- 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-lat2:5.34.1-5.34.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-29
The Gallic leaders order their men to maintain their positions to secure the booty. When the Romans resist bravely despite their disadvantage, Ambiorix commands his troops to exploit their light armor, keep their distance, and pursue the retreating Romans.
At barbaris consilium non defuit. Nam duces eorum tota acie pronuntiare iusserunt, ne quis ab loco discederet: illorum esse praedam atque illis reservari quaecumque Romani reliquissent: proinde omnia in victoria posita existimarent.1
But the barbarians did not lack a plan. For their leaders ordered the command to be passed along the entire line that no one should leave his place: that the booty was theirs and whatever the Romans had left was reserved for them: therefore they should consider that everything depended on victory.
Erant et virtute et studio pugnandi pares;2 nostri, tametsi ab duce et a fortuna deserebantur, tamen omnem spem salutis in virtute ponebant, et quotiens quaeque cohors procurrerat, ab ea parte magnus numerus hostium cadebat.
They were equal both in valor and in eagerness for fighting; our men, although they were deserted by their general and by fortune, nevertheless placed all hope of safety in valor, and as often as each cohort had charged, on that side a great number of the enemy fell.
Qua re animadversa Ambiorix pronuntiari iubet, ut procul tela coniciant neu propius accedant et, quam in partem Romani impetum fecerint, cedant (levitate armorum et cotidiana exercitatione nihil eis noceri posse),3 rursus se ad signa recipientes4 insequantur.
On noticing this, Ambiorix orders it to be announced that they should throw their weapons from a distance and not approach too near, and give way in whatever direction the Romans made an attack (since owing to the lightness of their weapons and their daily training no harm could be done to them), and pursue them as they retreated again to their standards.
- 5.34.1illorum esse praedam atque illis reservari quaecumque Romani reliquissent: proinde omnia in victoria posita existimarent
Indirect discourse (oratio obliqua) continuing after duces ... iusserunt. Following the subjunctive clause (ne quis ... discederet), the subsequent statements are reported indirectly with the accusative and infinitive (esse, reservari) and the subjunctive (existimarent). The verb existimarent represents an original imperative (existimate) in direct speech, here converted into the imperfect subjunctive.
- 5.34.2Erant et virtute et studio pugnandi pares
The subject 'they' (the enemy) is implied, and the object of comparison for pares ('equal to our men') is omitted. The contrast with the following nostri indicates that the enemy were no less brave and eager than the Roman soldiers.
- 5.34.3nihil eis noceri posse
An explanatory parenthetical clause inserted without a conjunction. The intransitive verb nocere ('to harm', which governs the dative) is used in the impersonal passive (noceri). The neuter accusative nihil functions adverbially as 'in no way' or 'not at all'. The phrase literally means 'it was possible for no harm to be done to them.'
- 5.34.4recipientes
Present participle of recipere in the masculine accusative plural, referring to the preceding Romani. The phrase se recipere is a reflexive idiom meaning 'to retreat'. Here, recipientes is the direct object of the verb insequantur, meaning 'them (the Romans) as they retreated again to their standards.'