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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §3.21.1-3.21.3

Siege of the Sotiates Oppidum and Their Surrender

Passage 110 of 404 · Latin

Summary

After a fierce battle, the Sotiates are defeated and retreat to their town, which Crassus immediately besieges. Despite attempting sallies and mining operations, the enemy eventually sues for surrender.

§3.21.1Pugnatum est diu atque acriter, cum Sotiates superioribus victoriis freti in sua virtute totius Aquitaniae salutem positam putarent, nostri autem quid sine imperatore et sine reliquis legionibus adulescentulo duce efficere possent perspici cuperent; tandem confecti vulneribus hostes terga verterunt.
The battle was fought for a long time and fiercely, since the Sotiates, relying on their former victories, believed that the safety of all Aquitania depended on their courage, while our men, on the other hand, desired it to be seen what they could achieve without their commander and without the remaining legions, under a very young leader; at length, exhausted by wounds, the enemy turned their backs.
§3.21.2Quorum magno numero interfecto Crassus ex itinere oppidum Sotiatium oppugnare coepit.
A great number of them having been slain, Crassus began to assault the town of the Sotiates directly from his march.
Quibus fortiter resistentibus vineas turresque egit.
As they resisted courageously, he brought up vineae and towers.
§3.21.3Illi alias eruptione temptata, alias cuniculis ad aggerem vineasque actis (cuius rei sunt longe peritissimi Aquitani, propterea quod multis locis apud eos aerariae secturaeque sunt), ubi diligentia nostrorum nihil his rebus profici posse intellexerunt, legatos ad Crassum mittunt seque in deditionem ut recipiat petunt.
They at one time attempting a sally, at another driving mines to the mound and the vineae (in which art the Aquitani are by far the most skilled, because in many places among them there are copper mines and excavations), when they perceived that by the diligence of our men nothing could be gained by these means, they sent deputies to Crassus and begged that he would receive them into surrender.
Qua re impetrata arma tradere iussi faciunt.
This request being granted, having been ordered to deliver up their arms, they did so.

Notes

  1. §3.21.1Pugnatum est — Third-person singular perfect passive of the verb pugnare, used impersonally. It describes the occurrence and intensity of the battle ("the battle was fought").
  2. §3.21.1adulescentulo duce — An ablative absolute consisting of a noun (or adjective) and a noun, lacking the participle of the copula "to be". It indicates the circumstance "under a very young leader," referring to P. Crassus who was in his mid-twenties.
  3. §3.21.2ex itinere — An idiomatic phrase meaning "on the march" or "directly from the march." It indicates that the assault began immediately upon arrival, without first setting up a formal camp or pausing.
  4. §3.21.3cuniculis ad aggerem vineasque actis — Ablative absolute construction. The perfect passive participle actis of the verb agere (here meaning "to drive" or "dig" a tunnel) agrees with cuniculis, indicating that mines/tunnels were driven towards the Roman siege works (mound and vineae).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §3.21.1-3.21.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:3.21.1-3.21.3

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