- 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-lat2:6.40.1-6.40.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
Among the besieged Roman forces, the veteran soldiers decide to form a wedge and break through, successfully reaching the camp with few casualties. Meanwhile, the inexperienced soldiers try to defend themselves on the ridge but eventually retreat into disadvantageous ground, resulting in heavy losses and the heroic death of many centurions.
Calones in proximum tumulum procurrunt. Hinc celeriter deiecti se in signa manipulosque coniciunt: eo magis1 timidos perterrent milites.
The camp-followers run forward to the nearest hill. Quickly driven down from here, they fling themselves into the standards and maniples; by this they terrify the already frightened soldiers all the more.
Alii cuneo facto ut celeriter perrumpant censent, quoniam tam propinqua sint castra, et si pars aliqua circumventa ceciderit, at reliquos servari posse confidunt;2
Some propose that, since the camp is so near, they should form a wedge and quickly break through, and they trust that, even if some part should be surrounded and fall, yet the rest can be saved;
alii, ut in iugo consistant atque eundem omnes ferant casum.
others, that they should stand on the ridge and all undergo the same fate.
Hoc veteres non probant milites, quos sub vexillo una profectos docuimus.3 Itaque inter se cohortati duce Gaio Trebonio, equite Romano, qui eis erat praepositus, per medios hostes perrumpunt incolumesque ad unum omnes in castra perveniunt.
The veteran soldiers, who, as we have shown, had set out together under a standard, do not approve of this. Therefore, encouraging one another, under the leadership of Gaius Trebonius, a Roman knight, who had been placed over them, they break through the midst of the enemy and arrive in the camp all to a man safe and sound.
Hos subsecuti calones equitesque eodem impetu militum virtute servantur.
The camp-followers and cavalry, following close behind them, are saved by the same charge through the valor of the soldiers.
At ei qui in iugo constiterant, nullo etiam nunc usu rei militaris percepto neque in eo quod probaverant consilio permanere,4 ut se loco superiore defenderent, neque eam quam prodesse aliis vim celeritatemque viderant imitari potuerunt, sed se in castra recipere conati iniquum in locum demiserunt.
But those who had stood on the ridge, having even now acquired no experience in military matters, were neither able to persist in that plan which they had approved, namely, to defend themselves on the higher ground, nor to imitate that vigor and speed which they had seen to be of service to others; but, attempting to retreat into the camp, they descended into disadvantageous ground.
Centuriones, quorum nonnulli ex inferioribus ordinibus reliquarum legionum virtutis causa in superiores erant ordines huius legionis traducti, ne ante partam5 rei militaris laudem amitterent, fortissime pugnantes conciderunt.
The centurions, some of whom, on account of their valor, had been promoted from the lower ranks of the other legions to the higher ranks of this legion, fell fighting most courageously, lest they should lose the military glory they had previously acquired.
Militum pars horum virtute summotis hostibus praeter spem incolumis in castra pervenit, pars a barbaris circumventa periit.
A part of the soldiers, the enemy having been driven back by the valor of these men, reached the camp safe beyond expectation; a part, surrounded by the barbarians, perished.
- 6.40.1eo magis
eo is an ablative of degree of difference, modifying the comparative magis, meaning 'by so much the more' or 'thereby all the more.'
- 6.40.2at reliquos servari posse confidunt
at is placed at the beginning of the apodosis following the conditional clause si ... ceciderit, adding a concessive force of 'yet at least' or 'but at any rate' to contrast with the negative assumption.
- 6.40.4quos sub vexillo una profectos docuimus
profectos [esse] is an infinitive in the accusative with infinitive construction with the relative pronoun quos (referring to milites) as its subject, serving as the object of docuimus ('we have shown/mentioned'). This refers back to the mention of the veteran detachment in 6.36.1.
- 6.40.6neque in eo quod probaverant consilio permanere
An instance of antecedent attraction where consilio is drawn into the relative clause quod probaverant. The grammatical skeleton is neque in eo consilio quod probaverant permanere... The following ut-clause (ut se... defenderent) stands in apposition to consilio.
- 6.40.7ante partam
ante is used adverbially here, directly modifying the perfect participle partam (from pario 'to acquire', feminine singular accusative modifying laudem) to mean 'previously acquired.'