Humanitext Reader

Julius Caesar · Gallic War §4.18.1-4.18.4

Caesar's Crossing of the Rhine and the Flight of the Sugambri

Passage 136 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Within ten days of the beginning of construction, Caesar completes the bridge and crosses the Rhine, leaving guards at both ends, and marches against the Sugambri. The Sugambri, advised by the Tencteri and Usipetes, flee with their possessions into the forests.

§4.18.1Diebus X, quibus materia coepta erat comportari, omni opere effecto exercitus traducitur. §4.18.2Caesar ad utramque partem pontis firmo praesidio relicto in fines Sugambrorum contendit. §4.18.3Interim a compluribus civitatibus ad eum legati veniunt; quibus pacem atque amicitiam petentibus liberaliter respondet obsidesque ad se adduci iubet. §4.18.4At Sugambri, ex eo tempore quo pons institui coeptus est fuga comparata, hortantibus iis quos ex Tencteris atque Usipetibus apud se habebant, finibus suis excesserant suaque omnia exportaverant seque in solitudinem ac silvas abdiderant.
\nWithin ten days from the time when the collection of timber had begun, the entire work was completed and the army was led across.\n\nCaesar, having left a strong guard at each end of the bridge, hastened into the territories of the Sugambri.\n\nMeanwhile, ambassadors came to him from several states; to them, as they requested peace and friendship, he replied generously and ordered hostages to be brought to him.\n\nBut the Sugambri, having prepared for flight from the very time the bridge began to be constructed, at the instigation of those whom they had among them from the Tencteri and Usipetes, had departed from their own territories, carried away all their possessions, and hidden themselves in the wilderness and the forests.

Notes

  1. 4.18.1Diebus X, quibus — The relative pronoun quibus refers back to diebus X and is in the ablative of time, indicating the period of ten days within which the action occurred, starting from the collection of timber.
  2. 4.18.3quibus pacem atque amicitiam petentibus — Dative plural phrase governed by the verb respondet. quibus is a connecting relative pronoun referring back to legati, and petentibus is a present participle in agreement with it.
  3. 4.18.4pons institui coeptus est — The verb coepi takes the passive form coeptus est because the dependent infinitive institui is passive, which is a standard rule in Classical Latin.
  4. 4.18.4seque in solitudinem ac silvas abdiderant — The verb abdo with the reflexive pronoun se implies motion or direction of action ('to hide themselves into'), and therefore the preposition in governs the accusative (solitudinem ac silvas) rather than the ablative.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §4.18.1-4.18.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:4.18.1-4.18.4

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