- 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-lat2:4.24.1-4.24.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
It describes how the Roman forces faced immense difficulties when attempting to disembark, being obstructed by the enemy's cavalry and charioteers, and struggling due to the deep water, unfamiliar terrain, and heavy armor, which dampened their usual zeal.
At barbari, consilio Romanorum cognito praemisso equitatu et essedariis, quo plerumque genere1 in proeliis uti consuerunt, reliquis copiis subsecuti nostros navibus egredi prohibebant.
But the barbarians, having learned of the design of the Romans, sent forward their cavalry and charioteers—a class of warriors they were mostly accustomed to employ in battles—and following closely with the rest of their forces, tried to prevent our men from landing.
Erat ob has causas summa difficultas, quod naves propter magnitudinem nisi in alto constitui non poterant, militibus autem, ignotis locis, impeditis manibus, magno et gravi onere armorum oppressis simul et de navibus desiliendum2 et in fluctibus consistendum et cum hostibus erat pugnandum, cum illi aut ex arido aut paulum in aquam progressi omnibus membris expeditis, notissimis locis, audacter tela coicerent et equos insuefactos incitarent.
For these reasons there was the greatest difficulty, because the ships, on account of their size, could not be stationed except in deep water, while the soldiers, in places unknown to them, with their hands impeded, and oppressed by the large and heavy load of their armor, had at the same time to leap down from the ships, stand in the waves, and fight with the enemy, whereas they, either from dry land or having advanced only a little into the water, with all their limbs free, in places thoroughly known to them, boldly cast their weapons and spurred on their horses, which were trained to this.
Quibus rebus nostri perterriti atque huius omnino generis pugnae imperiti, non eadem alacritate ac studio quo3 in pedestribus uti proeliis consuerant utebantur.
Terrified by these circumstances and being altogether unacquainted with this style of fighting, our men did not exert the same alacrity and zeal which they had been accustomed to employ in battles on land.
- 4.24.1quo plerumque genere
An adjectival use of the relative pronoun where the preceding nouns equitatu et essedariis (cavalry and charioteers) are incorporated into the general term genere (class). The ablative case quo is governed by the verb uti in the relative clause.
- 4.24.2militibus ... desiliendum
The dative militibus is a dative of agent used with the passive periphrastic conjugation (the gerundives desiliendum, consistendum, pugnandum with erat), denoting the persons who had to perform the actions.
- 4.24.4non eadem alacritate ac studio quo
The two ablative nouns alacritate (feminine) and studio (neuter) are governed by the main verb utebantur (which takes the ablative). The relative pronoun quo (ablative singular) agrees in gender and number with the nearer noun studio, and is governed by uti in the relative clause.