- 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-lat2:6.41.1-6.41.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The Germans retreat upon seeing the Romans manning the fortifications, but the panic inside the camp is so intense that the soldiers refuse to believe Caesar is safe until Caesar himself arrives and dispels their fear.
Germani desperata expugnatione castrorum, quod nostros iam constitisse in munitionibus videbant, cum ea praeda quam in silvis deposuerant trans Rhenum sese receperunt.
The Germans, despairing of taking the camp, because they saw that our men had already taken their stand on the fortifications, retreated across the Rhine with that booty which they had deposited in the woods.
Ac tantus fuit etiam post discessum hostium terror ut ea nocte, cum Gaius Volusenus missus cum equitatu ad castra venisset, fidem non faceret1 adesse cum incolumi Caesarem exercitu.
And so great was the terror even after the departure of the enemy, that on that night, when Gaius Volusenus, who had been sent with the cavalry, arrived at the camp, he could not make them believe that Caesar was close at hand with his army safe.
Sic omnino animos timor praeoccupaverat ut paene alienata mente deletis omnibus copiis equitatum se ex fuga recepisse2 dicerent neque incolumi exercitu Germanos castra oppugnaturos fuisse3 contenderent.
To such an extent had fear completely seized their minds, that, almost out of their minds, they said that all the forces had been destroyed and that the cavalry had retreated from flight, and they maintained that if the army had been safe, the Germans would not have attacked the camp.
Quem timorem Caesaris adventus sustulit.
This fear the arrival of Caesar removed.
- 6.41.2fidem non faceret
The subject is Gaius Volusenus. The phrase fidem facere ('to produce belief, to convince') is followed by the accusative and infinitive clause adesse cum incolumi Caesarem exercitu ('that Caesar was close at hand with his army safe'), representing the content of what he failed to make them believe.
- 6.41.3equitatum se ex fuga recepisse
equitatum ('the cavalry') is the subject of the infinitive recepisse. The reflexive pronoun se refers back to equitatum (treated as singular as a collective noun), forming the idiom se recipere ('to retreat, to return').
- 6.41.3neque incolumi exercitu Germanos castra oppugnaturos fuisse
The ablative absolute incolumi exercitu functions as a conditional clause contrary to fact in the past ('if the army had been safe', equivalent to si exercitus incolumis fuisset). The accusative with infinitive Germanos ... oppugnaturos fuisse represents a past contrary-to-fact apodosis (which would be oppugnavissent or oppugnaturi fuerunt in direct discourse) turned into a future active perfect infinitive (-urus fuisse) in indirect discourse dependent on contenderent.