior governs an ablative and is therefore really an intransitive verb which has no gerundive, but this and similar deponent verbs governed an accusative in old Latin and retain the gerundive in the U gerundive attraction n construction, as though they were still transitive verbs, instead of being used as a gerund with the ablative, spes potiendi oppido. 3. spud oppidum: "near the town". The subject of the verbs in this sentence is Belgae understood. The relative pronoun quos agrees in gender with its first antecedent, "icis, not with its nearer noun, aedi./iciis. omnibus copiis is ablative of accompaniment without cum, often used with naval and military forces. ab milibus ••• minus duobus: "at a distance of less than ... ", like ab tanto spatio in 30, 3 ("at so great a distance"), and minus is used as an adverb without quam and does not affect the case of the following numeral and noun; but in the next sentence amplius governs the ablative of comparison, milibus passuum octo, and is itself accusative of extent of space; amplius (with or without quam) milia passuum octo would mean just the same, "extended for more than eight miles in breadth", like in alt;tudinem in 5, 6; amplius, plus and· minus can be used in any of these three ways; see 16, I. quae castra: "this camp". ut is u as ". Presumably the Belgae bivouacked instead of using tents, and although seven English miles seems an enormous distance (we are not told how far it extended in depth), even for a force of nearly 300,000 men, their army was made up of contingents from many different tribes which would bivouac separately and without much discipline. Caesar's camp, with its 40,000 men, had sides each about 650 yards long.
8 I. opinionem virtutis: "reputation for valour"; the Belgae proelio is ablative were regarded as the bravest of the Gauls. of separation; "to refrain from a pitChed battle", but not from cavalry skirmishes. quid ••• posset: quid is either another adverbial accusative, as in 4, I, "how powerful they were, because of their valour", or facere must be understood, "what they could achieve by valour"; so also qu£d auderenr, "how bold our men were"; both are indirect questions depending on periclitabatur, "he kept trying to find out". 2. non inferiores: in valour, though greatly inferior in numbers; it was the foreign auxiliary cavalry whose valour he was testing, not the legionary soldiers, who remained in their camp. This long sentence requires to be split up into shorter sentences, e.g. "Caesar realised that our men were not inferior (to the enemy in valour). (There was) a place (lit. C there being a place', causal ablative absolute) in front of the camp (that was) naturally suitable and indeed favourable for drawing up a line of battle; for the hill where the camp had been placed rose (editus is from edo) only a little from the level plain and extended in breadth facing (the enemy, lit. 'opposite ') over as much ground (lit. 'as much of ground', partitive genitive, with loci transferred to depend on ta1'ltum) as a battle line when deployed could cover; it had at each end (lit. I from each part') a steep lateral descent (lit. 'steep slopes of the side '), and sloping gently in front it gradually returned to the level of the plain. He therefore dug a trench 400 paces long (650 yards, genitive of quality or description) at each side (i.e. the north and south sides) of the hill at right angles (to it and to his battle line), and at the end of the two trenches he built redoubts and placed artillery in them; (he did this) so that when he had drawn up his battle line the enemy should not be able, because they were so strong in numbers (adverbial accusative and ablative of respect), to surround his mcn who were fighting on the flank (lit. 'from the flanks')". The plan of the battle-field will make this description clear. quod ... pourat could be subjunctive in C virtual oratio obliqua' inside the purpose clause, like si ... esset in § 5. Colonel Stoffel, excavating for the Emperor Napoleon III (who was keenly interested in the topography of Caesar's campaigns in France), discovered in I862 remains of a Roman camp near the village of Mauchamp, a mile and a half north-east of Berry-auBac on the Aisne, at the eastern extremity of a hill about two
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NOTES
and a half miles long. He found five gates instead of the us~al four, two being on the west side, all with claviculae., which were incwving extensions of the ramparts that compelled a~yone entering the camp to turn to the left and thus e~p?se hi~ u~ shielded (right) side to the defenders. The camp IS In a dIStrict now highly cultivated and was much cut up by tre~ches dug through it in the First World War and by bombs auned at a German aerodrome nearby in 1944, so that there is little to see of it now. No other camp has been found in a position that agrees with Caesar's description, so it seems almost certain that this is it, though its size, ahout 2,000 feet square, is small for an army of 40,000 men, which would usually take up a spac~ about half ~ mile each way. This identification involves taking pro castrls in § 3 to mean not directly in front of the camp (where no~e of the enemy wefe posted) but in front and well to the left of It, as the plan shows. The redoubt at the end of the trench dug southwards from the camp is no longer in existence, and Napoleon assumed that the river has changed its course in 2,000 years and washed away the end of the trench and the redoubt. The only other difficulty is the plural a lateribus in § 4, for the two trenches defended only the right flank of the Roman position; I?erhaps Caesar used the plural instead of the singular by an overSIght, or he may have meant that both flanks were now secure, the left being defended by the marsh where the Miette runs into the Aisne, the right by the two trenches. 5. quas proxime conscripserat: "which he had m?st recently enrolled", in 2, 1. He raised these legions in the sprmg of 57. B.C. from Roman citizens and provincials living in Cisalpine Gaul noW northern Italy; they would be volunteers probably attra~ted by the hope of plunder after hearing of Caesar's successes in Gaul in the previous year (58 B.C.) and would of course have a stiffening of veterans and be commanded and trained by experienced centurions; they were numbered the 13th and I4th in Caesar's army, which previously contained the 7th to the 12th Legions' see the note on 2, I. si quo opus esset: "if it should be nece~sary (for them to be taken) anywhere u; this use of opus est, "there is need (of)", with the infi~itive (here understood), or a nominative as the predicate, as 10 22, I, ~r (more commonly) with an ablative, must not be confus~d WIth ?P~s, "work", The subjunctive is used because the 51-clause !S •In "virtual oratio obliqua" inside the purpose clause. subsldlo: "to bring help", dative of purpose, lit. "as a help". Caesar naturally kept the new legions in reserve until they were needed.
We have already explained that pro castris means that the battle line was placed to the left front, not directly in front, of the camp; the enemy were drawn up to the north-west of it. eductas instruxerunt = eduxerunt et instruxerunt.
82
!I palus: the marsh formed by the River Miette just before it flowed into· the Aisne. For 1lOn magna we might say "of nO great size". si ••• exspectabant: "the enemy were waiting (to see) if our men would cross this"; verbs of expectation and endeavour are often followed by a si-clause with the subjunctive which seems to have the sense of an indirect question, though normally an indirect question is never used with -5i. The next si-clause is in .. virtual U oralio obliqua (like sr" quo opus esset in 8, 5) depending on the purpose clause; U our men were ready . . . to attack them when in difficulties (lit .• hindered', i.e. by the marsh), if they began to cross it (lit" C if a beginning of crossing was made by them ') ". So also in § 2 neutri . . . faciunt means II neither side began to cross". 2. contendebatur: impersonal, lit. "it was being fought in a cavalry battle", i.e. u a cavalry battle was being fought". secuntiiore " . . proelio, ablative absolute, H when _the cavalry engagement was more favourable to our men". 3. quod: neuter, to agree with flumen as its antecedent. demonstratum est, in 5, 5. Caesar has twice used pro casrris (8, 2 and 5) to mean not directly in front of the camp but to the left front of it; the plan on page 50 shows that the river was" behind", i.e. south of the camp and of the battle line. The fords mentioned here were in fact about three miles south-west of the camp and one mile south-west of the left wing of the Roman line; by crossing there the Belgae would avoid the marshes in front of their own right flank. 4. eo consilio ut: "with the intention of storming"J lit. "with that plan that they should ... si pOJsent represents the future simple, and si potuissent in § 5 the future perfect, of direct speech; both arc again in «virtual" oratr"o obliqua. The Belgae's own words or thoughts were "we shall try . . . so that we may storm ... , if we can (si poterimus); but if we cannot (si minus potuerimus, lit. 'if we shall have been less able '), that we may ravage ... ", but English is much less precise in some moods and tenses. cui praeerat is indicative because it is a note by Caesar, not part of what [he Belgae said or thought. c8stellum: I.
J)
83
NOTES
NOTES this is implied in S, 6, hut not actually mentioned; the castra described there is Caesar's main camp, but Titurius Sabinus had built the small fort mentioned here with which his six cohorts could defend the south side of the bridge. 5. si minus: often used for si non, either with or without a verb. ut, from eo consilio tit, must be supplied with popuiarentuT. qui ••• erant: "who were of great service (predicative dative, akin to a dative of purpose) to us in fighting the war". The Remi alone of the tribes of northern and central Gaul remained loyal to the Romans all tm:ough the Gallic wars. commeatu is "from getting supplies", ablative of separation. 10
certior factus: supply de his rebus, i.e. about the attempt of the Belgae to cross the river. levis armaturae Numidas: "light-armed Numidians", lit. "of light armour", genitive of description or quality; see the note on 7, I, where these auxiliary troops are also mentioned. traducit governs two accusatives, as in 5, 4. Caesar sent these men from the main camp across the bridge guarded by Titurius to oppose from the southern bank the crossing made by the enemy two miles down stream. 2. acriter pugnatum est: impersonal passive; I f the fighting was fierce". In the next three sentences the objects, hostes, reliquos, primos, come at or near the beginning. impeditos is U in difficulties" or II at a disadvantage", as in 9, I. conantes: agreeing with reliquos; Ie the remainder, as they tried to cross over their dead bodies". multitudine telorum is .. with a shower of missiles", and equitatu is ablative of the instrument, as though the cavalry were the means, not the agent. qui transierant: "who had already crossed", before the Roman auxiliaries arrived to oppose them. circumventos interfecerunt = circumvenerunt et interfecerunt. 4. This long sentence should be split into two parts by omitting ubi and putting a full stop at coepit. hostes: the main body of the Belgae, who were still north of the river; only a part of their forces had been sent to try to cross at the fords (9, 4). et de expugnando ••• spem se fefellisse: H that their hope both of (lit. 'concerning ') storming the town (Bibrax) and ... had deceived them". neque = et ... non, of which the et goes with viderunt and the "on with progredi j "that our men were not advancing to more unfavourable ground to fight a battle" J lit. H for the sake of fighting"; Caesar's refusal to cross the marshes of the Miette I.
84
is mentioned in 9,
I.
res frumentaria: Galba's makeshift
organisation could not possibly provide food for his enormous army, consisting of contingents drawn from so many states which lost all discipline, as we shall see in the next chapter, when the order to withdraw was given. For ipsos ... coepit we might say "they themselves began to run short of corn". constitue runt ••• reverti: "decided that it was best that each man should return to his own home". The antecedent of quorum is eos in ad eos defendendos, "and that they (understood from quemque) should assemble ... to defend the people (eos) into whose land the Romans should first bring their army". introduxissem represents in oratio obliqua the future perfect of what they actually said. Presumably Caesar learne-d afterwards from prisoners what had been decided at the council of war. ut ••• uterentur: these are purpose clauses, and copiis here of course means II supplies". s. haec ratio: this is explained by the quod-clause; .. the following consideration also, that they had learned that Diviciacus ... , together with the other reasons, induced them to adopt that plan". For Diviciacus the Aeduan see 5, 2-3. his ••• non poterat: "these people (i.e. the Bellovaci) could not be persuaded (impersonal passive of an intransitive verb, lit .• it could not be persuaded to these men ') to delay ... and to refrain from helping their own folk". neve instead of neque is generally used in indirect command or a purpose clause. II
ea re: i.e. the decision to return home. The night was divided into four "watches" of equal length; in the summer each watch would be less than two hours long. nullo ••• imperio: "without any definite arrangement or orders It, ablative of attendant circumstances. For castris egressi we could say either II leaving the camp " or "having left". cum.. • peteret: "since each man desired (to obtain) the first place on the road for himself". fecerunt ut • • • videretur: II they made the depanure seem like ... ", lit. II they made that the departure seemed . . .... fugae is either genitive or dative after consimiUs. 2. The position of Caesar in the middle of the ablative absolute is unusual and perhaps emphatic. Some deponent verbs, especially vereor, reor, arbitror (and even egredior in a sentence like § r), often have a present meaning for their perfect participles, so that here veriws means" fearing" rather than" having feared". qua de causa: "for what reason", followed by a subjunctive in I.
85
NOTES
NOTES
an indirect question; quod is "because", exercitum means the legions, as the following equitatum shows, and casrris is local ablative without in. 3. ab exploratoribus: these were organised bodies of scouts "reconnaissance parties", while speculatores (§ 2) were men sent out singly to scout. qui... moraretur: a relative clause expressing purpose; "to delay the rearguard", or perhaps here simply "the rearmost" (novissimos in § 4), because the Belgic host was in such disorderly confusion. Pedius is mentioned in 2, I, Cotta in the note on S, 6; and Labienus in I, I, and the note on it. 40 multa milia passuum: accusative of extent of space; "for many miles", eorum fugientium is "of them as they fled"; /ugientium alone would mean "of those who were fleeing". cum: II since IJ; it has three verbs, COllst"sterent and sustinere1Jt, which are connected by -que, and poneretlt in the clause beginning with prz'ores, which requires a conjunction like" but". cum ••• cODsisterent: "since the men at the very rear of the army, whom the Romans had now reached, stood their ground"; this meaning of ab for II in" or U at" instead of in is common and occurs twice in 8, 2, ab utroque latere and a lateribus; eX often has the same meaning, e.g. ex utl"aque parte, also in 8, 2. The antecedent of quos is ei or hostes understood, which is the subject of consisterent, and venwm erat is another impersonal passive, lit. u to whom it had been come" i "who had been reached" keeps the passive form in English. s. priores ••• viderentur: "(but) those in front, because they thought that they were ... ", lit. "seemed to be ...". necessitate . . . imperio is "compulsion . . . authority"; such conduct is typical of half-trained irregular troops, who often fight with the greatest courage in the face of the enemy but lose all discipline in a retreat. The two quod-clauses would normally be in the indicative but are II attracted IJ into the subjunctive by the cum • . . ponerent clause, as in -35, I. exaudito elamore, perturbatis ordinibus: the first ablative absolute was the cause of the second; "having broken their ranks on hearing the shouting", which came from the men who were fighting in the rear.' omnes ••• ponerent: -'all put their hope of safety in flight", lit. "put protection for themselves . . . "; the usual phrase is salutem in fuga ponere. 6. tantsm ••• spatium: U as large a number of them as the length of daylight allowed", lit. Ie as the space of day was" J an inexact comparison that a final revision of the book would probably
have corrected. sub is "towards" or "at", and -que is attached to OCCa5um as though sub occasum were one word; it could be attached to sub (see 35, 4, note). destiterunt is from desisto, and ut erat imperatwn, with ds understood, is impersonal passive, "as they had been ordered", or we could say "according to orders u. The troops sent on this mission had a long day's march (many miles in pursuit and the same distance back to camp) and some fighting, which was followed on the next day by a forced march and the preparations for an assault on N oviodunum.
