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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §6.19.1-6.19.4

Marital Property, Paternal Power, and Gaulish Funerals

Passage 233 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Describes the joint management and inheritance of marital property in Gaul, the husband's power of life and death over his family, the severe interrogation of wives upon a husband's suspicious death, and their magnificent funeral customs.

§6.19.1Viri, quantas pecunias ab uxoribus dotis nomine acceperunt, tantas ex suis bonis aestimatione facta cum dotibus communicant.
Husbands, after making an estimation, combine from their own goods as much money with the dowries as they have received from their wives under the name of dowry.
§6.19.2Huius omnis pecuniae coniunctim ratio habetur fructusque servantur: uter eorum vita superarit, ad eum pars utriusque cum fructibus superiorum temporum pervenit.
An account of all this money is kept jointly, and its profits are preserved: whichever of them survives the other in life, to that one the share of both, together with the profits of the previous times, comes.
§6.19.3Viri in uxores, sicuti in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem; et cum pater familiae illustriore loco natus decessit, eius propinqui conveniunt et, de morte si res in suspicionem venit, de uxoribus in servilem modum quaestionem habent et, si compertum est, igni atque omnibus tormentis excruciatas interficiunt.
Husbands have the power of life and death over their wives, just as over their children; and when a father of a family born in a more illustrious rank has died, his relatives assemble, and, if the circumstances concerning his death fall under suspicion, they hold an investigation concerning the wives in the manner of slaves, and, if it is proven, they put them to death, tortured with fire and all kinds of torments.
§6.19.4Funera sunt pro cultu Gallorum magnifica et sumptuosa; omniaque quae vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur in ignem inferunt, etiam animalia, ac paulo supra hanc memoriam servi et clientes, quos ab eis dilectos esse constabat, iustis funeribus confectis una cremabantur.
Their funerals are, in proportion to the civilization of the Gauls, magnificent and costly; and they cast into the fire all things which they think were dear to them when alive, even animals, and a little before our memory, slaves and clients, whom it was established had been beloved by them, were burned together after the regular funeral rites had been completed.

Notes

  1. §6.19.1quantas pecunias ... tantas — The noun `pecunias` is attracted into the relative clause `quantas pecunias...`, which correlates with `tantas` (modifying an implied `pecunias`) in the main clause. It means 'as much money as they received ... so much ...'.
  2. §6.19.2vita superarit — `superarit` (syncopated form of `superaverit`) is a future perfect indicative, functioning here with a conditional force. `vita` is an ablative of specification ('in life' or 'in respect to life') or means, meaning 'whichever of them should survive in life (outlive the other)'.
  3. §6.19.4vivis cordi fuisse — `cordi` is the dative of `cor` (heart), functioning as a dative of purpose or tendency (predicative dative) meaning 'dear / pleasing'. `vivis` is a dative of reference ('to them when alive'). Together they mean 'had been dear to them when they were alive'.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §6.19.1-6.19.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:6.19.1-6.19.4

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