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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §1.28.1-1.28.4

Fate of the Fugitives and Return of the Helvetii

Passage 28 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Caesar orders the returned fugitives to be treated as enemies and accepts the surrender of the remaining tribes. To ensure Gaul's security, he commands the Helvetii and their allies to return and rebuild their lands.

§1.28.1Quod ubi Caesar resciit, quorum per fines ierant his uti conquirerent et reducerent, si sibi purgati esse vellent, imperavit; reductos in hostium numero habuit;
When Caesar found this out, he ordered those through whose territories they had gone to search them out and bring them back, if they wished to be cleared of blame in his eyes; those who were brought back he treated as enemies.
§1.28.2reliquos omnes obsidibus, armis, perfugis traditis in deditionem accepit.
All the rest, after hostages, arms, and deserters had been handed over, he accepted in surrender.
§1.28.3Helvetios, Tulingos, Latobrigos in fines suos, unde erant profecti, reverti iussit, et, quod omnibus frugibus amissis domi nihil erat quo famem tolerarent, Allobrogibus imperavit ut iis frumenti copiam facerent; ipsos oppida vicosque, quos incenderant, restituere iussit.
He ordered the Helvetii, Tulingi, and Latobrigi to return to their own territories, whence they had set out; and, because, all their crops having been lost, there was nothing at home wherewith they might support hunger, he ordered the Allobroges to make a supply of grain for them; he ordered them themselves to rebuild the towns and villages which they had burned.
Id ea maxime ratione fecit, quod noluit eum locum unde Helvetii discesserant vacare, ne propter bonitatem agrorum Germani, qui trans Rhenum incolunt, ex suis finibus in Helvetiorum fines transirent et finitimi Galliae provinciae Allobrogibusque essent.
He did this chiefly for this reason, because he did not wish that place whence the Helvetii had departed to be unoccupied, lest, on account of the fertility of the lands, the Germans, who dwell across the Rhine, should cross from their own territories into the territories of the Helvetii, and become neighbors to the province of Gaul and to the Allobroges.
§1.28.4Boios petentibus Haeduis, quod egregia virtute erant cogniti, ut in finibus suis conlocarent, concessit; quibus illi agros dederunt quosque postea in parem iuris libertatisque condicionem atque ipsi erant receperunt.
To the Haedui, who requested it because they were known to be of outstanding valor, he granted that they might settle the Boii in their own territories; to whom they gave lands, and whom they afterwards received into an equal condition of law and freedom as they themselves were in.

Notes

  1. 1.28.1sibi purgati — sibi is a dative of reference or judgment, meaning "cleared of blame in his (Caesar's) eyes."
  2. 1.28.1in hostium numero habuit — Literally "he held them in the number of enemies," a euphemism meaning that he treated them as enemies, which implied executing or selling them into slavery.
  3. 1.28.3quo famem tolerarent — quo is the ablative of means of the relative pronoun, referring to the antecedent nihil. It introduces a relative clause of characteristic/purpose with the subjunctive tolerarent ("wherewith they might support hunger").
  4. 1.28.4Boios petentibus Haeduis ... ut ... conlocarent, concessit — The accusative Boios, which is the direct object of conlocarent in the ut clause, is placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis (prolepsis). The indirect object of the main verb concessit is the dative phrase petentibus Haeduis.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §1.28.1-1.28.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:1.28.1-1.28.4

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