86
12
postridie eius diei: ,ron the (next) day after that (day)"; the genitive, which is "redundant", i.e. unnecessary, depends on the adverb postridic; we should omit the two words in brackets. prius quam, often written as one word, priusquam, here has the subjunctive because the clause means "before they could recover from ... ", implying that Caesar acted quickly to prevent them from recovering j the perfect indicative would mean "before they recovered". magno itinere eonfecto: "by making a forced march u, rather than "having completed ... ", because he hastened (contendit) all through the day's march, not after completing it. A normal day's march for the Roman soldiers, who carried sixty-five pounds weight of arms and equipment, was about fifteen miles, and a magnum iter up to twenty-five miles or more, as circumstances demanded. The distance from Berry-au-Bac to Noviodunum of the Suessiones, which was probably the modern Pommiers, two and a half miles north-west of Soissons, is twenty-eight miles. There were other towns called Noviodunum, one in the land of the Aedui (Nevers) and one in the land of the Bituriges (perhaps Villate). 2. ex: itinere:. "straight from the march", as in 6, I, i.e. without making the scientific preparations described in § 5 of this chapter. vacuum ab defensoribus (" undefended") is the same as vacuum defensoribus, ablative of separation. Caesar presumably 'heard about this from deserters. Notice the criss-cross order of words in latiwdinem fossae murique altitudinem (instead of alticudinemque mun'); this figure of speech is called U chiasmus" from a supposed resemblance to the shape of the Greek letter X, chi; an English example is
NOTES
NOTES
3. c8stris munitis: the elaborate defences of a camp had to be constructed at the end of every day's march; the Romans could then begin preparations for the assault to be made on the next day. vimas agere is "to move forward mandets", i.e. sappers' huts (described on page 38), the parts of which were carried by mules
(Breteuil). maiores natu arc "the older men", lit. "greater in birth", ablative of respect. tendere manus: Ie to stretch out their hands", to show that they were surrendering. 'Voce significare, "to declare in a loud voice". sese ••• contendere: "that they were submitting to (lit. 'were coming into') his protection . . . and were not taking up arms (lit. 'fighting with arms ') against ... ". 3. pueri: "children n. passis is from pando; U stretching out their hands in their (usual) fashion", i.e. as they usually did when asking for mercy.
or horses among the impedimenta of the army. quaeque... comparare: U and to make ready the things which (quaeque = et ea quae) were useful for making an assault"; usui is predicative dative, as in 9, 5. 4. omnis ..• multitudo: "all the host ... (who had escaped) from the rout ", i.e. when they fled from their camp at Berry-au-Bac on the previous day. S. aggere iacto: this means "when earth had been flung into the ditch", to fill it up so that the Romans could rush across it in the assault, rather than "when a siege-mound had been constructed", as in 30, 3, for which see page 38, because a siegemound would take several days to build up whereas the preparations described here were evidently quite quickly completed. The wooden towers, mounted on wheels or rollers, were to enable missiles to be hurIed at the defenders on the wall. ante is an adverb, and it is possible that Galli is in apposition to the subject; "being disturbed by the vastness of the siege~works, which they, being Gauls, had never seen or heard of before"; or it may simply be the subject of mitwnt placed inside the relative clause. de deditione: "to propose that they should be allowed to surrender", lit. "about a surrender". perentibus Remis is ablative absolute, "at the request of the Remi", lit. "the Remi asking", followed by the indirect petition ut conservarentur, and the subject of impetrant is the Suessiones. Notice that this sentence contains two pluperfect indicatives, two historic present indicatives, and an imperfect subjunctive; a historic present tense is regarded as being either primary or historic.
obsidibus: in appOSItIOn to prlmrs j U having received the leading men of the state as hostages". armis ... traditis must be taken as passive (" when all the weapons had been handed over "), because it refers to the action of the Gauls, not of Caesar. For in dedt'tionem accepit we say" he received the surrender of ... ", and for in Bellovacos .. into the land of the Bellovaci". 21. milia passuum quinque: accusative of extent of space, showing how far Caesar was away from the town of Bratuspantium
14 pro his: "on their behalf". In 10, 5 Diviciacus was coming to attack the territory of the Bellovaci with an Aeduan army, as requested by Caesar in 5", 2-3, but he was now asking Caesar to spare them, just as the Remi interceded for the Suessiones in 12, 5. ad ellm refers to Caesar, and notice that revertor is intransitive deponent in the present, future, and imperfect tenses (e.g. reverti in 10,4 is present infinitive), but intransitive active in the perfect tenses, as here. facit verba: "spoke (as follows)"; the rest of the chapter gives his words in oratio obliqlla, in which all main verbs are infinitive and all dependent verbs subjunctive j the first two sentences are in historic sequence, the last two in primary. 2. omni tempore: U always"; the ablative is here used instead of the accusative to express duration of time, unless perhaps it means "at all times". in fide .. , jut'sse means" had enjoyed the protection ... of the Aeduan state", or possibly" had been loyal and friendly to . . ."; fides has either meaning. impulsos: a participle, agreeing with eos (i.e. Bellovacos) understood, which is the subject of defecisse and inrulisse, whereas the clause Aedllos . . . perjerre depends on qui dicerenr, "who kept saying that . . .". omnes is U all kinds of . . .", and et . . . et is "both ... and u , 3. qui ••• fuissent: the antecedent of qui is eos understood, which is the subject of projugisse; "those who had been the ringleaders in that plot, because they realised how much ... , had fled to Britain". intulissent is indirect question, which would be subjunctive in oratio recta also. In 4, 7 we read that Galba's predecessor (another Diviciacus) had held authority over part of Britain. 4. The subject of petcre is Bellovacos and Aeduos; it is followed by the indirect petition ut . . . utatur, "requested that he should
88
89
13 I.
I.
NOTES
NOTES
show (lit. 'use ') his usual (sua) mercy . . . towards them". Caesar was merciful towards those who submitted without resistance but sometimes showed the most inhuman brutality towards those who rebelled after submitting; see page 25. s. quod 51 fecerit: n if he did so"; Jecer;t is perfect subjunctive, representing the future perfect of direct speech (lit. U if he shall have done this "), The subject of amplificaturum (esse) is eum, Le. Caesarem, understood, and the antecedent of quorum is Aeduorum; to bring out the correct meaning we must say U for it was by the help and resources of the Aedui that the Belgae had been accustomed (consuerint = sonsueverint, from consuesco) to sustain the burden of any wars that broke out", lit. U to sustain (them) if any wars occurred" •
description,
15 honoris ••• causa: "out of respect for ... ", lit. "for the sake of the honour of ... JJ. Caesar wanted to increase the prestige of Diviciacus and the Aedui by apparently acceding to their request to spare the Bellovaci, but he demanded a larger nwnber of hostages than usual to make sure that they would not give any further trouble; they remained quiet for five years and were finally crushed in 51 B.C., in Caesar's last Gallic campaign. For in fidem we should say II under his protection". magna auctoritate: ablative of quality or description; U was of great influence among· . . . ", i.e. "had great influence over . . . ". multitud,'ne is ablative of respect; "was outstanding in the number of its people". 3. quorum: this refers to the Nervii; "when Caesar made enquiries about their character . . ., he discovered the following facts (sic)", which are expressed in orat!'o obliqua in the next two sections. 4. Dnllum ••• mercatoribus: II merchants had no means of access to them", lit. "there was to merchants no . . . ". The subject of pati is eos (i.e. Nervios) understood; "they did not allow any wine or the other things that tend to self-indulgence to be imported", lit. "they allowed nothing of wine and of the other things ... ", partitive genitive. relanguescere ••. virtutem: "that their spirit became enervated and their courage diminished". Caesar tells us the same thing about the Belgae generally in I, I, 3, and about the Germans in IV, z, 6. eorum could be SliOS. S. Supply eos or Nervios as the subject of esse and of increpitare, incusare, confirmare. magnae virtutis is genitive of quality or I.
90
16 triduum: accusative of duration of time. We should insert Caesar as the subject of fecisset or inveniebat, because Nervi; was the subject of the preceding verbs. The imperfect inveniebat suggests that he made repeated enquiries, as in 4, I. amplius is here used as an adverb without quam or an ablative of comparison" like minus in 7, 4, and milia passuum is accusative of extent of space; U not more than ten miles away". 2. From here to the end of the chapter is in oralio obliqua, continuing to describe what Caesar found out from prisoners, except the sentence in brackets, which is a note added by Caesar. trans means U on the other side of", and una is an adverb used with cum and means "together with". his utrisque: "both these peoples". uti = ut, in a clause of indirect command. 3. atque: a stronger conjunction than et; "were expected and in fact were on the march". 4. The subject of coiecisse (" had sent "), is Nervios understood, and the object mulieres quique (= et eos qui) . . • viderentur, "the women and those who seemed useless for battle on account of ... "; aetatem means either old age or youth. quo is an adverb, "whither", but we should say U to a place which an army could not approach". esset is subjunctive in oratio obliqua, but it may also be a consecutive or generic subjunctive, which is explained in the last note on 17, 4. The word aestuaria, "creeks of the sea ", in z8, I, suggests that the Nervii sent their non-combatants to the marshes in the estuary of the ScheIdt (Scaldis). I.
17 qui ..• deligant: a purpose clause; Uta choose". The centuriones were better able to find a suitable place for a camp than the scouts were. z. cum •.. facerent: "since a considerable number of (ex) the Belgae who had surrendered ... had followed Caesar and were I.
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NOTES
NOTES
marching with him" (una, an adverb again); the tribes concerned
passive and say, "the plan of those who brought this information (rem) was supported by the fact that the Nervii . . . ". cum equitatu nihil possent: "since they had no strength in cavalry" ; equitatu is ablative of respect, and nihil is adverbial accusative, as in 4, I, and in the parenthesis that now follows, where quidquid possunt . . . cop£is is lit. cc in whatever they are strong, they are powerful in infantry forces ", i.e. "all the strength they have lies in their infantry", neque __ • student: ufor indeed up to this day they pay no attention to that part of the army", i.e. to the cavalry; most other Gallic tribes, except the Helvetii, were more powerful in cavalry than in infantry. quo facilius •• _ impedirent: a purpose clause containing a comparative adjective or adverb has quo instead of ut. si 'lJetlissent is subjunctive because it is a conditional clause in "virtual oratio obliqua" depending on the purpose -clause quo . . . impedirent, which contains an implied verb of thinking; the pluperfect represents the future perfect of direct speech; we say U if they came" or .. if they should come against them to get plunder", lit. "for the sake of plundering ". ad se might be expected instead of ad eos. teneris ••• interiectis: we should translate these ablatives absolute in two different ways; U by cutting into trees when they are young (teneris) and bending them (sideways), and, after the branches had grown out thickly (crebris is used predicatively) in a lateral direction, by planting brambles and thorns among them". Hedgers can be seen to-day making hawthorn field-hedges exactly like this, though on a smaller scale. eft'ecerunt ut ••• praeberent: the subject is Nervii; cc had caused these hedges to provide for them defences like a wall", lit. cc had brought it about that these hedges , . .n, instar is an indeclinable noun followed by a genitive, U the likeness of a wall", in apposition to munimenta. eis again might be sf'hi, like in eos a few lines earlier. quo: U into which'\ lit. "whither". inrrari and perspici are impersonal passives, lit. "it could be entered"; we should say "which could not only not be entered but could not eveD be seen through n. posset is a consecutive subjunctive, sometimes called generic, meaning that it was the kind of place which could not be entered, but we can hardly bring this out in English; quo . .. esset in 16, 4 may be another example, and quam quo . .. posset in 2.1, 3 is a slightly different kind of consecutive clause. s- cum: "since". non omittendum (esse) consilium means "that the plan (suggested by the Gauls in Caesar's army) should not be left untried".
were the Suessiones, the Bellovaci, and the Ambiani; some of them had perhaps volunteered to serve as auxiliaries in the
Roman army. ut is "as". eorum ••. perspecta: "having noted the usual order (lit. • custom') of march employed by our army during those days"; five out of the seven words in this phrase are in. the genitive case.
demoDstrarunt:
contracted
form of demonstraverunt.
inter singulas legiones: U between each pair of legions". impedimemorum magnum numerum is either Ie a great amount of baggage" or H a large number of baggage animals", which comes to the same thing because the
mules carried the baggage; for the impedimenta of an army,
I
see page 35. In open or friendly country each legion's baggage followed it, as the Gauls had noticed, and the men carried their own packs, but in enemy territory such a long line would be a dangerous formation, so it was Caesar's custom to mass all the baggage together in about the centre of the column, including the men's packs, with the result that the army was now U in light marching order", expediti, ready for action; we read in 19, 1-3, that Caesar had adopted such a formation on this occasion, but the Gallic deserters had not been able to warn the Nervii of the change in the order of march. neque esse quicquam negoti: "and that it was quite easy", lit. "nor was it anything of trouble", partitive genitive, followed by the infinitive 6ldoriri. 'Vem'ssent represents the future perfect of direct speech and abessent the future simple; we say "when it had come (or perhaps 'should have come ') . . . and the rest . . . were a long distance away", another accusative of extent of space. sub sarcinis: "in heavy marching order", or "still wearing their packs", i.e. impediti instead of expediti. The contents and weight of the men's packs is described on page 34. hanc is the object of adoriri and refers to the prima iegio just mentioned. 3- qua pulsa: H and if this legion was driven off"; the two ablatives absolute are equivalent to conditional clauses. Supply esse with futurum; "it would turn out (lit. 'would be') that the rest (of the legions) would not dare to stand against (them)"; this is another way of saying reliquas non ausuras esse, and must be used when the future infinitive of verbs that have no supine is required. 4. The object of adiuvabat is consil£um, and the subject is the long quod-clause that goes down to the end of the section, whose main subject is Nervii and the verb effccerunt, to be translated as "the fact that ... "; it will be easier to make the main sentence
92
93
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NOTES
18
carrying their tools for fortifying a camp, such as spades, saws, baskets for carrying earth, mallets, and valli, wooden stakes for the palisade. post is I< behind") and collocarat is the shortened form of collocaverat. 3- quae proxime conscriptae erant: "which had most recently been rsised"; these were the I 3th and 14th, raised in the spring of this year in Cisalpine Gaul (2, I). claudebant is "brought up the rear of . . .". praesidio ••• erant: predicative dative' "guarded the baggage ", lit. "were as a guard to ... ". ' 5· neque nostri ••• auderent: "and our men did not dare to pursue them as they retreated further than the limit to which the open ground stretched and extended". For the reading of the Oxford Text, see the Preface. quem ad finem = ad finem ad quem, and porrecta (from porrigo) pertinebant is lit. "being stretched out,- extended". cedente5 agrees with i/los, or hostes, understood. quae primae venerant: uwhich had been the first to arrive". dimenso is passive in meaning though it comes from a deponent verb dimetior; the troops ineasured out the (lines of the) work, i.e. the site and extent of the camp, before starting to entrench it. 6. prima impedimenta: "the first part of the baggage train". visa sunt is the true passive again, II was seen", as in 18, 3, and in § 7 of this chapter. quod tempus ••• convenerat: "the moment which had been agreed upon among them (as the ~ime) for joining battle"; tempus is the antecedent of quod but IS placed inside the relative clause; it is in apposition to the clause ubi . .. vt'sa sunt. Notice this special meaning of convenio. The ut ... confirmaverant clause should be taken after subito ... evolaverunt; U they suddenly rushed not . . . in the formation in which (ut, lit. 'as ') they had drawn up ... and had encouraged one another (to fight)". inter se is another way of expressing "one another". ,. his: the Roman auxiliary cavahy, who had crossed the river in § 4. ut = ita ut, "with the result that . . ."; hastes should be taken from the ut~clause and made the subject of decucurrerunt. ad silvas: "at the edge of the woods'" the ' d Istance from the edge of the wood to the river was 'about half a mile, and from the river to the Roman camp about threequarters of a mile. in manibus nostris is U at close quarters with us ". 8. adverso colle: "up the hill", ablative absolute, lit. "the hill (being) against (them)". contenderunt is U they rushed", not "marched".
loci ••• quem locum: we do not repeat the antecedent in English; Ie the natural position of the place which Qllr men ... was as follows (haec)". castris is dative of purpose. ab summo '" declivis: '-sloping evenly down from the top", without any irregularities in the descent. quod agrees in gender with fiumen, not with its nearer antecedent Sabim, like jlumen Axonam, quod . .. in 5, 4; the masculine could have been used in both sentences. supra, in 16, I. The hill on which the Roman camp was placed was a little to the north (on the left bank) of the Sambre, opposite the modern Hantmant, about three miles south-west of Maubeuge, near the village of Neuf-Mensil. 2. pari acclivitate: ablative of description or quality; I f (another) hill with the same slope rose up", from the southern bank of the river. huic is the first'hill mentioned. passus ••• apertus: "open (i.e. unwooded) at its foot for about . . . "; passus ducentos is accusative of extent of space, and infimus is equivalent to ab infima parte. Notice the meaning of ab in ab superiore parte, "on its upper part"; ab lateribus occurs in 8, 4, and ex utraque parte, also meaning "on", in 8, 2. perspici: impersonal passive, as in 17, 4, but we should say "so that it (i,e, the wood at the top) could not easily be seen through from the outside", though introrsus means "to the inside". 3. secundum: a preposition governing flumen. 'Videbantur is II could be seen JJ, not "seemed". pedum. • • trium: genitive of description or quality; lit. "was of about three feet", i.e. "the depth ... was about three feet". We are told in 27, 5 that the river was very wide and had very high banks, I.
