- 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-lat2:5.13.1-5.13.7
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-28
Caesar describes the geography of Britain, detailing its triangular shape, the directions and lengths of its three sides, and its neighboring islands such as Ireland and Mona.
Insula natura1 triquetra, cuius unum latus est contra Galliam. Huius lateris alter angulus, qui est ad Cantium, quo fere omnes ex Gallia naves appelluntur, ad orientem solem, inferior ad meridiem spectat. Hoc pertinet circiter millia passuum quingenta.
The island is triangular by nature, one side of which is opposite Gaul. One corner of this side, which is at Cantium, where almost all ships from Gaul steer, looks toward the east, and the lower corner toward the south. This side extends about five hundred miles.
Alterum vergit ad Hispaniam atque occidentem solem; qua ex parte est Hibernia, dimidio minor, ut aestimatur, quam Britannia, sed pari spatio transmissus atque ex Gallia est in Britanniam.2
The second side verges toward Spain and the west; on which side is Hibernia, smaller by half, as is estimated, than Britain, but the passage is of equal distance as that from Gaul into Britain.
In hoc medio cursu est insula, quae appellatur Mona: complures praeterea minores subiectae insulae existimantur, de quibus insulis nonnulli scripserunt dies continuos triginta sub bruma esse noctem.
In the middle of this voyage is an island which is called Mona; many other smaller islands besides are supposed to lie there, concerning which islands some have written that there is night for thirty consecutive days at the winter solstice.
Nos nihil de eo percontationibus reperiebamus, nisi certis ex aqua mensuris breviores esse quam in continenti noctes videbamus.3
We could find out nothing about this by inquiries, except that we saw by accurate measurements with water-clocks that the nights were shorter than on the continent.
Huius est longitudo lateris, ut fert illorum opinio, septingentorum milium.
The length of this side, as their opinion holds, is seven hundred miles.
Tertium est contra septentriones; cui parti nulla est obiecta terra, sed eius angulus lateris maxime ad Germaniam spectat. Hoc milia passuum octingenta in longitudinem esse existimatur.
The third side is opposite the north, to which part no land is opposite, but the corner of this side looks chiefly toward Germany. This is estimated to be eight hundred miles in length.
Ita omnis insula est in circuitu vicies centum milium passuum.4
Thus the whole island is twenty hundred miles in circumference.
- 5.13.1natura
Ablative of respect or manner, meaning "by nature" or "inherently." A copula (est) is omitted between the subject Insula and the complement triquetra.
- 5.13.2pari spatio transmissus atque ex Gallia est in Britanniam
transmissus is a fourth-declension noun in the nominative singular meaning "passage" or "crossing," with the verb est being omitted. The correlative construction pari... atque... means "the same... as...," yielding "the passage is of equal distance (spatio, ablative of quality) as that from Gaul to Britain."
- 5.13.4nisi certis ex aqua mensuris breviores esse quam in continenti noctes videbamus
nisi ("except") qualifies the preceding negative statement nihil... reperiebamus ("we found nothing"). certis ex aqua mensuris is an ablative phrase meaning "by precise measurements from water" (referring to water-clocks). breviores esse... noctes is an accusative-with-infinitive construction acting as the direct object of videbamus ("we saw that the nights were shorter").
- 5.13.7vicies centum milium passuum
vicies is a numeral adverb meaning "twenty times," which multiplies centum milia ("one hundred thousand") to represent two million. milium is the genitive plural of milia. The entire phrase functions as a genitive of quality or measure defining circuitu.