- 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-lat2:3.24.1-3.24.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Crassus draws up his forces at daybreak to wait for the enemy, but the enemy remains in their camp to seek a bloodless victory by cutting off supplies. Seeing his soldiers eager for battle because of the enemy's hesitation, Crassus decides to march upon the enemy's camp.
Prima luce productis omnibus copiis duplici acie instituta, auxiliis in mediam aciem coniectis, quid hostes consilii caperent1 expectabat.
At daybreak, having drawn out all his forces and formed a double line of battle, with the auxiliary troops placed in the center of the line, he waited to see what plan the enemy would adopt.
Illi, etsi propter multitudinem et veterem belli gloriam paucitatemque nostrorum se tuto dimicaturos existimabant, tamen tutius esse arbitrabantur obsessis viis commeatu intercluso sine vulnere victoria potiri,2 et si propter inopiam rei frumentariae Romani se recipere coepissent, impeditos in agmine et sub sarcinis infirmiores animo adoriri cogitabant.
The enemy, although they thought they would fight safely on account of their great numbers, their ancient glory in war, and the small number of our men, nevertheless judged that it would be safer to gain the victory without any wound by blockading the roads and cutting off supplies. And if the Romans should begin to retreat on account of the scarcity of provisions, they intended to attack them when they were impeded on the march and disheartened under their baggage.
Hoc consilio probato ab ducibus, productis Romanorum copiis, sese castris tenebant.
This plan having been approved by their leaders, although the Roman forces had been drawn out, they kept themselves within their camp.
Hac re perspecta Crassus, cum sua cunctatione atque opinione timoris hostes nostros milites alacriores ad pugnandum effecissent atque omnium voces audirentur expectari diutius non oportere quin ad castra iretur,3 cohortatus suos omnibus cupientibus ad hostium castra contendit.
When Crassus perceived this, since the enemy, by their delay and the impression of their fear, had made our soldiers more eager for battle, and the voices of everyone were heard saying that they ought not to wait any longer before marching to the camp, he encouraged his men, and with everyone eager, hastened toward the enemy’s camp.
- 3.24.1quid hostes consilii caperent
The partitive genitive consilii is used with the interrogative pronoun quid, meaning 'what plan'. The subjunctive caperent is in the imperfect tense because it is an indirect question dependent on the past-tense main verb expectabat.
- 3.24.2tutius esse arbitrabantur obsessis viis commeatu intercluso sine vulnere victoria potiri
The infinitive potiri (which governs the ablative victoria) functions as the subject of tutius esse within the accusative and infinitive construction. obsessis viis and commeatu intercluso are parallel ablatives absolute indicating the means by which they would gain victory.
- 3.24.5expectari diutius non oportere quin ad castra iretur
The passive infinitive expectari is used as the complement of the impersonal verb oportere. The conjunction quin is introduced after the negative expression of delay (non oportere expectari), and iretur is an impersonal passive subjunctive ('that they should march').