I!/
omnibus copiis: ablative of accompaniment, often used of troops and sWps without cum; it occurs again in § 6. ratio ••• detulerant: u the arrangement ... was different from that which the Belgae had reponed ... ", lit. "held itself otherwise and the Belgae had (otherwise) reported"; idem atque is uthe same as" and alius atgue I t different from", with a word similarly omitted. habebat is singular because ratio ordoque expresses a single idea. The report of the Belgae is given in 17, 2 •. 2. For the reading of the Oxford Text, see the Preface. consuetudine sua is II according to his usual custom", for which see the note on inter singulas legt'ones in 17, 2. On this occasion the troops were expediti, U in light order" J but must still have been I.
94
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20 I.
Caesari: dative of the agent with
8
gerundive; "Caesar
had to do everything at the same time". erat or erant must be supplied with the gerundives that follow, but as Caesar did not himself do all the things mentioned here but gave orders for some
of them to be done we can keep the other verbs passive; "the flag had to be raised ... ". The vexillum was a red flag that was hoisted outside the general's headquarters as a sign (insigne) for the troops to prepare for action. Three separate signals are mentioned here, the vexillum to show that action was imminent, the trumpet-call for the men to fall in, and the final trumpet signum, with proeli understood, for starting the battle. concurri: another impersonal passive; "when it was necessary for the men to assemble under arms", lit. "for it to be run together to arms IJ. opere is the work of fortifying the camp. qui: the antecedent is ei understood j U those who had gone a little further away to obtain material for the rampart of the camp had to be swnmoned back". This agger is the earthwork defending the camp which was strengthened with timber and stones; agger has two different meanings in 12, 5, and 30, 3. paulo is ablative of measure of difference, lit. "by a little IJ. 2. quarum rerum: H of these duties". The two subjects have a singular verb, impedjebat, though they do not express a single idea, like ratjo ordoque in 19, 1. 3. erant subsidio: U relieved these difficulties", lit ... were as a relief to . . . "; predicative dative. The "two things" were (i) scienta atqlle usus mjlitum, which is explained by quod • .. poterant, and (ii) the clause from quod to 'Vecuerat, which means" the fact that Caesar had forbidden . . .". The U previous battles" were the defeats of the Helvetii and of Ariovistus in Caesar's first campaign, described in Book I. quid fieri oporteret: indirect question depending on praescribere; "being trained . . . they could dictate for themselves what ought to be done just as well as (lit. •no less conveniently than') they could be instructed by others". singulos legatos: the duties of Caesar's legati are described on pages 28"-9. On this occasion, as he often did in a crisis he had put each one in command of a legion and "had orde:ed each one not to leave the work (of entrenching the camp) and his own legion until (lit. 'except when ') the camp was fortified"; nisi is here used adverbially with an ablative absolute, as also in 32, I, nisi armis trad~·tis, II except when the arms had been given up".
4. hi are the legati, and nihil is adve1'bial accusative, lit. II in respect of nothing ", which here is stronger than non and with iam means U no longer indeed". per se: lion their own initiative". quae videbantur is "what seemed (necessary) ", with ea understood as the antecedent and object of admim'strabant; videor often has this meaning. 21
I. necessBriis rebus imperatis: II ~fter giving the necessary orders", mentioned in 20, 1. impero is transitive when a thing is ordered, but requires a dative when orders are given to a person. ad cohortandos milites: II to encourage the troops"; a general's exhortation to his men to fight bravely was given whenever possible, even in a crisis like this, when only· a few words could be spoken. quam in parter", = in eam partern in quam; I I to whatever quarter chance directed him ", lit. u to that part to which ... ". The 10th Legion had been Caesar's favourite legion since he took over the command in Gaul in 58 B.C., and remained so to the end. 2. non longiore ••• quam uti: .. in a speech just long enough to urge them to remember ... ", lit. "in a speech no longer than that they should ... ". neve is used for et ne in an indirect command; "and that they should not", and animo is ablative of respect. Another uti (= ut) must be understood with sustinerent; we should say .. but" instead of I I and" for -que; "but that they should withstand ... ". 3. The causal clause quod . .. aberant is the reason for signum dedit and is not part of what Caesar said to his men, which would require the subjunctive. non longius . . . posset is "no further away than (the distance that) a spear could be hurled", lit. "than whither a spear ... "; the subjunctive is consecutive or generic, implying" at such a distance that ... "; see the last note on 17, 4 for a different kind of consecutive clause. A Roman pi/urn could be thrown up to about forty yards and the lighter Gallic spears proportionately further. proeli committendi signum: a gerund or gerundive depending on a nOUn is always genitive in Latin, though we say I< the signal for joining battle". 4. in alteram partem: Clin the other direction", i.e. to the right of the Roman position, for we sec from 22, 1 that the 9th and loth Legions were on the left. pugnantibus occurrit is "he found (lit. 'met ') his men already fighting". s. tanta: must here be translated as "such" (" so great" would be nonsense), and tam paratus ad dimjcandw-n is "so ready for fighting". ad insignia accommodanda: "for fitting their
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badges (on to their helmets)", probably crests of coloured plumes, different for each legion, that were fitted on to the helmets just before battle; the heavy iron helmets were carried slung over one shoulder except in action. The men had no time even to put their helmets on or "to remove the covers from their shields", which were made of wood bound with leather and strengthened with metal, and kept in removable leather cases to prevent the wood from warping and the metal from rusting in bad weather. seuris is ablative of separation; when a person, not a thing or a place, is concerned, the dative of disadvantage is used with a verb of taking away, as in 7, 2, hostibus, and in 25, 2, militi. tempus defuerit: we might expect the imperfect deesset for a continuous result instead of the perfect which usually expresses a momentary action; but perhaps it means II there was no time at all" instead of "time was lacking". 6. quam quisque ••• constitit: U to whatever point each man chanced to come from the work (of fortifying the camp) and whatever standards he first saw, beside (ad) these he took his stand" ; quam in partenJ = ill eam partern in quam, and quaeque = et quae. The standards of the maniples and especially of the legions were the rallying-points of the army, and each man would normally fight beside his own manipular signum, so that signis must be understood with in quaerendis suis, II in looking for his own standard". The manipulus or double century was no longer a tactical unit but still had its own signum. tempus pug"andi is "time for fighting" .
nor could it be foreseen what was needed in each part (of the battle) nor could all the orders be given out by one man"; there is a slightly different use of opus est in 8, S (note). Caesar's view was impeded by the various lines of hedges so that he could not station reserves in strategic places or direct the battle in the usual way. 2. in tanta rerum difficultate = in rebus tam difficilibus, "in such a difficult situation". fortunae; genitive; "various vicissitudes of fortune also ... ".
magis ut ••• postulabat: U more as ... than as military tactics and order demanded"; deiectus is a noun with the genitive collis depending on it. ratio atque ordo occurred in 19, 1 with a different meaning and again with a singular verb. cum, is U since" and diversis legionibus is a causal ablative absolute; we might combine them into one clause and say, U since the legions were separated and some were resisting in one place, others in another (lit. 'others in another place '), and the line of sight was interrupted by the very thick hedges that had been planted as a barrier"; ante, in 17, 4. Since aUae refers to legionibus we might expect to find diversae legiones in the nominative case, divided into U some . . . others". The main sentence starts at neque certa, with poterant as the verb for certa subsidia and omnia imperia, and poterat (understood from porerant) as the verb for the quid . . . opus esset indirect question; U no fixed reserves could be placed
••
'3 ut ..• constiterant: U in the order in which (lit. 'as ') they had taken up their position", i.e. they now advanced in the same formation in which they -had been fighting; acie may be an old form of the genitive aciei, or local ablative "in line of battle u. The Atrebates had charged straight up the hill and were now out of breath and wearied by running (lit. by running and weariness "). his refers to the 9th and loth Legions, and ea pars to the Atrebates; "that section of the enemy". conantes agrees with eos understood, and impeditam means "while in difficulties"; the river was only three feet deep (18, 3), but very wide and with very high banks (27, 5). 2. ipal are the Romans, and non dubitaveYUnt is "did not hesitate". in locum iniquum: "up the slope", or "on to . unfavourable ground". resistentes hostes is accusative. 3. diversae: to detached",. as in 22, I. congressi is masculine to agree with milires understood, though legiones is the grammatical subject. ex loco superiore goes with projUgatis; the Virimandui also were driven down the hill. it, ipst"s rip-is, II on the very banks", probably on both sides of the river. 4. totis ••• nudatis: II since almost the whole camp was open to attack in front and on the left", another instance of a (or ex) meaning" on", as in 8, 2 and 18, 2. cum is "although", and non magno imervallo "at no great distance", ablative of measure of difference. The pursuit of the enemy by the 8th and I nh Legions, which were guarding the front of the camp, and by the 9th and loth, which were guarding the left, meant that only the right of the camp was being defended, by the 7th and 12th Legions. conCerti.simo agmine: "in mass formation", or "in close array", ablative of manner. duce Boduognato is ablative absolute, "under the leadership of Boduagnatus", lit. "Boduagnatus (being) leader". ad eum locum, i.e. the front and left side of the camp.
98
99
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•
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5- quorum pars: fC some of them". aperto latcre is local ablative without in, "on the exposed flank") the right flank, which was unprotected by shields and in the case of the 7th and 12th Legions (called here simply legiones) had no troops on their right to defend their open flank. summum ••• locum: "the high ground where the camp was placed"; some of the Nervii attacked the undefended front and left of the camp, others tried to outflank the 7th and 12th Legions by going round the extreme right of the Roman line. The much higher ground -of Neuf-Mesnil was a short distance to the north of the camp (26, 4).
24
is probably "to serve as auxiliary troops" J known as aUX1'/ia, but lit. is " for the sake of help". Notice ab civitate, ablative of the agent (equivalent to a civjbus), but multitudine, ablative of the instrument. The verb for cum is vidissent. pre~i: U hard pressed". iegiones were the 7th and 12th (23, 4~5), and circumventas teneri is "surrounded and held fast". Numidas refers to the auxiliary archers (7, I; 10, I). diversos dissi.. patosque: U scattered in different directions"; we omit the ~que in English. desperatis nostris rebus: "despairing of our fortunes" . s. pulsos superatosque: supply esse for indirect statement depending on renumiaverunt; also with potitos, which governs the two ablatives.
levis armBturBe pedites: "the light·armed infantry", lit. U infantry of light armament" ; for these non-Roman auxiliaries, see page 35. una is an adverb. dixeram, in 19, 4-7; we should say "who, as I have said, were driven back". Caesar the historian generally used the first person plural, as in 18, 2, rarely the first person singular, and always speaks of himself as the general in the third person singular; the first person plural perfect and pluperfect appear in the same sentence in I, I. Bdversis: "face to face", because some of the Nervii had already reached the Roman camp by outflanking the legions on the Roman right and now turned to face the auxiliaries who were retreating into it after crossing the river again in their flight. jugam petebant is "tried to flee", or "took to flight". 2. calones were officers' servants, grooms, and other noncombatant camp-followers, probably all slaves. decumana porta was the rear gate of the camp, for which see page 36; we should omit the ac in translation, for it explains that the rear gate was on the summit of the hill, the camp being placed on a slight downward slope, with the rear gate at its highest point, nostros victores transisse: "that our men were victorious and had crossed ... ", in 23, 2~3. praecipites ••• mandabant: "began to flee headlong", lit. co headlong gave themselves to flight". 3. eorum qui ••• veniebant: i.e. the drivers of the baggagetrain, which was guarded by the 13th and 14th Legions (19, 3); these men now" rushed (ferebantur) panic-stricken, some in one direction, others in another"; see the similar phrase in 22, I. 4. equites Treveri = equites Treverorum; Treveri is really in apposition to eqw'tes, virtutis opinio: II reputation for valour", as in 8, I, where it refers to the Suessiones. The antecedent of quorum is Treveri, not merely equites, au,.,/i causa
Most of this chapter is taken up by a long and involved sentence in which the verb of ubi (" where ") is vidit (after impedimento), repeated (without et) for the sake of clarity lower down, after angusto. The two main verbs are processit and iussit. The repeated vidit has nine verbs in the infinitive (indirect statement) depending upon it, and there are six ablatives absolute, two deponent past paniciples, a consecutive clause, a causal clause, and a purpose clause. The sentence can be split up by omitting ubi and taking the two vid;t verbs as main verbs, and the ablatives absolute either as main verbs or depending on the second vidit. Caesar now returns to describe his own actions in the battle, after digressing to describe the course of events elsewhere, after occurrit in 21, 4. ab ••• cohortatione: we should say" after encouraging the loth Legion". urgeri is "were being hard pressed". signis ••• collatis, ablative absolute; "the soldiers ... packed together (con/ertos) with the standards collected in one place". sibi ••• impedimento: predicative dative; "were hindering one another in fighting", lit. "were themselves as a hindrance to themselves to the fight", The legionary standard of this legion, and the thiny manipular standards, were massed together with the soldiers tightly packed around them, instead of being deployed at the usual intervals so that each man should have room to fight properly. The signum of the first of the three maniples in a cohort was probably also the standard of the cohort itself. omnibus centurionibus: there were six centurions in each cohon and sixty to each legion; the loss of a standard was considered a terrible disgrace, as it was in all armies until the colours were no longer carried into battle. In the British Army
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25 I.
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the last campaign in which the colours were taken into action was in 1881 in the First Boer War. In this battle ,with the Nervii the standard was recovered when the Romans eventually won the day. The fourth cohort occupied the extreme left of the front line of the 12th Legion, one of the two legions on the right flank, and was therefore exposed to the full weight of the enemy attack on the camp, since the 8th Legion on its left had charged down to the river in pursuit of the enemy who had attacked it shortly before this (23, 3). in his: U among them". For the duties of a primipilus, the Senior Centurion who commanded the first century in the first cohort and the first cohort as well (on this occasion a legatus was in command of each legion; 20, 3), see page 30. Sextius Bacu1us recovered from his U many severe wounds" (the ~que is necessary in Latin but is omitted in English between two adjectives) and served with distinction at the defence of Octodurus when the 12th Legion was attacked by the Gauls in the winter of this same year (III, 5, 2), and again with great gallantry at the defence of the camp at Aduatuca in 53 B.C. (VI, 38), when he left his sick bed at a critical moment to repel a German attack, receiving many wounds in this action also. ut = ita ut, "with the result that", and se sustinere is U to stand up". The infinitives that follow all depend on mdit. esse tardiores is "were becoming tired", lit. "were slower". nOD nullos is sometimes written as one word nonnullos, U some"; with a novissimis it means U some of those in the rear"; this meaning of novissimis and of ab both occur in II,4; so also a/ronte is "in front" and ab utroque latere lion each flank". deserto proelio is ablative absolute, and excedere is "were retreating". hostes neque •.• et ••• : "and that the enemy did not stop advancing from ... and ... ". rem esse in angusto: U that the situation was critical", lit. II in a narrow (place)". quod • . • posset: subjunctive in a relative clause in oratio obliqua, but it would be subjunctive also in direct speech because it is a consecutive or generic clause, U such as could be sent up", but we can say simply II which could be sent up". 2. The main sentence starts here, after the ubi~clauses, the ablative absolutes, and the indirect statements depending on the repeated vidit. uni militi is dative of disadvantage used after a verb of taking away (like hostibus in 7, 2), and ab novissimis is like the same phrase a few lines higher up j "snatching up a shield from one of the soldiers in the rear ranks". quod is U because", and eo is an adverb; the Commander-in-Chief would not normally carry a shield, as he would not expect to go into
action himself at close quarters j officers and centurions also did not carry shields as a rule, though they were in the thick of the fighting. Dominatlm: Caesar evidently knew the names of most, if not all, of the centurions in his army, which no doubt accounted in part for their loyalty to him. laxsre: because the troops had become too closely packed together, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The object of iussit is eos, the standard-bearers and centurions. signa in/erre is a phrase often used for "to advance", because wherever the standard~bearers took the standards the soldiers were bound to follow. quo fscilius: quo is always used instead of ut when the purpose clause contains a comparative adjective or adverb, as in 17,4. 3. cui us ••• animo: .. on his arrival hope was given to ... and their courage renewed". cum pro se quisque: "since each man individually", lit. "each for himself". etiam ••• rebus: "even in his own very great peril u. Beware of confusine: operam with opus.
