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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §1.10.1-1.10.4

Caesar's Reinforcements and Crossing of the Alps

Passage 10 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Caesar, realizing that the Helvetian march poses a threat to the Province, leaves Labienus in charge of the fortification, returns to Italy to mobilize and bring back five legions, and successfully crosses the Alps despite resistance from local tribes.

§1.10.1Caesari renuntiatur Helvetiis esse in animo per agrum Sequanorum et Haeduorum iter in Santonum fines facere, qui non longe a Tolosatium finibus absunt, quae civitas est in provincia.
It was reported to Caesar that the Helvetii intended to march through the territory of the Sequani and the Haedui into the borders of the Santones, who are not far distant from the borders of the Tolosates, which state is in the Province.
§1.10.2Id si fieret, intellegebat magno cum periculo provinciae futurum ut homines bellicosos, populi Romani inimicos, locis patentibus maximeque frumentariis finitimos haberet.
If this should be done, he perceived that it would be attended with great danger to the Province to have warlike men, enemies of the Roman people, as neighbors to an open and extremely fertile country.
§1.10.3Ob eas causas ei munitioni quam fecerat T. Labienum legatum praeficit;
For these reasons, he appointed T.
ipse in Italiam magnis itineribus contendit duasque ibi legiones conscribit et tres, quae circum Aquileiam hiemabant, ex hibernis educit et, qua proximum iter in ulteriorem Galliam per Alpes erat, cum his quinque legionibus ire contendit.
Labienus, his lieutenant, to the command of the fortification which he had made; he himself hurried to Italy by forced marches, and there enrolled two legions, and led out from their winter quarters three legions which were wintering around Aquileia, and hastened to march with these five legions by the shortest route over the Alps into Further Gaul.
§1.10.4Ibi Ceutrones et Graioceli et Caturiges locis superioribus occupatis itinere exercitum prohibere conantur.
There the Ceutrones, the Graioceli, and the Caturiges, having seized the higher grounds, attempted to obstruct the army in its march.
Compluribus his proeliis pulsis ab Ocelo, quod est oppidum citerioris provinciae extremum, in fines Vocontiorum ulterioris provinciae die septimo pervenit; inde in Allobrogum fines, ab Allobrogibus in Segusiavos exercitum ducit.
Having routed them in several battles, he arrived from Ocelum, which is the last town of the Hither Province, in the borders of the Vocontii in the Further Province on the seventh day; thence he led his army into the country of the Allobroges, and from the Allobroges into the Segusiavi.
Hi sunt extra provinciam trans Rhodanum primi.
These are the first people outside the Province beyond the Rhone.

Notes

  1. §1.10.1Helvetiis esse in animo — The phrase `esse in animo` with the dative `Helvetiis` is an idiomatic expression meaning "to intend" or "to have in mind." The actual subject is the accusative and infinitive clause `iter... facere` (to march).
  2. §1.10.2futurum ut... haberet — This is an indirect discourse introduced by `intellegebat`. `futurum [esse]` is the future infinitive, whose subject is the `ut` clause (`ut... haberet`). The subject of `haberet` is most naturally understood as `provincia` (the Province).
  3. §1.10.2locis patentibus maximeque frumentariis — Dative case governed by the adjective `finitimos` (neighboring/adjacent to). The entire phrase means "adjacent to an open and extremely fertile region."
  4. §1.10.4Compluribus his proeliis pulsis — A structurally interlocked phrase (hyperbaton) where the ablative of means `compluribus proeliis` (by several battles) is inserted into the ablative absolute `his pulsis` (these having been routed).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §1.10.1-1.10.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.10.1-1.10.4

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