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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §5.4.1-5.4.4

Hostages of Indutiomarus and Cingetorix's Rise

Passage 160 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Caesar orders Indutiomarus to bring hostages and counsels him to remain loyal, while strengthening Cingetorix's authority by reconciling the leading men to him. Indutiomarus is deeply resentful of this action.

§5.4.1Caesar, etsi intellegebat qua de causa ea dicerentur quaeque eum res ab instituto consilio deterreret, tamen, ne aestatem in Treveris consumere cogeretur omnibus ad Britannicum bellum rebus comparatis, Indutiomarum ad se cum CC obsidibus venire iussit.
Caesar, although he understood for what reason these things were said, and what circumstance deterred him from his intended design, yet, lest he should be compelled to spend the summer among the Treveri, now that all things were prepared for the war with Britain, ordered Indutiomarus to come to him with two hundred hostages.
§5.4.2His adductis, in eis filio propinquisque eius omnibus, quos nominatim evocaverat, consolatus Indutiomarum hortatusque est uti in officio maneret; §5.4.3nihilo tamen setius principibus Treverorum ad se convocatis hos singillatim Cingetorigi conciliavit, quod cum merito eius a se fieri intellegebat, tum magni interesse arbitrabatur eius auctoritatem inter suos quam plurimum valere, cuius tam egregiam in se voluntatem perspexisset.
When these were brought, among whom were his son and all his relatives, whom he had summoned by name, Caesar consoled Indutiomarus and exhorted him to remain in his allegiance; nevertheless, having assembled the leading men of the Treveri to him, he reconciled them individually to Cingetorix, which he did both because he understood that it was being done by him in accordance with the latter's merit, and because he thought it to be of great importance that the authority of one whose remarkable goodwill toward him he had fully perceived should be as powerful as possible among his own people.
§5.4.4Id tulit factum graviter Indutiomarus, suam gratiam inter suos minui, et, qui iam ante inimico in nos animo fuisset, multo gravius hoc dolore exarsit.
Indutiomarus took this act heavily, namely that his influence among his people was being diminished, and, having already before been of a hostile disposition toward us, flared up much more violently with this resentment.

Notes

  1. §5.4.3quod — Connecting relative referring to the action in the preceding main clause (reconciling the leading men to Cingetorix). It functions as the subject of `fieri` within the indirect discourse dependent on `intellegebat`.
  2. §5.4.3magni interesse — The impersonal verb `interesse` (to be of importance) is combined with the genitive of value `magni` (greatly). The subject explaining what is important is the accusative with infinitive clause `eius auctoritatem ... valere`.
  3. §5.4.3cuius ... perspexisset — `cuius` is a relative pronoun whose antecedent is the demonstrative pronoun `eius` (referring to Cingetorix). The verb in the relative clause `perspexisset` is in the subjunctive (pluperfect) to express Caesar's subjective reason or characteristic ('since he had perceived...').
  4. §5.4.4suam gratiam inter suos minui — An accusative with infinitive clause containing the passive present infinitive `minui`. It stands in apposition to the noun phrase `Id ... factum` (this deed) and expresses the specific content of what Indutiomarus took heavily (`tulit graviter`).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §5.4.1-5.4.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.4.1-5.4.4

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