26 iuxta constiterat: .. had taken up a posIUon close by", to the right of the 12th Legion, on the extreme right of the line. tribunos ••. inferrent: "commanded the military tribunes (to give orders) that the (two) legions should close up (lit. 'join themselves together ') and should wheel round and face the enemy") lit. "should advance the turned round standards against ... ". This means that the rear rank wheeled round to oppose the enemy who were attacking from the rear, and probably that the flank cohorts turned right and left respectively to ward off attacks from each side; the same phrase is used in I, 25, 7, in the battle against the Helvetii in 58 B.C., but on that occasion only the front and rear of the Roman line were involved, not the flanks. For the military tribunes, sec page 29; they would not be experienced enough in warfare to be able to handle troops on their own initiative in such a crisis and were merely relaying Caesar's orders to the centurions, but we may wonder where the legati in charge of these two legions were at this moment. 2. quo facto: "whereupon", lit. "which having been,done". alius alii is II one man ... to another". aversi, " with their backs turned", i.e. in the rear. 3. quae ••• fuerant: .. which had formed the baggage-guard (predicative dative) at the rear of the column)l, as mentioned in 19, 3; these were the newly~raised legions, the 13th and I4th. proelio ••• incitato: .. having quickened their pace on hearing
102
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news of the battle". in summo colle: i.e. the hill of NeufMesnil, a little to the north of, and behind, the Roman camp; when they reached the crest of this hill they could be seen by the enemy. 4. castris hostium: on the other side of the river, on the top of the rising ground behind the wood in which the Nervii first concealed themselves (18, 2-3). We now learn that Labienus was in command of the loth Legion, which together with the 9th had crossed the river and pursued the Atrehates up the hill (23,2). quae res gererentur, "what was happening", is an indirect question, and subsidio nostris, "to help Qur men", dative of purpose. s. qui are "the men of the loth Legion", with an antecedent
with the definite statement in 28, 2, omnium qui supererant, Clof all those who (actually) survived"; we cannot distinguish them in English. ut ex tumulo: U as though from a hill". pila intercepta remitterent = interciperent et remitterent; the subjunctives still depend on the ut after praestiterunt. The Roman pi/um had a head of soft iron that bent when it struck a hard object like a shield so that it could not be pulled out and liung back; but the Nervii apparently caught the pi/a in Bight and hurled them back at the Romans. S. ut = ita ut in a consecutive clause; "so that it ought not to be thought (iudicari) that men of such great courage (genitive of quality or description) had without good ,eason (nequiquam, i.e. without good hopes of success) dared to cross . . . and to advance over very unfavourable ground", i.e. up the steep slope to the Roman camp. quae ••• redegerat: "(all) these (tasks) their great courage (lit. 'greatness of spirit ') had made easy instead of being (ex) very difficult", Caesar more than once praises the courage of the Gauls, but never in such generous terms as these. In the words of Wellington about Waterloo, this battle was H a damned nice thing, the closest run thing that ever you saw in your life", which might easily have ended Caesar's career and his life too.
taken from decimam legionem. The flight of the cavalry and the camp-followers is described in 24, 1-2. quo ••• esset: "the state of the battle", lit. "in what a position the matter was". 'Utrsaretur is singular with imperalOr, but refers also to castra and iegiones; "were placed". nihil • 0 • fecerunt: U made all possible speed", lit. "made nothing left undone (partitive genitive) for themselves with regard to speed".
Z7 horum adventu: "on the arrival of these men", temporal and instrumental ablative. rerum, "in the situation", For nostri, etiam qui we should say" even those of our men who had fallen . . ."; procubuissent is a consecutive or generic relative clause (like quo . .. posset in 17, 4), meaning "such men as had fallen". etiam... occurrerunt: "even though unarmed, went to meet the armed foe". 2. quo • 0 • praeferrent: U in order that they might show themselves superior to the soldiers of the legions"; quo is used in this purpose clause instead of ut because there is a comparative adjective implied in se praeferrent (see the last note on 2S, 2). 3. etiam ••• salutis! "even when all hope of safety was lost", lit. U in the last hope . . .". primi eorum is U their front ranks". proximi •• insisterent: '~those who were next to them took their stand upon them as they lay dead". For ex corporibus we might say "while standing on their bodies", rather than "from" or "on", 4. his refers to the proximi; "when these had been ,struck down and the corpses piled up in heaps". qui superessent is another consecutive or generic clause, as in § I; "such as survived", i.e. .. the survivors" J an indefinite statement, compared Io
0
4
10
z8
(acto: "fought". prope .. , redacto, "when the nation and name (i.e. perhaps 'the power') .. , had been reduced to almost utter destruction"; this was obviously an exaggeration, perhaps made intentionally by the Nervian envoys to rouse Caesar's pity, because in S4 B.C, they had recovered enough strength to make a dangerous attack on Cicero's winter camp, which was eventually, repelled with great losses (y, 38-51); they rebelled and surrendered again in S3 B.C. (VI, 2-3), and they sent a contingent of 5,000 men to help Vercingetorix in the final revolt of 52 B.C. (VII, 75, 3). maiores natu ••• puecis: U the older men . . . the children JJ, as in 13, 2-3. una is an adverb again. collectos (esse) dixeramus, in 16, 4; the pluperfect is also used in I, I, and 24, I. aestuaria suggests that the non-combatants were sent away for safety (collectos) to the creeks and matshes of the estuaty of the Scaldis (Scheidt). victoribus nihil impeditum: "that nothing (was) too hard for the victors". For the indicative omnium qui supererant (on which consensu depends), see the note on qui superessent in I.
27,4· 105
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NOTES
2. ex sescentis • . • redactol esse: II that they had been reduced from 600 senators to three. . .... flix goes with quingencos,
4. The invasions of the Cimbri and Teutoni are mentioned in the note on 4, 2. provincia nostra means Transalpine or Narbonese Gaul, still called Provence, which was made into a province in lIB B.C. Italiam means northern Italy, at that time Caesar's province of Cisalpine Gaul, as in 35, 2. eis ••• depositis: "leaving behind the (cattle and) baggage"; the verbs agere ac portare (U drive and carry") show that part of their impedimenta consisted of cattle. We do not translate eis in a relative clause like this. citra is the western or Gallic bank, which was nearer to Rome, as in 3, 4. ex suis depends on sex milia homi1zum, and custodiam ac praesidium are in apposition, U as a guard and a garrison"; the guard was perhaps for the cattle and the garrison to defend the baggage and the place itself. una is an adverb, "with it", i.e. with the baggage. s. hi: the 6,000 who were left behind, and post eorum obitum, U after the destruction of the others J1, refers to the annihilation of the main body of Cimbri and Teutoni by Marius' at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae in 102 and 101 B.C. multos annos: accusative of duration of time. alias . . . alias are adverbs, and inlatum agrees with bellum understood; U sometimes made war, sometimes defended themselves against war made (on them by others)". eorum omnium: i.e. of all their Gallic neighbours. domicilio, dative of purpose; II as a home".
and qui ..• possent is another consecutive or generic subjunctive, II such as could .. ,", as well as being in oralio obligua. 3. ut ••• usus (esse) •.• videretur: "so that he should be seen to have shown mercy towards pitiful suppliants"; we omit the et in translation. Caesar often behaved with the most callous brutality towards a conquered foe (especially after a rebellion;
see page 25), and perhaps he later regretted his
clemency on this occasion when the Nervii thrice took up arms against him, as mentioned in the note on § I. conservavit: "protected them from harm tJ • uti is II to keep", or II to go on using". ut ••• prohiberent: "to restrain themselves and their dependents from (doing) outrage and injury (to the surviving Nervii) ".
29 supra: in 16, 3, when they were said to be on the march to help the Nervii; they had promised 19,000 men in 4, 9. cum, Ie although". auxilio is dative of purpose, and ex itinere "while still on the march" or II without halting", a different meaning from that in 6, I and 12, 2. z. sua omnia: "all their possessions". natura is "by its natural position". The site of this town was probably Mont Falhize, on the north bank of the Meuse, opposite Huy and nineteen miles west of Namur; the river flowed round it in a horse-shoe curve that allowed the town to be approached only from the north-east, where it was strongly fortified. 3. quod cum ••• haberet: "although this town was built on very steep rocks and commanded views on every side round about", lit. II in a circle". Notice again this common use of ex or ab to mean "on" or "in", for which see the note on II,4; so also una ex parte is "on one side", the north-east. The subject of relinquebatur is aditus, "a gently sloping approach of not more than 200 feet in breadth"; see the note on amplius without quam in 7, 3; it is here used as an adverb, and ductntorum pedum is genitive of description depending on aditus. duplici ••• muro: "with a double wall of great height"; the et or -que that usually connects two adjectives (as in 25, 2, multis gravibusque vulneribus) can be omitted if one of them is an adjective of place, size, or number. tum is co (and) at that time"; they were still engaged in placing stones of great weight (genitive of description or quality) and pointed beams upon the wall to repel an attack. I.
106
3" adventu: ablative of point of time; "on_ the arrival", depending on the genitive exercitus nostri. parvulis proeliis, U in skirmishes J1, local ablative without t·n, like oppido in the next section. vallo ••• circummuniti: "being hemmed in by a rampart 15,000 feet in length", lit. "circumference", i.e. just under three English miles. The rampart did not blockade the town entirely but only on the north-east, where it shut in the horseshoe bend of the Meuse from one part of the river to the other. quindecim milium is genitive of description or quality, with pedum depending on it; Caesar generally expresses long distances in passus, not pedes. sese continebant: "they remained". 3. For vineae, agger, and turris, see page 39. This agger was the "siege-mound" used for-blockading a town, not the "loose earth" of 12, 5; a siege-mound was a very elaborate structure of timber and earth that was gradually built nearer and nearer to the walls until the attackers could make the final assault from it. cO'nstitui is present infinitive passive, U was being erected". I.
7
10
NOTES The turris was at first a long way off, but it would gradually be pushed forward on rollers to protect the men working on the agger as it too drew near the walls; the defenders did not know this, and at first laughed at the Roman's efforts. irridere and increpitare: these arc historic infinites used in repeated or vivid descriptions; "began to laugh at our men . . .". fJocibus, in Celtic, but the Gallic auxiliaries in the Roman army would translate the taunts to the Roman soldiers. quod ... instrueretur is subjunctive because it gives the reason in the minds of the Aduatuci; "at the idea of such a great engine being raised at so great a distance IJ; ab is used in 7,3 in this sense of" at a distance of" .. 4- quibusnam ••• confiderent: a question in oratio obliqua, depending on rogaverunt understood; It with what hands indeed (the suffix nam is here sarcastic) . . . did men, especially of 60 small stature ... believe that they could ... ? n; tantulae staturae and tanti oneris are genitive of description or quality. The Aduatuci perhaps thought that the Romans hoped to lift up and place the tower on the wall. est in the parenthesis shows that this is a note added for the reader by Caesar as historian. In I, 39, I we read that the Germans, from whom the Aduatuci were descended, were reported to be men of such great stature that there was a panic in the Roman army. bretJitas nostra = brevitas nostrorum, and Gallis, which is a noun, is really in apposition to hominibus, but we say simply II to the Gauls". It seems from this statement that the, Gauls generally, not only the Germans, were very tall, unlike our modern idea of small dark Celts. contemptui est: predicative dative; Ie as an object of scorn to the Gauls". For the reading of the Oxford Text, which omits posse, see the Preface. 31 I. The subject of moveri (passive with intransitive meaning) is turrim understood. locuti is either locuti sunt, followed by the indirect statement down to possent, in which case dixerunt governs se ... permittere; or it is a participle, with dixerunt governing both indirect statements; "who, speaking as follows (ad hunc modum), said that ... ". 2. non existimare: supply se as the s1:lbject, and note the emphatic position of non, which is to be taken with sine ope divina i U they thought that it was not without divine aid that the Romans ... ". qui ••• possent: <'because they were able to ...", 3 causal relative clause, which would be subjunctive in direct speech also. The se in se suaque omnia is the object of permitter, 108
NOTES CI to surrender "), for which another se must be understood as the subject; it is omitted, as in 3, 2, perhaps to avoid the repetition of the same word. From here to the end of the chapter is all in oratio obliqua depending on dixerunt, with se again understood as the subject of perere ac deprecari; "(they said that) they requested and begged (him not to do) one thing only", which is explained by the indirect petition ne ... despoIiaret, U that he should not deprive them of their arms" (ablative of separation). sua refers to Caesar, ips; and se to the Aduatuci. Their own words were si forte pro C'in accordance with") tua ..• , quam nos ipsi ... audimus, statueris (fumre perfect, lit. uif you shall have decided", i.e. "if you decide") . . . , ne nos armis despoliaf)eris (or noli despoliare). si statuisset is translated CI if he decided", or "if he should decide that the Aduatuci should be spared". 4. sibi ••• inimicos: "were hostile to them"; see 29, 4~5. se non posse could have been used instead of 1I0n possent, because the relative clause is really a new sentence after a semi-colon; "they could not defend themselves against those people if they gave up . . .", the ablative absolute being equivalent to a conditional clause. 6. praestare: impersonal; "it was better for them", or perhaps" it would be better", because Latin often uses the present indicative in such impersonal phrases (e.g. longum est, "it would be tedious") instead of a present subjunctive, which would become future infinitive in oratio obliqua. si ••• deducerentur: "if they were to be brought to such an extremity", i.e. that they had to choose between punishment inflicted by the Romans and vengeance inflicted by their neighbours. quamvis is an adjective, " ll::''j", from quivis, an d for a populo Romano after pati we should say "at the hands of . . .". quam, U than", can be used because praestare implies a comparative adjective. consuessent: shortened form of consuetJissent, from consuesco.
