- 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-lat2:6.28.1-6.28.6
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The passage describes the characteristics of the fierce wild ox called the urus in the Hercynian forest, how young men hunt them for honor, and how their large horns are decorated with silver to be used as drinking cups.
Tertium est genus eorum, qui uri appellantur. Hi sunt magnitudine1 paulo infra elephantos, specie et colore et figura tauri.
The third is the class of those animals which are called uruses. These are in size a little below the elephants, but in their appearance, color, and shape they are like bulls.
Magna vis eorum est et magna velocitas, neque homini neque ferae quam conspexerunt parcunt. Hos studiose foveis captos interficiunt.
Great is their strength and great their speed, and they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. These they industriously kill, having caught them in pits.
Hoc se labore durant adulescentes atque hoc genere venationis exercent, et qui plurimos ex his interfecerunt, relatis in publicum cornibus, quae sint testimonio,2 magnam ferunt laudem.
The young men harden themselves by this labor and train themselves in this kind of hunting, and those who have killed the greatest number of them, having brought their horns into public to serve as evidence, receive great praise.
Sed adsuescere ad homines et mansuefieri ne parvuli quidem excepti3 possunt.
But they cannot be accustomed to men and tamed, not even if they are caught when very small.
Amplitudo cornuum et figura et species multum a nostrorum boum cornibus differt.
The size of their horns, their shape, and their appearance differ much from the horns of our oxen.
Haec studiose conquisita ab labris4 argento circumcludunt atque in amplissimis epulis pro poculis utuntur.
These, having been eagerly sought after, they bind with silver around the rims, and use them as drinking cups at their most splendid feasts.
- 6.28.1magnitudine
Ablative of specification (or description), like the subsequent specie et colore et figura, specifying the respect in which they are "a little below" (paulo infra) elephants.
- 6.28.3quae sint testimonio
testimonio is a dative of purpose (part of a double dative construction). The verb sint is in the subjunctive mood, introducing a relative clause of purpose ("which may serve as testimony") or characteristic.
- 6.28.4ne parvuli quidem excepti
excepti is a perfect participle modifying the nominalized adjective parvuli. It carries a concessive force: "not even if they are caught (taken out) when very small."
- 6.28.6ab labris
The preposition ab, literally meaning "from," is used here to indicate location or boundary, translated as "at the rims" or "around the edges."