Clash with the Helvetii and the Flank Attack — Julius Caesar, Gallic War Book 1 (1.25.1–1.25.7), Latin & English

§1.25.1

Caesar primum suo, deinde omnium ex conspectu remotis equis, ut aequato omnium periculo spem fugae tolleret, cohortatus suos proelium commisit.

Caesar, having removed first his own horse, then those of all, out of sight, so that by making the danger equal for all he might take away the hope of flight, encouraged his men and joined battle.

§1.25.2

Milites loco superiore pilis missis facile hostium phalangem perfregerunt. Ea disiecta gladiis destrictis in eos impetum fecerunt.

The soldiers, by casting their javelins from the higher ground, easily broke the enemy’s phalanx. When that was dispersed, they drew their swords and made a charge upon them.

§1.25.3

Gallis magno ad pugnam erat impedimento¹ quod pluribus eorum scutis uno ictu pilorum transfixis et conligatis,² cum ferrum se inflexisset, neque evellere neque sinistra impedita satis commode pugnare poterant,³ multi ut diu iactato bracchio praeoptarent scutum manu emittere et nudo corpore pugnare.

It was a great hindrance to the Gauls in the fight that, many of their shields having been pierced and pinned together by a single cast of the javelins, when the iron had bent itself, they could neither pull it out nor, with their left hand impeded, fight with sufficient convenience, so that many, after tossing their arms about for a long time, preferred to cast the shield from their hand and fight with their body unprotected.

§1.25.5

Tandem vulneribus defessi et pedem referre et, quod mons suberat circiter mille passuum spatio, eo se recipere coeperunt.

At length, exhausted by wounds, they began both to give way and, because there was a mountain near by at a distance of about a mile, to retreat thither.

§1.25.6

Capto monte et succedentibus nostris, Boi et Tulingi, qui hominum milibus circiter XV agmen hostium claudebant et novissimis praesidio erant, ex itinere nostros ab latere aperto adgressi circumvenire,⁴ et id conspicati Helvetii, qui in montem sese receperant, rursus instare et proelium redintegrare coeperunt.

The mountain having been reached and our men coming up, the Boii and Tulingi, who with about fifteen thousand men closed the enemy’s line of march and served as a guard to the rear, attacking our men on the exposed flank on the march, began to surround them; and the Helvetii, who had retreated to the mountain, having observed this, began to press on again and renew the battle.

§1.25.7

Romani [conversa] signa bipertito intulerunt: prima et secunda acies, ut victis ac submotis resisteret, tertia, ut venientes sustineret.

The Romans advanced their faced-about standards in two directions: the first and second line, to withstand those who had been defeated and driven back; the third, to oppose those who were coming up.

Syntax notes4 items

1.25.3impedimento
Dative of purpose or tendency. Together with Gallis (dative of reference), it forms a double dative construction, with magno modifying impedimento.
1.25.3scutis ... transfixis et conligatis
Ablative absolute with scutis as its logical subject, modified by the perfect participles transfixis and conligatis, describing the circumstances or cause.
1.25.3quod ... poterant
A noun clause introduced by quod, functioning as the subject of the main clause; i.e., 'the fact that they could neither...' is the subject of erat impedimento.
1.25.6Boi et Tulingi ... circumvenire
Either a historical infinitive used independently, or governed by the main verb coeperunt at the end of the sentence, which functions as the common predicate for both the Boii and Tulingi clause and the Helvetii clause. The translations are aligned to treat coeperunt as governing both.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)

2026-09-22 AI review — source 1

urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.25.1-1.25.7