32 I. respondit: Caesar's reply, in oratio obliqua, goes down to injerrent in § 2. magis ••• eorum: "more according to his usual custom (i.e. of sparing enemies who surrendered) than because of their own deserts"; in Caesar's eyes they deserved little mercy, because they had intended to help the Nervil. attigisset and dedidistent: represent the future perfect of direct speech, like statuisset in 31, 3; I I if they surrendered (or I should surrender ') before the battering-ram touched . . .", his own
109
NOTES
NOTES
words were civitatem conservabo (which becomes se consttrvaturum esse), si 'liDS dederitis prius quam aries tetigerit. deditionis ••• traditis: II no terms ... were (possible) except after their arms had been given up"-; nisi is used as an adverb with an ablative absolute, as in 20, 3. z. id quod ••• fecisset: U what he had done in the case of the Nervii IJ J in 28, 3. ne _••• inferrent: "not to do any (quam) harm to those who had surrendered to the ... ") or II to the surrendered subjects of ... ". quis and qui are ,regularly used after ne (and si) to mean" anyone" and II any". 3. The subject of dixerunt is legati, and ofJacere is se understood; the present infinitive means U that they were already doing", or perhaps" that they were ready to do". quae = ea quae, lit. U those things which", i.e. "what", with the verb subjunctive in orat~'o obliqua. 4. sic ut: "with the result that". summam altt'tudt'nem is "the very top". aggeris: Caesar's siege-mound (30, 3), which by now must have been brought up to the edge of or perhaps even into the 200 foot wide ditch that defended the town in front of the double wall (29, 3). parte. . . retenta is an ablative absolute parallel to magna multt'tudinc . . . iaeta, but portis pate/aetis describes what happened a little later. ut is "as". pace usi sunt: "they kept quiet", or "remained at peace". 33 lub vesperum: "towards evening". For ne quam iniuriam see the note on 32, 2. This sentence shows that even Roman discipline could not keep troops under strict control in a surrendered town at night. Uti... quod: "the townsfolk, having previously formed a plan, as was (later) realised, because . . . ", praesidia . . . servaturos (esse) is "would withdraw their outposts (i.e. from the wall and the 'Val/um mentioned in 30, 2) or at least would guard them less carefully". It may be better to make ;nito consilio into a main verb and to start another sentence at partim. Notice the position of armis after the relative clause. We might translate cum C'with") as "taking up the weapons which ... ". cum must be taken again with scutis; "others taking up shields made from bark or plaited osiers, which they had hurriedly ... , as the shortness ... "; ex governs t)iminibus intextis as well as eoru'ce, and the antecedent of quae is scutis. tertia vigilia: "at the third watch" (ablative of point of time), i.e. soon after midnight, for the night was divided into four" watches n
of equal length, varying with the time of year. qua • . • videbatur: "at a place where the ascent, .. seemed least steep" ; this clause should be taken after the main verb fecerunt. nostras munitiones were the three-mile-long fJallum of 30, 2 that enclosed the town within a loop of the river and was evidently built on rising ground, as his sentence shows, and also iniquo loco in § 4. omnibus copiis: ablative of accompaniment, as in 7, 3. 3. imperarat: imperaverat, and ut is again" as IJ. ignibus ... facta, "when the signal was given by means of flares") probably from the crebra castella on the vallttm. eo concursum est: impersonal passive;
IIO
III
I.
NOTES
NOTES
the number of persons (capitum) was reported to him to be 53,000", lit. U(to be the number) of 53,000"; milium quinquaginta trium also depends on numerus. This figure is probably accurate, because Caesar would have a detailed account from the slavedealers when they paid him the purchase-money, which was one of the chief sources of wealth for a victorious general; the soldiers would no doubt get a share of the proceeds, or sometimes a slave each as personal servants or to sell. Some of the Aduatuci escaped enslavement and revolted again in 54 B.C. (V, 38-9) and also in 53 B.C. (VI, 2).
as though the subject of poLHcerentur were nationes, not the /egau" who spoke for the nationes. 2. quas: we say "these", not "which", at the beginning of a sentence. Italiam II/yricumque were the two provinces under Caesar's command beside Transalpine Gaul, "Italy" being used for Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy south of the Alps), and Illyricum being the country on the northern shores of the Adriatic. As they were peaceful, Caesar visited them only in the winter months to hold the assizes and transact other business; a provincial governor was not allowed to enter Italy proper during his term of office (normally a year, but in Caesar's case two consecutive periods of five years). inita proxima aestate: "at the beginning of the following summer", as in 2, I (note), i.e. 56 B.C. 3. in Carnutes ••• Turones: "into the territory of . . . ", to be taken with legiom'bus ... deductis, but after in hibernacula we say U into whiter-quarters in the territory of . . .". quaeque... erant = et in eas civitates quae propinquae . . . erant. 4. ob: -que can be attached to a monosyllabic preposition (obque eas res), or to the next word, as here, and in II, 6. ex litteris is "on receipt of Caesar's dispatches". dierum quin.. dec:im supplicatio: for the reading of the Oxford Text, see the Preface; "a public thanksgiving lasting fifteen days OJ, lit. "of fifteen days", genitive of description. The Senate could order such a thanksgiving for a victory, usually for three or four days, though Pompey had been granted one of twelve days after his victories in Asia Minor in 63 B.C. Caesar received a supplicatio of twenty days after his first invasion of Britain in 55 B.C. (IV, 38, 5) and again after his great victory over Vercingetoris in 52 B.C. (VII, 90, 8). quod ••• Rulli: U an honour that had fallen to no one ... "; the position of "I'lulli is emphatic, like that of nemo in 33, 6. The antecedent of quod is the whole sentence dierum ... decreta est.
II
34 legione una: the 7th, as we read in III, 7, 2. Publius Crassus was the younger son of the rich Marcus Crassus, who was a member of the Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey in 60 B.C. Publius was one of Caesar's most trusted officers; he commanded the cavalry in the battle against Ariovistus in 58 B.C., where he saved the day by attacking at a critical moment (I, 52, 7). quae: the antecedent is the masculines tribes just named, but the relative pronoun is "attracted JJ into the gender of civitates; "which are maritime tribes" of Brittany. maritimae would suggest the Mediterranean to Roman readers, so Oceanum attingunt is perhaps added for clarity, in deditionem • • • redactas: "had been forced to surrender and to accept the power of . . ."; their submission was brief, for in the next year (56 B.C.) they revolted, and the Veneti, the ring-leaders, were punished with terrible severity (III, 7-16). I.
3S omni Gallia: i.e. all parts that had so far resisted Caesar's advancf;:; the conquest was short-lived, for revolts broke out again almost at once. tanta opinio: U so impressive a report"; the barbari were presumably the Gauls who had not yet been approached by Caesar, and neighbouring peoples like the Germans and perhaps even the Britons, though only the German tribes sent envoys to Caesar. uti = ut. quae ••• incolerent: the subjunctive is apparently due to "attraction", i.e. a verb depending on a SUbjunctive clause (here consecutive) is sometimes drawn into the same mood; see the note on viderentur in II, 5. qui ••• pollic:erentur: a relative clause of purpose, "to promise". daturas and jacturas (esse) are feminine in agreement with se, I.
Il2
II3
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY
Diphthongs are always long, and a11long vowels are marked. All other vowels can be assumed to be short, except that the quantity of some Gallic names is uncertain. Second declension nouns ending in -ius and -ium have the contracted genitive singular in Caesar, e.g. fili, imperi.
A ii, ab, prep. with abl., by, fTom~' ab Jateribus, on theflanks~'
ABBREVIATIONS
hide, conceal. . absum, abesse, afut, z'ntr., be d,stam.
act. abl.
active ablative ace. accusative adjective adj. adv. adverb common c. comp. comparative con). conjunction dat. dative defect. defective dep. deponent feminine f· gen. genitive impers. impersonal inded. indeclinable indef. indefinite infin. infinitive I, 2,
interrog. interrogative intr. intransitive masculine m. neuter n. part. participle pass. passive pl. plural prep. preposition pres. present p.p.p. past participle passive pron. pronoun reflex. reflexive relative rei. semi-dep. semi-deponent sing. singular superl. superlative tr. transitive
3, or 4 after a verb means that it is a regular verb like
amo, moneo, rego, 'or audio, unless the perfect and supine are given.
ab utroque latere, on bothfianks (8); ii fronte, in front (23); ab mllibus duobus, at a distance of two miles (7). abdo, 3, -didl, -ditum, tr.,
Be, conj., and, and indeed,' aUus ae, different from, aliter ae, otherwise than.
. Bccedo, 3, -cessi, -cessum, mtr" approach, draw neaT; be added, be inspired in (7). accido, 3, -cidl, intT., happen; be given to (35). . accipi~, 3, -cepi, -eeptum, mtr., recelve, accept. acclivis, -e, steep, sloping upwards. acclivitas, -atis, j., ascent, slope. accommodo, I, tr., fit on, put on. acervus, -i, m., heap, pile. aCies, aciel, j., gen. also acie (23), line of ballic.
acriter,
acrius,
acerrime,
adv. of acer, fiercely, ad, prep. with ace., to, towards, against, up to, for, near, beside, with regard to, at; as adverb with numerals, about
(33)· adaequo, I, tr., reach, equal. addiico, 3, tr., lead, bring to. adeo, Rire, Ril, -itum, tr., go to, approach.
adfero, -ferre, -tull, -latum, cr., bring (to).
Iq
lIS
adfinitas, Matis, t., relationship by marriage. adigo, 3, -egJ, -actum, tr., throw, hurl. aditus, -us, m., access, approach. adiuvo, I, -invl, -Hitum, tr., help. administro, I, tr., execute, perform, give (orders). adorior, 4, -ortus, dep. tr., attack. Aduatuci, -erum, m. pl., the Aduatuci, a Belgic tribe of German origin, living on the north bank of the Sabi. (Sambre). ~dveDtus, -fis, m., approach, amval. adversus, -a, -urn, facing, opposite, face to jace, in front; adverso coile, uphill (19). aedificium, -I, n., building. Aeduus, -8, -urn, Aeduan; Aedul, -arum, m. pl., the Aedui, a powerful tribe of central Gaul living between the Arar (SaOne) and the Liger (Loire), allied with Rome. aegre, adv., with difficulty. aequiliter, adv., evenly, um'fo,.mly. aestis, MatiS, f., summer. aestuarium, i, m., creek, in~ let, estuary. aetas, -atis, j., age. a~er, agrl, m., land, country, cerr'tory. agger, aggeris, m., loose earth, rubble (12, 20); siege-mound (30). aggredior, 3, -gressus, dep. tr., actack.
VOCABULARY agmen, agmlnlS, n., column
0/ march,
body of troops, army. ago, 3, egl, iictum, fr., do; bring up (Il); drive (29). alias, ad'fJ., at another time~' alias ... aWi5, at one time . .. at
another. alienus, ·8, -urn, belonging to another.
alius, alia, aliud, other, an-
other; alius alia in parte, some in one place, others in another (22); alius, alii, to one another (26); adf), aliter, otherwise, differently alter, -era, -erum, one of two, the other of two,' another. altitudi), -tudinis, j., height, depth. altus, -a, -urn, high, deep. Ambiini, -arum, m. pl., the Ambiani, a Gallic tribe living on
both sides of the Samara (Somme) in Normandy. Bblicitia, -ae, j., friendship. amitto, 3, amIsl, amissum IT., lose. amplifieD, I, tr., increase, enlarge. amplius, compo adv., more,
more than. Andecumborius, -I,
m.,
Andecumborius, a leader of the Remi. Andes, -iurn, m. pl., the Andes, a Gallic tribe living north of the Liger (Loire) in Brittany. aogustus, -a, -urn, narrow, difficult; n. as noun, angustum, a critical position (25). animus, -I, m., mind, purpose, courage, spirit; pl., spirits. aonus, -1, year. ante, prep. with ace., before, in/ront 0/; as adv., before. aotiquitus, adv., long ago, in ancient time~.
m.,
VOCABULARY
apertul, -a, -UIn, open, exposed, bare, treeless; (p.p.p. of aperiO, open). appello, I, tr., call, call upon. appropinquo, I, intT., with dat. or adv, approach. apud, prep. with ace., at, among, near. arbitror, I, dep. fr., think. arbor, arboris, ,., tTee. arcesso, 3, -lvi, -Itum, send for, summon.
tr.,
arduus, -a, -urn, steep, diffi-
cult.
aries, arietis,
m.,
battering-
Auruoculeiua, -I, m., Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta, one of Caesar's legat; (II), killedinS4B.c. aut, coni., or; aut . . . aut, either . .. or. autem, conj., moreOfJer, but. auxilium, Ri, help, aid, reinforcemems; pl., auxiliary forces. averto, 3, 3verti, aversum, tr., turn" turn away; p.p.p. 3versus, in the rear. Axooa, ~ae, f., the Axona, the river Aisne.
C cadaver, -eris, n., corpse, dead body.
cada, 3, cecidl, casum, intr., fall, die.
n.,
ram.
arma, -orum, n. pl., arms,
weapons.
armatura, -ae,f., equipment; levis armatlirae Numidae, lightarmed Numidians. armo, I, tr., arm; p.p.p. armatus, armed.
asceodo, 3, ascendl, -censum, tr., climb up. ascensus, -us, m., ascent, climb. at, conj., but. atque, conj., and, and indeed,' Idem atque, the same as; aliter atque, otherwise than. Atrebites, -urn, and Atrebati, -orum, m.pl., the Atrebates, a Belgic tribe living north of the Samara (Sonune). attingo, 3, -tigl, -tactum, fr., touch, border on. auctoritis, -ads, f., influence, authority. audacter, audacius, audacissime, adv. of audax, boldly. audeo, 2, ausus, semi-dep. intr., dare, be bold. audio, 4, tr., hear. Aulerci, ~orum, m. pl., the Aulerci, a Gallic tribe living on the Sequana (Seine) in Normandy.
u6
B Baculus, -I, m., Publius Sextius Baculus, Senior Centurion the 12th Legion (2S). Baleiris, -e, Balearic, from the Balearic Isles, which produced famous slingers. barbarus, -I, m., barbarian, native.
Belgae, -arum, m. pl., the Belgae, a group of tribes living in Belgic Gaul, between the Sequana (Seine) and the Rhine. Bellovaci, -orum, m. pl., the BeUovaci, the most warlike of the Belgic tribes, living between the Samara (Somme) and the Sequana (Seine). bellum, -I, war. Bibrax, Bibractis, n., Bibrax, a town of the Remi, probablY Vieux-Laon. Boduognitus, -i, m., Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii. Bratuspantium, -i, n., Bratuspantium, a town of the Bellovaci, now Breteuil. brevitis, -atis, j., shortness; small stature. Britannia, -ae, j., Britain (4 and 14).
n.,
Caerosi, -arum, m. pl., the Caerosi, a Belgic tribe living between the Rhine and the Mosa (Meuse). Caesar, -aris, m.,Julius Caesar, the author of this book. calamitis, -atis,f., disaster. Caleti, -orum, m. pl., the Caleti, a Gallic tribe living on the coast of Normandy north of the Sequana (Seine). calo, calonis, m., camp-follower" officer's servant. captivus, -1, m., prisoner. caput, capitis, n., head; pl., people, persons. Carnutes, -urn, m. pl., the Carnutes, a Gallic tribe living near Cenabum (Orleans). castellum, -I, n., jort, redoubt. castra, -arum, n. pl., a camp. casus, -us, m., chance, jate, exu·emity. causa, -ae, f., reason, cause; de eadem causa, for the same reason; in abl., preceded by a gen., for the sake of. ceda, 3, cessl, cessum, intr., give ground, retreat. celeritis, -atis, f., speed, SWIftness. celeriter, celerius, celerrime, ad'll. of celer, quickly. cela, I, tr., hide, conceal. centum, indec/., pl., a hundred. centurio, -onis, m., centu"ion, commander of a century (100 men). certus, -a, -urn, sure, certain, fixed, regular; certiarem
117
VOCABULARY facio, itiform; certior fio, be informed. ceteri, -Be, -3, pl., the rest, the other. Cimbri, -arum, m. pl., the Cimbri, a German tribe defeated by Marius at Vercellae in 101. circiter, adv., about (with numerals). circultus, -us, m., way l'ound, circumference; in circuitG, in extent (30).
c;:ohortitio, ~onis, t., $peech of exhortation, encouragement. col1ltus, p.p.p. of confero. coieio, 3, -iecl, -iectum, tr., hurl,rhrow,place(r6); infugam coicio, put to flight. colligo, 3, -legl, -lectum, tr., coliect, send away together. collis, -is, hill. col1oco, I, tr., place, station. commeatus, .us, m., supplies,/ood.
m.,
circumicio,3,-iecI,-iectum, lr., surround, place round.
circumiinio, 4, tr., surround, circumvenio, 4, -veni, -ventum, tr., surround. cis, prep. with ace., hon Rthis . side of (t.e. nearer to t e 0mans),' cis Rhenum, west of the Rhine.
citerior, -ius, compo adj., nearer, hither,' citerior Gallia, Gaul south of the Alps, north Italy(oneofCaesar'sprovinees). citra, prep. with ace., on this
side 0/ (like cis).
civitas, -atis,j., tribe, commuclamor, -arts,
m.,
shout,
shouting, din. claudo, 3, clausI, clausum, tr. shut, close; tatum agmen daudere, fotm a rearguard jor the whole army. clementia, -ae, j., mercy, forbearance. coacervo, I, tr., heap up, pile up. coepi, eoepisse, defective tr., began. cognosco, 3, -novi, -nitum., tr., learn, discover, find out. cogo, 3, coegI, coactum, tr., collect, compel. cobors, cohortis, f.} cohort,
one sixth of a legion,
commemoro,
I,
tr., men-
(ion, relate.
hem in.
nity, state.
