- 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-lat2:1.8.1-1.8.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
Caesar constructs fortifications along the Rhone, formally refuses the Helvetian envoys' request to cross when they return, and successfully repels their attempts to break through by force.
Interea ea legione quam secum habebat militibusque,1 qui ex provincia convenerant, a lacu Lemanno, qui in flumen Rhodanum influit, ad montem Iuram, qui fines Sequanorum ab Helvetiis dividit, milia passuum XVIIII murum in altitudinem pedum sedecim fossamque perducit.
Meanwhile, with that legion which he had with him and the soldiers who had assembled from the province, he constructed a wall sixteen feet high and a ditch, for a distance of nineteen miles, from Lake Lemannus, which flows into the river Rhodanus, to Mount Jura, which divides the territory of the Sequani from the Helvetii.
Eo opere perfecto praesidia disponit, castella communit, quo facilius,2 si se invito3 transire conentur, prohibere possit.
When that work was completed, he distributed garrisons and fortified redoubts, so that he might be able to stop them more easily if they should attempt to cross against his will.
Ubi ea dies quam constituerat cum legatis venit et legati ad eum reverterunt, negat se more et exemplo populi Romani posse iter ulli per provinciam dare et, si vim facere conentur, prohibiturum4 ostendit.
When the day which he had appointed with the envoys arrived, and the envoys returned to him, he declared that, in accordance with the custom and precedent of the Roman people, he could not grant anyone a passage through the province, and he made it clear that, if they should attempt to use force, he would stop them.
Helvetii ea spe deiecti navibus iunctis ratibusque compluribus factis, alii vadis Rhodani, qua minima altitudo fluminis erat, non numquam interdiu, saepius noctu si perrumpere possent conati,5 operis munitione et militum concursu et telis repulsi, hoc conatu destiterunt.
Disappointed in this hope, the Helvetii—some by joining boats together and making numerous rafts, others by the fords of the Rhone where the depth of the river was least—having tried, sometimes by day, more often by night, if they could break through, were repulsed by the fortification of the work, the rapid gathering of the soldiers, and the missiles, and desisted from this attempt.
- 1.8.1ea legione ... militibusque
Ablative of means. Caesar treats the legion and the soldiers as the instrument or means by which the fortification work was executed.
- 1.8.2quo facilius
Purpose clause with a comparative. When a clause of purpose (with subjunctive possit) contains a comparative adjective or adverb (here facilius), quo (originally the ablative of means of the relative pronoun) is used instead of ut.
- 1.8.2se invito
Ablative absolute consisting of a pronoun and an adjective, meaning "he being unwilling" or "against his will".
- 1.8.3prohibiturum
Future active infinitive (prohibiturum esse with esse omitted) in indirect discourse depending on the verb of showing ostendit. The subject accusative se and the direct object eos (referring to the Helvetii) are also omitted as they are obvious from the context.
- 1.8.4si perrumpere possent conati
An indirect question introduced by si depending on the participle conati (having tried). It functions as a noun clause meaning "trying whether they could break through", where si means "whether" rather than introducing a conditional clause.