- 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
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.6.1-1.6.3
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
The two available routes for the departure of the Helvetii are described: a difficult one through the Sequani and an easier one through the Roman province. They planned to persuade or compel the Allobroges to allow passage and appointed a specific day (March 28, 58 BC) for assembly.
Erant omnino itinera duo, quibus itineribus1 domo exire possent: unum per Sequanos, angustum et difficile, inter montem Iuram et flumen Rhodanum, vix qua singuli carri ducerentur, mons autem altissimus impendebat, ut facile perpauci prohibere possent;
There were in all two routes by which routes they could go out from home: one through the Sequani, narrow and difficult, between Mount Jura and the river Rhone, by which scarcely single carts could be led, and moreover a very high mountain overhung, so that a very few men could easily prohibit them;
alterum per provinciam nostram, multo facilius atque expeditius, propterea quod inter fines Helvetiorum et Allobrogum, qui nuper pacati erant, Rhodanus fluit isque non nullis locis vado transitur.
the other through our province, much easier and more unimpeded, because the Rhone flows between the territories of the Helvetii and the Allobroges, who had lately been pacified, and it is crossed by a ford in several places.
Extremum oppidum Allobrogum est proximumque Helvetiorum finibus Genava. Ex eo oppido pons ad Helvetios pertinet. Allobrogibus sese vel persuasuros,2 quod nondum bono animo3 in populum Romanum viderentur, existimabant vel vi coacturos ut per suos fines eos ire paterentur. Omnibus rebus ad profectionem comparatis diem dicunt, qua die ad ripam Rhodani omnes conveniant. is dies erat a. d. V. Kal. Apr.4 L. Pisone, A. Gabinio consulibus.
Genava is the outermost town of the Allobroges and the nearest to the territories of the Helvetii. From that town a bridge extends to the Helvetii. They thought that they would either persuade the Allobroges, because they did not yet seem of a friendly disposition toward the Roman people, or compel them by force to allow them to go through their territories. All things being prepared for the departure, they appoint a day on which day all should assemble at the bank of the Rhone. This day was the fifth day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Lucius Piso and Aulus Gabinius.
- 1.6.1quibus itineribus
The antecedent itinera is repeated within the relative clause as the noun itineribus in the ablative case. This is a common stylistic feature in Classical Latin prose, especially in Caesar, to avoid ambiguity.
- 1.6.3Allobrogibus sese vel persuasuros
An accusative-with-infinitive construction (indirect speech) dependent on existimabant. sese is the subject accusative of the future infinitives persuasuros [esse] and coacturos [esse]. Allobrogibus is the dative object governed by persuasuros, while the accusative object of coacturos (referring to the Allobroges) is omitted.
- 1.6.3bono animo
An ablative of quality ('of a friendly mind/disposition'). It functions predicatively here with an omitted infinitive esse after viderentur, describing the Allobroges as 'not yet seeming to be of a friendly disposition toward the Roman people.'
- 1.6.3a. d. V. Kal. Apr.
Abbreviation for ante diem quintum Kalendas Aprilis. It refers to the fifth day before the Kalends of April, which, by Roman inclusive reckoning (counting both the starting and ending days), corresponds to March 28th.