- 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-lat2:6.27.1-6.27.5
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Caesar describes the "elks," strange animals with jointless legs that cannot lie down to sleep, and details how hunters exploit this habit to capture them by damaging trees they lean on.
Sunt item, quae appellantur alces. Harum1 est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilaeque sunt cornibus2 et crura sine nodis articulisque habent neque quietis causa procumbunt neque, si quo adflictae casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt.
There are also those animals which are called elks. Their shape and the varied color of their skins are very similar to goats, but in size they slightly surpass them, and they are devoid of horns and have legs without joints or articulations. They do not lie down for the sake of rest, nor, if they have fallen down by being knocked over by any accident, can they raise themselves up or lift themselves.
His sunt arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt.
To them, trees serve as beds; they lean against them, and, having reclined only a little in this manner, they take their rest.
Quarum ex vestigiis3 cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ab radicibus subruunt aut accidunt4 arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipsae concidunt.
When it has been observed by hunters from their tracks where they are accustomed to retreat, they either undermine at the roots or cut into all the trees in that place, only so far that the general appearance of them standing remains. When they have reclined here according to their habit, they break down the weakened trees with their weight and fall down together themselves.
- 6.27.1Harum
Genitive feminine plural pronoun referring to the preceding feminine noun alces. It structures the comparison of their characteristics (partly resembling goats, partly differing) in the subsequent clauses.
- 6.27.1mutilaeque sunt cornibus
The noun cornibus is in the ablative case, functioning as an ablative of separation/deprivation required by the adjective mutilus (maimed, lacking), or as an ablative of specification (mutilated with respect to horns).
- 6.27.4Quarum ex vestigiis
Quarum is a relative connection (relativum connectionis) referring to the elks (alces, feminine plural), which are the main subject of the paragraph, rather than the immediately preceding arbores (trees).
- 6.27.4accidunt
The third-person plural present indicative of the verb accido (to cut into, hack: from ad + caedo), not from accido (to fall, happen: from ad + cado). This is confirmed by the subsequent clause tantum ut... (only so far that...), which describes the calculated depth of the cuts made by the hunters.