- Source
- Julius Caesar. Aulus Hirtius. C. Iuli Commentarii Rerum in Gallia Gestarum VII A. Hirti Commentarius VII. Holmes, T. Rice (Thomas Rice), editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.15.1-1.15.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Both the Helvetii and the Roman army resume their march; however, Caesar's cavalry vanguard is defeated after pursuing too eagerly, emboldening the Helvetii. Caesar avoids a full-scale battle while closely shadowing them at a set distance.
Postero die castra ex eo loco movent. Idem facit Caesar equitatumque omnem, ad numerum quattuor milium, quem ex omni provincia et Haeduis atque eorum sociis coactum habebat,1 praemittit, qui videant2 quas in partes hostes iter faciant. Qui cupidius3 novissimum agmen insecuti alieno loco cum equitatu Helvetiorum proelium committunt; et pauci de nostris cadunt.
On the following day they move their camp from that place. Caesar does the same, and sends ahead all his cavalry, to the number of four thousand, which he had kept collected from the entire Province and from the Haedui and their allies, to see in what direction the enemy are marching. These, having pursued the enemy’s rear too eagerly, engage in battle with the cavalry of the Helvetii in an unfavorable place; and a few of our men fall.
Quo proelio sublati Helvetii, quod quingentis equitibus tantam multitudinem equitum propulerant, audacius subsistere non numquam et novissimo agmine proelio nostros lacessere coeperunt. Caesar suos a proelio continebat, ac satis habebat in praesentia hostem rapinis, pabulationibus populationibusque prohibere.4
Elated by this battle, because with five hundred horsemen they had repulsed so great a multitude of cavalry, the Helvetii began to make a stand more boldly at times, and to harass our men in battle from their rear guard. Caesar kept his men from battle, and deemed it sufficient for the present to prevent the enemy from plundering, foraging, and ravaging.
Ita dies circiter XV iter fecerunt uti inter novissimum hostium agmen et nostrum primum non amplius quinis aut senis milibus passuum5 interesset.
In this manner they marched for about fifteen days, so that there was not more than five or six miles daily intervening between the enemy’s rear guard and our vanguard.
- 1.15.1coactum habebat
A periphrastic construction combining the perfect participle with habere. While similar in meaning to a simple pluperfect (coegerat), it emphasizes the continued possession of the gathered force, serving as a precursor to the Romance perfect tense.
- 1.15.1qui videant
A relative clause of purpose introduced by the relative pronoun qui, taking the subjunctive present plural (videant) to express intent: 'in order that they might see'.
- 1.15.1Qui cupidius
The sentence-initial Qui is a connecting relative pronoun referring back to the equitatum in the previous sentence. The comparative adverb cupidius functions as an absolute comparative, meaning 'too eagerly' or 'over-enthusiastically', rather than in direct comparison to something else.
- 1.15.2satis habebat ... prohibere
The idiom satis habere with an infinitive means 'to deem it sufficient to do something'. The infinitive prohibere takes the accusative object hostem and the ablatives of separation (rapinis, pabulationibus populationibusque) to mean 'to keep the enemy from plundering, etc.'
- 1.15.3quinis aut senis milibus passuum
Ablative of the distributive numerals quinis and senis, showing that over the fifteen days of marching, the distance between the armies was 'five or six miles each day'. milibus functions either as an ablative of comparison following amplius, or as an ablative of measure of difference.