Caesar De Bello Gallico 5 46 Course Notes

Latin III:  Caesar, De Bello Gallico

Instructor: James Ransom

May 14, 2014

Caesar DBG 5:46

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

[46]          1         Caesar acceptis litteris hora circiter XI diei statim nuntium in Bellovacos ad M. Crassum quaestorem mittit, cuius hiberna aberant ab eo milia passuum XXV;          2   iubet media nocte legionem proficisci celeriterque ad se venire.

3         Exit cum nuntio Crassus. Alterum ad Gaium Fabium legatum mittit, ut in Atrebatium fines legionem adducat, qua sibi iter faciendum sciebat.          4         Scribit Labieno, si rei publicae commodo facere posset, cum legione ad fines Nerviorum veniat. Reliquam partem exercitus, quod paulo aberat longius, non putat exspectandam; equites circiter quadringentos ex proximis hibernis colligit.

1            Caesar acceptis litteris hora circiter XI diei statim nuntium in Bellovacos ad M. Crassum quaestorem mittit, cuius hiberna aberant ab eo milia passuum XXV Caesar received the letter at around 4:00 PM and immediately sent  word to Crassus, whose winter fortifications were about 25 miles away, in the land of the Bellovaci;  “aberant” is third person plural imperfect indicative active of absum, abesse, abfui, abfuturus, “to be away, to be distant, absent.”  “mittit” is third person singular present indicative active of mitto, mittere, misi, missum.  “acceptis” is perfect passive participle (in ablative absolute construction) of accipio, accipere, accepi, acceptum, “to receive, accept.” 

2   iubet media nocte legionem proficisci celeriterque ad se venire Caesar ordered Crassus’ legion to mobilize at midnight and come to Caesar by forced march; “venire” is present infinitive of venio, venire, veni, ventum.  “proficisci” is present infinitive of the deponent proficiscor, proficisci, profectus sum, “to set out, depart, leave.”  “iubet” is third person singular present indicative active of iubeo, iubere, iussi, iussum. 

3            Exit cum nuntio Crassus. Alterum ad Gaium Fabium legatum mittit, ut in Atrebatium fines legionem adducat, qua sibi iter faciendum sciebat Crassus set out immediately.  Caesar also sent a legate to Gaius Fabius, ordering him to lead his men to the Atrebate territory—through which Caesar foresaw he too would have to march; “sciebat” is third person singular imperfect indicative active of  scio, scire, scivi, scitum.  “faciendum (esse)”:  see Steadman’s note on this passive periphrastic.  “adducat” is third person singular present subjunctive active of adduco, adducere, adduxi, adductum, “to lead, to bring.”  “mittit” is third person singular present indicative active of mitto.  “exit” is third person singular present indicative active of exeo, exire, exii, exitum, “to exit, depart.” 

4            Scribit Labieno, si rei publicae commodo facere posset, cum legione ad fines Nerviorum veniat.  Finally, Caesar wrote to Labienus that, if possible given the strategic situation, he should lead his legion to the land of the Nervii; “veniat” is third person singular present subjunctive active of venio, venire, veni, ventum. “posset” is third person singular imperfect subjunctive active of possum, posse, potui.  “facere” is present infinitive of facio, facere, feci, factum.  “scribit” is third person singular present indicative active of scribo, scribere, scripsi, scriptum. 

Reliquam partem exercitus, quod paulo aberat longius, non putat exspectandam; As for the rest of the army, since it was a bit too far from the action, he figured it didn’t made sense to wait around; “exspectandam” is future passive participle (gerundive) of exspecto, exspectare, exspectavi, exspectatum, “to wait for, expect.” “putat” is third person plural present indicative active of puto, putare, putavi, putatum.  “aberat” is third person singular imperfect indicative active of absum, abesse, abfui, abfuturus. 

equites circiter quadringentos ex proximis hibernis colligit But he did manage to scrape together about 400 mounted troops from the nearby camps; “colligit” is third person singular present indicative active of colligo, colligere, collegi, collectum, “to gather or bring together, to assemble.”