VOCABULARY
600
committo, 3, -misl, -misfT., entrust; proelium committo, join battle. commode, adv., convenientIy, weII• commoveo, 2, -movl, -mob tum, tr., rouse, aIarm, d'utUT. commiinis, -c, common,gensum,
eral.
commiititio, -(mis, f., change.
comparo,
I,
tr., prepare,
provide.
compello, 3, -puli, -pulsum,
tr., drive,/orce back. compleo, 3, -plevi, -pletum, tr., fill. compliires, -pIUra, gen. -pliirium, pl., several. concido, 3, -cldl, -clsum, tr., cut down, destroy. concilium, -I, n., assembly, council. concurro, 3, -cucurrl or -curd, -cursum, inrr., run together, rush; concursum est, a rush was made (33)· condicio, -onis, f·, terms, couditions. Condriisi, -orum, m. pl., the Condrusi, a Belgic tribe living between the Mosa (Meuse) and
men.
the Ardennes.
lI8
condiico, 3, tr., collect; re-
i~tr", halt, stand, .take up a posi-
crw"t, hire.
tW1'l; rest, depend on (33). cOnspectus, -Us, m., sight.
confectus, -3, -urn, worn out, exhausted, disabled (p.p.p. of
conspicio, 3, -spexI, -spectum, tr., see, observe. conspicor, I, dep. tr., see,
conficio). ' confero, -ferre, -tuli, collatum, tr., bn"ng together, convey; se conferre, betake oneself, go. confertus, -3, -urn, closely packed, dense. conficio, 3, -feci, -fectum, tr., finish, accomplish; supply, muster, raise; disable. confido, 3, -fisus, semi-dep. jntT., trust, believe. confirmo, I, (T., confirm, encourage; declare. confiigo, 3, -fiixi, -ftlctum, hItr., fight. " congredior, 3, -gressus, dep. mtr., meet, fight. coniungo, 3, -iiinxl, -iUnctum, tr., join; me coniungo cum, unite with. coniiiro, I, tr., conspire,jorm a conspiracy. conor, I, dep. intr., try. consanguineus, -a, -urn, lated by blood; m. pl., relations, kins/olk. conscribo, 3, -scripsi, scriptum, tr., levy, enrol, raise. consensus, -fis, m., agree. ment, consent. consentio, 4, -scnsI, -sensum, intr., agree, combine. consequor, 3, -secfitus, dep. intr., pursue, obtat"n, achieve. conservo, I, tr' J keep, spare, protect.
re-
considli, 3, -sedI, -sessum, intr., encamp, settle, take up a position. cODsilium, -I, n., advice, plan; eo consilio ut, with the intention of. consimili!, -e, very like.
cODsisto, 3, -stitf, -stitum,
observe.
constanter, adv., unanimously.
constiti,.perj.. of consisto. constituo, 3, -ui, -fitum, tr., determine, decide; draw up,. build, construct. cODsuesco, 3, -suev!, -suetum, intr., become accustomed; £1'1 perf., be accustomed. consuetiido, -tfidinis, j., hablt, custom. contemptus, -fis, m., scorn, contempt; contemptui esse, be an object of scorn. contendo, 3, -tendl, -tentum, t"ntr., hasten,fight, march. continen,2, -tinui, -tentum, tr., keep, restrain,' me contineo, remat"n. contra, prep. with ace., against.; as adv., on the opposite side. contrarius, -a, -urn, opposile,facing. contumelia, -ae, f", insult, abuse, ill-treatment. cODveniO, 4, -venl, -ventum, intI'., come together, assemble; be agreed upon. converto, 3, -verti, -versum, tr., turn,' conversa signa Infero, wheel round and attack. convoco, I, tr., summon, assemble. copia, -ae, f., plenty; pl., forces, troops; supplies (10). cornu, -us, n., horn; wing (of an army). corpus, corporis, n., body, corpse.
II9
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY cortex, -ticis, m., bark (of a tree). cotidie, adv., every day, daily.
Cotta, -ae, m., Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta, one of Caesar's legat!, killed in 54. Crassus, -i, m., Publius Licinius Crassus, son of the Triumvir and one of Caesar's staff officers. creber, -bra, -brum, frequent, numerous; thick (17); at short intervals (30). credo, 3, -didi, -ditum, intr. with dat., trust, believe~' tr. with acc. and inf., believe, think. Cres, Cretis, acc. pl. -as, a Cretan, famous with the bow.
cruciitus, -us, m., torture. cum, prep. with abl., with, together with. cum, conj., when, whenever, since, although; cum ... turn, not only . .. but also. cunctus, -a, -urn, all. cupiii, 3, cupivi, cupitum, tr., des~ore. Curiosolites, -urn (pl. -as), m. pl., the Curiosolites, a Gallic
tribe Iivi~g on the coast of Brittany. cursus, -us, m., running, speed; cursu ihcitiitfi, quickening their pace (26). custodia, Mae, f., guard.
decimus, -a, -urn, tenth. declivis, -e, sloping dOtvnwards. decumina,j. adj. withpona, the decuman gate of a Roman camp, furthest away from the enemy.
decurro, 3, -cucurrl or -cur-
ri, -cursum, incr., run down. dSditicius, -3, -urn, having surrendered,' m. pl., surrendered subjects. dSdo, 3, -did!, -ditum, fr., surrender; intr" se dedere.
dedfico, 3, tr., lead down, bring, withdraw,' induce to adopt (10); reduce.
defendo, 3, -fendi, -fensum, tr., de/end; defend oneself against, ward off. defensio, -onis, I., defence. defensor, -oris, ,., defender. dSfero, -ferre, -tuli, .latum, tr., confer, hand over (4); report (17, 19)· diSficio, 3, -feci, -rectum, intr.,jail; with ab, revolt (14). dildo, 3, -iecl, -iectum, tr 0' throw down, dislodge.
deiectus, -us, m., slope. deinde, adv., then, next. deleo, 2, delevi, -etum, tr., destroy, wipe out (27). deligo, 3, -legl, -lectum, tr., choose. demonstro, I, tr., show, indicate, mention. denique, adv.,jinally, at last;
at least (33). D densus, -3, -urn, thick. de, prep. with abl., from; depiino, A, -posul, positum, about, concerning~' eadem de tr., set dOWh; put down, leave. causa, for the same reason (7). depopulor, I, dep. tr., raudebeo, 2, tr., owe, ought. age, lay waste. decem, indecl. pl., ten. deprecor, I, dep. tr., pray decerno, 3, -crevl, -cretum, that something should not haptr., decree. pen, request someone not to do decerto, I, intr., fight it out. 3 thing. 120
dcsero, 3, -sernI, -sertum,
Diviciicus, -I, m., Diviciacus, (i) a leader of the Suessiones (4); (ii) a Druid and leader of the Aedui (5).
tr., abandon, desert.
desisto, 3, -stitl, -stitum, intr., stop, cease. despero, I, intr., despair, lose heart; tr., despair of. despolio, I, cr., deprive 0/, with ace. and abl. desum, deesse, dSfui, intr., be wanting, be lacking. deterreo, 2, tr., hinder, prevent from, with quln and subj. in a negative sentence. detraho, -traxl, -tractum, tr., removet snatch up from, with ace. and dat. of person. devenio, 3, -venI, -ventum, intr., arrive, reach. dexter, dextra, dextrum, right, .right hand. dico, 3, tr., say, declare. dies, diSi, m. (f. for an appointed day), day, time. difficilis, -e, difficult. diligenter, adv., carefully, punctually; superi., diligentissimS, with the greatest care. dimetior, 4, -mensus, dep. .tr'J measure out; p.p. used as passive in abI. abs. (19). dimico, I, intr., fight. dimitto, 3, -mIst, -missum, tr., send away, dismiss; lose (time) (21). diripiO, 3, -ripui, -reptum, tr., plunder. discedo, 3, -cessi, -cessum, intr., depart, go away, leave. discessus, -us, m., departure. dissipo, I, tr., scatter, disperse. distineo, 2, -tinw, -tentum, tr., keep apart, separate. diu, adv., for a long time, compar., diiitius, any longer, too long. diversus, -a, -urn, different; detached (22,23); scattered (24).
divinus, -a, -urn, divine. do, I, dedi, datum, tr., give. doceo, 2, docui, doctum, tr., inform, tell, £nstruct. domesticus, -a, -urn, home (as adj.), private. domicilium, -I, n., home, dwelling. dominor, I, dep. intr., rule, hold sway.
domus, -Us, /., house, home; locative, domI, at home. dubito, I, intr., hesitate. diicenti, -ae, -a, pl., two hundred. diico, 3, tr., lead. duo, duae, duo, pl., two. duodecim, indecl., twelve. duodecimus, -a, -urn, twelfth.
duodeviginti, r°1tdecl., eighteetl. duplex, duplicis, double. dux, ducis, m., leader,general,. guide (7).
E
e or ex, prep. with abl.,from,
out 0/, as a result 0/; ex utraque parte, on each s£de (8); ex itinere, straight from the march (12); ex corporibus, on top of the bodies. Eburones, -urn, m. pl., the Eburones, a Belgic tribe living between the Mosa (Meuse) and the Rhine. editus, -a, -urn, rising (p.p.p. of eda, give out). ediico, 3, tr., lead out. efticio, 3, -feci, -fectum, tr., cause, bring it about that (with ut).
121
VOCABULARY egredior, 3, egressus, dep. intT., go out, come out. egregie, adv., excellently, admirably, electus, -a, -urn, picked (p.p.p. of oligo, choose). emitto, 3, emisi, emissum, tr., throw, hurl. emo, 3, emi, emptum, tr., buy. eniscor, 3, enatus, dep. int7., grow out. enim, conj., for; neque enirn, for indeed . .. not . ... eo, adv., thither, to that place. eques, equitis, m., horseman,' pl., cavalry. equester, -tris, -tre, cavalry (as adj.). • equititus, -ils, m., cavalry. eruptio, -onis, t., sally, sortie. Esubii, -arum, m. pl., the Esubii, a Gallic tribe living on the coast of Normandy. et, conj., and, even, a/so, too; ct ... et, both . .. and. etiam, adv., even, also. eventus, -Us, m., result, occurrence; pl., vidssitudes. ex, see e. exagito, I, tr., harass. exanimaitus, -8, -urn, out of breath (p.p.p. of exanimo, exhaust). exaudio, 4, tr., hear at a distance. excedo, 3, -cessi, -cessurn, intr., withdraw, retire. excursio, -finis,f.} sally. exeo, -Ire, -ii, -iturn, intr., go out, leave. exercititus, -a, -urn, trained, practised (p.p.p. of exercit6, train). exereitus, -us, m., army. exiguitis, -atis, f., shortness (of time).
VOCABULARY
eximius, -a, -urn, remarkable, extraordinary. existimo, I, tr., think, consider. expeditus, -a, -uol, ready for acu'on, in light marching order (p.p.p. of expedio, set free). expella, 3, -pull, -pulsurn, tr., drive out. experior, 4, -pertus, dep. tr., try, test, n·sk. exploritor, -oris, m., scout. exploro, I, tr., ascertain; omnia habere explOrata, have complete information (4). expugno, I, tr., take by storm. exspeeto, I, tr., wait, wait for. exstruo, 3, -stru.xI, -structum, tr., raise, build up. extremus, -a, -um (superl. of exterus), last, furthest, most distantj ad extremas fossas, at the ends of the trenches (8); ab extrema agmine, at the rear of the army; in extremis suls rebus, in his most desperate situation (25).
F Caeilis, -e, easy,- adv., facile; comp., facilius. facio, 3, feci, factum, tr., do, make, accomplish; carry out (orders); facio verba, speak (14); certiorem facio, inform. facnltas, -atis,f., opportunity. falla, 3, fefelli, falsum, 3, tr., deceive, cheat, disappoint, fail. fasngatus, -3, -urn, sloping downwards. ferax, -ads, fruitful, fertile. fere, adv., nearly, almost, generally. fero, ferre, tuli, latum, tr., bring, bear, carryj pass., rush (24); moleste fero, resent (I),
122
CertlIltiis, -atis, f., fertility. Cerul, -a, -urn, wild, savage, fierce; superl., maxime ferus. fides, fidei, f., trust, loyalty, faith,. protection (3, 13, 14, IS). filius, fill, m., son. finis, -is, m., end, limit; pl., frontiers, territory. finitimus, -a, -urn, neighbouring,- m. pl., neighbours. fio, fieri, factus, intr. (used as pass. of facio), be made, become, be done,- happen)' certior fio, be informed. Rumen, fifuninis, n., river. fors, fortis, t., chance)' abl., used as adv., by chance. fortis, -e, brave, strong)' adv., fortiter; comp., fortius. fortuna, -ae, f., fortune, chance. fossa, -ae, f., trench, ditch. frater, fratris, m., brother,· kinsman (3). fremitus, -us, m., uproar, din. frons, frontis, j., front)· a fronte, in front (23, 25); in Jrontem, to the front, in front (8). Criimentirius, -a, -urn, corn (as adj.); res frftmentaria, corn supply. friimentum, -I, n., corn. fuga, -ae, f., /light. fugio, 3, fiigl, fugitum, intr., /lee,- tr.,jleefrom. Ciimus, -I, m., smoke. funditor, -oris, m., slinger. Curor, -oris, m., rage, madness. futiirns, -3, -urn, future part and infin. (with esse) of sum. G Galba, -ae, m., Galba, king of the Suessiones (4, '3).
galea, -ae, f., helmet. Gallia, -ae, j., the country of Gaul (see pages 4-S). Galli, -orum, m. pl., the Gauls. gens, gentis, f., tribe, people. Germani, -orwn, m. pl., the Germans, some of whom lived west of the Rhine. gera, 3, gessi, gestum, tr., bear, wear, do, fight (a war); in pass., happen. gladitis, -i, m., sword. gratia, -ae, j., i,ifluence, authorr·ty. gravis, -e, heavy, serious. H habeo, 2, tr., have, hold; consider; aliter se habere, be different. hIberna, -orum, n. pl., winter-quarters. hibernaeula, -orum, n. pl., huts for winter-quarters, winterquarters. hie, haec, hoc, this, such, as follows; as pronoun, he, she, it. hiemo, I, intr., spend the wz·nter.
homo, hominis, m., man. honos, honoris, m., honourj honoris causa, as a mark of respect. hostis, -is, m., enemy. I
iaceo, 2, intr., lie, lie down,. pres. part.} iacentes, those who had fallen. iacifi, 3, ieci, iacturn, tr.} throw, hurl. iam, adv., now, already; non iam, no longer. ibl, adv., there.
