- 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-lat2:1.34.1-1.34.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-24
Caesar sends envoys to Ariovistus proposing a conference, but Ariovistus haughtily refuses, asserting that Caesar should come to him and questioning Rome's business in his conquered Gaul.
Quam ob rem placuit ei ut ad Ariovistum legatos mitteret, qui ab eo postularent uti aliquem locum medium utrisque conloquio deligeret: velle sese1 de re publica et summis utriusque rebus cum eo agere.
For this reason, he resolved to send ambassadors to Ariovistus, who should demand of him that he select some place midway between them for a conference, saying that he wished to treat with him concerning the public welfare and their own most important affairs.
Ei legationi Ariovistus respondit: si quid ipsi a Caesare opus esset,2 sese ad eum venturum fuisse;3 si quid ille se velit,4 illum ad se venire oportere.
To this embassy Ariovistus replied: that if he himself had need of anything from Caesar, he would have come to him; if he wanted anything of him, he ought to come to him.
Praeterea se neque sine exercitu in eas partes Galliae venire audere quas Caesar possideret, neque exercitum sine magno commeatu atque molimento in unum locum contrahere posse.
Moreover, he did not dare to come without an army into those parts of Gaul which Caesar possessed, nor could he concentrate his army into one place without great supply and exertion.
Sibi autem mirum videri quid in sua Gallia, quam bello vicisset, aut Caesari aut omnino populo Romano negotii esset.5
Furthermore, it seemed strange to him what business either Caesar or indeed the Roman people had in his own Gaul, which he had conquered in war.
- 1.34.1velle sese
The infinitive clause in indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) continues without an explicit governing verb of saying (like dixerunt). It depends on the context of the embassy's demand (postularent) to express Caesar's message.
- 1.34.2si quid ipsi a Caesare opus esset
The construction of 'opus est' (there is need of). The dative 'ipsi' refers to Ariovistus, and 'quid' serves as the subject or object of need. 'a Caesare' denotes the source ('from Caesar').
- 1.34.2sese ad eum venturum fuisse
The apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact condition in indirect discourse (representing 'si quid opus esset, venissem' in direct speech). The pluperfect subjunctive 'venissem' is converted into the future active participle with 'fuisse'.
- 1.34.2si quid ille se velit
A construction where 'velle' takes a double accusative meaning 'to want something of someone'. 'ille' (Caesar) is the subject, 'se' (Ariovistus) is the accusative of the person, and 'quid' is the inner accusative of the thing.
- 1.34.4quid ... negotii esset
Within the indirect question, 'negotii' is a partitive genitive qualifying the interrogative pronoun 'quid' ('what of business'). 'Caesari' and 'populo Romano' are datives of possession, meaning 'what business Caesar or the Roman people had'.