Caesar De Bello Gallico I.2 Course Notes

Latin III:  De Bello Gallico

Instructor:  James Ransom

January 3, 2014

Caesar DBG I.2

Course Notes
© 2014 James Ransom, M.A., J.D.

[2]   1      Apud Helvetios longe nobilissimus fuit et ditissimus Orgetorix. Is M. Messala, [et P.] M. Pisone consulibus regni cupiditate inductus coniurationem nobilitatis fecit et civitati persuasit ut de finibus suis cum omnibus copiis exirent:                2      perfacile esse, cum virtute omnibus praestarent, totius Galliae imperio potiri.    3     Id hoc facilius iis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur: una ex parte flumine Rheno latissimo atque altissimo, qui agrum Helvetium a Germanis dividit; altera ex parte monte Iura altissimo, qui est inter Sequanos et Helvetios; tertia lacu Lemanno et flumine Rhodano, qui provinciam nostram ab Helvetiis dividit. 4      His rebus fiebat ut et minus late vagarentur et minus facile finitimis bellum inferre possent;         5      qua ex parte homines bellandi cupidi magno dolore adficiebantur.        6      Pro multitudine autem hominum et pro gloria belli atque fortitudinis angustos se fines habere arbitrabantur, qui in longitudinem milia passuum CCXL, in latitudinem CLXXX patebant.

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CORE VOCABULARY WORDS APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS CHAPTER:  before studying this chapter, scan Steadman xv-xvi to review all the words preceded by a "2" in the left margin. 

·         Many of the words are already familiar to you, and for those words the review is just a refresher. 

·         Some may be new to you; note their meaning, and then note their appearance in the text. 

·         Use a highlighter to mark  unfamiliar core vocabulary in the chapter.

1          Apud Helvetios longe nobilissimus fuit et ditissimus Orgetorix Among the Helvetians, by far the most noble, and also the richest, was Orgetorix;  "fuit" is third person singular perfect indicative active of sum, esse, fui, futurus. apud="among."  "longe"=far, by far.  Note the combination of "longe" with two superlatives:  pleonasm.             M. Messala, [et P.] M. Pisone consulibus during the consulship of Marcus Messalla and Marcus Piso; "consulibus" is ablative plural of the third declension noun consul, consulis, m.   ablative here denotes "time within which."    Is...regni cupiditate inductus coniurationem nobilitatis fecit his desire for the kingship led him to form a conspiracy of the nobility; "inductus" is the perfect passive participle of induco, inducere, induxi, inductum. 

"regni":  objective genitive governed by "cupiditate"  "His desire of (for) kingship..."  "coniurationem" is accusative singular of the third declension noun coniuratio, coniurationisi, f.  "nobilitatis":  objective genitive.                          et civitati persuasit ut de finibus suis cum omnibus copiis exirent:  and he persuaded the citizenry to march out of their land in full strength; "civitati"=dative of indirect object of "persuasit."   "cum omnibus copiis"=lit. "with all their might."  "exirent" is third person plural imperfect active subjunctive of exeo.  The whole clause "et...exirent" is a substantive purpose clause utilizing the subjunctive.  "de finibus suis":  ablative of separation with the preposition de. 

2          perfacile esse, cum virtute omnibus praestarent, totius Galliae imperio potiri. arguing that as they exceeded all others in valor, the control of all Gaul could easily be secured; Caesar reports Orgetorix's argument in indirect quotation (oratio obliqua).  "cum virtute omnibus praestarent":  subordinate clause in indirect discourse uses the subjunctive.  Here, "praestarent" is third person plural imperfect subjunctive active of praesto, praestare, praestiti, praestatum, "to be outstanding, to excel."  "virtute"=ablative of respect.  "imperio" is the ablative object controlled by the deponent verb potior, potiri, potitus sumi. 

3          Id hoc facilius eis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur: In this he persuaded them more easily because the Helvetians are constrained on all sides by their location; "hoc...quod"=ablative of cause.  "facilius":  comparative adverb.  eis=dative of indirect object.  "undique" is an indeclinable adverb meaning "from all sides, from every direction."  "continentur" is third person plural present indicative passive of contineo, continere, continui, contentum, "to surround, contain, enclose."  Caesar uses the historical present to create a sense of vivid immediacy in the narration.

una ex parte flumine Rheno latissimo atque altissimo, qui agrum Helvetium a Germanis dividit; one one side the river Rhine, most wide and most deep, which separates the land of the Helvetians from the Germans;  "ex parte"=ablative of position.  "flumine Rheno"=ablative of means "a"=ab

altera ex parte monte Iura altissimo, qui est inter Sequanos et Helvetios; on another the Jura peaks, highest of all, which lie between the Sequani and the Helvetians; note the profusion of superlative adjectives in Caesar's account. 

tertia lacu Lemanno et flumine Rhodano, qui provinciam nostram ab Helvetiis dividit. on the third side, the Lake of Genera and the river Rhone, which separates our [i.e. Roman] province from the Helvetians.  The structure of this clause is parallel to that of the previous two.  "lacu" and "flumine" = ablative of means. 

4          His rebus fiebat ut et minus late vagarentur et minus facile finitimis bellum inferre possent;  As a result, it happened that their range of free movement was restricted, and  waging war across borders made more difficult; "fiebat"=imperfect subjunctive; "fiebat ut":  subjunctive of result.  "vagarentur" is third person plural imperfect subjunctive actve of the deponent verb vagor, vagari, vagatus sum, "wander, roam."  "possent" is third person plural imperfect subjunctive active of the irregular verb possum, posse, potui.  "finitimus"  dative of indirect object.  "et...et":  "both...and."  "inferre":  present active infinitive of infero, inferre, intuli, illatum; in its strict military sense, "bear standards against the enemy, attack, make an attack upon." 

5          qua ex parte homines bellandi cupidi magno dolore afficiebantur and on this account they were greatly grieved, for they were men that loved war;  "afficiebantur" is third person plural imperfect passive indicative of afficio, afficere, affeci, affectum.  

"homines bellandi cupidi":  "bellandi" is a gerund, or a "verbal noun," that is, a verb form which behaves similarly to a noun; here, the noun has been made from the verb bello, bellare.   The gerund is the singular, neuter form of the gerundive and corresponds to English verbal nouns ening in -ing.  a literal translation could be "men in love of war-waging."  "cupidi":  genitive masculine singular of the adjective cupidus, cupidi, m./f./n., in agreement with "bellandi."

"qua ex parte"=for which reason.  ablative of cause with the preposition ex. "magno dolore"  ablative agreeing with "qua ex parte."  "dolore" is ablative singular of the third declension noun dolor, doloris, m. 

6      Pro multitudine autem hominum et pro gloria belli atque fortitudinis angustos se fines habere arbitrabantur, qui in longitudinem milia passuum CCXL, in latitudinem CLXXX patebant.

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6          Pro multitudine autem hominum Given the size of their population; autem is a postpositive conjunction. "multitudine" is ablative singular of the third declension noun multitudo, multitudinis, f.  et pro gloria belli atque fortitudinis  and considering their strong courage and impressive war record; angustos se fines habere arbitrabantur they found their borders a narrow prison;  "angustos fines" is the accusative direct object of the infinitive "habere." "pro...pro":  introducing clauses of causality.  qui in longitudinem milia passuum CCXL, in latitudinem CLXXX patebant  which measured 220 miles longitude x 165 latitude). The antecedent of "qui" is "fines" in the previous clause. "milia passuum CCXL":  accusative of extent of space.