12 3
VOCABULARY ledus, -I, m., Iecius, a leader of the Remi. idem, eadem, idem, the same; Idem atque, the same as. identidem, adv., repeatedly, again and again. idoneus, -a, -urn, suitable,
convenient. ignis, -is, m., fire, camp fire, beacon fire.
ille, illa, illud, that,. as pro-
noun, he, she, it,' m. pl., illi, often the enemy.
illyricum, -1, n., Illyricum, Illyria, on the northern shores of the Adriatic, one of the three provinces governed by Caesar. impedimco,tum, -i, n., hindrance; pl., baggage, baggage animals. impedio,4, rr., hiuder, hamper, obstruct; p.p.p.,impedltus, in heavy marching order, in difficulties; n., too difficult (28). impeUo, 3, -pull, -pulsum, (r., urge, drive on. imperator, -oris, m.,general,
commander.
imperatum, -I, n., command, order. imperium, -i, n., rule, supreme command, authority, order, discipline. impero, I, intr., order, give orders to, with dat.; tr., give orders jor, demand, command. impetro, I, tr .., obtain a request. impetus, ~iis,. m., attQc.k; magna impetu, wlth great Vtolenee (6). improvisus, -a, Mum, unexpected; de improvlsa, unexpectedly. in, prep. with ace., to, imo, against, towards; with abl., in, on, over (a river).
ineendo, 3, -eendl, -censllm, tr' J set on fire, burn. incido, 3, -cieli, intr., happen, occur; of wars, break out (14). incido, 3, ~cldl, -elsurn, tr., cut into (17). incipio, 3, -cepl, -ceptum, intr., begin. ioeito, I, tr., hasten, quicken,· eursu incitato, increasing their speed (26). ineolo, 3, -colnl, -cultum, tr. and intr., live in, live, dwell. incredibilis, -e, incredible, unbelievable. increpito, I, tr., jeer at, taunt, upbraid. inciiso, I, tr., accuse, blame. inde, adfJ., then, next, from that place. indignitis, Matis, f., indignity, humiliation. indiligenter, adv., carelessly; comp., indlligentius, less carefully. indiico, 3, tr., cover over with. induo, 3, -dul, -dutum, tr., put on. ioeo, -Ire, -ii, -itum, tr., go into; form (a plan); inita aestate, at the beginning of summer. inermis, -e, unarmed. inferinr, -ius (comp. of 10ferus), lower; inferior (in courage). infero, -ferre, -tull, -latum, tr., bring in, carry forward, import,- inspire (hope); cause (harm); make (war). infimus, -a, -urn (superl. of Inferus), lowest, at the lowest part (18). inftecto, 3, -flexl, -flexum, tr., bend, bend over; p.p.p.,lnflexus, bem (17). ingredior, 3, -gressus, dep. tr., enter.
124
VOCABULARY inimicuI, -a, -urn, hostile, unfriendly. iniquitis, -atis, j., difficulty, unfavourable state. iniquus, -a, -urn, uneven, unfavourable. .ii:Utium, -1, n., beginnt'ng. iniiiriB, ~ae, t., wrong, injustice, harm. inliitus, p.p.p. of lnfero. innitor, 3, -nlxus, dep. ;ntr., lean on, with abl. (27). insequor, 3, -secutus, dep. tr., follow up, pursue. insidiae, -arum, f. pl., trap, ambush. insigne, -is, n., signal (20); pl., badges, crests (n. of adj. insignis). insisto, 3, -stili, z·ntr., stand on, with dat. instar, ;ndecl. n., used as prep. with gen., l£ke; iostar murl, like a wall (17). insto, I, ~stitf, intr., press forward. instruu, 3, -striixi, -structum, tr., draw up (a battle line); build (a structure). intellego, 3, -lexl, Rlectum, tr., understand, perceive, realise. inter, prep. with ace., between, among, with; inter se, with one another, mutually. intercedo, 3, -cessl, ~cessum~ intr., come between, intervene. intercipio, 3, -cepl, -eeptum, tr., intercept, catch. interest, -esse, -fnit, z"mpers. intr., it is important to, with gen. interficio, 3, -feci, -fectum, tr., kz"ll. intericio, 3, -ieci, -iectum, cr., plant as a barrier. interim, adv., meanwhile. interior, -ius, comp. adj., t'nner, the interior of (2, but
interior Gallia there may mean ulterior Gallia, Further Gaul). intermitto, 3, -mlsl, -missum, t'ncr., cease, stop, with present part. internecio, -onis, f., annihz·lation; ad internecionem redigl, be completely destroyed (28). interscindo, 3, ·scidl, scissum, tr., break down (a bridge). intervallum, -I, n., space, interval. intexo, 3, -texuJ, -textum, tr., interweave, plait together. intra, prep. with ace., within, inside, into. intru, I, tr. and in!T., enter. iotroduco, 3, tr., lead into. intromitto, 3, ~misl, -missum, tr., lead in, send in. introrsus, adv., ins~'de, to the inside. iniisitatus, ~a, ~um, unusual, uncommon. in"iitilis, -e, useless. invenio, 4, -veni, -ventum, tr., find, learn. inveterasco, 3, -veteravl, intr., become established. invideo, 2, -vldi, -visum, intr., with dat., envy. ipse, ipsa, ipsum, emphatic adj. and pronoun, himself, herself, itself. irrideo, 2, ~rJsI, -risWll, tr. and intr., laugh, laugh at, mock, jeer. is, ea, id, that; pronoun, he, she, it; eius, his,' eorum, their. ita, adv., thus, so; ita uti, just as. Italia, -ae, t., Italy; also Caesar's province of Cisalpine Gaul, now north Italy. itaque, adv., and so, accordingly. item, adv., likewise, also. iter, itioeris, n., journey,
I25
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY levis, -is, light. levitis, -atis, I., fickleness. lex, legis, f., law. liberiiliter, adv., courteously,
march; iter facio, march; ex itinere, straight from the march,' magnum iter, jorced march. lubeo, 2, iussl, iussurn, tr., order, command. iiidico, I, tr., judge, consider, decide. iugum, -i, n., ridge, height, hill. iiis, iuris, n., right, law; code of laws. iiistitia, ~ae, j., justice. iuvo, I, idvl, iUtum, tr., help, assist.
kindly.
liberi, -orurn, m.pl., children. litterae, -arum, j. pl., despatches.
locus,. -i, m.; pl. loca, n., place, ground, district, region. longe, adv., by far; comp., longius, fartherj too far (20); superl.,longissime,jarthest. longus, -3., -urn, long. loquor, loquf, lociltus, dep. tr., speak. liix, lucis, t., light; prima liice, at dawn. liixuria, -ae, I., luxury, soft living. LX, quadrliginta, indecl. pl., forty.
iuxti, adv., nearby; prep. with ace., near. L L., Lucius, a Roman praenomen (first name, II), Labienus, -I, m., Titus Atius Labienus, Caesar's Chief of Staff (see page 28). lapis, lapidis, m., stmze. lassitiido, -tudinis,j., weari-
miinsuetiido, -to,dinis, j., clemency., kindness.
manus, -us, I., haudj band,' pl., jorcesj in manibus nostrIs, at close quarters with us (19). maritimus, -a, -urn, on the sea-coast. matiiro, I, tr. and incr., hurry, hasten. maxime, superl., adv. of magnus, uery greatly, most. medius, -3, -urn, middle (of). memoria, -ae, I., remembrance, memory; memoriam retinee, with gen., remember. Menapii, -erum, m. pl., the Menapii, a Belgic tribe living between the ScaIdis (ScheIdt) and the Mosa (Meuse) in Belgium. mercator, -oris, m., merchallt, trader.
meritum, -I, n., servt'ces, M michiniitio, -onis,f., machine, contrivance, engiue. magis, compo adv., more, rather. magistratus, -Us, m., magistrate; magistracy.
ness, exhaustion.
lateo, 2, latul, intr" lie hid, be concealed. lititiido, -tUdinis,!., breadth, width; in latitiidinem, in breadth, sideways, laterally. latus, -3, -urn, broad, wide. latus, lateris, n., side, flank; ab utroque latere, on each side (8). laxo, I, tr., open out, extend, deploy. legiitio, -onis,f., embassy. legatus, -I, m., legate, (i) ambassador, envoYj (ii) staff officer, lieutenant-general. legio, -onis, j., legion (6,000
magnitiido, -tudinis, J., magnitiido,
greatness; arumi great courage (27).
menj see page 28). legionariu5, -a, -urn, legion-
magnus, -8, -urn, great, large; adv. magnopere, greatly. maior, maius, compo of magnus, greater; maiores natu, 'he older people. maleficium, -I, n., harm, injury. mando, I, tr., give orders, order (5); entrust .. . to; fugae me mando, take to flight. manipulus, -1, m., maniple,
ary, of the legiol1s. leniter, ad'll., gently, gradually.
out, deploy, the ranks.
a double century in a Roman legion; manipulos taxo, open
12.6
deserts.
miles, militis, m., soldier. militaris, -e, military; res mllitaris, warfare. mille, indecl. adj., a thousand; pl., mIlia, with gen. j mIlle passils, a mile (1620 yards); mIlia passuum, mUes. minus, compar. adv., less, less than,' si minus, if not; superl., minime, least. miser, misera, mise rum,
moenia, -ium, n. pl., walls, fortifications.
moleste, adv., with fera, ferre, be indignant at, resent. monea, 2, tr., warn, advise; command (26).
mora, Rae, f.) delay. Morini, orurn, m. pl., the Morim', a Belgic tribe living between the ScaIdis (ScheIdt) and the sea in N.E. France and Belgium. moror, I, dep. tr., hinder, delay; intr., delay.
mos, moris, m., custom, manner; suo more, in their usual custom (13); pl., mores, character ('5). moveo, 2, movi, metum, tr., move,' castra moveo, strike camp. mulier, mulieris,f., woman. multitiido, -tiidinis,j., multitude, great number, amount. multus, -a, -urn, much; adv. t multumj pl., many. miinimentum, i, 11., fortification, defence. miinio, 4, tr.,!ortz!y, defend. munitia, -onis, j., fortificatioll. miirus, ~i, m., tvall.
N
wretched.
misericordia, -ae, f., pity,
mercy.
mitto, 3, mlsi, missum, tr., send.
mobilitis, -tatis, j., t'nstabjlity, inconstancy. modo, adv., only,· non modo . . . sed etiam, not only . . . but also. modus, -i, m., 'lvay, manner; ad hunc modum, in this way, as follows.
Dam, conj.,for. nascor, 3, natus, dep. incr., be born; rise (of a hill). natio, -onis} t., tribe, people. natii, used only in abl.~ by birch; maiores natu, the older people.
natiira, -ae, f., nacure, natural position; abl. as adv., naturally. niivo, I, tr., do vigorously; operam navo, do one's best.
12.7
VOCABULARY
VOCABULARY ne, conj. with 8ubj., that • .. not, in a purpose clause; not to, in an indirect command; that, after a verb of fearing; adfJ., ne . . . quidem, not even, with indie. necessiriu8, -a, -urn, neces-
sary. necessitis, -atis, J., compulsion; temporis necessitas, the urgency of the occasion (22). negotium, -J, n., task; trouble (X7); negotium do, give instructions., assign the task (of). nemo, nullius, dat. nemint, no one, nobody. neque, conj., and . • . not, neither, nor; neque ... neque,
neither . .. nor. nequiquam, adv., in vain; without good reason (27). Nervii, -orum, m. pl., the
N eroji, a Belgic tribe living between the Scaldis (Scheidt) and the Sabis (Sambre), noted for their courage. nen or neve, conj. with subj., used in the second part of a ne clause, and • .. not. neuter, -trB, -trum, neither of two; pl., neither side. nihil, indecl. n., nothing; followed by partitive gen., nihil vini, no wine (IS); used adverbially, in no way (20). nisi, conj., if ... not, unless; used adverbially with abi. abs.,
non, adv., not. nondum, adv., not yet. non nulU, -ae, -a, pl., some, several. nonus, -a, -urn, ninth. nos, nostrl or nostrum, pl. of ego, we, i.e. the Romans (9). noster, -tra, -trUm, OUT; pl., nostrl, our men, i.e. the Romans. novem, indecl. pl., nine. Novlodiinum, -I, n., NOfJiodunem, the chief town of the Suessiones, probably Pommiers. novus, -a, -um, mw, strange; nova imperia, a change 0/ gOfJernment (I); novissimum agmen, the rear-guard, reaT of an army (n); novissimI, the rearmost (25).
noetis, j., night. nuda, I, tr., strip, cleaT ... 0/, expose to attack. nullus, .. a, .. um, adj., fW,' as noun, nobody; non nulU, pl., some. numerus, -I, m., number, numbers, quantity. Numidae, -arum, m. pl., Numidians, from north Africa, serving as light infantry and archers in Caesar's army. nunc, adv., now. nuntia, I, tr., TepoTt, announce. niintius, -1, m., messenger. BOX,
except (20, 32).
nobilitiis, -atis,j., noble birth, rank. noctu, adv., by night. nolO, nolle, nOlui, intr., be unwilling. Domen, nominis, n., name (perhaps power in 28). nominatim, adv., by name. nomino, I, tr., name, mention.
o ob, prep. with ace., on account of. obduco, 3, tr., dig (a trench, 8).
obitus, -us, m., destruction, death. obses, -sidis, c., hostage. obtineo, 2, -tinul, -tentum, tr., hold, possess.
128
obtuli, from offero. obvenio, 4, -veni, -ventum, intr. with dat., face, encounter, oppose. occasus, -fis, m., setting (of the sun). occido, 3, -cldl, elsurn, tr., kill.
occultus, -a, -um, secret, hidden; in occulto, in hiding (p.p.p. of occuio, hide). occupo, I, tr., seize, hold, COfJer~' p.p.p., occupatus, employed, engaged. oc:curro, 3, -curri, -cursum, incr. with dat., meet, encounter, jace, go to meet. Oceanus, -I, m., the Atlantic Ocean. octavus, -a, -urn, eighth. octo, indecl. pl., eight. oifero, offerre, obtuli, obHitum, tT., bring forwaTd, bring, carry. omitto, 3, omlsi, omissum, tr., neglect, ignore, leave untried. omnis, -e, ali, every, the whole 0/. onus, oneris, n., weight, burden. opem, no nom., opis,j., help; pl., opes, resources. opera, -ae, I. J caTe, pains, service; operam navo, do one's best (25). opinio, -orus, I., expectation (3); reputation (8, 24); report. oportet, 2, oportuit, impers. tr., it behoves, i.e., it is necessary. oppidiini, -Drum, m. pl., townsfolk, citizens. oppidum, -I, n., town. opportiinus, -a, -urn, con'Denient. oppugnatio, -onis,f., method 0/ attack. oppugno, I, tr., attack (by storm).
optimus, -8, -urn, superl. of bonus, best. opus, operis, n., work,jortification; pl., siege-works; quanto opere, how greatly (5); opus est, there is med, with infin.; quid opus esset, what was needed (22). oriitio, -onis, j., speech. ordo, ordinis, m., order, Tank; method (22).
orior, 4, ortus, dep. intr., arise; be descended from (4). Osismi, -orum, m. pl., the Osismi, a Gallic tribe living in north-west Brittany. p
P., Publius, a Roman praenomen (first name, 25, 34). piibulum, -I, n.,/odder (food for horses and mules). paco, I, tr., subdue. Paemsni, -orum, m. pl., the Paemani, a Belgie tribe of German origin, living between the Rhine and the.Mosa (Meuse). paene, adv., almost, nearly. palus, palndis, f., marsh,. swamp. pando, 3, pandl, passum, tr.~ stretch out; p.p.p., passus, outstretched (13).
par, paris, the same, similar. paratus, -a, -urn, ready, pTepared (p.p.p. of para, prepare). pars, partis, f., part, direction; side (of a river, 5), sectiol'r (of an army, 23); tertia pars,. one third (32). partim, adv., partly.
parvulus, -a, -urn, veTY small,' parvula proelia, skirmishes (30). passus, -us, m., pace, a double pace of five feet; mille passus, a mile (1620 yards); milia passuum, miles.
