- 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-lat2:6.16.1-6.16.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-30
The deep religiosity of the Gauls and their practice of human sacrifice to appease the gods are described. When there is a shortage of criminals, even innocent people are burned alive inside giant woven images.
Natio est omnis Gallorum admodum dedita religionibus, atque ob eam causam, qui sunt adfecti gravioribus morbis quique in proeliis periculisque versantur, aut pro victimis homines immolant aut se immolaturos1 vovent administrisque ad ea sacrificia druidibus utuntur, quod, pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur, non posse deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur,2 publiceque eiusdem generis habent instituta sacrificia. Alii immani magnitudine simulacra habent, quorum contexta viminibus membra vivis hominibus complent; quibus succensis3 circumventi flamma exanimantur homines.
The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to religious practices, and for this reason, those who are affected by more serious illnesses and those who are engaged in battles and dangers either immolate humans as victims or vow that they will immolate them, and they employ the Druids as administrators for these sacrifices, because, unless the life of a human is rendered for the life of a human, they think that the divine will of the immortal gods cannot be appeased; and they have sacrifices of this kind publicly established. Others have images of immense size, whose limbs, woven with osiers, they fill with living men; when these are set on fire, the men, surrounded by flame, perish.
Supplicia eorum qui in furto aut in latrocinio aut aliqua noxia sint comprehensi gratiora dis immortalibus esse arbitrantur; sed, cum eius generis copia defecit, etiam ad innocentium supplicia descendunt.4
They think that the execution of those who have been caught in theft, robbery, or any other offense is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of this class fails, they even descend to the execution of the innocent.
- 6.16.2se immolaturos
The accusative pronoun 'se' serves as the subject of the future active infinitive 'immolaturos [esse]'. 'immolaturos' is masculine plural accusative, agreeing with the subject of the main clause (qui...). The object of the infinitive (such as 'victimam') is omitted as it is clear from the context.
- 6.16.2quod, pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur, non posse deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur
The conjunction 'quod' introduces a causal clause whose main verb is 'arbitrantur'. Within this clause, the conditional clause 'nisi hominis vita reddatur' (present subjunctive) and the accusative-with-infinitive construction 'non posse ... placari' (acting as the object of 'arbitrantur') are nested. This represents a subjunctive conditional clause in indirect discourse.
- 6.16.4quibus succensis
An ablative absolute construction utilizing a connective relative (quibus). The antecedent is either 'viminibus' (osiers) or 'membra' (limbs) from the preceding clause, or refers to the images as a whole. It indicates the circumstance when these are set on fire.
- 6.16.5descendunt
The intransitive verb 'descendere', which literally means 'to go down', is used here metaphorically to mean 'to resort to' or 'to stoop to' an extreme or undesirable course of action.