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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §5.14.1-5.14.4

Customs, Appearance, and Marriage of the Britons

Passage 170 of 404 · Latin

Summary

The author describes the customs of the Britons, noting that the inhabitants of Cantium are the most civilized, while the inlanders have distinct habits regarding clothing, hair, body-dyeing, and communal marriage.

§5.14.1Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi qui Cantium incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine.
Of all these, those who inhabit Cantium, which is entirely a maritime region, are by far the most civilized, and do not differ much from Gallic customs.
§5.14.2Interiores plerique frumenta non serunt, sed lacte et carne vivunt pellibusque sunt vestiti.
Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins.
Omnes vero se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod caeruleum efficit colorem, atque hoc horridiores sunt in pugna aspectu; §5.14.3capilloque sunt promisso atque omni parte corporis rasa praeter caput et labrum superius.
All the Britons, indeed, dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue color, and thereby they are of a more terrible appearance in battle; and they wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip.
§5.14.4Vxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes et maxime fratres cum fratribus parentesque cum liberis; sed qui sunt ex his nati, eorum habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quaeque deducta est.
They have wives shared in common among groups of ten or twelve, especially brothers with brothers and parents with children; but the children born of them are regarded as the children of those to whom each virgin was first conducted.

Notes

  1. 5.14.2aspectu — An ablative of respect (either from the noun aspectus or the supine of aspicio), meaning "in appearance" or "to look at", modifying the comparative adjective horridiores.
  2. 5.14.3capillo... promisso — An ablative of quality describing the physical characteristic of the subject ("with long hair" or "having long hair"). The subsequent phrase omni parte corporis rasa can be interpreted similarly or as an ablative absolute.
  3. 5.14.4quo... — quo is a relative adverb of direction ("whither" or "to whom"). The antecedent (such as ad eum referring to the husband) is omitted, meaning "[of the man] to whom each virgin was first conducted" (alluding to the Roman marriage custom deductio in domum mariti).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §5.14.1-5.14.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.14.1-5.14.4

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