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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §4.15.1-4.15.5

Destruction of the Germans and Sparing of the Envoys

Passage 133 of 404 · Latin

Summary

The Germans, thrown into panic by the shouts behind them, fled to the confluence of the rivers where they drowned or were slain. The Romans returned to camp virtually unscathed, and Caesar granted the detained German envoys permission to remain with him.

§4.15.1Germani post tergum clamore audito, cum suos interfici viderent, armis abiectis signis militaribus relictis se ex castris eiecerunt,
The Germans, hearing the shout behind their back, when they saw their people being slain, threw away their arms, abandoned their military standards, and cast themselves out of the camp.
§4.15.2et cum ad confluentem Mosae et Rheni pervenissent, reliqua fuga desperata, magno numero interfecto, reliqui se in flumen praecipitaverunt atque ibi timore, lassitudine, vi fluminis oppressi perierunt.
And when they had arrived at the confluence of the Meuse and the Rhine, despairing of further flight, after a great number had been killed, the rest cast themselves into the river and there perished, overcome by fear, fatigue, and the force of the current.
§4.15.3Nostri ad unum omnes incolumes, perpaucis vulneratis, ex tanti belli timore, cum hostium numerus capitum CCCCXXX milium fuisset, se in castra receperunt.
Our men, all to a man safe, with only a very few wounded, returned to the camp, freed from the dread of so great a war, although the number of the enemy had been four hundred and thirty thousand heads.
§4.15.4Caesar iis quos in castris retinuerat discedendi potestatem fecit.
Caesar gave permission to depart to those whom he had detained in the camp.
§4.15.5Illi supplicia cruciatusque Gallorum veriti, quorum agros vexaverant, remanere se apud eum velle dixerunt.
But they, fearing the punishments and tortures of the Gauls, whose lands they had ravaged, said that they wished to remain with him.
His Caesar libertatem concessit.
Caesar granted them this liberty.

Notes

  1. 4.15.2reliqua fuga desperata — An ablative absolute construction where 'reliqua fuga' (further flight) agrees in gender, number, and case with 'desperata', the perfect participle of the transitive verb 'despero', meaning 'having despaired of further flight'.
  2. 4.15.3ad unum omnes — An idiomatic Latin expression meaning 'everyone to a single man', used to emphasize 'without exception' or 'to a man'.
  3. 4.15.3ex tanti belli timore — The preposition 'ex' here implies 'release or liberation from' the fear, rather than just cause or origin, indicating they returned to camp safe and freed from the dread of such a major war.
  4. 4.15.5Gallorum — A subjective genitive modifying 'supplicia cruciatusque' (punishments and tortures), meaning 'the punishments and tortures inflicted by the Gauls', rather than an objective genitive (punishing the Gauls).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §4.15.1-4.15.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:4.15.1-4.15.5

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