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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §5.30.1-5.30.3

Sabinus Yields and Warns Cotta of Blame

Passage 186 of 404 · Latin

Summary

After intense debate, Sabinus yields to Cotta and the centurions, but loudly warns in the hearing of the soldiers that Cotta will be held responsible by the men if disaster befalls them from remaining isolated.

§5.30.1Hac in utramque partem disputatione habita, cum a Cotta primisque ordinibus acriter resisteretur, "Vincite," inquit, "si ita vultis," Sabinus, et id clariore voce, ut magna pars militum exaudiret; §5.30.2"neque is sum," inquit, "qui gravissime ex vobis mortis periculo terrear: hi sapient;
When this dispute had been held on both sides, since it was sharply resisted by Cotta and the first-ranking centurions, Sabinus said, "Have your way, if you so wish," and that too with a louder voice, so that a great part of the soldiers might overhear him; "and I am not the man," he said, "to be most seriously frightened among you by the danger of death.
si gravius quid acciderit, abs te rationem reposcent, §5.30.3qui, si per te liceat, perendino die cum proximis hibernis coniuncti communem cum reliquis belli casum sustineant, non reiecti et relegati longe ab ceteris aut ferro aut fame intereant. "
These men will understand; if anything more serious should happen, they will demand a reckoning from you, who, if it were allowed by you, would on the day after tomorrow be joined with the nearest winter quarters and sustain the common fortune of war with the rest, rather than perish by either the sword or famine, rejected and exiled far from the others."

Notes

  1. 5.30.1resisteretur — Impersonal passive of the intransitive verb resistere, with the agent expressed by 'a Cotta primisque ordinibus' (literally, 'when it was resisted by Cotta and the first-ranking centurions').
  2. 5.30.2is sum ... qui ... terrear — The relative clause of characteristic with the subjunctive 'terrear' after 'is sum qui' ('I am not the kind of person who would be frightened').
  3. 5.30.2sapient — Future third-person plural of the verb sapere (3rd conjugation -io), meaning 'they will understand' or 'they will become wise'. It should not be confused with the present tense, which is 'sapiunt'.
  4. 5.30.3qui ... sustineant ... intereant — The subjunctives (sustineant, intereant) in the relative clause referring to 'hi' (the soldiers), which coordinate with the conditional clause 'si... liceat' (present subjunctive), describing the potential fate of the soldiers ('who, if allowed, would sustain... rather than perish').

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §5.30.1-5.30.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.30.1-5.30.3

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