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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §5.51.1-5.51.4

Caesar's Sudden Sally and Routing of the Gauls

Passage 207 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Deceived by Caesar's feigned retreat, the enemy attempts an assault on the camp, believing the defenses to be weak; however, Caesar launches a sudden sally with all his forces, completely routing the enemy.

§5.51.1Quibus omnibus rebus hostes invitati copias traducunt aciemque iniquo loco constituunt, nostris vero etiam de vallo deductis propius accedunt et tela intra munitionem ex omnibus partibus coniciunt §5.51.2praeconibusque circummissis pronuntiari iubent, seu quis Gallus seu Romanus velit ante horam tertiam ad se transire, sine periculo licere; post id tempus non fore potestatem: §5.51.3ac sic nostros contempserunt, ut obstructis in speciem portis singulis ordinibus caespitum, quod ea non posse introrumpere videbantur, alii vallum manu scindere, alii fossas complere inciperent.
Enticed by all these things, the enemy crossed their forces and drew up their line in an unfavorable position, and, as our men had indeed been withdrawn even from the rampart, they approached closer and cast their weapons from all sides into the fortification, and, sending heralds around, they ordered it to be proclaimed that, if any Gaul or Roman wished to go over to them before the third hour, it was permitted without danger; after that time there would be no opportunity: and they so despised our men that, since the gates appeared to be blocked up for appearance's sake with only a single row of sods, because they did not seem to be able to burst in through them, some began to tear down the rampart with their hands, and others to fill up the ditches.
§5.51.4Tum Caesar omnibus portis eruptione facta equitatuque emisso celeriter hostes in fugam dat, sic uti omnino pugnandi causa resisteret nemo, magnumque ex eis numerum occidit atque omnes armis exuit.
Then Caesar, making a sally from all the gates and sending out the cavalry, quickly put the enemy to flight, so that absolutely no one stood ground for the purpose of fighting, and he killed a large number of them and stripped them all of their arms.

Notes

  1. 5.51.1nostris vero etiam de vallo deductis — Absolute ablative construction, with deductis as the perfect passive participle of deduco. vero etiam emphasizes the fact, meaning 'indeed even'. This indicates that Roman soldiers were withdrawn from the rampart as part of Caesar's plan to feign fear.
  2. 5.51.2seu quis Gallus seu Romanus — The indefinite pronoun quis (shortened form of aliquis) is used after certain particles and conjunctions like si, nisi, ne, num, and here it appears after seu (sive), which contains a conditional force.
  3. 5.51.3ea — An adverb derived from the ablative feminine singular of the pronoun is, meaning 'by that way' or 'there'. It refers to the path through the previously mentioned gates (portis).
  4. 5.51.4omnes armis exuit — The case construction of the verb exuo (to strip, despoil), which takes an accusative of the person (omnes) and an ablative of the thing stripped (armis).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §5.51.1-5.51.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:5.51.1-5.51.4

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