129
VOCABULARY passus, p.p.p. of pando. patefacio, 3, -feci, -factum, tr., open. pateo, 2, -ui, intr., lie open, extend. pater, patris, m.,/ather. p.atior, 3, passus, dep. tT., allow, suffer. patrius, -3, -urn, of one's fathers, hereditary, ancestral, pauci, -ae, -3, pl., few. pauUitim, adv., gradually.
paulisper, adv., for a short time. paululum, adv., a little, only a little. paulum, adv., a little,' paulO, used with comparatives, (by) a liule.
pax, pacis,j., peace. pedes, peditis, m., foot-soldier; pl., infantry, pedester, -tris, -tre,/oot, infantry (as adj.). Pedius, -I, m., QUilltliS Pedius, nephew of Caesar and one of his legati (2, I I). pellis, -is, j., skin, hide. pella, 3, pepulI, pulsum, tr.) repulse, rout. per, prep. with ace., through, over, along,'by means of. perfero, ~ferre, -tulf, latum, tr., suffer, endure; convey, spread. periclitor, I, dep. tr., rest, try. periculum, -i, n., danger. permitto, 3, -mIsl, -missum, tr., entrust, hand over, surrender.
permoveo, 2, -movl, -motum, tr., disturb, alarm. perspiclo, 3, -spexl, -spectum, tr., see through,· realise, find out; note (17). persuadeo, 2, -suasi, -suasum, intr. with dat., persuade, induce.
perterreo, 2, tr., frighten; p.p.p., panic-stricken. pertineo, 2, -tinw, -tentum, intr., stretch; be conducive to, tend to (with ad). perturbo, I, tr., throw into confusion, disturb. pervenio, 4, -venl, -ventum, imr., arrive; with ad or in, reach. pes, pedis, m.,foot. peto, 3, -ivi, -ltum, tr., ask for, make for, try to obtain, request,. attack. pilum, -I, n. _. javelin. planities, -ici,f., plain, level ground. plerique, -aeque, -aque, pl., very many, most; ad'll., plerumque, generally, for the most part. pliirimus, -a, -urn, superl. of multus, most, very much,' pl., very many,- ad'll., pliirimurn, very much, most. polliceor, 2, dep. tr.,promise. pondus, -eris, n., weight. pono, 3, posul, posirum, tr., place, put, station, set; pitch (camp). pons, pontis, m., bridge. populor, I, dep. tr., ravage, lay waste. populus, -I, m., people. porrigo, 3, -rexi, -rectum, tr., stretch out,. p. p. p. porrectus, stretching (19). porta, -ae, f., gate. porto, I, tr., carry, bring. posco, 3, poposci, tr., demand. possideo, 2, -sedi, -sessum, tr., occupy, possess, hold. possum, posse, potul, intr., be able, be powerful. post, prep. with ace., after, behind; adv., afterwards, after. postea, ad'll., afterwards, after.
13 0
VOCABULARY
I I
postquam,conj.,flJhen,ajter. postridie, adv., t)n the 1I8Xt day; with Sius diel, on the day after that. postulo, J, tr., demand. potena, potentis, powerful. potestia, -atis, I., power; possibility; opportunity. potior, 4, dep. intr. with abl., get possession of, capture. potlus, compo adfJ~J rather. prae, prep. with abl., in comparison with. praeacutus, -a, -urn, sharpened,poinred. praebeo, 2, tr' J provide. praeceps, -cipitis, headlong. praedor, I, dep. intr.,pillage, get plunder. praefero, -ferre, -tuU, -Hitum, !T. with reflexive pronoun and dat., show oneself superior to, outdo. praeficio, 3, -fed, -fecrum, tr. with ace. and dat.,put ... in command of. praemitto, 3, -mist, -missum, tr., send forward. praescribo, 3, -scrlpsl, -scriptum, £T. with acc. and dat., order, dictate. praesertim, ad'll., especially. praelidium, -i, n., protection, garrison, guard, outpost; hope of-safety. praesto, I, -stitl, -stitum, tr., show, reveal; illlr., be superior,· impers., it is better. praesum, -esse, -ful, intr. with dat., be in command of. premo, 3, pressl, pressum, tr., press hard upon, harass. primipilus, -i, m., Senior Centurion (see page 30). primus, -a, -um,first; front; pl., leaders,' ad'll., primo and prlmum, atfirst,/irstly. princeps, -cipis, m., leading
c.
G. W., II
man, chief; pl. with gen., ringleaders in. prior, prius, compo adj.,/ormer; pl., those in front. pristinus, -a, -wn, former. prius quam, conj., be/ore. pro, prep. with abl., before, in front oj; on behalf of; in aceordance with (31). procedii, 3, -cessl, -cessum, intr., advance, go forward. procul, adv., at a distance, far off. procumbo, 3, -cubuI, -cubitum, intr.,/all,/all down. proelior, I, dep. intr.,fight. ·proelium, -I, n., battle,fight, engagement. profectio, -onis, f., setting out, departure. proficiscor, 3" -fectus, dep. intr., set out, start. profligo, I, tr., rout, put to flight. prorugio, 3, -fugl, intr.,jlee. prognitus, -8, -urn, sprung from, descended from. progredior, 3, -gressus, dep. intr., advance. prohibeo, 2, tr., prevent (with infin.); cut . .. off from (9); restrain (28). proicio, 3, -iecJ, -iectum, tr., cast aside. promoveo, 2, -movi, -motum, tr., move forward. prope, prep. with acc., near,' adv., nearly, almost. propero, I, intT., hurry, hasten. propinquitis, -atis,!., near·ness; pl., ties of relatiomhip. propinquus, -8, -urn, neighbouring. propono, 3, -posui, -positum, tr., display. propter, prep. with ace., on account 0/.
131
10*
/
VOCABULARY
adv:;
propterei, used with quod, on account of the/act that; because. propugno, I, intr., make a sally. prosequor, 3, -serutus, dep. tr., pursue; honour (5). prospectus, -fis, m., 'View, line of sight. prodnu5, ad'll., immediately. proturbo, I, tr., throw into confusion. provideo, 2, -vldi, -visum, tr., foresee. provincia, -ae, f., province; especially " the Province" of Transalpine (Narbonese) Gaul, still called Provence, of which Caesar was governor. provolo, I, intr., rush forward. proximus, -a, -urn, superl. adj. from prope, nearest, 1lext; adv., proxime, most recemly (8, 19).
priidentia, -ae, f., prudence, wisdom. piiblicus, -a, -urn, pubh'c, national. Piiblius, -I, m., Publius, a Roman praenomen (first name, 25, 34). puer, pueri, m., boy; pl., children. pugna, -se, f., .battle, fight. pugno, I, intr.,jight; impers. pass., pugnatum est, a battle was fought.
Q .Q., Quintus, a Roman praenomen (first name, 3). qui, adv., where. quadriginti, indecl. pl., fOTIY.
quadringenti, ae, -a, pl., four hundred.
quaero, 3, quaesIvl, -sltum, tr., ask, look for. quam, adv., than; with superl., as ... as possible. quantus, -a, -um, how great, how powerful; as much as; as great' as; quanta opere, how much, how greatly (5) j tantum ... quantum, as far as. quirtus, -a, -urn, fourth. quattuor, indecl. pl., four. -que, enclitic particle, a"d, attached to a word but to be taken before that word. qui, quae, quod, rei. pron., who, which; at beginning of a sentence, this,' he. qui, quae, quod, interrog. adj., which, what. qui, quae, quod, indel. adj. with si, ne, any. quidam, quaedam, quoddam, a certain, some, o,~e. quidem, adv., indeed,' ne ... quidem, nat even. quin, clmj. with sub;. after negative verbs of doubting (2) and preventing (3), but that; from.
quinam, quaenam, quodnam, emphatic interrog. adj., what indeed. quindecim, indecl. pl., fifteen. quingenti, -ae, -a, jive hundred. quinquagintB, indecl. pl., fifty. quinque, indecl. pl., jive. Quintus, -I, m., Quintus, a Roman praenomen (first name, 3)· quis, quid, interrog. pron., who, what. quisquam, quaequam, quicquam, indel. pron. used with a negative, anyone, anything,' with
132
VOCABULARY
(8).
reicio, 3, -ied, -iectum, tr., drive back. relangunco,3,-languI,;ntr., become enervated, gr
quo, conj., in purpose clauses containing a compo adj. or adv., in order that. quod, conj., b(!cause. quoque, adv., also.,
a Belgic tribe living between the Axona (Ai.ne) and the Matrona (Marne), always friendly to Caesar; sing., Remus, a Reman
gen., quicquam negoti, aro' trouble (17). quisque, quaeque, quidque, each, each man. quisquis, quicquid, w/we'fJer, whatever. quivis, quaevls, quidvls (quodvl.), anyone, allY (31). quo, ado., whither, where to,' indef., 51 quo, if ... to any place
Rimi,-orum,m.pl.,theRenn·,
(6).
R
rimus, -i, m., branch. ratio, -onis,I., reason, cause; plan, method, arrangement, construction, tactics. recipio, 3, -cepi, -ceptum, rr., take back, receive, admitjwith reflex. pron., reCOfJer (12); withdraw (19). redda, 3, -didt, -ditum, tr. J give back; make (5). redeo, -Ire, -ii, -itum, intr., go back, return. redigo, 3, -egI, -actum, tr., reduce; make (27). redintegro, I, tr., renew. RedoDes, -urn, m. pl., the Redones, a Gallic tribe living in Brittany near Rennes. rediico, 3, tr., lead back, withdraw. refero, -ferre, rettulI, reHitum, tr., bring back; report . refringo, 3, -fregi, -fractum, tr., break down. regio, -onis, f., distn'ct, region. regnum, -i, n., royal power, kingship (al.o pl.).
remitta, 3, -mIsl, -missum, tr., throw back,· diminish (courage, IS). reniindo, I, tr., bring back news, report. repello, 3, reppulJ, repulsum, tr., drive back. repentin~, adv., suddenly. reperio, 4, repperl, repertum, tr., jind out. res, rei, f., thing" matter, affair; object (1); information (17); position, situation (25, 27); res friimentaria, corn supply; res pilblica, the state; res militans, warfare, war. resisto, 3, -stitl, -stitum, intr. with dat., resist, withstand. respicio, 3, -spexI, -spectum, inrr., look back. respondeD, 2, -spondl, -sponsurn, tr., answer. retineo, 2, -tinw, -tentum, tr., hold back, keep, retain,. memoriam retineo, with gen., remember. revertor, 3, dep. intr., with act. perf., revertl, go back, return. revoco, I, tr., recall, call back.
133
VOCABULARY rex, regis, m., king. Rhinus, -i, m., the Rhi,ze. rips, ~ae,f., bank (of a river). Romonoa, -3, -urn, Roman,' m. pl., the Romans. rubus, -I, bramble, thornbush. rumor, -oris, m., report, TUmour.
riipes, -is, j., rock, cliff, riirsus, adv., again.
S Sabinus, -I, m., Quintus Titurius Sabinus, one of Caesar's legati, killed in 54 B.C. (5, 9, ro). Sabis, -is, m., the Sabis, the river Sambre. saepes, -is, j., hedge, fence. sagittarius, -I, m., archer. salus, salutis, j .., safety, sarcina, -ae,/., soldr'u's pack (see page 34). saxum, -i, n., rock, stone. scientia, -ae, j., knowledge, skill.
scribo, 3, scrIpsl, scriptum, tr., write.
sciitum, -I, n., shield. se or sese, sui, reflex. pron., hr'msel/, themselves. sectio, -onis,j., plunder to be sold at auction. secundum, prep. with acc., along.
secundus, -a, -um, second; successful; favourable (9). sed, conj., but. senator, -oris, m., senator, councillor. senatus, -Us, m., senate, council of elders. Senones, -urn, m. pl., the Senones, a Gallic tribe, whose capital was Agedincurn (Sens), living south of the Sequana (Seine).
sententia, -ae, decision.
VOCABULARY
t.,
opinion;
sentis, -is, m., thorn, briar. septem, indecl. pl., seven. septimus, -3, -urn, seventh. sequor, ), seciitus, dep. tr., follow; in[r,"follow, result. servitus~"-iitis, f., slavery. servo, I, tr., keep, save, guard. sescenti, -ae, -a, pl., six hundred. sese, another form of se. sex, indecl. pl., six. sexaginti, indecl. pl., sixty. Sextius, -I, m., Publius Sextius Baculus, a senior centurion, seriously wounded in the battle against the Nervii (25). si, conj., if,' sl minus, if not. sic, adv., thus, so, as follows,' sic ut, in such a way that (32). signifer, -iferi, m., standardbearer. significado, -onis, f., sign, s~gnal, alarm-SIgnal. significo, I, tr., show, iRdicate. signum, -I, n., Signal,' standard (usually pl.); signa inferre, advance, attack; signa convertere, wheel round; signa conferre, mass together. silva, -ae,f., wood. silvestri!, -e, ,wooded. simul, adv., at the same time; conj., simul ae or atque, as soon as. sine, prep. with abl., without. singularis, -e, remarkable. singuli, -ae, -a, pl., one each; individual. sinister, -tra, -trum, left, on the left. sol, solis, m., sun. sollicito, I, cr., stir up, rouse. solus, -a, -urn, alone, only; adv. smurn, alQne, only.
134
spatium, -I, n., space, distance, interval, length. species, -icl,J., sight, appearance, spectacle. speculAtor, -oris, m., scout, spy. spes, spel, /., h9pe; spem infero, inspire hope. spiritus, -us, m., breath; pl., arrogance. statim, adv., immediately, at once. statio, -onis, f., post, outpost, picket. atatuo, 3, -ul, -utum, tr., resolve, determine. statura, -ae, f., height, stature. strepitus, -its, m., noise, din. studeo, 2, -ul, with dat., pay attention to. atudium, -i, n., eagerness for, with gen. sub, prep. with ace., towards (of time); with abl., under. subito, adv., suddenly,' hurriedly (33). submitto, 3, -misi, -missum, lr., senti, send up. 8ubruo, 3, -rul, rutum, tr., undermine. subsequor, 3, -secfitus, dep. tr.,follow closely. subsidium, -I, n., help, support; pl., reinforcements; subsidiO (dat.), as a help to, to help. succendo, 3, -cendi, -censum, lr., setflre to, sec on fire. successus, -us, m., advance, approach. Suessiones, -urn, m. pl., the Suessiones, a Gallic tribe living between the Matrona (Marne) and the Axona (Aisne). sum, esse, fui, intT., be. summa, -ae,f., supreme command (with and without imperl, 4, 23)·
summus, -8, -urn, superl. of superus, highest, very high,greatest; n., top, summit. sumo, 3, stlmpsl, sQmptum, tr., take; with sibi, assume (4). superior, -ius, compo of superus, higher; preceding, earlier, former. supero, I, tr., ooercome. supersedeo, 2, -scdl, -sessum, with abl., refrainjrom. supersum, ...esse, -ful, intr., survive. supplex, -plicis, m., suppliant. supplicatio, -onis, /., public· thanksgiving to the gods for a successful campaign. supra, ad"., above, previously. sU8tento, I, tr., endure, sustain,' impers. pass., the defence was maintained. 8ustineo, 2, -tinui, -tentum, tr.J' withstand, endure; with reflex. pron., stand up (25); intr., hold out (6). 8UUS, sua, suum, his, their; m. pl., his men.
T T., Titus, a Roman praenomen (first name, II). tam, ad'll., so. tamen, adv., however, nevertheless. tantulus, -a, -urn, so small. tantus, -a, -urn, so great, as much, such; adv., tantum, so much, so greatly. tardo, I, tr., check, delay. tardus, -a, -urn, slow, tired. tegimentum, -i, n., covering (for a shield). telum, -I, n., missile, weapon, spear. tempus;temporis, n., time.
135
